This paper presents a search for new physics through the process where a new massive particle, X, decays into a Higgs boson and a second particle, Y. The Higgs boson subsequently decays into a bottom quark-antiquark pair, reconstructed as a single large-radius jet. The decay products of Y are also assumed to produce a single large-radius jet. The identification of the Y particle is enhanced by computing the anomaly score of its candidate jet using an autoencoder, which measures deviations from typical QCD multijet jets. This allows a simultaneous search for multiple Y decay scenarios within a single analysis. In the main benchmark process, Y is a scalar particle that decays into W$^+$W$^-$. Two other benchmark processes are also considered, where Y is a scalar particle decaying into a light quark-antiquark pair, or into a top quark-antiquark pair. The last benchmark considers Y as a hadronically decaying top quark, arising from the decay of a vector-like quark into a top quark and a Higgs boson. Data recorded by the CMS experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2016$-$2018, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$, are analyzed. No significant excess is observed, and upper limits on the benchmark signal cross section for various masses of X and Y, at 95% confidence level, are placed.
A search for neutral long-lived particles (LLPs) decaying in the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter using 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV delivered by the LHC is presented. The analysis is composed of three channels. The first targets pair-produced LLPs, where at least one LLP is produced with sufficiently low boost that its decay products can be resolved as separate jets. The second and third channels target LLPs respectively produced in association with a $W$ or $Z$ boson that decays leptonically. In each channel, different search regions target different kinematic regimes, to cover a broad range of LLP mass hypotheses and models. No excesses of events relative to the background predictions are observed. Higgs boson branching fractions to pairs of hadronically decaying neutral LLPs larger than 1% are excluded at 95% confidence level for proper decay lengths in the range of 30 cm to 4.5 m depending on the LLP mass, a factor of three improvement on previous searches in the hadronic calorimeter. The production of long-lived dark photons in association with a $Z$ boson with cross-sections above 0.1 pb is excluded for dark photon mean proper decay lengths in the range of 20 cm to 50 m, improving previous ATLAS results by an order of magnitude. Finally, long-lived photo-phobic axion-like particle models are probed for the first time by ATLAS, with production cross-sections above 0.1 pb excluded in the 0.1 mm to 10 m range.
A search for long-lived particles originating from the decay of b hadrons produced in proton-proton collisions with a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the LHC is presented. The analysis is performed on a data set recorded in 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41.6 fb$^{-1}$. Interactions of the long-lived particles in the CMS endcap muon system would create hadronic or electromagnetic showers, producing clusters of detector hits. Selected events contain at least one such high-multiplicity cluster in the muon endcaps and require the presence of a displaced muon. The most stringent upper limits to date on the branching fraction $\mathcal{B}$(B $\to$ K$Φ$), where the long-lived particle $Φ$ decays to a pair of hadrons, are obtained for $Φ$ masses of 0.3$-$3.0 GeV and $Φ$ mean proper decay lengths in the range of 1$-$500 cm.
This paper presents a search for physics beyond the Standard Model targeting a heavy resonance visible in the invariant mass of the lepton-jet system. The analysis focuses on final states with a high-energy lepton and jet, and is optimised for the resonant production of leptoquarks-a novel production mode mediated by the lepton content of the proton originating from quantum fluctuations. Four distinct and orthogonal final states are considered: $e$+light jet, $μ$+light jet, $e$+$b$-jet, and $μ$+$b$-jet, constituting the first search at the Large Hadron Collider for resonantly produced leptoquarks with couplings to electrons and muons. Events with an additional same-flavour lepton, as expected from higher-order diagrams in the signal process, are also included in each channel. The search uses proton-proton collision data from the full Run 2, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$ at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV, and from a part of Run 3 (2022-2023), corresponding to 55 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s} = 13.6$ TeV. No significant excess over Standard Model predictions is observed. The results are interpreted as exclusion limits on scalar leptoquark ($\tilde{S}_1$) production, substantially improving upon previous ATLAS constraints from leptoquark pair production for large coupling values. The excluded $\tilde{S}_1$ mass ranges depend on the coupling strength, reaching up to 3.4 TeV for quark-lepton couplings $y_{de} = 1.0$, and up to 4.3 TeV, 3.1 TeV, and 2.8 TeV for $y_{sμ}$, $y_{be}$, and $y_{bμ}$ couplings set to 3.5, respectively.
