Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Measurement of the associated production of a Higgs boson decaying into b-quarks with a vector boson at high transverse momentum in pp collisions at s=13\sqrt{s}=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The associated production of a Higgs boson with a W or Z boson decaying into leptons and where the Higgs boson decays to a pair is measured in the high vector-boson transverse momentum regime, above 250 GeV, with the ATLAS detector. The analysed data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of , were collected in proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of . The measured signal strength, defined as the ratio of the measured signal yield to that predicted by the Standard Model, is corresponding to an observed (expected) significance of 2.1 (2.7) standard deviations. Cross-sections of associated production of a Higgs boson decaying into b quark pairs with a W or Z gauge boson, decaying into leptons, are measured in two exclusive vector boson transverse momentum regions, 250–400 GeV and above 400 GeV, and interpreted as constraints on anomalous couplings in the framework of a Standard Model effective field theory

Medium-Induced Modification of Z-Tagged Charged Particle Yields in Pb+Pb Collisions at 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

The yield of charged particles opposite to a Z boson with large transverse momentum ( p T ) is measured in 260     pb − 1 of p p and 1.7     nb − 1 of Pb + Pb collision data at 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The Z boson tag is used to select hard-scattered partons with specific kinematics, and to observe how their showers are modified as they propagate through the quark-gluon plasma created in Pb + Pb collisions. Compared with p p collisions, charged-particle yields in Pb + Pb collisions show significant modifications as a function of charged-particle p T in a way that depends on event centrality and Z boson p T . The data are compared with a variety of theoretical calculations and provide new information about the medium-induced energy loss of partons in a p T regime difficult to measure through other channels

Search for pair production of third-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying into a top quark and a τ-lepton in pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for pair production of third-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying into a top quark and a τ-lepton is presented. The search is based on a dataset of pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. Events are selected if they have one light lepton (electron or muon) and at least one hadronically decaying τ -lepton, or at least two light leptons. In addition, two or more jets, at least one of which must be identified as containing b-hadrons, are required. Six final states, defined by the multiplicity and flavour of lepton candidates, are considered in the analysis. Each of them is split into multiple event categories to simultaneously search for the signal and constrain several leading backgrounds. The signal-rich event categories require at least one hadronically decaying τ-lepton candidate and exploit the presence of energetic final-state objects, which is characteristic of signal events. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed in any of the considered event categories, and 95% CL upper limits are set on the production cross section as a function of the leptoquark mass, for different assumptions about the branching fractions into tτ and bν. Scalar leptoquarks decaying exclusively into tτ are excluded up to masses of 1.43 TeV while, for a branching fraction of 50% into tτ, the lower mass limit is 1.22 TeV

Search for long-lived, massive particles in events with a displaced vertex and a muon with large impact parameter in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for long-lived particles decaying into hadrons and at least one muon is presented. The analysis selects events that pass a muon or missing-transverse-momentum trigger and contain a displaced muon track and a displaced vertex. The analyzed dataset of proton-proton collisions at √ s = 13 TeV was collected with the ATLAS detector and corresponds to 136 fb − 1. The search employs dedicated reconstruction techniques that significantly increase the sensitivity to long-lived particle decays that occur in the ATLAS inner detector. Background estimates for Standard Model processes and instrumental effects are extracted from data. The observed event yields are compatible with those expected from background processes. The results are presented as limits at 95% confidence level on model-independent cross sections for processes beyond the Standard Model, and interpreted as exclusion limits in scenarios with pair production of long-lived top squarks that decay via a small R -parity-violating coupling into a quark and a muon. Top squarks with masses up to 1.7 TeV are excluded for a lifetime of 0.1 ns, and masses below 1.3 TeV are excluded for lifetimes between 0.01 ns and 30 ns

Search for bottom-squark pair production in pp collision events at √s=13 TeV with hadronically decaying τ-leptons, b-jets, and missing transverse momentum using the ATLAS detector

