A search is presented for pair-production of long-lived neutral particles using 33 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ 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 $c \tau$ from 5 cm to 1 m.
IDVx selection efficiency as a function of the radial decay position for $m_H = 125$ GeV.
IDVx selection efficiency as a function of the radial decay position for $m_s = 50$ GeV.
Observed $CL_S$ limits on $BR$ for $m_H = 125$ GeV.
To assess the properties of the quark-gluon plasma formed in heavy-ion collisions, the ATLAS experiment at the LHC measures a correlation between the mean transverse momentum and the magnitudes of the flow harmonics. The analysis uses data samples of lead-lead and proton-lead collisions obtained at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV, corresponding to total integrated luminosities of $22 ~\mu b^{-1}$ and $28~nb^{-1}$, respectively. The measurement is performed using a modified Pearson correlation coefficient with the charged-particle tracks on an event-by-event basis. The modified Pearson correlation coefficients for the $2^{nd}$-, 3$^{rd}$-, and 4$^{th}$-order harmonics are measured as a function of event centrality quantified as the number of charged particles or the number of nucleons participating in the collision. The measurements are performed for several intervals of the charged-particle transverse momentum. The correlation coefficients for all studied harmonics exhibit a strong centrality evolution in the lead-lead collisions, which only weakly depends on the charged-particle momentum range. In the proton-lead collisions, the modified Pearson correlation coefficient measured for the second harmonics shows only weak centrality dependence. The data is qualitatively described by the predictions based on the hydrodynamical model.
The $c_{k}$ for the 0.5-2 GeV $p_{T}$ range as a function of event multiplicity $N_{ch}$ in Pb+Pb collisions.
The $c_{k}$ for the 0.5-5 GeV $p_{T}$ range as a function of event multiplicity $N_{ch}$ in Pb+Pb collisions.
The $c_{k}$ for the 1-2 GeV $p_{T}$ range as a function of event multiplicity $N_{ch}$ in Pb+Pb collisions.
A dedicated sample of Large Hadron Collider proton-proton collision data at centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV is used to study inclusive single diffractive dissociation, $pp \rightarrow Xp$. The intact final-state proton is reconstructed in the ATLAS ALFA forward spectrometer, while charged particles from the dissociated system $X$ are measured in the central detector components. The fiducial range of the measurement is $-4.0 < \log_{10} \xi < -1.6$ and $0.016 < |t| < 0.43 \ {\rm GeV^2}$, where $\xi$ is the proton fractional energy loss and $t$ is the squared four-momentum transfer. The total cross section integrated across the fiducial range is $1.59 \pm 0.13 \ {\rm mb}$. Cross sections are also measured differentially as functions of $\xi$, $t$, and $\Delta \eta$, a variable that characterises the rapidity gap separating the proton and the system $X$. The data are consistent with an exponential $t$ dependence, ${\rm d} \sigma / {\rm d} t \propto \text{e}^{Bt}$ with slope parameter $B = 7.65 \pm 0.34 \ {\rm GeV^{-2}}$. Interpreted in the framework of triple Regge phenomenology, the $\xi$ dependence leads to a pomeron intercept of $\alpha(0) = 1.07 \pm 0.09$.
Hadron-level differential SD cross section as a function of Delta Eta.
Hadron-level differential SD cross section as a function of t.
Hadron-level differential SD cross section as a function of log_10 xi.
The production of a prompt photon in association with a $Z$ boson is studied in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV. The analysis uses a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC from 2015 to 2018. The production cross-section for the process $pp \rightarrow \ell^+\ell^-\gamma+X$ ($\ell = e, \mu$) is measured within a fiducial phase-space region defined by kinematic requirements on the photon and the leptons, and by isolation requirements on the photon. An experimental precision of 2.9% is achieved for the fiducial cross-section. Differential cross-sections are measured as a function of each of six kinematic variables characterising the $\ell^+\ell^-\gamma$ system. The data are compared with theoretical predictions based on next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations. The impact of next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections is also considered.
