Search for excited $\tau$-leptons and leptoquarks in the final state with $\tau$-leptons and jets in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS collaboration Aad, Georges ; Abbott, Braden Keim ; Abeling, Kira ; et al.
JHEP 06 (2023) 199, 2023.
Inspire Record 2643456 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.141537

A search is reported for excited $\tau$-leptons and leptoquarks in events with two hadronically decaying $\tau$-leptons and two or more jets. The search uses proton-proton (pp) collision data at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment during the Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider in 2015-2018. The total integrated luminosity is 139 fb$^{-1}$. The excited $\tau$-lepton is assumed to be produced and to decay via a four-fermion contact interaction into an ordinary $\tau$-lepton and a quark-antiquark pair. The leptoquarks are assumed to be produced in pairs via the strong interaction, and each leptoquark is assumed to couple to a charm or lighter quark and a $\tau$-lepton. No excess over the background prediction is observed. Excited $\tau$-leptons with masses below 2.8 TeV are excluded at 95% CL in scenarios with the contact interaction scale $\Lambda$ set to 10 TeV. At the extreme limit of model validity where $\Lambda$ is set equal to the excited $\tau$-lepton mass, excited $\tau$-leptons with masses below 4.6 TeV are excluded. Leptoquarks with masses below 1.3 TeV are excluded at 95% CL if their branching ratio to a charm quark and a $\tau$-lepton equals 1. The analysis does not exploit flavour-tagging in the signal region.

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Observed and expected upper 95% CL limit on the $\tau^\ast$ production cross-section as a function of $m_{\tau^\ast}$ for a fixed value of the contact interaction scale, $\Lambda = 10$ TeV.

Observed and expected lower 95% CL limit on the contact interaction scale $\Lambda$ as a function of $m_{\tau^\ast}$.

Observed and expected upper 95% CL limit on the LQ production cross-section as a function of $m_\mathrm{LQ}$. The LQ couples to a tau lepton and a c-quark. The limits are also valid for scenarios in which the LQ couples to lighter quarks.

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Search for pair production of higgsinos in events with two Higgs bosons and missing transverse momentum in $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ collisions at the ATLAS experiment

The ATLAS collaboration Aad, Georges ; Abbott, Braden Keim ; Abeling, Kira ; et al.
Phys.Rev.D 109 (2024) 112011, 2024.
Inspire Record 2751932 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.136030

This paper presents a search for pair production of higgsinos, the supersymmetric partners of the Higgs bosons, in scenarios with gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. Each higgsino is assumed to decay into a Higgs boson and a nearly massless gravitino. The search targets events where each Higgs boson decays into $b\bar{b}$, leading to a reconstructed final state with at least three energetic $b$-jets and This paper presents a search for pair production of higgsinos, the supersymmetric partners of the Higgs bosons, in scenarios with gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. Each higgsino is assumed to decay into a Higgs boson and a nearly massless gravitino. The search targets events where each Higgs boson decays into $b\bar{b}$, leading to a reconstructed final state with at least three energetic $b$-jets and missing transverse momentum. Two complementary analysis channels are used, with each channel specifically targeting either low or high values of the higgsino mass. The low-mass (high-mass) channel exploits 126 (139) fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV data collected by the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess above the Standard Model prediction is found. At 95% confidence level, masses between 130 GeV and 940 GeV are excluded for higgsinos decaying exclusively into Higgs bosons and gravitinos. Exclusion limits as a function of the higgsino decay branching ratio to a Higgs boson are also reported.

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Post-fit SR yields of the high-mass channel. The upper panel shows the observed number of events, as well the post-fit background predictions in each region. The bottom panel shows the ratio of the observed data and the total background prediction. The shaded areas correspond to the total statistical and systematic uncertainties obtained after the fit and described in Section 6.

Post-fit SR yields of the high-mass channel. The upper panel shows the observed number of events, as well the post-fit background predictions in each region. The bottom panel shows the ratio of the observed data and the total background prediction. The shaded areas correspond to the total statistical and systematic uncertainties obtained after the fit and described in Section 6.