A search for heavy, long-lived, charged particles with large ionization energy loss within the silicon tracker of the CMS experiment is presented. A data set of proton-proton collisions at a center of mass energy at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, collected in 2017 and 2018 at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb$^{-1}$, is used in this analysis. Two different approaches for the search are taken. A new method exploits the independence of the silicon pixel and strips measurements, while the second method improves on previous techniques using ionization to determine a mass selection. No significant excess of events above the background expectation is observed. The results are interpreted in the context of the pair production of supersymmetric particles, namely gluinos, top squarks, and tau sleptons, and of the Drell-Yan pair production of fourth generation ($\tau'$) leptons with an electric charge equal to or twice the absolute value of the electron charge ($e$). An interpretation of a Z$'$ boson decaying to two $\tau'$ leptons with an electric charge equal to 2$e$ is presented for the first time. The 95% confidence upper limits on the production cross section are extracted for each of these hypothetical particles.
Measurements of the total and differential Higgs boson production cross-sections, via $WH$ and $ZH$ associated production using $H\rightarrow WW^\ast\rightarrow\ellν\ellν$ and $H\rightarrow WW^\ast\rightarrow\ellνjj$ decays, are presented. The analysis uses proton-proton events delivered by the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector between 2015 and 2018. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. The sum of the $WH$ and $ZH$ cross-sections times the $H\rightarrow WW^\ast$ branching fraction is measured to be $0.44^{+0.10}_{-0.09}$ (stat.) $^{+0.06}_{-0.05}$ (syst.) pb, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction. Higgs boson production is further characterised through measurements of the differential cross-section as a function of the transverse momentum of the vector boson and in the framework of Simplified Template Cross-Sections.
A search for the production of three Higgs bosons ($HHH$) in the $b\bar{b}b\bar{b}b\bar{b}$ final state is presented. The search uses $126~\text{fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis targets both non-resonant and resonant production of $HHH$. The resonant interpretations primarily consider a cascade decay topology of $X\rightarrow SH\rightarrow HHH$ with masses of the new scalars $X$ and $S$ up to 1.5 TeV and 1 TeV, respectively. In addition to scenarios where $S$ is off-shell, the non-resonant interpretation includes a search for standard model (SM) $HHH$ production, with limits on the tri-linear and quartic Higgs self-coupling set. No evidence for $HHH$ production is observed. An upper limit of 59 fb is set, at 95% confidence level, on the cross-section for Standard-Model $HHH$ production.
A search is presented for fractionally charged particles with charge below 1$e$, using their small energy loss in the tracking detector as a key variable to observe a signal. The analyzed data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions collected at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV in 2016-2018 at the CERN LHC. This is the first search at the LHC for new particles with charges between $e/$3 and 0.9$e$, including an extension of previous results at a charge of 2$e/$3. Masses up to 640 GeV and charges as low as $e/$3 are excluded at 95% confidence level. These are the most stringent limits to date for the considered Drell-Yan-like production mode.
A search for long-lived particles using final states including a displaced vertex with low-momentum tracks, large missing transverse momentum, and a jet from initial-state radiation is presented. This search uses proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2017 and 2018, with a total integrated luminosity of 100 fb$^{-1}$. This analysis adopts specific supersymmetric (SUSY) coannihilation scenarios as benchmark signal models, characterized by a next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP) with a mass difference of less than 25GeV relative to the lightest SUSY particle, assumed to be a bino-like neutralino. In the top squark ($\tilde{\mathrm{t}}$) NLSP model, the NLSP is a long-lived $\tilde{\mathrm{t}}$, while in the bino-wino NLSP scenario, the mass-degenerate NLSPs are a wino-like long-lived neutralino and a short-lived chargino. The search excludes top squarks with masses less than 400$-$1100 GeV and wino-like neutralinos with masses less than 220$-$550 GeV, depending on the signal parameters, including the mass difference, mass, and lifetime of the long-lived particle. It sets the most stringent limits to date for the $\tilde{\mathrm{t}}$ and bino-wino NLSP models.
A search for heavy neutral gauge bosons (Z') decaying into a pair of tau leptons is performed in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV at the CERN LHC. The data were collected with the CMS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The observations are found to be in agreement with the expectation from standard model processes. Limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of the Z' production cross section and its branching fraction to tau lepton pairs for a range of Z' boson masses. For a narrow resonance in the sequential standard model scenario, a Z' boson with a mass below 3.5 TeV is excluded. This is the most stringent limit to date from this type of search.