A search is presented for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production, targeting the $bbZZ$, 4$V$ ($V$ = $W$ or $Z$), $VV\tau\tau$, 4$\tau$, $\gamma\gamma VV$ and $\gamma\gamma\tau\tau$ decay channels. Events are categorised based on the multiplicity of light charged leptons (electrons or muons), hadronically decaying tau leptons, and photons. The search is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. No evidence of the signal is found and the observed (expected) upper limit on the cross-section for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production is determined to be 17 (11) times the Standard Model predicted cross-section at 95% confidence level under the background-only hypothesis. The observed (expected) constraints on the $HHH$ coupling modifier, $\kappa_{\lambda}$, are determined to be $-6.2 < \kappa_{\lambda} < 11.6$ ($-4.5 < \kappa_{\lambda} < 9.6$) at 95% confidence level, assuming the Standard Model for the expected limits and that new physics would only affect $\kappa_{\lambda}$.
Number of ggF and VBF SM HH signal events satisfying the preselection requirements from the targeted HH decay modes and their acceptance into the different ML search channels.
A search for exotic decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson into a pair of new spin-0 particles, $H \to aa$, where one decays into a photon pair and the other into a $\tau$-lepton pair, is presented. Hadronic decays of the $\tau$-leptons are considered and reconstructed using a dedicated tagger for collimated $\tau$-lepton pairs. The search uses 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV recorded between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The search is performed in the mass range of the $a$ boson between 10 GeV and 60 GeV. No significant excess of events is observed above the Standard Model background expectation. Model-independent upper limits at 95$\% $ confidence level are set on the branching ratio of the Higgs boson to the $\gamma\gamma\tau\tau$ final state, $\mathcal{B}(H\to aa\to \gamma\gamma\tau\tau)$, ranging from 0.2$\% $ to 2$\% $, depending on the $a$-boson mass hypothesis.
A combination of searches for the single production of vector-like top quarks ($T$) is presented. These analyses are based on proton$-$proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV recorded in 2015$-$2018 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The $T$-quark decay modes considered in this combination are into a top quark and either a Standard Model Higgs boson or a $Z$ boson ($T \to Ht$ and $T \to Zt$). The individual searches used in the combination are differentiated by the number of leptons ($e$, $\mu$) in the final state. The observed data are found to be in good agreement with the Standard Model background prediction. Interpretations are provided for a range of masses and couplings of the vector-like top quark for benchmark models and generalized representations in terms of 95% confidence level limits. For a benchmark signal prediction of a vector-like top quark SU2 singlet with electroweak coupling, $\kappa$, of 0.5, masses below 2.1 TeV are excluded, resulting in the most restrictive limits to date.
A combination of searches for singly and doubly charged Higgs bosons, $H^{\pm}$ and $H^{\pm\pm}$, produced via vector-boson fusion is performed using 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. Searches targeting decays to massive vector bosons in leptonic final states (electrons or muons) are considered. New constraints are reported on the production cross-section times branching fraction for charged Higgs boson masses between 200 GeV and 3000 GeV. The results are interpreted in the context of the Georgi-Machacek model for which the most stringent constraints to date are set for the masses considered in the combination.
A search for single production of a vector-like quark $Q$, which could be either a singlet $T$, with charge $\tfrac23$, or a $Y$ from a $(T,B,Y)$ triplet, with charge $-\tfrac43$, is performed using data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data correspond to the full integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$ recorded with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis targets $Q \to Wb$ decays where the $W$ boson decays leptonically. The data are found to be consistent with the expected Standard Model background, so upper limits are set on the cross-section times branching ratio, and on the coupling of the $Q$ to the Standard Model sector for these two benchmark models. Effects of interference with the Standard Model background are taken into account. For the singlet $T$, the 95% confidence level limit on the coupling strength $κ$ ranges between 0.22 and 0.52 for masses from 1150 to 2300 GeV. For the $(T,B,Y)$ triplet, the limits on $κ$ vary from 0.14 to 0.46 for masses from 1150 to 2600 GeV.
