In the past few weeks the physics groups have concentrated their activities on wrapping up the new results for the LHCP conference (June 2nd-7th) and preparing for ICHEP (July 2nd-6th).

We have presented 12 new results at LHCP, excluding the very recent Heavy Ion results and we might have as many as 40 new results ready for ICHEP. This will create non-negligible logistic problems, especially during the coming CMS Week (June 23rd-27th) that coincides with the last possible dates for ICHEP approvals.

Among the results that will be ready to be shown at ICHEP, if not before, is the final H→γγ analysis (HIG-13-001). The related publication has just passed the Final Reading step (on Thursday, June 5th) with no showstoppers on its way. The H→γγ analysis is the last of the major Higgs “legacy analyses” and its completion is one of the major milestones of CMS. Its publication will be accompanied by a new Higgs combination preliminary result (the HIG-14-009 PAS) which is scheduled for approval at the Weekly General Meeting of June 11th. This is a timely achievement that pairs with the interesting new ATLAS Higgs mass measurement that was presented at LHCP.

On the searches arena a beautiful recent CMS result, highlighted a few times during LHCP, is a search for supersymmetry (or more general BSM physics) using displaced leptons. It is motivated by the search of long-lived particles in a range so far not totally covered by the standard long-lived searches: between 0.01 and 1.00 cm. As a benchmark scenario, the stop RPV decay into a bottom quark and a lepton is considered. In this scenario, a limit on the stop mass of ~800 GeV for an assumed of 1 cm is obtained. The lower limit curve versus the proper decay time is also given. For the final paper a complete efficiency map vs pT, η and impact parameter will be provided so as to enable theorists to fit their own preferred model.

On the POG front we now have in line a number of performance papers for electrons and photons (EGM-13-001 and EGM-14-001) as well as boosted bosons taggers and new PileUp mitigation techniques (JME-14-002 and JME-14-001). All of them are foreseen to be completed by the end of Summer 2014.

The preparations for CSA14 are continuing with the main concern now being the availability of MC samples in time for the startup of the exercises. Several meetings have been dedicated to staging the program of work so as to allow at least one of the planned three beam-conditions scenarios to be available in time for July 1st for use by POG/PAG groups. More on this will be reported during the CMS Week.

by Luca Malgeri