A search for R-parity-violating supersymmetry in final states with high jet multiplicity is presented. The search uses $140{\text{fb}^{-1}}$ of proton--proton collision data at $\sqrt{s} = 13{TeV}$ ...collected by the ATLAS experiment during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. The results are interpreted in the context of R-parity-violating supersymmetry models that feature prompt gluino-pair production decaying directly to three jets each or decaying to two jets and a neutralino which subsequently decays promptly to three jets. No significant excess over the Standard Model expectation is observed and exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are extracted. Gluinos with masses up to 1800 GeV are excluded when decaying directly to three jets. In the cascade scenario, gluinos with masses up to 2340 GeV are excluded for a neutralino with mass up to 1250 GeV
A search for a heavy CP-odd Higgs boson, $A$, decaying into a $Z$ boson and a heavy CP-even Higgs boson, $H$, is presented. It uses the full LHC Run 2 dataset of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV ...collected with the ATLAS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $140$ fb$^{-1}$. The search for $A\to ZH$ is performed in the $\ell^+\ell^- t\bar{t}$ and $\nu\bar{\nu}b\bar{b}$ final states and surpasses the reach of previous searches in different final states in the region with $m_H>350$ GeV and $m_A>800$ GeV. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation is found. Upper limits are placed on the production cross-section times the decay branching ratios. Limits with less model dependence are also presented as functions of the reconstructed $m(t\bar{t})$ and $m(b\bar{b})$ distributions in the $\ell^+\ell^- t\bar{t}$ and $\nu\bar{\nu}b\bar{b}$ channels, respectively. In addition, the results are interpreted in the context of two-Higgs-doublet models.
A search for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in the $b\bar{b}\gamma\gamma$ final state is performed using 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV ...recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. This analysis supersedes and expands upon the previous nonresonant ATLAS results in this final state based on the same data sample. The analysis strategy is optimised to probe anomalous values not only of the Higgs ($H$) boson self-coupling modifier $\kappa_\lambda$ but also of the quartic $HHVV$ ($V=W,Z$) coupling modifier $\kappa_{2V}$. No significant excess above the expected background from Standard Model processes is observed. An observed upper limit $\mu_{HH}<4.0$ is set at 95% confidence level on the Higgs boson pair production cross-section normalised to its Standard Model prediction. The 95% confidence intervals for the coupling modifiers are $-1.4<\kappa_\lambda<6.9$ and $-0.5<\kappa_{2V}<2.7$, assuming all other Higgs boson couplings except the one under study are fixed to the Standard Model predictions. The results are interpreted in the Standard Model effective field theory and Higgs effective field theory frameworks in terms of constraints on the couplings of anomalous Higgs boson (self-)interactions.
A search for non-resonant Higgs boson pair ($HH$) production is presented, in which one of the Higgs bosons decays to a b-quark pair ($b\bar b$) and the other decays to $WW^*$, $ZZ^*$, or ...$\tau^+\tau^-$, with in each case a final state with $\ell^+\ell^- +$ neutrinos ($\ell = e, \mu$). The analysis targets separately the gluon-gluon fusion and vector boson fusion production modes. Data recorded by the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $140\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$, are used in this analysis. Events are selected to have exactly two $b$-tagged jets and two leptons with opposite electric charge and missing transverse momentum in the final state. These events are classified using multivariate analysis algorithms to separate the $HH$ events from other Standard Model processes. No evidence of the signal is found. The observed (expected) upper limit on the cross-section for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production is determined to be 9.7 (16.2) times the Standard Model prediction at 95% confidence level. The Higgs boson self-interaction coupling parameter $\kappa_\lambda$ and the quadrilinear coupling parameter $\kappa_{2V}$ are each separately constrained by this analysis to be within the ranges ${-6.2, 13.3}$ and ${-0.17, 2.4}$, respectively, at 95% confidence level, when all other parameters are fixed.
A search is made for potential $cc\bar{c}\bar{c}$ tetraquarks decaying into a pair of charmonium states in the four muon final state using proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV, ...corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the ATLAS experiment at LHC. Two decay channels, $J/\psi+J/\psi \rightarrow 4\mu$ and $J/\psi+\psi(2S) \rightarrow 4\mu$, are studied. Backgrounds are estimated based on a hybrid approach involving Monte Carlo simulations and data-driven methods. Statistically significant excesses are seen in the di-$J/\psi$ channel consistent with a narrow resonance at 6.9 GeV and a broader structure at lower mass. A statistically significant excess is also seen in the $J/\psi$+$\psi$(2S) channel. The fitted masses and decay widths of the structures are reported.
