Combined ATLAS and CMS measurements of the Higgs boson production and decay rates, as well as constraints on its couplings to vector bosons and fermions, are presented. The combination is based on the analysis of five production processes, namely gluon fusion, vector boson fusion, and associated production with a $W$ or a $Z$ boson or a pair of top quarks, and of the six decay modes $H \to ZZ, WW$, $\gamma\gamma, \tau\tau, bb$, and $\mu\mu$. All results are reported assuming a value of 125.09 GeV for the Higgs boson mass, the result of the combined measurement by the ATLAS and CMS experiments. The analysis uses the CERN LHC proton--proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS and CMS experiments in 2011 and 2012, corresponding to integrated luminosities per experiment of approximately 5 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and 20 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV. The Higgs boson production and decay rates measured by the two experiments are combined within the context of three generic parameterisations: two based on cross sections and branching fractions, and one on ratios of coupling modifiers. Several interpretations of the measurements with more model-dependent parameterisations are also given. The combined signal yield relative to the Standard Model prediction is measured to be 1.09 $\pm$ 0.11. The combined measurements lead to observed significances for the vector boson fusion production process and for the $H \to \tau\tau$ decay of $5.4$ and $5.5$ standard deviations, respectively. The data are consistent with the Standard Model predictions for all parameterisations considered.
A combination of fifteen top quark mass measurements performed by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC is presented. The data sets used correspond to an integrated luminosity of up to 5 and 20$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, respectively. The combination includes measurements in top quark pair events that exploit both the semileptonic and hadronic decays of the top quark, and a measurement using events enriched in single top quark production via the electroweak $t$-channel. The combination accounts for the correlations between measurements and achieves an improvement in the total uncertainty of 31% relative to the most precise input measurement. The result is $m_\mathrm{t}$ = 172.52 $\pm$ 0.14 (stat) $\pm$ 0.30 (syst) GeV, with a total uncertainty of 0.33 GeV.
A measurement of the electroweak (EW) production of two jets in association with a Z boson in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV is presented, based on data recorded in 2016 by the CMS experiment at the LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The measurement is performed in the $\ell\ell\mathrm{jj}$ final state with $\ell$ including electrons and muons, and the jets j corresponding to the quarks produced in the hard interaction. The measured cross section in a kinematic region defined by invariant masses $m_{\ell\ell} > $ 50 GeV, $m_{\mathrm{jj}} > $ 120 GeV, and transverse momenta $p_{\mathrm{T j}} > $ 25 GeV is $\sigma_\mathrm{EW}(\ell\ell\mathrm{jj})= $ 552 $\pm$ 19 (stat) $\pm$ 55 (syst) fb, in agreement with leading-order standard model predictions. The final state is also used to perform a search for anomalous trilinear gauge couplings. No evidence is found and limits on anomalous trilinear gauge couplings associated with dimension-six operators are given in the framework of an effective field theory. The corresponding 95% confidence level intervals are $-2.6 < c_{WWW}/\Lambda^2 < 2.6 $ TeV$^{-2}$ and $-8.4 < c_{W}/\Lambda^2 < 10.1 $ TeV$^{-2}$. The additional jet activity of events in a signal-enriched region is also studied, and the measurements are in agreement with predictions.