Post-fit SR yields of the high-mass channel. The upper panel shows the observed number of events, as well the post-fit background predictions in each region. The bottom panel shows the ratio of the observed data and the total background prediction. The shaded areas correspond to the total statistical and systematic uncertainties obtained after the fit and described in Section 6.

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A statistical combination of ATLAS Run 2 searches for charginos and neutralinos at the LHC

The ATLAS collaboration Aad, Georges ; Abbott, Braden Keim ; Abeling, Kira ; et al.
Phys.Rev.Lett. 133 (2024) 031802, 2024.
Inspire Record 2758009 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.149530

Statistical combinations of searches for charginos and neutralinos using various decay channels are performed using $139\,$fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13\,$TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Searches targeting pure-wino chargino pair production, pure-wino chargino-neutralino production, or higgsino production decaying via Standard Model $W$, $Z$, or $h$ bosons are combined to extend the mass reach to the produced SUSY particles by 30-100 GeV. The depth of the sensitivity of the original searches is also improved by the combinations, lowering the 95% CL cross-section upper limits by 15%-40%.

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Expected 95% CL exclusion limits on the simplified models of chargino-pair production decaying via W bosons.

$+1\sigma$ expected 95% CL exclusion limits on the simplified models of chargino-pair production decaying via W bosons.

$-1\sigma$ expected 95% CL exclusion limits on the simplified models of chargino-pair production decaying via W bosons.

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Search for flavour-changing neutral-current couplings between the top quark and the Higgs boson in multi-lepton final states in 13 TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS collaboration Aad, Georges ; Aakvaag, Erlend ; Abbott, Braden Keim ; et al.
Eur.Phys.J.C 84 (2024) 757, 2024.
Inspire Record 2773613 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.150998

A search is presented for flavour-changing neutral-current interactions involving the top quark, the Higgs boson and an up-type quark ($q=u,c$) with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis considers leptonic decays of the top quark along with Higgs boson decays into two $W$ bosons, two $Z$ bosons or a $\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$ pair. It focuses on final states containing either two leptons (electrons or muons) of the same charge or three leptons. The considered processes are $t\bar{t}$ and $Ht$ production. For the $t\bar{t}$ production, one top quark decays via $t\to Hq$. The proton-proton collision data set analysed amounts to 140 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV. No significant excess beyond Standard Model expectations is observed and upper limits are set on the $t\to Hq$ branching ratios at 95% confidence level, amounting to observed (expected) limits of $\mathcal{B}(t\to Hu)<2.8\,(3.0) \times 10^{-4}$ and $\mathcal{B}(t\to Hc)<3.3\,(3.8) \times 10^{-4}$. Combining this search with other searches for $tHq$ flavour-changing neutral-current interactions previously conducted by ATLAS, considering $H\to b\bar{b}$ and $H\to\gamma\gamma$ decays, as well as $H\to\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$ decays with one or two hadronically decaying $\tau$-leptons, yields observed (expected) upper limits on the branching ratios of $\mathcal{B}(t\to Hu)<2.6\,(1.8) \times 10^{-4}$ and $\mathcal{B}(t\to Hc)<3.4\,(2.3) \times 10^{-4}$.

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Post-fit plot of $H_\text{T}(\text{jets})$ in the SR$2\ell$ Dec from a signal-blinded background-only fit.

Post-fit plot of $m(t_\text{SM}, b\text{-jet}_0)$ in the SR$2\ell$ Prod from a signal-blinded background-only fit.

Post-fit plot of $m(\ell_\text{OS},\ell_\text{SS,1})$ in the SR$3\ell$ Dec from a signal-blinded background-only fit.

