A measurement of the $ZZ$ production in the $\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\ell^{\prime -}\ell^{\prime +}$ and $\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\nu\bar{\nu}$ channels $(\ell = e, \mu)$ in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = ...8$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2012 is presented. The fiducial cross sections for $ZZ\to\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\ell^{\prime -}\ell^{\prime +}$ and $ZZ\to \ell^{-}\ell^{+}\nu\bar{\nu}$ are measured in selected phase-space regions. The total cross section for $ZZ$ events produced with both $Z$ bosons in the mass range 66 to 116 GeV is measured from the combination of the two channels to be $7.3\pm0.4\textrm{(stat)}\pm0.3\textrm{(syst)}\pm0.2\textrm{(lumi)}$ pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of $6.6^{+0.7}_{-0.6}$ pb. The differential cross sections in bins of various kinematic variables are presented. The differential event yield as a function of the transverse momentum of the leading $Z$ boson is used to set limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge boson couplings in $ZZ$ production.
Two searches for new phenomena in final states containing a same-flavour opposite-lepton (electron or muon) pair, jets, and large missing transverse momentum are presented. These searches make use of ...proton--proton collision data, collected during 2015 and 2016 at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, which correspond to an integrated luminosity of 14.7 fb$^{-1}$. Both searches target the pair production of supersymmetric particles, squarks or gluinos, which decay to final states containing a same-flavour opposite-sign lepton pair via one of two mechanisms: a leptonically decaying Z boson in the final state, leading to a peak in the dilepton invariant-mass distribution around the Z boson mass; and decays of neutralinos (e.g. $\tilde{\chi}_2^0 \rightarrow \ell^+\ell^- \tilde{\chi}_1^0$), yielding a kinematic endpoint in the dilepton invariant-mass spectrum. The data are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectation. Results are interpreted in simplified models of gluino-pair (squark-pair) production, and provide sensitivity to gluinos (squarks) with masses as large as 1.70 TeV (980 GeV).
The top quark mass is measured in the $t\bar{t}\to$ dilepton channel (lepton $= e, \mu$) using ATLAS data recorded in the year 2012 at the LHC. The data were taken at a proton--proton centre-of-mass ...energy of $\sqrt{s}=$ 8 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of about 20.2 fb$^{-1}$. Exploiting the template method, and using the distribution of invariant masses of lepton--b-jet pairs, the top quark mass is measured to be $m_{top} =$ 172.99 $\pm$ 0.41 (stat) $\pm$ 0.74 (syst) GeV, with a total uncertainty of 0.84 GeV. Finally, a combination with previous ATLAS $m_{top}$ measurements from $\sqrt{s}=$7 TeV data in the $t\bar{t}\to$ dilepton and $t\bar{t}\to$ lepton+jets channels results in $m_{top} =$ 172.84 $\pm$ 0.34 (stat) $\pm$ 0.61 (syst) GeV, with a total uncertainty of 0.70 GeV.
This paper describes a measurement of the inclusive top quark pair production cross-section ($\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$) with a data sample of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass ...energy of $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV, collected in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This measurement uses events with an opposite-charge electron--muon pair in the final state. Jets containing $b$-quarks are tagged using an algorithm based on track impact parameters and reconstructed secondary vertices. The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two $b$-tagged jets are counted and used to determine simultaneously $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ and the efficiency to reconstruct and $b$-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section is measured to be: $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$= 818 $\pm$ 8 (stat) $\pm$ 27 (syst) $\pm$ 19 (lumi) $\pm$ 12 (beam) pb, where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total relative uncertainty of 4.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. A fiducial measurement corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons is also presented.
A study of the decays B0→μ+μ− and B0s→μ+μ− has been performed using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 25 fb−1 of 7 TeV and 8 TeV proton--proton collisions collected with the ATLAS ...detector during the LHC Run 1. For B0, an upper limit on the branching fraction is set at B(B0→μ+μ−)<4.2×10−10 at 95% confidence level. For B0s, the branching fraction B(B0s→μ+μ−)=(0.9+1.1−0.8)×10−9 is measured. The results are consistent with the Standard Model expectation with a p-value of 4.8%, corresponding to 2.0 standard deviations.
A search is presented for a narrow diboson resonances decaying to $WW$ or $WZ$ in the final state where one $W$ boson decays leptonically (to an electron or a muon plus a neutrino) and the other ...$W/Z$ boson decays hadronically. The analysis is performed using an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. No evidence for resonant diboson production is observed, and resonance masses below 700 GeV and 1490 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level for the spin-2 Randall-Sundrum bulk graviton $G^*$ with coupling constant of 1.0 and the extended gauge model $W'$ boson respectively.
A search has been performed for pair production of heavy vector-like down-type ($B$) quarks. The analysis explores the lepton-plus-jets final state, characterized by events with one isolated charged ...lepton (electron or muon), significant missing transverse momentum and multiple jets. One or more jets are required to be tagged as arising from $b$-quarks, and at least one pair of jets must be tagged as arising from the hadronic decay of an electroweak boson. The analysis uses the full data sample of $pp$ collisions recorded in 2012 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC, operating at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. No significant excess of events is observed above the expected background. Limits are set on vector-like $B$ production, as a function of the $B$ branching ratios, assuming the allowable decay modes are $B \rightarrow Wt/Zb/Hb$. In the chiral limit with a branching ratio of 100% for the decay $B \rightarrow Wt$, the observed (expected) 95% CL lower limit on the vector-like $B$ mass is 810 GeV (760 GeV). In the case where the vector-like $B$ quark has branching ratio values corresponding to those of an $SU(2)$ singlet state, the observed (expected) 95% CL lower limit on the vector-like $B$ mass is 640 GeV (505 GeV). The same analysis, when used to investigate pair production of a colored, charge 5/3 exotic fermion $T_{5/3}$, with subsequent decay $T_{5/3} \rightarrow Wt$, sets an observed (expected) 95% CL lower limit on the $T_{5/3}$ mass of 840 GeV (780 GeV).