An analysis of the flavour structure of dimension-6 effective field theory (EFT) operators in multilepton final states is presented, focusing on the interactions of quarks with Z bosons. For the first time, the flavour structure of these operators is disentangled by simultaneously probing the interactions with different quark generations. The analysis targets the associated production of a top quark pair and a Z boson, as well as diboson processes in final states with at least three leptons, which can be electrons or muons. The data were marc:recorded by the CMS experiment in the years 2016–2018 in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{−1}$. Consistency with the standard model of particle physics is observed and limits are set on the selected Wilson coefficients, split into couplings to light- and heavy-quark generations.[graphic not available: see fulltext]
Bein, S., Benecke, A., Bethani, A., Bruno, G., Cappati, A., de Favereau de Jeneret, J., Delaere, C., Giammanco, A., Guzel, A., Lemaitre, V., Lidrych, J., Malek, P., Mastrapasqua, P., Turkcapar, S., CMS, & et al. (2026). Probing the flavour structure of dimension-6 EFT operators in multilepton final states in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=13 $ TeV. Journal of High Energy Physics, 03. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2026)140 (Original work published 2026)