A search for pair production of bottom squarks in events with hadronically decaying τ -leptons, b -tagged jets, and large missing transverse momentum is presented. The analyzed dataset is based on proton-proton collisions at √ s = 13     TeV delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded by the ATLAS detector from 2015 to 2018, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139     fb − 1 . The observed data are compatible with the expected Standard Model background. Results are interpreted in a simplified model where each bottom squark is assumed to decay into the second-lightest neutralino ˜ χ 0 2 and a bottom quark, with ˜ χ 0 2 decaying into a Higgs boson and the lightest neutralino ˜ χ 0 1 . The search focuses on final states where at least one Higgs boson decays into a pair of hadronically decaying τ -leptons. This allows the acceptance and thus the sensitivity to be significantly improved relative to the previous results at low masses of the ˜ χ 0 2 , where bottom-squark masses up to 850 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, assuming a mass difference of 130 GeV between ˜ χ 0 2 and ˜ χ 0 1 . Model-independent upper limits are also set on the cross section of processes beyond the Standard Model

Search for heavy diboson resonances in semileptonic final states in pp collisions at s√=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports on a search for heavy resonances decaying into WW, ZZ or WZ using proton–proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=13 TeV. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb1, were recorded with the ATLAS detector from 2015 to 2018 at the Large Hadron Collider. The search is performed for final states in which one W or Z boson decays leptonically, and the other W boson or Z boson decays hadronically. The data are found to be described well by expected backgrounds. Upper bounds on the production cross sections of heavy scalar, vector or tensor resonances are derived in the mass range 300–5000 GeV within the context of Standard Model extensions with warped extra dimensions or including a heavy vector triplet. Production through gluon–gluon fusion, Drell–Yan or vector-boson fusion are considered, depending on the assumed model

Search for long-lived neutral particles produced in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV decaying into displaced hadronic jets in the ATLAS inner detector and muon spectrometer

A search is presented for pair production of long-lived neutral particles using 33     fb − 1 of √ s = 13     TeV proton–proton collision data, collected during 2016 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This search focuses on a topology in which one long-lived particle decays in the ATLAS inner detector and the other decays in the muon spectrometer. Special techniques are employed to reconstruct the displaced tracks and vertices in the inner detector and in the muon spectrometer. One event is observed that passes the full event selection, which is consistent with the estimated background. Limits are placed on scalar boson propagators with masses from 125 GeV to 1000 GeV decaying into pairs of long-lived hidden-sector scalars with masses from 8 GeV to 400 GeV. The limits placed on several low-mass scalars extend previous exclusion limits in the range of proper lifetimes c τ from 5 cm to 1 m

Search for excited electrons singly produced in proton–proton collisions at \sqrt{s} = 13 TeV with the ALAS experiment at the LHC

A search for excited electrons produced in pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV via a contact interaction qq¯→ee∗ is presented. The search uses 36.1 fb −1 of data collected in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Decays of the excited electron into an electron and a pair of quarks ( eqq¯ ) are targeted in final states with two electrons and two hadronic jets, and decays via a gauge interaction into a neutrino and a W boson ( νW ) are probed in final states with an electron, missing transverse momentum, and a large-radius jet consistent with a hadronically decaying W boson. No significant excess is observed over the expected backgrounds. Upper limits are calculated for the pp→ee∗→eeqq¯ and pp→ee∗→eνW production cross sections as a function of the excited electron mass me∗ at 95% confidence level. The limits are translated into lower bounds on the compositeness scale parameter Λ of the model as a function of me∗ . For me∗<0.5 TeV , the lower bound for Λ is 11 TeV . In the special case of me∗=Λ , the values of me∗<4.8 TeV are excluded. The presented limits on Λ are more stringent than those obtained in previous searches

Reconstruction and identification of boosted di-τ systems in a search for Higgs boson pairs using 13 TeV proton-proton collision data in ATLAS

In this paper, a new technique for reconstructing and identifying hadronically decaying τ+τ− pairs with a large Lorentz boost, referred to as the di-τ tagger, is developed and used for the first time in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. A benchmark di-τ tagging selection is employed in the search for resonant Higgs boson pair production, where one Higgs boson decays into a boosted bb¯¯ pair and the other into a boosted τ+τ− pair, with two hadronically decaying τ-leptons in the final state. Using 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, the efficiency of the di-τ tagger is determined and the background with quark- or gluon-initiated jets misidentified as di-τ objects is estimated. The search for a heavy, narrow, scalar resonance produced via gluon-gluon fusion and decaying into two Higgs bosons is carried out in the mass range 1–3 TeV using the same dataset. No deviations from the Standard Model predictions are observed, and 95% confidence-level exclusion limits are set on this model