Pseudorapidity (η) distributions of charged particles produced in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV are measured in the ranges |η| < 2.2 and 5.3 < |η| < 6.4 covered by the CMS and TOTEM detectors, respectively. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of L = 45 µb −1 . Measurements are presented for three event categories. The most inclusive category is sensitive to 91-96 % of the total inelastic proton-proton cross section. The other two categories are disjoint subsets of the inclusive sample that are either enhanced or depleted in single diffractive dissociation events. The data are compared to models used to describe high-energy hadronic interactions. None of the models considered provide a consistent description of the measured distributions.

The suppression of the individual Υ(nS) states in PbPb collisions with respect to their yields in pp data has been measured. The PbPb and pp data sets used in the analysis correspond to integrated luminosities of 150 μb(-1) and 230 nb(-1), respectively, collected in 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC, at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 2.76 TeV. The Υ(nS) yields are measured from the dimuon invariant mass spectra. The suppression of the Υ(nS) yields in PbPb relative to the yields in pp, scaled by the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions, R(AA), is measured as a function of the collision centrality. Integrated over centrality, the R(AA) values are 0.56±0.08(stat)±0.07(syst), 0.12±0.04(stat)±0.02(syst), and lower than 0.10 (at 95% confidence level), for the Υ(1S), Υ(2S), and Υ(3S) states, respectively. The results demonstrate the sequential suppression of the Υ(nS) states in PbPb collisions at LHC energies.

Measurements of inclusive charged-hadron transverse-momentum and pseudorapidity distributions are presented for proton-proton collisions at √ s = 0.9 and 2.36 TeV. The data were collected with the CMS detector during the LHC commissioning in December 2009. For non-single-diffractive interactions, the average charged-hadron transverse momentum is measured to be 0.46 ± 0.01 (stat.) ± 0.01 (syst.) GeV/c at 0.9 TeV and 0.50 ± 0.01 (stat.) ± 0.01 (syst.) GeV/c at 2.36 TeV, for pseudorapidities between −2.4 and +2.4. At these energies, the measured pseudorapidity densities in the central region, dN ch /dη| |η|<0.5 , are 3.48 ± 0.02 (stat.) ± 0.13 (syst.) and 4.47 ± 0.04 (stat.) ± 0.16 (syst.), respectively. The results at 0.9 TeV are in agreement with previous measurements and confirm the expectation of near equal hadron production in pp and pp collisions. The results at 2.36 TeV represent the highest-energy measurements at a particle collider to date.

The angular distributions and the differential branching fraction of the decay B 0 → K * (892) 0 µ + µ − are studied using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.5 fb −1 collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV. From 1430 signal decays, the forward-backward asymmetry of the muons, the K * (892) 0 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.

Yields of prompt and non-prompt J/ψ, as well as Υ(1S) mesons, are measured by the CMS experiment via their µ + µ − decays in PbPb and pp collisions at √ s NN = 2.76 TeV for quarkonium rapidity |y| < 2.4. Differential cross sections and nuclear modification factors are reported as functions of y and transverse momentum p T , as well as collision centrality. For prompt J/ψ with relatively high p T (6.5 < p T < 30 GeV/c), a strong, centrality-dependent suppression is observed in PbPb collisions, compared to the yield in pp collisions scaled by the number of inelastic nucleon-nucleon collisions. In the same kinematic range, a suppression of non-prompt J/ψ, which is sensitive to the in-medium b-quark energy loss, is measured for the first time. Also the low-p T Υ(1S) mesons are suppressed in PbPb collisions.