A search for a $WZ$ resonance, in the fully leptonic final state (electrons and muons), is performed using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The results are interpreted in terms of a singly charged Higgs boson of the Georgi$-$Machacek model, produced by $WZ$ fusion, and of a Heavy Vector Triplet, with the resonance produced by $WZ$ fusion or the Drell$-$Yan process. No significant excess over the Standard Model predictions is observed and limits are set on the production cross-section times branching ratio as a function of the resonance mass for these processes.
Comparisons of the data and the expected background distributions of the WZ invariant mass in the Drell-Yan signal region. The background predictions are obtained through a background-only simultaneous fit to the Drell-Yan signal region and the WZ-QCD Drell-Yan and ZZ Drell-Yan control regions. The yields are normalized to the bin width.
Comparisons of the data and the expected background distributions of the WZ invariant mass in the ANN-based VBF signal region. The background predictions are obtained through a background-only simultaneous fit to the VBF signal region and the WZ-QCD and ZZ VBF control regions. The yields are normalized to the bin width
Comparisons of the observed data and the expected background distributions of the WZ invariant mass using the cut-based VBF selection. The background predictions are obtained through a background-only simultaneous fit to the VBF cut-based signal region and the WZ-QCD and ZZ VBF control regions. The yields are normalized to the bin width.