The first measurement of the dependence of $\gamma\gamma$$\to$$\mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ production on the multiplicity of neutrons emitted very close to the beam direction in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions is reported. Data for lead-lead interactions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} =$ 5.02 TeV, with an integrated luminosity of approximately 1.5 nb$^{-1}$, were collected using the CMS detector at the LHC. The azimuthal correlations between the two muons in the invariant mass region 8 $\lt$$m_{\mu\mu}$$\lt$ 60 GeV are extracted for events including 0, 1, or at least 2 neutrons detected in the forward pseudorapidity range $|\eta|$$\gt$ 8.3. The back-to-back correlation structure from leading-order photon-photon scattering is found to be significantly broader for events with a larger number of emitted neutrons from each nucleus, corresponding to interactions with a smaller impact parameter. This observation provides a data-driven demonstration that the average transverse momentum of photons emitted from relativistic heavy ions has an impact parameter dependence. These results provide new constraints on models of photon-induced interactions in ultraperipheral collisions. They also provide a baseline to search for possible final-state effects on lepton pairs caused by traversing a quark-gluon plasma produced in hadronic heavy ion collisions.
Neutron multiplicity dependence of acoplanarity ($\alpha$) from process $\gamma\gamma$ to $\mu^+\mu^-$ in ultraperipheral PbPb at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV.
Neutron multiplicity dependence of acoplanarity ($\alpha$) from process $\gamma\gamma$ to $\mu^+\mu^-$ in ultraperipheral PbPb at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV.
Neutron multiplicity dependence of acoplanarity ($\alpha$) from process $\gamma\gamma$ to $\mu^+\mu^-$ in ultraperipheral PbPb at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV.
We report on the $W$ and $Z/\gamma^*$ differential and total cross sections as well as the $W^+$/$W^-$ and $(W^+ + W^-)$/$(Z/\gamma^*)$ cross-section ratios measured by the STAR experiment at RHIC in $p+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 500$ GeV and $510$ GeV. The cross sections and their ratios are sensitive to quark and antiquark parton distribution functions. In particular, at leading order, the $W$ cross-section ratio is sensitive to the $\bar{d}/\bar{u}$ ratio. These measurements were taken at high $Q^2 \sim M_W^2,M_Z^2$ and can serve as input into global analyses to provide constraints on the sea quark distributions. The results presented here combine three STAR data sets from 2011, 2012, and 2013, accumulating an integrated luminosity of 350 pb$^{-1}$. We also assess the expected impact that our $W^+/W^-$ cross-section ratios will have on various quark distributions, and find sensitivity to the $\bar{u}-\bar{d}$ and $\bar{d}/\bar{u}$ distributions.
Differential cross sections, $d\sigma^{fid}_{W^+}/d\eta_{e^+}$, binned in $e^+$ pseudorapidity bins, requiring that $-1 < \eta_e < 1.5$ and $25$ GeV $< E^e_{T} < 50$ GeV. The values labeled 'stat.' and 'eff.' represent the statistical uncertainty and the systematic uncertainty estimated from the efficiencies, respectively. The later is dominated by the 5\% uncertainty in the tracking efficiency, which is common to all the measurements. The value 'sys.' includes all remaining systematic uncertainties, with the exception of the luminosity. The 9\% uncertainty associated with the luminosity measurement is labeled as 'lumi'.
Differential cross sections, $d\sigma^{fid}_{W^-}/d\eta_{e^-}$, binned in $e^-$ pseudorapidity bins, requiring that $-1 < \eta_e < 1.5$ and $25$ GeV $< E^e_{T} < 50$ GeV. The values labeled ``stat.' and ``eff.' represent the statistical uncertainty and the systematic uncertainty estimated from the efficiencies, respectively. The later is dominated by the 5\% uncertainty in the tracking efficiency, which is common to all the measurements. The value ``sys.' includes all remaining systematic uncertainties, with the exception of the luminosity. The 9\% uncertainty associated with the luminosity measurement is labeled as 'lumi'.
Differential cross sections, $d\sigma^{fid}_{Z}/dy_Z$, binned in rapidity bins, requiring that $|\eta_e|<1$, $|y_Z| < 1$, $p^e_T > 15$ GeV, and $ 70$ GeV $< M_Z < 110$ GeV. The values labeled 'stat.' and 'eff.' represent the statistical uncertainty and the systematic uncertainty estimated from the efficiencies, respectively. The later is dominated by the 10\% uncertainty in the tracking efficiency, which is common to all the measurements. The value 'sys.' includes all remaining systematic uncertainties, with the exception of the luminosity. The 9\% uncertainty associated with the luminosity measurement is labeled as 'lumi'.