The measured fiducial cross section. "Uncor" uncertainty includes all systematic uncertainties that are uncorrelated between electron and muon channels such as the uncertainty on the electron identification efficiency and the uncorrelated component of the background uncertainties. The parton-to-particle correction factor $C_{theory}$ is the ratio of the cross-section predicted by Sherpa LO samples at particle level within the fiducial phase-space region defined in Table 4 to the predicted cross-section at parton level within the same fiducial region but with the smooth-cone isolation prescription defined above replacing the particle-level photon isolation criterion, and with Born-level leptons in place of dressed leptons. This correction should be applied on fixed order parton-level calculations. The systematic uncertainty is evaluated from a comparison with the correction factor obtained using events generated with Sherpa 2.2.2 at NLO. In the case that the calculations are valid for dressed leptons, a modified correction factor excluding the Born-to-dressed lepton correction should be applied instead. This correction only takes into account the particle-level isolation criteria, and is provided separately here. The Sherpa 2.2.8 NLO cross-sections given below include a small contribution from EW $Z\gamma jj$ production of 4.57 fb.
The measured fiducial cross section vs $E_{\mathrm{T}}^\gamma$. The central values are provided along with the statistical and systematic uncertainties together with the sign information. The statistical and "Uncor" uncertainty should be treated as uncorrelated bin-to-bin, while the rest are correlated between bins, and they are written as signed NP variations. The parton-to-particle correction factor $C_{theory}$ is the ratio of the cross-section predicted by Sherpa LO samples at particle level within the fiducial phase-space region defined in Table 4 to the predicted cross-section at parton level within the same fiducial region but with the smooth-cone isolation prescription defined above replacing the particle-level photon isolation criterion, and with Born-level leptons in place of dressed leptons. This correction should be applied on fixed order parton-level calculations. The systematic uncertainty is evaluated from a comparison with the correction factor obtained using events generated with Sherpa 2.2.2 at NLO. The uncertainty is defined as Max(stat error, systematic difference between Sherpa LO and Sherpa 2.2.2 NLO), and cannot be considered correlated bin-to-bin. In the case that the calculations are valid for dressed leptons, a modified correction factor excluding the Born-to-dressed lepton correction should be applied instead. This correction only takes into account the particle-level isolation criteria, and is provided separately here. The Sherpa 2.2.8 NLO cross-sections given below include a small contribution from EW $Z\gamma jj$ production.
The measured fiducial cross section vs $|\eta^\gamma|$. The central values are provided along with the statistical and systematic uncertainties together with the sign information. The statistical and "Uncor" uncertainty should be treated as uncorrelated bin-to-bin, while the rest are correlated between bins, and they are written as signed NP variations. The parton-to-particle correction factor $C_{theory}$ is the ratio of the cross-section predicted by Sherpa LO samples at particle level within the fiducial phase-space region defined in Table 4 to the predicted cross-section at parton level within the same fiducial region but with the smooth-cone isolation prescription defined above replacing the particle-level photon isolation criterion, and with Born-level leptons in place of dressed leptons. This correction should be applied on fixed order parton-level calculations. The systematic uncertainty is evaluated from a comparison with the correction factor obtained using events generated with Sherpa 2.2.2 at NLO. The uncertainty is defined as Max(stat error, systematic difference between Sherpa LO and Sherpa 2.2.2 NLO), and cannot be considered correlated bin-to-bin. In the case that the calculations are valid for dressed leptons, a modified correction factor excluding the Born-to-dressed lepton correction should be applied instead. This correction only takes into account the particle-level isolation criteria, and is provided separately here. The Sherpa 2.2.8 NLO cross-sections given below include a small contribution from EW $Z\gamma jj$ production.
The prevalence of hadronic jets at the LHC requires that a deep understanding of jet formation and structure is achieved in order to reach the highest levels of experimental and theoretical precision. There have been many measurements of jet substructure at the LHC and previous colliders, but the targeted observables mix physical effects from various origins. Based on a recent proposal to factorize physical effects, this Letter presents a double-differential cross-section measurement of the Lund jet plane using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector using jets with transverse momentum above 675 GeV. The measurement uses charged particles to achieve a fine angular resolution and is corrected for acceptance and detector effects. Several parton shower Monte Carlo models are compared with the data. No single model is found to be in agreement with the measured data across the entire plane.
Normalized differential cross-section of the Lund jet plane. The first systematic uncertainty is detector systematics, the second is background systematic uncertainties
Normalized differential cross-section of the Lund jet plane. The first systematic uncertainty is detector systematics, the second is background systematic uncertainties. The data is presented as a 1D distribution, for use in MC tuning.
Normalized differential cross-section of the Lund jet plane. The first systematic uncertainty is detector systematics, the second is background systematic uncertainties. The data is presented as a 1D distribution, for a single vertical slice of the Lund jet plane between 0.00 < ln(R/#DeltaR) < 0.33.