A measurement is presented of electroweak (EW) production of a W boson in association with two jets in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV. The data sample was recorded by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The measurement is performed for the $\ell\nu$jj final state (with $\ell\nu$ indicating a lepton-neutrino pair, and j representing the quarks produced in the hard interaction) in a kinematic region defined by invariant mass $m_\mathrm{jj}$ $>$ 120 GeV and transverse momenta $p_\mathrm{T j}$ $>$ 25 GeV. The cross section of the process is measured in the electron and muon channels yielding $\sigma_\mathrm{EW}$(Wjj) = 6.23 $\pm$ 0.12 (stat) $\pm$ 0.61 (syst) pb per channel, in agreement with leading-order standard model predictions. The additional hadronic activity of events in a signal-enriched region is studied, and the measurements are compared with predictions. The final state is also used to perform a search for anomalous trilinear gauge couplings. Limits on anomalous trilinear gauge couplings associated with dimension-six operators are given in the framework of an effective field theory. The corresponding 95% confidence level intervals are $-$2.3 $<$ $c_{\mathrm{WWW}}/\Lambda^2$ $<$ 2.5 TeV$^{-2}$, $-$8.8 $<$ $c_{\mathrm{W}}/\Lambda^2$ $<$ 16 TeV$^{-2}$, and $-$45 $<$ $c_{\mathrm{B}}/\Lambda^2$ $<$ 46 TeV$^{-2}$. These results are combined with the CMS EW Zjj analysis, yielding the constraint on the $c_{\mathrm{WWW}}$ coupling: $-$1.8 $<$ $c_{\mathrm{WWW}}/\Lambda^2$ $<$ 2.0 TeV$^{-2}$.
Measurements of the suppression and correlations of dijets is performed using 3 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ of Xe+Xe data at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 5.44$ TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Dijets with jets reconstructed using the $R=0.4$ anti-$k_t$ algorithm are measured differentially in jet $p_{\text{T}}$ over the range of 32 GeV to 398 GeV and the centrality of the collisions. Significant dijet momentum imbalance is found in the most central Xe+Xe collisions, which decreases in more peripheral collisions. Results from the measurement of per-pair normalized and absolutely normalized dijet $p_{\text{T}}$ balance are compared with previous Pb+Pb measurements at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} =5.02$ TeV. The differences between the dijet suppression in Xe+Xe and Pb+Pb are further quantified by the ratio of pair nuclear-modification factors. The results are found to be consistent with those measured in Pb+Pb data when compared in classes of the same event activity and when taking into account the difference between the center-of-mass energies of the initial parton scattering process in Xe+Xe and Pb+Pb collisions. These results should provide input for a better understanding of the role of energy density, system size, path length, and fluctuations in the parton energy loss.
This paper presents for the first time a precise measurement of the production properties of the Z boson in the full phase space of the decay leptons. This is in contrast to the many previous precise unfolded measurements performed in the fiducial phase space of the decay leptons. The measurement is obtained from proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2012 at $\sqrt s$ = 8 TeV at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb$^{-1}$. The results, based on a total of 15.3 million Z-boson decays to electron and muon pairs, extend and improve a previous measurement of the full set of angular coefficients describing Z-boson decay. The double-differential cross-section distributions in Z-boson transverse momentum p$_T$ and rapidity y are measured in the pole region, defined as 80 $<$ m $<$ 100 GeV, over the range $|y| <$ 3.6. The total uncertainty of the normalised cross-section measurements in the peak region of the p$_T$ distribution is dominated by statistical uncertainties over the full range and increases as a function of rapidity from 0.5-1.0% for $|y| <$ 2.0 to 2-7% at higher rapidities. The results for the rapidity-dependent transverse momentum distributions are compared to state-of-the-art QCD predictions, which combine in the best cases approximate N$^4$LL resummation with N$^3$LO fixed-order perturbative calculations. The differential rapidity distributions integrated over p$_T$ are even more precise, with accuracies from 0.2-0.3% for $|y| <$ 2.0 to 0.4-0.9% at higher rapidities, and are compared to fixed-order QCD predictions using the most recent parton distribution functions. The agreement between data and predictions is quite good in most cases.