The rate for Higgs (H) bosons production in association with either one (tH) or two ($\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$H) top quarks is measured in final states containing multiple electrons, muons, or tau leptons decaying to hadrons and a neutrino, using proton-proton collisions recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the CMS experiment. The analyzed data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis is aimed at events that contain H $\to$ WW, H $\to$$\tau\tau$, or H $\to$ ZZ decays and each of the top quark(s) decays either to lepton+jets or all-jet channels. Sensitivity to signal is maximized by including ten signatures in the analysis, depending on the lepton multiplicity. The separation among the tH, the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$H, and the backgrounds is enhanced through machine-learning techniques and matrix-element methods. The measured production rates for the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$H and tH signals correspond to 0.92 $\pm$ 0.19 (stat) $^{+0.17}_{-0.13}$ (syst) and 5.7 $\pm$ 2.7 (stat) $\pm$ 3.0 (syst) of their respective standard model (SM) expectations. The corresponding observed (expected) significance amounts to 4.7 (5.2) standard deviations for $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$H, and to 1.4 (0.3) for tH production. Assuming that the Higgs boson coupling to the tau lepton is equal in strength to its expectation in the SM, the coupling $y_{\mathrm{t}}$ of the Higgs boson to the top quark divided by its SM expectation, $\kappa_\mathrm{t}$ = $y_\mathrm{t} / y_\mathrm{t}^\mathrm{SM}$, is constrained to be within $-$0.9 $\lt$$\kappa_\mathrm{t}$$\lt$$-$0.7 or 0.7 $\lt$$\kappa_\mathrm{t}$$\lt$ 1.1, at 95% confidence level. This result is the most sensitive measurement of the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$H production rate to date.
Number of events selected in the $3\ell$- and $4\ell$-CRs and in the CR for the ttW background, compared to the event yields expected from different types of background and from the ttH and tH signals, after the fit to data is performed. Uncertainties shown include all systematic components.
Summary of the sources of systematic and statistical uncertainties and their impact on the measurement of the ttH and tH signal rates, and the measured value of the unconstrained nuisance parameters. The quantity $\Delta r_{x}/r_{x}$ corresponds to the change in uncertainty when fixing the nuisance parameters associated with that uncertainty in the fit. Under the label "MC and sideband statistical uncertainty" are the uncertainties associated with the limited number of simulated MC events and the amount of data events in the application region of the MP method.
Number of events selected in the 2$\ell$ss+0$\tau_{\mathrm{h}}$, 3$\ell$+0$\tau_{\mathrm{h}}$, and 2$\ell$ss+1$\tau_{\mathrm{h}}$ analysis channels compared to the event yields expected from the $ tH$ and $ H$ signals and from background processes. The expected event yields are computed for the values of nuisance parameters and of the POI obtained from the ML fit. The best fit values of the POI amount to $\hat{r_{ttH}} = 0.92$ and $\hat{r_{tH}} = 5.7$. Quoted uncertainties represent the sum of statistical and systematic components.
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.
Observed $m_{\mathrm{eff}}$ distributions in signal regions MB-SSd. The histograms show the MC background predictions normalised by the background-only fit. The hatched (red) error bands indicate experimental and MC statistical uncertainties. Expected distributions for benchmark signal model points, normalised using the approximate NNLO+NNLL cross-section times integrated luminosity, are also shown for comparison (masses in GeV).
Observed metSig distributions in signal regions MB-SSd. The histograms show the MC background predictions normalised by the background-only fit. The hatched (red) error bands indicate experimental and MC statistical uncertainties. Expected distributions for benchmark signal model points, normalised using the approximate NNLO+NNLL cross-section times integrated luminosity, are also shown for comparison (masses in GeV).
Observed $m_{\mathrm{eff}}$ distributions in signal regions MB-GGd. The histograms show the MC background predictions normalised by the background-only fit. The hatched (red) error bands indicate experimental and MC statistical uncertainties. Expected distributions for benchmark signal model points, normalised using the approximate NNLO+NNLL cross-section times integrated luminosity, are also shown for comparison (masses in GeV).
Angular distributions of the decay B$^+$$\to$ K$^*$(892)$^+\mu^+\mu^-$ are studied using events collected with the CMS detector in $\sqrt{s} =$ 8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.0 fb$^{-1}$. The forward-backward asymmetry of the muons and the longitudinal polarization of the K$^*$(892)$^+$ meson are determined as a function of the square of the dimuon invariant mass. These are the first results from this exclusive decay mode and are in agreement with a standard model prediction.
The measured signal yields, FL, AFB in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared. The first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic.
A search is presented for the production of the Standard Model Higgs boson in association with a high-energy photon. With a focus on the vector-boson fusion process and the dominant Higgs boson decay into $b$-quark pairs, the search benefits from a large reduction of multijet background compared to more inclusive searches. Results are reported from the analysis of 132 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measured Higgs boson signal yield in this final-state signature is $1.3 \pm 1.0$ times the Standard Model prediction. The observed significance of the Higgs boson signal above the background is 1.3 standard deviations, compared to an expected significance of 1.0 standard deviations.
