CMS logoCMS event Hgg
Compact Muon Solenoid
LHC, CERN

CMS-PAS-BPH-16-001
Observation of the decay $\mathrm{Z}\to\psi\,\ell^+\ell^-$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV
Abstract: The observation is presented of the Z boson rare decay to a $\psi$ meson and two oppositely charged same-flavor leptons, $\ell^+ \ell^-$, where $\psi$ represents the sum of $\mathrm{J}/\psi$ and $\psi(\mathrm{2S})\to\mathrm{J}/\psi\,X$, and $\ell=\mu$, e. The data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$ accumulated by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. The signal is observed with a significance in excess of 5 standard deviations. Removing contributions from $\psi(\mathrm{2S})$ decays to $\mathrm{J}/\psi$, the signal is interpreted as being entirely from $\mathrm{Z}\to\mathrm{J}/\psi\,\ell^+\ell^-$, with its fiducial branching fraction relative to that of the decay $\mathrm{Z}\to\mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-$ measured to be $ {\mathcal{B}(\mathrm{Z}\to\mathrm{J}/\psi\,\ell^+\ell^-)}/{\mathcal{B}(\mathrm{Z}\to\mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-)}= $ 0.70 $\pm$ 0.18 (stat) $\pm$ 0.05 (syst). This result is obtained with the assumption of no $ \mathrm{J}/\psi$ polarization. Extreme polarization scenarios give a variation of the fiducial branching fraction measurement of ($ - $ 22 to $+$ 24)%.
Figures & Tables Summary References CMS Publications
Figures

png pdf
Figure 1:
Leading-order diagram for the $ {{\mathrm {Z}} \to {{\mathrm {J} / \psi}} + \ell ^+\ell ^-} $ process.

png pdf
Figure 2:
Distribution of invariant masses $m_{{\mu ^+} {{\mu ^-}}}$ vs. $m_{{\psi + \ell ^+\ell ^-}}$ for selected candidates.

png pdf
Figure 3:
Invariant mass distributions for the $\psi $ muon pairs (left) and for ${\psi + \ell ^+\ell ^-}$ (right), for$ {{\mathrm {Z}} \to \psi + {{\mu ^+}} {{\mu ^-}}}$ (upper) and ${{\mathrm {Z}} \to \psi + {\mathrm {e}^+} {\mathrm {e}^-}}$ (lower) candidates. In each histogram the data are represented with filled circles, and the solid line curve is the overall fit to the data. The shaded region corresponds to the signal yield, while the dashed lines are the $\psi $ signal from the Z background (left) and the Z signal extracted from the $\psi $ background (right).

png
Figure 3-a:
Invariant mass distribution for the $\psi $ muon pairs, for $ {{\mathrm {Z}} \to \psi + {{\mu ^+}} {{\mu ^-}}}$ candidates. The data are represented with filled circles, and the solid line curve is the overall fit to the data. The shaded region corresponds to the signal yield, while the dashed lines are the $\psi $ signal from the Z background.

png
Figure 3-b:
Invariant mass distribution for for ${\psi + \mu ^+\mu ^-}$, for $ {{\mathrm {Z}} \to \psi + {{\mu ^+}} {{\mu ^-}}}$ candidates. The data are represented with filled circles, and the solid line curve is the overall fit to the data. The shaded region corresponds to the signal yield, while the dashed lines are the $\psi $ signal from the Z signal extracted from the $\psi $ background.

png
Figure 3-c:
Invariant mass distribution for the $\psi $ muon pairs, for ${{\mathrm {Z}} \to \psi + {\mathrm {e}^+} {\mathrm {e}^-}}$ candidates. The data are represented with filled circles, and the solid line curve is the overall fit to the data. The shaded region corresponds to the signal yield, while the dashed lines are the $\psi $ signal from the Z background.