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Version 2
Search for nearly mass-degenerate higgsinos using low-momentum mildly-displaced tracks in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS collaboration Aad, Georges ; Aakvaag, Erlend ; Abbott, Braden Keim ; et al.
Phys.Rev.Lett. 132 (2024) 221801, 2024.
Inspire Record 2751400 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.146944

Higgsinos with masses near the electroweak scale can solve the hierarchy problem and provide a dark matter candidate, while detecting them at the LHC remains challenging if their mass splitting is $\mathcal{O}(1 \text{GeV})$. This Letter presents a novel search for nearly mass-degenerate Higgsinos in events with an energetic jet, missing transverse momentum, and a low-momentum track with a significant transverse impact parameter using 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment. For the first time since LEP, a range of mass splittings between the lightest charged and neutral Higgsinos from $0.3$ GeV to $0.9$ GeV is excluded at 95$\%$ confidence level, with a maximum reach of approximately $170$ GeV in the Higgsino mass.

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Number of expected and observed data events in the SR (top), and the model-independent upper limits obtained from their consistency (bottom). The symbol $\tau_{\ell}$ ($\tau_{h}$) refers to fully-leptonic (hadron-involved) tau decays. The Others category includes contributions from minor background processes including $t\bar{t}$, single-top and diboson. The individual uncertainties can be correlated and do not necessarily sum up in quadrature to the total uncertainty. The bottom section shows the observed 95% CL upper limits on the visible cross-section ($\langle\epsilon\sigma\rangle_{\mathrm{obs}}^{95}$), on the number of generic signal events ($S_{\mathrm{obs}}^{95}$) as well as the expected limit ($S_{\mathrm{exp}}^{95}$) given the expected number (and $\pm 1\sigma$ deviations from the expectation) of background events.

Number of expected and observed data events in the SR (top), and the model-independent upper limits obtained from their consistency (bottom). The symbol $\tau_{\ell}$ ($\tau_{h}$) refers to fully-leptonic (hadron-involved) tau decays. The Others category includes contributions from minor background processes including $t\bar{t}$, single-top and diboson. The individual uncertainties can be correlated and do not necessarily sum up in quadrature to the total uncertainty. The bottom section shows the observed 95% CL upper limits on the visible cross-section ($\langle\epsilon\sigma\rangle_{\mathrm{obs}}^{95}$), on the number of generic signal events ($S_{\mathrm{obs}}^{95}$) as well as the expected limit ($S_{\mathrm{exp}}^{95}$) given the expected number (and $\pm 1\sigma$ deviations from the expectation) of background events.

Expected (dashed black line) and observed (solid red line) 95% CL exclusion limits on the higgsino simplified model being considered. These are shown with $\pm 1\sigma_{\mathrm{exp}}$ (yellow band) from experimental systematic and statistical uncertainties, and with $\pm 1\sigma_{\mathrm{theory}}^{\mathrm{SUSY}}$ (red dotted lines) from signal cross-section uncertainties, respectively. The limits set by the latest ATLAS searches using the soft lepton and disappearing track signatures are illustrated by the blue and green regions, respectively, while the limit imposed by the LEP experiments is shown in gray. The dot-dashed gray line indicates the predicted mass-splitting for the pure higgsino scenario.

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A search for top-squark pair production, in final states containing a top quark, a charm quark and missing transverse momentum, using the 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data collected by the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS collaboration Aad, Georges ; Abbott, Braden Keim ; Abeling, Kira ; et al.
JHEP 07 (2024) 250, 2024.
Inspire Record 2759516 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.144439