A search for the leptonic charge asymmetry ($A_\text{c}^{\ell}$) of top-quark$-$antiquark pair production in association with a $W$ boson ($t\bar{t}W$) is presented. The search is performed using final states with exactly three charged light leptons (electrons or muons) and is based on $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV proton$-$proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN during the years 2015$-$2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. A profile-likelihood fit to the event yields in multiple regions corresponding to positive and negative differences between the pseudorapidities of the charged leptons from top-quark and top-antiquark decays is used to extract the charge asymmetry. At reconstruction level, the asymmetry is found to be $-0.123 \pm 0.136$ (stat.) $\pm \, 0.051$ (syst.). An unfolding procedure is applied to convert the result at reconstruction level into a charge-asymmetry value in a fiducial volume at particle level with the result of $-0.112 \pm 0.170$ (stat.) $\pm \, 0.054$ (syst.). The Standard Model expectations for these two observables are calculated using Monte Carlo simulations with next-to-leading-order plus parton shower precision in quantum chromodynamics and including next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections. They are $-0.084 \, ^{+0.005}_{-0.003}$ (scale) $\pm\, 0.006$ (MC stat.) and $-0.063 \, ^{+0.007}_{-0.004}$ (scale) $\pm\, 0.004$ (MC stat.) respectively, and in agreement with the measurements.
Measured values of the leptonic charge asymmetry ($A_c^{\ell}$) in ttW production in the three lepton channel. Results are given at reconstruction level and at particle level. Expected values are obtained using the Sherpa MC generator.
A search for heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos is performed with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, using the 140 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected during Run 2. This search targets $t\bar{t}$ production, in which both top quarks decay into a bottom quark and a $W$ boson, where one of the $W$ bosons decays hadronically and the other decays into an electron or muon and a heavy neutral lepton. The heavy neutral lepton is identified through a decay into an electron or muon and another $W$ boson, resulting in a pair of same-charge same-flavor leptons in the final state. This paper presents the first search for heavy neutral leptons in the mass range of 15-75 GeV using $t\bar{t}$ events. No significant excess is observed over the background expectation, and upper limits are placed on the signal cross-sections. Assuming a benchmark scenario of the phenomenological type-I seesaw model, these cross-section limits are then translated into upper limits on the mixing parameters of the heavy Majorana neutrino with Standard Model neutrinos.
Definitions of different signal and control regions. The control regions are enriched in events from the following processes. ttW, heavy-flavor (HF) fake, photon-conversion (PC), and charge-flip (CF). The 'Z veto' is defined as $m_{ee}$ not in [$m_Z$ - 10 GeV, $m_Z$ + 10 GeV].
Post-fit event yields for the different background processes in the signal regions, as obtained from the background-only fit in the high-mass region.
Expected and observed upper limits on the signal cross-sections at 95% CL.
A search for the supersymmetric partners of quarks and gluons (squarks and gluinos) in final states containing jets and missing transverse momentum, but no electrons or muons, is presented. The data used in this search were recorded by the ATLAS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The results are interpreted in the context of various $R$-parity-conserving models where squarks and gluinos are produced in pairs or in association and a neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle. An exclusion limit at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the gluino is set at 2.30 TeV for a simplified model containing only a gluino and the lightest neutralino, assuming the latter is massless. For a simplified model involving the strong production of mass-degenerate first- and second-generation squarks, squark masses below 1.85 TeV are excluded if the lightest neutralino is massless. These limits extend substantially beyond the region of supersymmetric parameter space excluded previously by similar searches with the ATLAS detector.
The paper presents a search for supersymmetric particles produced in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV and decaying into final states with missing transverse momentum and jets originating from charm quarks. The data were taken with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN from 2015 to 2018 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. No significant excess of events over the expected Standard Model background expectation is observed in optimized signal regions, and limits are set on the production cross-sections of the supersymmetric particles. Pair production of charm squarks or top squarks, each decaying into a charm quark and the lightest supersymmetric particle $\tilde{\chi}^0_1$, is excluded at 95% confidence level for squarks with masses up to 900 GeV for scenarios where the mass of $\tilde{\chi}^0_1$ is below 50 GeV. Additionally, the production of leptoquarks with masses up to 900 GeV is excluded for the scenario where up-type leptoquarks decay into a charm quark and a neutrino. Model-independent limits on cross-sections and event yields for processes beyond the Standard Model are also reported.