This Letter presents a search for highly ionizing magnetic monopoles in 262$~\mu$b$^{-1}$ of ultraperipheral Pb+Pb collision data at $\sqrt{s_{_\textrm{NN}}}=5.36$ TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. A new methodology that exploits the properties of clusters of hits reconstructed in the innermost silicon detector layers is introduced to study highly ionizing particles in heavy-ion data. No significant excess above the background, which is estimated using a data-driven technique, is observed. Using a nonperturbative semiclassical model, upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the cross-section for pair production of monopoles with a single Dirac magnetic charge in the mass range of 20-150 GeV. The search significantly improves on the previous cross-section limits for production of low-mass monopoles in ultraperipheral Pb+Pb collisions.
A search is presented for a heavy scalar ($H$) or pseudo-scalar ($A$) predicted by the two-Higgs-doublet models, where the $H/A$ is produced in association with a top-quark pair ($t\bar{t}H/A$), and with the $H/A$ decaying into a $t\bar{t}$ pair. Events are selected requiring exactly one or two opposite-charge electrons or muons. Data-driven corrections are applied to improve the modelling of the $t\bar{t}$+jets background in the regime with high jet and $b$-jet multiplicities. These include a novel multi-dimensional kinematic reweighting based on a neural network trained using data and simulations. An $H/A$-mass parameterised graph neural network is trained to optimise the signal-to-background discrimination. In combination with the previous search performed by the ATLAS Collaboration in the multilepton final state, the observed upper limits on the $t\bar{t}H/A \rightarrow t\bar{t}t\bar{t}$ production cross-section at 95% confidence level range between 14 fb and 5.0 fb for an $H/A$ with mass between 400 GeV and 1000 GeV, respectively. Assuming that both the $H$ and $A$ contribute to the $t\bar{t}t\bar{t}$ cross-section, $\tanβ$ values below 1.7 or 0.7 are excluded for a mass of 400 GeV or 1000 GeV, respectively. The results are also used to constrain a model predicting the pair production of a colour-octet scalar, with the scalar decaying into a $t\bar{t}$ pair.
A search for events with one displaced vertex from long-lived particles using data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is presented, using 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV recorded in 2015-2018. The search employs techniques for reconstructing vertices of long-lived particles decaying into hadronic jets in the muon spectrometer displaced between 3 m and 14 m from the primary interaction vertex. The observed number of events is consistent with the expected background and limits for several benchmark signals are determined. A scalar-portal model and a Higgs-boson-portal baryogenesis model are considered. A dedicated analysis channel is employed to target Z-boson associated long-lived particle production, including an axion-like particle and a dark photon model. For the Higgs boson model, branching fractions above 1% are excluded at 95% confidence level for long-lived particle proper decay lengths ranging from 5 cm to 40 m. For the photo-phobic axion-like particle model considered, this search produces the strongest limits to date for proper decay lengths greater than $\mathcal{O}(10)$ cm.
This article reports on a search for dijet resonances using $132$ fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data recorded at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search is performed solely on jets reconstructed within the ATLAS trigger to overcome bandwidth limitations imposed on conventional single-jet triggers, which would otherwise reject data from decays of sub-TeV dijet resonances. Collision events with two jets satisfying transverse momentum thresholds of $p_{\textrm{T}} \ge 85$ GeV and jet rapidity separation of $|y^{*}|<0.6$ are analysed for dijet resonances with invariant masses from $375$ to $1800$ GeV. A data-driven background estimate is used to model the dijet mass distribution from multijet processes. No significant excess above the expected background is observed. Upper limits are set at $95\%$ confidence level on coupling values for a benchmark leptophobic axial-vector $Z^{\prime}$ model and on the production cross-section for a new resonance contributing a Gaussian-distributed line-shape to the dijet mass distribution.
A model-agnostic search for Beyond the Standard Model physics is presented, targeting final states with at least four light leptons (electrons or muons). The search regions are separated by event topology and unsupervised machine learning is used to identify anomalous events in the full 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector during Run 2. No significant excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed. Model-agnostic limits are presented in each topology, along with limits on several benchmark models including vector-like leptons, wino-like charginos and neutralinos, or smuons. Limits are set on the flavourful vector-like lepton model for the first time.