The total and differential Higgs boson production cross-sections are measured through a combined statistical analysis of the H → ZZ$^{*}$ → 4ℓ and H → γγ decay channels. The results are based on a ...dataset of 139 fb$^{−1}$ of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measured total Higgs boson production cross-section is $ {55.5}_{-3.8}^{+4.0} $ pb, consistent with the Standard Model prediction of 55.6 ± 2.5 pb. All results from the two decay channels are compatible with each other, and their combination agrees with the Standard Model predictions. A combined statistical interpretation of the measured fiducial cross-sections as a function of the Higgs boson transverse momentum is performed in order to probe the Yukawa couplings to the bottom and charm quarks. A similar interpretation is performed by including also the constraints from the measurements of Higgs boson production in association with a W or Z boson in the H →$ b\overline{b} $ and $ c\overline{c} $ decay channels.graphic not available: see fulltext
A study of the polarisation and CP properties in $ZZ$ production is presented. The used data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a ...centre-of-mass energy of $13$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The $ZZ$ candidate events are reconstructed using two same-flavour opposite-charge electron or muon pairs. The production of two longitudinally polarised $Z$ bosons is measured with a significance of 4.3 standard deviations, and its cross-section is measured in a fiducial phase space to be $2.45 \pm 0.60$ fb, consistent with the next-to-leading-order Standard Model prediction. The inclusive differential cross-section as a function of a CP-sensitive angular observable is also measured. The results are used to constrain anomalous CP-odd neutral triple gauge couplings.
A simultaneous measurement of the three components of the top-quark and top-antiquark polarisation vectors in $t$-channel single-top-quark production is presented. This analysis is based on data from ...proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$, collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Selected events contain exactly one isolated electron or muon, large missing transverse momentum and exactly two jets, one being $b$-tagged. Stringent selection requirements are applied to discriminate $t$-channel single-top-quark events from the background contributions. The top-quark and top-antiquark polarisation vectors are measured from the distributions of the direction cosines of the charged-lepton momentum in the top-quark rest frame. The three components of the polarisation vector for the selected top-quark event sample are $P_{x'} =0.01\pm0.18$, $P_{y'} = -0.029\pm0.027$, $P_{z'} =0.91\pm0.10$ and for the top-antiquark event sample they are $P_{x'} = -0.02\pm0.20$, $P_{y'} = -0.007\pm0.051$, $P_{z'} = -0.79\pm 0.16$. Normalised differential cross-sections corrected to a fiducial region at the stable-particle level are presented as a function of the charged-lepton angles for top-quark and top-antiquark events inclusively and separately. These measurements are in agreement with Standard Model predictions. The angular differential cross-sections are used to derive bounds on the complex Wilson coefficient of the dimension-six $\mathcal{O}_{tW}$ operator in the framework of an effective field theory. The obtained bounds are $C_{tW} \in\ -0.9,1.4$ and $C_{itW} \in -0.8,0.2$, both at 95% confidence level.
Measurements of the production cross-sections of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson (H) decaying into a pair of τ-leptons are presented. The measurements use data collected with the ATLAS detector ...from pp collisions produced at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{−1}$. Leptonic (τ → ℓν$_{ℓ}$ν$_{τ}$) and hadronic (τ → hadrons ν$_{τ}$) decays of the τ-lepton are considered. All measurements account for the branching ratio of H → ττ and are performed with a requirement |y$_{H}$| < 2.5, where y$_{H}$ is the true Higgs boson rapidity. The cross-section of the pp → H → ττ process is measured to be 2.94 ±$ 0.21{\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)}_{-0.32}^{+0.37} $(syst) pb, in agreement with the SM prediction of 3.17 ± 0.09 pb. Inclusive cross-sections are determined separately for the four dominant production modes: 2.65 ±$ 0.41{\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)}_{-0.67}^{+0.91} $(syst) pb for gluon-gluon fusion, 0.197 ±$ 0.028{\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)}_{-0.026}^{+0.032} $(syst) pb for vector-boson fusion, 0.115 ±$ 0.058{\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)}_{-0.040}^{+0.042} $(syst) pb for vector-boson associated production, and 0.033 ±$ 0.031{\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)}_{-0.017}^{+0.022} $(syst) pb for top-quark pair associated production. Measurements in exclusive regions of the phase space, using the simplified template cross-section framework, are also performed. All results are in agreement with the SM predictions.graphic not available: see fulltext
A study of $B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^+$ and $B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^{*+}$ decays using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected with the ATLAS detector from $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV $pp$ collisions at the ...LHC is presented. The ratios of the branching fractions of the two decays to the branching fraction of the $B_c^+\to J/\psi \pi^+$ decay are measured: $\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^+)/\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi \pi^+) = 2.76\pm 0.47$ and $\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^{*+})/\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi \pi^+) = 5.33\pm 0.96$. The ratio of the branching fractions of the two decays is found to be $\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^{*+})/\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^+) = 1.93\pm0.26$. For the $B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^{*+}$ decay, the transverse polarization fraction, $\Gamma_{\pm\pm}/\Gamma$, is measured to be $0.70\pm0.11$. The reported uncertainties include both the statistical and systematic components added in quadrature. The precision of the measurements exceeds that in all previous studies of these decays. These results supersede those obtained in the earlier ATLAS study of the same decays with $\sqrt{s} = 7$ and 8 TeV $pp$ collision data. A comparison with available theoretical predictions for the measured quantities is presented.