This paper presents a search for top-squark pair production in final states with a top quark, a charm quark and missing transverse momentum. The data were collected with the ATLAS detector during LHC Run 2 and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The analysis is motivated by an extended Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model featuring a non-minimal flavour violation in the second- and third-generation squark sector. The top squark in this model has two possible decay modes, either $\tilde{t}_1 \rightarrow c\tilde{\chi}_1^0$ or $\tilde{t}_1\rightarrow t\tilde{\chi}_1^0$, where the $\tilde{\chi}_1^0$ is undetected. The analysis is optimised assuming that both of the decay modes are equally probable, leading to the most likely final state of $tc + E_{\text{T}}^{\text{miss}}$. Good agreement is found between the Standard Model expectation and the data in the search regions. Exclusion limits at 95% CL are obtained in the $m(\tilde{t}_1)$ vs $m(\tilde{\chi}_1^0)$ plane and, in addition, limits on the branching ratio of the $\tilde{t}_1\rightarrow t\tilde{\chi}_1^0$ decay as a function of $m(\tilde{t}_1)$ are also produced. Top-squark masses of up to 800 GeV are excluded for scenarios with light neutralinos, and top-squark masses up to 600 GeV are excluded in scenarios where the neutralino and the top squark are almost mass degenerate.

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Observed exclusion limits at the 95% CL in the $\tilde{t}_1 - \tilde\chi^0_1$ mass plane, assuming BR$(\tilde{t}_1 \rightarrow t + \tilde\chi^0_1) = 0.5$.

Observed exclusion limits at the 95% CL in the $\tilde{t}_1 - \tilde\chi^0_1$ mass plane, assuming BR$(\tilde{t}_1 \rightarrow t + \tilde\chi^0_1) = 0.5$ and a $+1 \sigma$ deviation of the NNLO+NNLL theoretical cross-section of a $\tilde{t}_1$ pair-production.

Observed exclusion limits at the 95% CL in the $\tilde{t}_1 - \tilde\chi^0_1$ mass plane, assuming BR$(\tilde{t}_1 \rightarrow t + \tilde\chi^0_1) = 0.5$ and a $-1 \sigma$ deviation of the NNLO+NNLL theoretical cross-section of a $\tilde{t}_1$ pair-production.

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Differential cross-section measurements of the production of four charged leptons in association with two jets using the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS collaboration Aad, Georges ; Abbott, Braden Keim ; Abeling, Kira ; et al.
JHEP 01 (2024) 004, 2024.
Inspire Record 2690799 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.144086

Differential cross-sections are measured for the production of four charged leptons in association with two jets. These measurements are sensitive to final states in which the jets are produced via the strong interaction as well as to the purely-electroweak vector boson scattering process. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data collected by ATLAS at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV and with an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. The data are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution and are compared to state-of-the-art Monte Carlo event generator predictions. The differential cross-sections are used to search for anomalous weak-boson self-interactions that are induced by dimension-six and dimension-eight operators in Standard Model effective field theory.

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Predicted and observed yields as a function of $m_{jj}$ in the VBS-Enhanced region. Overflow events are included in the last bin of the distribution.

Predicted and observed yields as a function of $m_{jj}$ in the VBS-Suppressed region. Overflow events are included in the last bin of the distribution.

Predicted and observed yields as a function of $m_{4\ell}$ in the VBS-Enhanced region. Overflow events are included in the last bin of the distribution.

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Search for pair-produced higgsinos decaying via Higgs or $Z$ bosons to final states containing a pair of photons and a pair of $b$-jets with the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS collaboration Aad, Georges ; Abbott, Braden Keim ; Abeling, Kira ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 856 (2024) 138938, 2024.
Inspire Record 2773395 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.144072

A search is presented for the pair production of higgsinos $\tilde{\chi}$ in gauge-mediated supersymmetry models, where the lightest neutralinos $\tilde{\chi}_1^0$ decay into a light gravitino $\tilde{G}$ in association with either a Higgs $h$ or a $Z$ boson. The search is performed with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. It targets final states in which a Higgs boson decays into a photon pair, while the other Higgs or $Z$ boson decays into a $b\bar{b}$ pair, with missing transverse momentum associated with the two gravitinos. Search regions dependent on the amount of missing transverse momentum are defined by the requirements that the diphoton mass should be consistent with the mass of the Higgs boson, and the $b\bar{b}$ mass with the mass of the Higgs or $Z$ boson. The main backgrounds are estimated with data-driven methods using the sidebands of the diphoton mass distribution. No excesses beyond Standard Model expectations are observed and higgsinos with masses up to 320 GeV are excluded, assuming a branching fraction of 100% for $\tilde{\chi}_1^0\rightarrow h\tilde{G}$. This analysis excludes higgsinos with masses of 130 GeV for branching fractions to $h\tilde{G}$ as low as 36%, thus providing complementarity to previous ATLAS searches in final states with multiple leptons or multiple $b$-jets, targeting different decays of the electroweak bosons.