png
Figure 3-d:
Invariant mass distribution for ${\psi + \mathrm{e} ^+ \mathrm{e} ^-}$, for ${{\mathrm {Z}} \to \psi + {\mathrm {e}^+} {\mathrm {e}^-}}$ candidates. The data are represented with filled circles, and the solid line curve is the overall fit to the data. The shaded region corresponds to the signal yield, while the dashed lines are the $\psi $ signal from the Z signal extracted from the $\psi $ background.
Tables

png pdf
Table 1:
Selection definitions for the branching fraction ratio. Here, $\ell $ refers to a prompt muon or electron from the signal decay, or to either of the two leading muons from the reference decay. Subscripts give the lepton ${p_{\mathrm {T}}}$ rank in decreasing order.

png pdf
Table 2:
The contributions to the systematic uncertainty in the ratio of the branching fractions for the prompt muon and prompt electron channels, and their sum, in percent.

png pdf
Table 3:
Variations in percent of the ratio of branching fractions for different ${{\mathrm {J} / \psi}}$ polarizations with respect to the value found assuming an unpolarized scenario.
Summary
In summary, a new decay mode of the Z boson into a $\psi$ meson, where $\psi$ is the sum of $\mathrm{J}/\psi$ and $ \psi(2\text{S})\to\mathrm{J}/\psi\,X$, and an additional pair of leptons (muons or electrons) is observed with a statistical significance greater than 5$\sigma$. Using 35.9 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collisions collected with the CMS detector at $\sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV, 13.0 $\pm$ 3.9 events of the decay $\mathrm{Z}\to\psi\,\mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ and 11.2 $\pm$ 3.4 events of the decay $\mathrm{Z}\to \psi\,\mathrm{e^{+}}\mathrm{e^{-}}$ are observed. This is the first observation of the Z boson decay to a vector meson and two oppositely charged same-flavor leptons. The ratio of the branching fraction for this decay to the branching fraction for the reference channel $\mathrm{Z} \to 4 \mu $ in the fiducial phase-space of the experiment is $\mathcal{R}_{\mathrm{J}/\psi\,\ell^+\ell^-} = $ 0.70 $\pm$ 0.18 (stat) $\pm$ 0.05 (syst). Extreme $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ polarization scenarios imply $\approx$20% variations of this result. These variations can be reduced in the future with larger data samples and improved calculations of the kinematics of the signal process.
References
1 UA1 Collaboration Experimental observation of lepton pairs of invariant mass around $ 95 \mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c}^2 $ at the CERN SPS collider PLB126 (1983) 398
2 OPAL Collaboration A measurement of photon radiation in lepton pair events from $ Z^0 $ decays PLB273 (1991) 338
3 CMS Collaboration Observation of $ \mathrm{Z} $ decays to four leptons with the CMS detector at the LHC JHEP 12 (2012) 034 CMS-SMP-12-009
1210.3844
4 CMS Collaboration Measurement of the ZZ production cross section and Z $ \to \ell^+\ell^-\ell'^+\ell'^- $ branching fraction in pp collisions at $ \sqrt s = $ 13 TeV PLB763 (2016) 280 CMS-SMP-16-001
1607.08834
5 CMS Collaboration Measurements of the pp$ \to $ZZ production cross section and the Z$ \to 4\ell $ branching fraction, and constraints on anomalous triple gauge couplings at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV To be published in \it EPJC CMS-SMP-16-017
1709.08601
6 ATLAS Collaboration Measurements of four-lepton production at the $ \mathrm{Z} $ resonance in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 7 and $ 8 \mathrm{TeV} $ with ATLAS PRL 112 (2014) 231806 1403.5657
7 ATLAS Collaboration Measurements of four-lepton production in $ pp $ collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector PLB753 (2016) 552 1509.07844
