Dark matter particles, if sufficiently light, may be produced in decays of the Higgs boson. This Letter presents a statistical combination of searches for H→invisible decays where H is produced ...according to the standard model via vector boson fusion, Z(ℓℓ)H, and W/Z(had)H, all performed with the ATLAS detector using 36.1 fb^{-1} of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrts=13 TeV at the LHC. In combination with the results at sqrts=7 and 8 TeV, an exclusion limit on the H→invisible branching ratio of 0.26(0.17_{-0.05}^{+0.07}) at 95% confidence level is observed (expected).
A search for the supersymmetric partners of quarks and gluons (squarks and gluinos) in final states containing hadronic jets and missing transverse momentum, but no electrons or muons, is presented. ...The data used in this search were recorded in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS experiment in s=13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1. The results are interpreted in the context of various models where squarks and gluinos are pair produced and the neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle. An exclusion limit at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the gluino is set at 2.03 TeV for a simplified model incorporating only a gluino and the lightest neutralino, assuming the lightest neutralino is massless. For a simplified model involving the strong production of mass-degenerate first- and second-generation squarks, squark masses below 1.55 TeV are excluded if the lightest neutralino is massless. These limits substantially extend the region of supersymmetric parameter space previously excluded by searches with the ATLAS detector.
A
bstract
Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses proton-proton collision data corresponding to ...an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb
−1
at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected in 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are required to have at least one jet with a transverse momentum above 250 GeV and no leptons (
e
or
μ
). Several signal regions are considered with increasing requirements on the missing transverse momentum above 250 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model predictions. The results are translated into exclusion limits in models with pair-produced weakly interacting dark-matter candidates, large extra spatial dimensions, and supersymmetric particles in several compressed scenarios.
Algorithms used for the reconstruction and identification of electrons in the central region of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are presented in this paper; these algorithms are ...used in ATLAS physics analyses that involve electrons in the final state and which are based on the 2015 and 2016 proton–proton collision data produced by the LHC at
s
= 13
TeV
. The performance of the electron reconstruction, identification, isolation, and charge identification algorithms is evaluated in data and in simulated samples using electrons from
Z
→
e
e
and
J
/
ψ
→
e
e
decays. Typical examples of combinations of electron reconstruction, identification, and isolation operating points used in ATLAS physics analyses are shown.
The reconstruction of the signal from hadrons and jets emerging from the proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and entering the ATLAS calorimeters is based on a ...three-dimensional topological clustering of individual calorimeter cell signals. The cluster formation follows cell signal-significance patterns generated by electromagnetic and hadronic showers. In this, the clustering algorithm implicitly performs a topological noise suppression by removing cells with insignificant signals which are not in close proximity to cells with significant signals. The resulting
topological cell clusters
have shape and location information, which is exploited to apply a local energy calibration and corrections depending on the nature of the cluster. Topological cell clustering is established as a well-performing calorimeter signal definition for jet and missing transverse momentum reconstruction in ATLAS.
Measurements of the yield and nuclear modification factor, RAA, for inclusive jet production are performed using 0.49 nb−1 of Pb+Pb data at sNN=5.02TeV and 25 pb−1 of pp data at s=5.02TeV with the ...ATLAS detector at the LHC. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with radius parameter R=0.4 and are measured over the transverse momentum range of 40–1000 GeV in six rapidity intervals covering |y|<2.8. The magnitude of RAA increases with increasing jet transverse momentum, reaching a value of approximately 0.6 at 1 TeV in the most central collisions. The magnitude of RAA also increases towards peripheral collisions. The value of RAA is independent of rapidity at low jet transverse momenta, but it is observed to decrease with increasing rapidity at high transverse momenta.