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Distribution of the diphoton invariant mass in validation region VR1. The solid histograms are stacked to show the SM expectations after the 2&times;2D background estimation technique is applied. Background and signal predictions are normalised to the luminosity. The background category "h (other)" includes events originating from VBF, Vh, ggF, thq, thW and bb&#772;h, all subdominant in this signature. Statistical and systematic uncertainties are indicated by the shaded area. The lower panel of each plot shows the ratio of the data to the SM prediction for the respective bin. The first and last bins include the underflows and overflows respectively.

Distribution of the missing transverse momentum in validation region VR1. The solid histograms are stacked to show the SM expectations after the 2&times;2D background estimation technique is applied. Background and signal predictions are normalised to the luminosity. The background category "h (other)" includes events originating from VBF, Vh, ggF, thq, thW and bb&#772;h, all subdominant in this signature. Statistical and systematic uncertainties are indicated by the shaded area. The lower panel of each plot shows the ratio of the data to the SM prediction for the respective bin. The first and last bins include the underflows and overflows respectively.

Distribution of the diphoton invariant mass in validation region VR2. The solid histograms are stacked to show the SM expectations after the 2&times;2D background estimation technique is applied. Background and signal predictions are normalised to the luminosity. The background category "h (other)" includes events originating from VBF, Vh, ggF, thq, thW and bb&#772;h, all subdominant in this signature. Statistical and systematic uncertainties are indicated by the shaded area. The lower panel of each plot shows the ratio of the data to the SM prediction for the respective bin. The first and last bins include the underflows and overflows respectively.

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Studies of the energy dependence of diboson polarization fractions and the Radiation Amplitude Zero effect in WZ production with the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS collaboration Aad, Georges ; Aakvaag, Erlend ; Abbott, Braden Keim ; et al.
Phys.Rev.Lett. 133 (2024) 101802, 2024.
Inspire Record 2762099 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.149992

This Letter presents the first study of the energy-dependence of diboson polarization fractions in $WZ \rightarrow \ell\nu \ell'\ell'~(\ell, \ell'=e, \mu)$ production. The data set used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector. Two fiducial regions with an enhanced presence of events featuring two longitudinally-polarized bosons are defined. A non-zero fraction of events with two longitudinally-polarized bosons is measured with an observed significance of 5.3 standard deviations in the region with $100<p_T^Z\leq200$ GeV and 1.6 standard deviations in the region with $p_T^Z>200$ GeV, where $p_T^Z$ is the transverse momentum of the $Z$ boson. This Letter also reports the first study of the Radiation Amplitude Zero effect. Events with two transversely-polarized bosons are analyzed for the $\Delta Y(\ell_W Z)$ and $\Delta Y(WZ)$ distributions defined respectively as the rapidity difference between the lepton from the $W$ boson decay and the $Z$ boson and the rapidity difference between the $W$ boson and the $Z$ boson. Significant suppression of events near zero is observed in both distributions. Unfolded $\Delta Y(\ell_W Z)$ and $\Delta Y(WZ)$ distributions are also measured and compared to theoretical predictions.

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Polarization fractions in the region with $100<p_T^Z\leq200$ GeV using three unconstrained parameters.

Polarization fractions in the region with $p_T^Z>200$ GeV using three unconstrained parameters.

Fraction of events where both bosons are longitudinally polarized in the region with $100<p_T^Z\leq200$ GeV using two unconstrained parameters.

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