A search for the standard model (SM) Higgs boson (H) decaying to b(b)over-bar when produced in association with an electroweak vector boson is reported for the following processes: Z(vv)H, W(mu v)H, W(ev)H, Z(mu mu)H, and Z(ee)H. The search is performed in data samples corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 f( -1) at root s = 13 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC during Run 2 in 2016. An excess of events is observed in data compared to the expectation in the absence of a H -> b(b)over-bar, signal. The significance of this excess is 3.3 standard deviations, where the expectation from SM Higgs boson production is 2.8. The signal strength corresponding to this excess, relative to that of the SM Higgs boson production, is 1.2 +/- 0.4. When combined with the Run 1 measurement of the same processes, the signal significance is 3.8 standard deviations with 3.8 expected. The corresponding signal strength, relative to that of the SM Higgs boson, is 1.06(-0.29)(+0.31). (C) 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.

Data from heavy ion collisions suggest that the evolution of a parton shower is modified by interactions with the color charges in the dense partonic medium created in these collisions, but it is not known where in the shower evolution the modifications occur. The momentum ratio of the two leading partons, resolved as subjets, provides information about the parton shower evolution. This substructure observable, known as the splitting function, reflects the process of a parton splitting into two other partons and has been measured for jets with transverse momentum between 140 and 500 GeV, in pp and PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair. In central PbPb collisions, the splitting function indicates a more unbalanced momentum ratio, compared to peripheral PbPb and pp collisions.. The measurements are compared to various predictions from event generators and analytical calculations.

The observation of the standard model (SM) Higgs boson decay to a pair of bottom quarks is presented. The main contribution to this result is from processes in which Higgs bosons arc produced in association with a W or Z boson (VH), and are searched for in final states including 0, 1, or 2 charged leptons and two identified bottom quark jets. The results from the measurement of these processes in a data sample recorded by the CMS experiment in 2017, comprising 41.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, are described. When combined with previous VH measurements using data collected at root s = 7, 8, and 13 TeV, an excess of events is observed at m(H) = 125 GeV with a significance of 4.8 standard deviations, where the expectation for the SM Higgs boson is 4.9. The corresponding measured signal strength is 1.01 +/- 0.22. The combination of this result with searches by the CMS experiment for H -> b (b) over bar in other production processes yields an observed (expected) significance of 5.6 (5.5) standard deviations and a signal strength of 1.04 +/- 0.20.

A search for an exotic decay of the Higgs boson to a pair of light pseudoscalar bosons is performed for the first time in the final state with two b quarks and two tau leptons. The search is motivated in the context of models of physics beyond the standard model (SM), such as two Higgs doublet models extended with a complex scalar singlet (2HDM + S), which include the next-to-minimal supersymmetric SM (NMSSM). The results are based on a data set of proton-proton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), accumulated by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Masses of the pseudoscalar boson between 15 and 60 GeVare probed, and no excess of events above the SM expectation is observed. Upper limits between 3 and 12% are set on the branching fraction B(h -> aa -> 2 tau 2b) assuming the SM production of the Higgs boson. Upper limits are also set on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson to two light pseudoscalar bosons in different 2HDM + S scenarios. Assuming the SM production cross section for the Higgs boson, the upper limit on this quantity is as low as 20% for a mass of the pseudoscalar of 40 GeV in the NMSSM. (C) 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.

A search for heavy resonances decaying to a pair of Z bosons is performed using data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. Events are selected by requiring two oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons), consistent with the decay of a Z boson, and large missing transverse momentum, which is interpreted as arising from the decay of a second Z boson to two neutrinos. The analysis uses data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The hypothesis of a spin-2 bulk graviton (X) decaying to a pair of Z bosons is examined for 600 ZZ ranging from 100 to 4 fb. For bulk graviton models characterized by a curvature scale parameter (k) over tilde = 0.5 in the extra dimension, the region nix <800 GeV is excluded, providing the most stringent limit reported to date. Variations of the model considering the possibility of a wide resonance produced exclusively via gluon-gluon fusion or q annihilation are also examined.