A measurement of production cross sections of the Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions is presented in the H→ττ decay channel. The analysis is performed using 36.1 fb−1 of data recorded by the ...ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of s=13 TeV. All combinations of leptonic (τ→ℓvv¯ with ℓ=e,μ) and hadronic (τ→hadrons v) τ decays are considered. The H→ττ signal over the expected background from other Standard Model processes is established with an observed (expected) significance of 4.4 (4.1) standard deviations. Combined with results obtained using data taken at 7 and 8 TeV center-of-mass energies, the observed (expected) significance amounts to 6.4 (5.4) standard deviations and constitutes an observation of H→ττ decays. Using the data taken at s=13 TeV, the total cross section in the H→ττ decay channel is measured to be 3.77−0.59+0.60 (stat) −0.74+0.87 (syst) pb, for a Higgs boson of mass 125 GeV assuming the relative contributions of its production modes as predicted by the Standard Model. Total cross sections in the H→ττ decay channel are determined separately for vector-boson-fusion production and gluon-gluon-fusion production to be σH→ττVBF=0.28±0.09 (stat) −0.09+0.11 (syst) pb and σH→ττggF=3.1±1.0 (stat) −1.3+1.6 (syst) pb, respectively. Similarly, results of a fit are reported in the framework of simplified template cross sections. All measurements are in agreement with Standard Model expectations.
ATLAS has measured two-particle correlations as a function of the relative azimuthal angle, Deltavarphi, and pseudorapidity, Deltaeta, in s= 13 and 2.76 TeV pp collisions at the LHC using charged ...particles measured in the pseudorapidity interval eta<2.5. The correlation functions evaluated in different intervals of measured charged-particle multiplicity show a multiplicity-dependent enhancement at Deltavarphi 0 that extends over a wide range of Deltaeta, which has been referred to as the "ridge." Per-trigger-particle yields, Y(Deltavarphi), are measured over 2<Deltaeta<5. For both collision energies, the Y(Deltavarphi) distribution in all multiplicity intervals is found to be consistent with a linear combination of the per-trigger-particle yields measured in collisions with less than 20 reconstructed tracks, and a constant combinatoric contribution modulated by cos(2Deltavarphi). The fitted Fourier coefficient, v2,2, exhibits factorization, suggesting that the ridge results from per-event cos(2varphi) modulation of the single-particle distribution with Fourier coefficients upsilon sub(2). The upsilon sub(2) values are presented as a function of multiplicity and transverse momentum. They are found to be approximately constant as a function of multiplicity and to have a pT dependence similar to that measured in p+ Pb and Pb + Pb collisions. The upsilon sub(2) values in the 13 and 2.76 TeV data are consistent within uncertainties. These results suggest that the ridge in pp collisions arises from the same or similar underlying physics as observed in p+ Pb collisions, and that the dynamics responsible for the ridge has no strong s dependence.
A search for the associated production of the Higgs boson with a top quark pair (tt¯H) is reported. The search is performed in multilepton final states using a data set corresponding to an integrated ...luminosity of 36.1 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at a center-of-mass energy s=13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. Higgs boson decays to WW*, ττ, and ZZ* are targeted. Seven final states, categorized by the number and flavor of charged-lepton candidates, are examined for the presence of the Standard Model Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV and a pair of top quarks. An excess of events over the expected background from Standard Model processes is found with an observed significance of 4.1 standard deviations, compared to an expectation of 2.8 standard deviations. The best fit for the tt¯H production cross section is σ(tt¯H)=790−210+230 fb, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction of 507−50+35 fb. The combination of this result with other tt¯H searches from the ATLAS experiment using the Higgs boson decay modes to bb¯, γγ and ZZ*→4ℓ, has an observed significance of 4.2 standard deviations, compared to an expectation of 3.8 standard deviations. This provides evidence for the tt¯H production mode.
This Letter describes the observation of the light-by-light scattering process, γγ→γγ, in Pb+Pb collisions at sqrts_{NN}=5.02 TeV. The analysis is conducted using a data sample corresponding to an ...integrated luminosity of 1.73 nb^{-1}, collected in November 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Light-by-light scattering candidates are selected in events with two photons produced exclusively, each with transverse energy E_{T}^{γ}>3 GeV and pseudorapidity |η_{γ}|<2.4, diphoton invariant mass above 6 GeV, and small diphoton transverse momentum and acoplanarity. After applying all selection criteria, 59 candidate events are observed for a background expectation of 12±3 events. The observed excess of events over the expected background has a significance of 8.2 standard deviations. The measured fiducial cross section is 78±13(stat)±7(syst)±3(lumi) nb.