A search for Higgs boson decays into a $Z$ boson and a light resonance in two-lepton plus jet events is performed, using a $pp$ collision dataset with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ collected at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN LHC. The resonance considered is a light boson with a mass below 4 GeV from a possible extended scalar sector, or a charmonium state. Multivariate discriminants are used for the event selection and for evaluating the mass of the light resonance. No excess of events above the expected background is found. Observed (expected) 95$\% $ confidence-level upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section times branching fraction to a $Z$ boson and the signal resonance, with values in the range 17 pb to 340 pb ($16^{+6}_{-5}$ pb to $320^{+130}_{-90}$ pb) for the different light spin-0 boson mass and branching fraction hypotheses, and with values of 110 pb and 100 pb ($100^{+40}_{-30}$ pb and $100^{+40}_{-30}$ pb) for the $\eta_c$ and $J/\psi$ hypotheses, respectively.
Observed number of data events and expected number of background events in the signal region.
Efficiencies of the MLP selection, complete selection and total expected signal yields for each signal sample, assuming B$(H\to Z(Q/a))=100\%$ and $\sigma(pp\to H) = \sigma_\text{SM}(pp\to H)$. Pythia 8 branching fractions of $a$ are assumed using a $\tan\beta$ value of 1. The MLP efficiencies, total efficiencies, and expected yields are determined using MC samples, with uncertainties due to MC sample statistics, except for the expected background yield. The expected background yield and its uncertainty is calculated as described in the main text of the paper.
Expected and observed 95% CL upper limits on $\sigma(pp\to H)B(H\to Za)/$pb. These results are quoted for $B(a\to gg)=100\%$ and $B(a\to s\bar{s})=100\%$ for each signal sample. The smaller (larger) quoted ranges around the expected limits represent $\pm 1\sigma$ ($\pm 2\sigma$) fluctuations.
The inclusive top quark pair ($t\bar{t}$) production cross-section $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ has been measured in proton$-$proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV, using $36.1$ fb$^{-1}$ of data collected in 2015$-$16 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Using events with an opposite-charge $e\mu$ pair and $b$-tagged jets, the cross-section is measured to be: \begin{equation}\nonumber \sigma_{t\bar{t}} = 826.4 \pm 3.6\,\mathrm{(stat)}\ \pm 11.5\,\mathrm{(syst)}\ \pm 15.7\,\mathrm{(lumi)}\ \pm 1.9\,\mathrm{(beam)}\,\mathrm{pb}, \end{equation} where the uncertainties reflect the limited size of the data sample, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity, and the LHC beam energy, giving a total uncertainty of 2.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. It is used to determine the top quark pole mass via the dependence of the predicted cross-section on $m_t^{\mathrm{pole}}$, giving $m_t^{\mathrm{pole}}=173.1^{+2.0}_{-2.1}$ GeV. It is also combined with measurements at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV to derive ratios and double ratios of $t\bar{t}$ and $Z$ cross-sections at different energies. The same event sample is used to measure absolute and normalised differential cross-sections as functions of single-lepton and dilepton kinematic variables, and the results compared with predictions from various Monte Carlo event generators.
Absolute differential cross-section in the fiducial region as a function of lepton pT. The first column gives the cross-section including contributions from leptonic tau decays, the second without. Systematic uncertainties are given for ttbar modelling (ttmod), lepton calibration (lept), jet and b-tagging calibration (jet), backgrounds (bkg) and integrated luminosity and beam energy (leb). The last bin includes overflow beyond the upper bin boundary. The corresponding correlation matrices are given in Tables 23 and 24.
Normalised differential cross-section in the fiducial region as a function of lepton pT. The first column gives the cross-section including contributions from leptonic tau decays, the second without. Systematic uncertainties are given for ttbar modelling (ttmod), lepton calibration (lept), jet and b-tagging calibration (jet), backgrounds (bkg) and integrated luminosity and beam energy (leb). The last bin includes overflow beyond the upper bin boundary. The corresponding correlation matrices are given in Tables 25 and 26.
Absolute differential cross-section in the fiducial region as a function of lepton |eta|. The first column gives the cross-section including contributions from leptonic tau decays, the second without. Systematic uncertainties are given for ttbar modelling (ttmod), lepton calibration (lept), jet and b-tagging calibration (jet), backgrounds (bkg) and integrated luminosity and beam energy (leb). The corresponding correlation matrices are given in Tables 27 and 28.
