The charge asymmetry in the production of top quark and antiquark pairs is measured in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 inverse femtobarns, were collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Events with a single isolated electron or muon, and four or more jets, at least one of which is likely to have originated from hadronization of a bottom quark, are selected. A template technique is used to measure the asymmetry in the distribution of differences in the top quark and antiquark absolute rapidities. The measured asymmetry is A[c,y] = [0.33 +/- 0.26 (stat) +/- 0.33 (syst)]%, which is the most precise result to date. The results are compared to calculations based on the standard model and on several beyond-the-standard-model scenarios.
The t t-bar charge asymmetry is measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The data, collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. Selected events contain an electron or a muon and four or more jets, where at least one jet is identified as originating from b-quark hadronization. The inclusive charge asymmetry is found to be 0.0010 +/- 0.0068 (stat) +/- 0.0037 (syst). In addition, differential charge asymmetries as a function of rapidity, transverse momentum, and invariant mass of the t t-bar system are studied. For the first time at the LHC, the measurements are also performed in a reduced fiducial phase space of top quark pair production, with an integrated result of -0.0035 +/- 0.0072 (stat) +/- 0.0031 (syst). All measurements are consistent within two standard deviations with zero asymmetry as well as with the predictions of the standard model.
A measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry A[FB] of oppositely charged lepton pairs (mu mu and e e) produced via Z/gamma* boson exchange in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measurement of A[FB] is performed for dilepton masses between 40 GeV and 2 TeV and for dilepton rapidity up to 5. The A[FB] measurements as a function of dilepton mass and rapidity are compared with the standard model predictions.
A first measurement of the top quark spin asymmetry, sensitive to the top quark polarisation, in t-channel single top quark production is presented. It is based on a sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse-femtobarns. A high-purity sample of t-channel single top quark events with an isolated muon is selected. Signal and background components are estimated using a fit to data. A differential cross section measurement, corrected for detector effects, of an angular observable sensitive to the top quark polarisation is performed. The differential distribution is used to extract a top quark spin asymmetry of 0.26 +/- 0.03 (stat) +/- 0.10 (syst), which is compatible with a p-value of 4.6% with the standard model prediction of 0.44.
The angular distributions and the differential branching fraction of the decay B0 to K*0(892) mu mu are studied using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.5 inverse femtobarns collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. From 1430 signal decays, the forward-backward asymmetry of the muons, the K*0(892) longitudinal polarization fraction, and the differential branching fraction are determined as a function of the dimuon invariant mass squared. The measurements are among the most precise to date and are in good agreement with standard model predictions.
An analysis of the decay $\Lambda_b \to J/\psi(\to\mu^+\mu^-)\Lambda(\to p \pi^-)$ decay is performed to measure the $\Lambda_b$ polarization and three angular parameters in data from pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 7 and 8 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The $\Lambda_b$ polarization is measured to be 0.00 $\pm$ 0.06 (stat) $\pm$ 0.06 (syst) and the parity-violating asymmetry parameter is determined to be 0.14 $\pm$ 0.14 (stat) $\pm$ 0.10 (syst). The measurements are compared to various theoretical predictions, including those from perturbative quantum chromodynamics.
The first study of W boson production in pPb collisions is presented, for bosons decaying to a muon or electron, and a neutrino. The measurements are based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34.6 inverse nanobarns at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s[NN]) = 5.02 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment. The W boson differential cross sections, lepton charge asymmetry, and forward-backward asymmetries are measured for leptons of transverse momentum exceeding 25 GeV, and as a function of the lepton pseudorapidity in the abs(eta[lab]) < 2.4 range. Deviations from the expectations based on currently available parton distribution functions are observed, showing the need for including W boson data in nuclear parton distribution global fits.
The production of Z bosons in pPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 5.02 TeV is studied by the CMS experiment via the electron and muon decay channels. The inclusive cross section is compared to pp collision predictions, and found to scale with the number of elementary nucleon-nucleon collisions. The differential cross sections as a function of the Z boson rapidity and transverse momentum are measured. Though they are found to be consistent within uncertainty with theoretical predictions both with and without nuclear effects, the forward-backward asymmetry suggests the presence of nuclear effects at large rapidities. These results provide new data for constraining nuclear parton distribution functions.
The differential cross section and charge asymmetry for inclusive pp to W + X to mu + neutrino + X production at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV are measured as a function of muon pseudorapidity. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 18.8 inverse femtobarns recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC. These results provide important constraints on the parton distribution functions of the proton in the range of the Bjorken scaling variable x from 10E-3 to 10E-1.
Measurements of the muon charge asymmetry in inclusive pp to WX production at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV are presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 inverse femtobarns recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC. With a sample of more than twenty million W to mu nu events, the statistical precision is greatly improved in comparison to previous measurements. These new results provide additional constraints on the parton distribution functions of the proton in the range of the Bjorken scaling variable x from 10E-3 to 10E-1. These measurements and the recent CMS measurement of associated W + charm production are used together with the cross sections for inclusive deep inelastic ep scattering at HERA in a next-to-leading-order QCD analysis. The determination of the valence quark distributions is improved, and the strange-quark distribution is probed directly through the leading-order process g + s to W + c in proton-proton collisions at the LHC.