8 L. Bergstrom and R. W. Robinett $ \mathrm{Z} $ decay into a vector meson and a lepton pair PLB245 (1990) 249
9 S. Fleming Electromagnetic production of quarkonium in $ \mathrm{Z} $ decay PRD48 (1993) 1914 hep-ph/9304270
10 S. Fleming $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ production from electromagnetic fragmentation in $ \mathrm{Z} $ decay PRD50 (1994) 5808 hep-ph/9403396
11 R. Li and J.-X. Wang The next-to-leading-order QCD correction to inclusive $ \mathrm{J}/\psi(\Upsilon) $ production in $ \mathrm{Z} $ decay PRD82 (2010) 054006 1007.2368
12 K. C. E. Braaten and T. C. Yuan $ \mathrm{Z} $ decay into charmonium via charm quark fragmentation PRD48 (1993) 4230 hep-ph/9302307
13 P. Ernstrom, L. Lonnblad, and M. Vanttinen Evolution effects in $ \mathrm{Z} $ fragmentation into charmonium Z. Phys. C76 (1997) 515 hep-ph/9612408
14 L. Bergstrom and R. W. Robinett On the rare decays $ \mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{V V} $ and $ \mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{V P} $ PRD41 (1990) 3513
15 M. N. Doroshenko, V. G. Kartvelishvili, E. G. Chikovani, and S. M. Esakiya Vector quarkonium in decays of heavy Higgs particles. (In Russian and in English) Yad. Fiz. 46 (1987) 864.[Sov. J. NP 46 (1987) 493]
16 D.-N. Gao A note on Higgs decays into $ \mathrm{Z} $ boson and $ \mathrm{J}/\psi( \Upsilon $) PLB737 (2014) 366 1406.7102
17 T. Modak and R. Srivastava Probing anomalous Higgs couplings in $ \mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{Z} \mathrm{V} $ decays MPLA32 (2017) 1750004 1411.2210
18 CMS Collaboration Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in $ {\mathrm{p}}{\mathrm{p}}\ $ collision events at $ \sqrt{s}=7 \mathrm{TeV} $ JINST 7 (2012) P10002 CMS-MUO-10-004
1206.4071
19 CMS Collaboration Performance of electron reconstruction and selection with the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = 8 \mathrm{TeV} $ JINST 10 (2015) P06005 CMS-EGM-13-001
1502.02701
20 CMS Collaboration The CMS experiment at the CERN LHC JINST 3 (2008) S08004 CMS-00-001
21 Particle Data Group, C. Patrignani et al. Review of particle physics CPC40 (2016) 100001
22 S. Frixione, P. Nason, and C. Oleari Matching NLO QCD computations with parton shower simulations: the $ POWHEG $ method JHEP 11 (2007) 070 0709.2092
23 T. Melia, P. Nason, R. Rontsch, and G. Zanderighi $ \mathrm{W^+W^-} $, WZ and ZZ production in the $ POWHEG $ BOX JHEP 11 (2011) 078 1107.5051
24 T. Sjostrand, S. Mrenna, and P. Skands PYTHIA 6.4 physics and manual JHEP 05 (2006) 026 hep-ph/0603175
25 T. Sjostrand, S. Mrenna, and P. Z. Skands A brief introduction to PYTHIA 8.1 CPC 178 (2008) 852 0710.3820
26 T. Sjostrand et al. An introduction to PYTHIA 8.2 CPC 191 (2015) 159 1410.3012
27 CMS Collaboration Event generator tunes obtained from underlying event and multiparton scattering measurements EPJC76 (2016), no. 3, 155 CMS-GEN-14-001
1512.00815
28 NNPDF Collaboration Parton distributions for the LHC Run II JHEP 04 (2015) 040 1410.8849
29 GEANT4 Collaboration GEANT4---a simulation toolkit NIMA 506 (2003) 250
30 R. A. Fisher Combining independent tests of significance The American Statistician, 2, issue 5 (1948) 30
31 M. J. Oreglia A study of the reactions $\psi' \to \gamma\gamma \psi$ PhD thesis, Stanford University, 1980 SLAC Report SLAC-R-236, see Appendix D
32 M. Pivk and F. R. Le Diberder SPlot: A statistical tool to unfold data distributions NIMA555 (2005) 356 physics/0402083
33 P. Faccioli, C. Lourenco, J. Seixas, and H. K. Wohri Towards the experimental clarification of quarkonium polarization EPJC69 (2010) 657 1006.2738
Compact Muon Solenoid
LHC, CERN