The differential cross section for isolated-photon production in $pp$ collisions is measured at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$. The differential cross section is presented as a function of the photon transverse energy in different regions of photon pseudorapidity. The differential cross section as a function of the absolute value of the photon pseudorapidity is also presented in different regions of photon transverse energy. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations from JETPHOX and SHERPA as well as next-to-next-to-leading-order QCD calculations from NNLOJET are compared with the measurement, using several parameterisations of the proton parton distribution functions. The predictions provide a good description of the data within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties.
Measured cross sections for inclusive isolated-photon production as a function of $E_{\rm T}^{\gamma}$ for $|\eta^{\gamma}|<0.6$.
Measured cross sections for inclusive isolated-photon production as a function of $E_{\rm T}^{\gamma}$ for $0.6<|\eta^{\gamma}|<1.37$.
Measured cross sections for inclusive isolated-photon production as a function of $E_{\rm T}^{\gamma}$ for $1.56<|\eta^{\gamma}|<1.81$.
The fragmentation of high-energy gluons at small opening angles is largely unconstrained by present measurements. Gluon splitting to $b$-quark pairs is a unique probe into the properties of gluon fragmentation because identified $b$-tagged jets provide a proxy for the quark daughters of the initial gluon. In this study, key differential distributions related to the $g\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ process are measured using 33 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2016. Jets constructed from charged-particle tracks, clustered with the anti-$k_t$ jet algorithm with radius parameter $R = 0.2$, are used to probe angular scales below the $R=0.4$ jet radius. The observables are unfolded to particle level in order to facilitate direct comparisons with predictions from present and future simulations. Multiple significant differences are observed between the data and parton shower Monte Carlo predictions, providing input to improve these predictions of the main source of background events in analyses involving boosted Higgs bosons decaying into $b$-quarks.
Normalisaed differential cross section, $(1/\sigma_\text{fid})d\sigma_\text{fid}/d\Delta R(b,b)$, as a function of $\Delta R(b,b)$ - the angle in $\eta$ and $\phi$ between the two b-tagged jets.
Normalisaed differential cross section, $(1/\sigma_\text{fid})d\sigma_\text{fid}/d\Delta\theta_\text{gpp,gbb}/\pi$, the angle between production (gpp) and decay (gbb) planes ($\Delta\theta_\text{gpp,gbb}$).
Normalisaed differential cross section, $(1/\sigma_\text{fid})d\sigma_\text{fid}/dz(p_\text{T})$, as a function of $z(p_\text{T})=p_\text{T,2}/(p_\text{T,1}+p_\text{T,2})$.
A search for a heavy neutral Higgs boson, $A$, decaying into a $Z$ boson and another heavy Higgs boson, $H$, is performed using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV recorded in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search considers the $Z$ boson decaying to electrons or muons and the $H$ boson into a pair of $b$-quarks. No evidence for the production of an $A$ boson is found. Considering each production process separately, the 95% confidence-level upper limits on the $pp\rightarrow A\rightarrow ZH$ production cross-section times the branching ratio $H\rightarrow bb$ are in the range of 14-830 fb for the gluon-gluon fusion process and 26-570 fb for the $b$-associated process for the mass ranges 130-700 GeV of the $H$ boson and process for the mass ranges 130-700 GeV of the $H$ boson and 230-800 GeV of the $A$ boson. The results are interpreted in the context of the two-Higgs-doublet model.
The signal efficiency for the production modes (gluon-gluon fusion and b-associated production) and the signal regions used in the analysis. The efficiency denominator has the total number of generated MC events. The numerator includes the events passing the full signal region selection, including the mbb window cuts. The table shows for each signal mass pair (mA, mH) 3 efficiencies corresponding to the two production modes in the two categories, 2tag and 3tag. These corresponds to "nb = 2 category" and "nb >= 3 category", respectively, of the preprint. No numbers for gluon-gluon fusion in the 3tag category are provided since those are not used in the analysis. The efficiencies are given in fractions.
The cross section times BR(A->ZH) times BR(H->bb) limits for a narrow width A boson produced via gluon-gluon fusion. For each signal point, characterised by the mass pair (mA, mH), two limits are provided, the observed and the expected. The result refers to the nb=2 category only.
The cross section times BR(A->ZH) times BR(H->bb) limits for a narrow width A boson produced in association with b-quarks. For each signal point, characterised by the mass pair (mA, mH), two limits are provided, the observed and the expected. The result refers to the combination of the nb=2 and nb>=3 categories.
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