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 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 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 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.
A search for a light charged Higgs boson produced in decays of the top quark, $t \to H^\pm b$ with $H^\pm \to cs$, is presented. This search targets the production of top-quark pairs $t\bar{t} \to Wb H^\pm b$, with $W \to \ell\nu$ ($\ell = e, \mu$), resulting in a lepton-plus-jets final state characterised by an isolated electron or muon and at least four jets. The search exploits $b$-quark and $c$-quark identification techniques as well as multivariate methods to suppress the dominant $t\bar{t}$ background. The data analysed correspond to 140 $\text{fb}^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC between 2015 and 2018. Observed (expected) 95% confidence-level upper limits on the branching fraction $\mathscr{B}(t\to H^\pm b)$, assuming $\mathscr{B}(t\to Wb) + \mathscr{B}(t \to H^\pm (\to cs)b)=1.0$, are set between 0.066% (0.077%) and 3.6% (2.3%) for a charged Higgs boson with a mass between 60 GeV and 168 GeV.
Studies of the correlations of the two highest transverse momentum (leading) jets in individual Pb+Pb collision events can provide information about the mechanism of jet quenching by the hot and dense matter created in such collisions. In Pb+Pb and pp collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_\text{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV, measurements of the leading dijet transverse momentum ($p_{\mathrm{T}}$) correlations are presented. Additionally, measurements in Pb+Pb collisions of the dijet pair nuclear modification factors projected along leading and subleading jet $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ are made. The measurements are performed using the ATLAS detector at the LHC with 260 pb$^{-1}$ of pp data collected in 2017 and 2.2 nb$^{-1}$ of Pb+Pb data collected in 2015 and 2018. An unfolding procedure is applied to the two-dimensional leading and subleading jet $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ distributions to account for experimental effects in the measurement of both jets. Results are provided for dijets with leading jet $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ greater than 100 GeV. Measurements of the dijet-yield-normalized $x_{\mathrm{J}}$ distributions in Pb+Pb collisions show an increased fraction of imbalanced jets compared to pp collisions; these measurements are in agreement with previous measurements of the same quantity at 2.76 TeV in the overlapping kinematic range. Measurements of the absolutely-normalized dijet rate in Pb+Pb and pp collisions are also presented, and show that balanced dijets are significantly more suppressed than imbalanced dijets in Pb+Pb collisions. It is observed in the measurements of the pair nuclear modification factors that the subleading jets are significantly suppressed relative to leading jets with $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ between 100 and 316 GeV for all centralities in Pb+Pb collisions.
This paper reports cross-section measurements of $ZZ$ production in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13.6$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The data were collected by the ATLAS detector in 2022, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 29 fb$^-1$. Events in the $ZZ\rightarrow4\ell$ ($\ell = e$, $\mu$) final states are selected and used to measure the inclusive and differential cross-sections in a fiducial region defined close to the analysis selections. The inclusive cross-section is further extrapolated to the total phase space with a requirement of 66 $< m_Z <$ 116 GeV for both $Z$ bosons, yielding $16.8 \pm 1.1$ pb. The results are well described by the Standard Model predictions.
This paper presents a measurement of the production cross-section of a $Z$ boson in association with $b$- or $c$-jets, in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. Inclusive and differential cross-sections are measured for events containing a $Z$ boson decaying into electrons or muons and produced in association with at least one $b$-jet, at least one $c$-jet, or at least two $b$-jets with transverse momentum $p_\textrm{T} > 20$ GeV and rapidity $|y| < 2.5$. Predictions from several Monte Carlo generators based on next-to-leading-order matrix elements interfaced with a parton-shower simulation, with different choices of flavour schemes for initial-state partons, are compared with the measured cross-sections. The results are also compared with novel predictions, based on infrared and collinear safe jet flavour dressing algorithms. Selected $Z + \ge 1 c$-jet observables, optimized for sensitivity to intrinsic-charm, are compared with benchmark models with different intrinsic-charm fractions.
A measurement of off-shell Higgs boson production in the $H^*\to ZZ\to 4\ell$ decay channel is presented. The measurement uses 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider and supersedes the previous result in this decay channel using the same dataset. The data analysis is performed using a neural simulation-based inference method, which builds per-event likelihood ratios using neural networks. The observed (expected) off-shell Higgs boson production signal strength in the $ZZ\to 4\ell$ decay channel at 68% CL is $0.87^{+0.75}_{-0.54}$ ($1.00^{+1.04}_{-0.95}$). The evidence for off-shell Higgs boson production using the $ZZ\to 4\ell$ decay channel has an observed (expected) significance of $2.5\sigma$ ($1.3\sigma$). The expected result represents a significant improvement relative to that of the previous analysis of the same dataset, which obtained an expected significance of $0.5\sigma$. When combined with the most recent ATLAS measurement in the $ZZ\to 2\ell 2\nu$ decay channel, the evidence for off-shell Higgs boson production has an observed (expected) significance of $3.7\sigma$ ($2.4\sigma$). The off-shell measurements are combined with the measurement of on-shell Higgs boson production to obtain constraints on the Higgs boson total width. The observed (expected) value of the Higgs boson width at 68% CL is $4.3^{+2.7}_{-1.9}$ ($4.1^{+3.5}_{-3.4}$) MeV.