Comparisons of data and simulated event distributions of the BDT input variable \(\Delta \eta_{jj}\) in the two \(m_{bb}\) sidebands after kinematic reweighting of the non-resonant \(b\bar{b}\gamma jj\) background. The data are shown as black points, and the background contributions are stacked in coloured histograms. The Higgs boson signal contribution is scaled up and represented by the dashed red line. The bottom panel in each plot shows the ratio of the data to the SM prediction, where the uncertainty band corresponds to the statistical uncertainty only.
Comparisons of data and simulated event distributions of the BDT input variable \(p_{\text{T}}^{\text{balance}}\) in the two \(m_{bb}\) sidebands after kinematic reweighting of the non-resonant \(b\bar{b}\gamma jj\) background. The data are shown as black points, and the background contributions are stacked in coloured histograms. The Higgs boson signal contribution is scaled up and represented by the dashed red line. The bottom panel in each plot shows the ratio of the data to the SM prediction, where the uncertainty band corresponds to the statistical uncertainty only.
The \(m_{bb}\) distributions in the HighBDT categories, overlaid with contributions from the \(H\gamma jj\) signal as well as the resonant \(Z\gamma jj\) and non-resonant \(b\bar{b} \gamma jj\) background fits. The combined \(\chi^2\) per degree of freedom is \(45.2/45\). The bottom panel in each plot presents the significance of the Higgs boson signal relative to the non-resonant \(b\bar{b} \gamma jj\) background in each bin.
The NA62 experiment at the CERN SPS reports a study of a sample of $4 \times10^{9}$ tagged $\pi^0$ mesons from $K^+ \to \pi^+ \pi^0 (\gamma)$, searching for the decay of the $\pi^0$ to invisible particles. No signal is observed in excess of the expected background fluctuations. An upper limit of $4.4 \times10^{-9}$ is set on the branching ratio at 90% confidence level, improving on previous results by a factor of 60. This result can also be interpreted as a model-independent upper limit on the branching ratio for the decay $K^+ \to \pi^+ X$, where $X$ is a particle escaping detection with mass in the range 0.110-0.155 GeV$/c^2$ and rest lifetime greater than 100 ps. Model-dependent upper limits are obtained assuming $X$ to be an axion-like particle with dominant fermion couplings or a dark scalar mixing with the Standard Model Higgs boson.
The expected upper limit refers to absence of signal.
See caption of Fig 6.
ALP width dominantly visible, see caption of Fig 7.
Several extensions of the Standard Model predict the production of dark matter particles at the LHC. An uncharted signature of dark matter particles produced in association with $VV=W^\pm W^\mp$ or $ZZ$ pairs from a decay of a dark Higgs boson $s$ is searched for using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The $s\to V(q\bar q)V(q\bar q)$ decays are reconstructed with a novel technique aimed at resolving the dense topology from boosted $VV$ pairs using jets in the calorimeter and tracking information. Dark Higgs scenarios with $m_s > 160$ GeV are excluded.
Data overlaid on SM background post-fit yields stacked in each SR and CR category and E<sub>T</sub><sup>miss</sup> bin with the maximum-likelihood estimators set to the conditional values of the CR-only fit, and propagated to SR and CRs. Pre-fit uncertainties cover differences between the data and pre-fit background prediction.
Dominant sources of uncertainty for three dark Higgs scenarios after the fit to Asimov data generated from the expected values of the maximum-likelihood estimators including predicted signals with m<sub>Z'</sub> = 1 TeV and m<sub>s</sub> of (a) 160 GeV, (b) 235 GeV, and (c) 310 GeV. The uncertainty in the fitted signal yield relative to the theory prediction is presented. Total is the quadrature sum of statistical and total systematic uncertainties, which consider correlations.
The ratios (μ) of the 95% C.L. upper limits on the combined s→ W<sup>±</sup>W<sup>∓</sup> and s→ ZZ cross section to simplified model expectations for the m<sub>Z'</sub>=0.5 TeV scenario, for various m<sub>s</sub> hypotheses. The observed limits (solid line) are consistent with the expectation under the SM-only hypothesis (dashed line) within uncertainties (filled band), except for a small excess for m<sub>s</sub>=160 GeV, discussed in the text.
The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider reports a search for charged-lepton-flavour violation in decays of $Z$ bosons into a τ lepton and an electron or muon of opposite charge.
The best-fit expected and observed distributions of the combined NN output in the CRZ$\tau\tau$ for the $\mu\tau$ channel for events with 1-prong $\tau_\text{had-vis}$ candidates. The last bin in each plot includes overflow events.
The best-fit expected and observed distributions of the combined NN output in the CRZ$\tau\tau$ for the $\mu\tau$ channel for events with 3-prong $\tau_\text{had-vis}$ candidates. The last bin in each plot includes overflow events.
The best-fit expected and observed distributions of the combined NN output in the VRSS for the $e\tau$ channel for events with 1-prong $\tau_\text{had-vis}$ candidates. The last bin in each plot includes overflow events.
A search for pair production of scalar leptoquarks, each decaying into either an electron or a muon and a top quark, is presented. This is the first leptoquark search using ATLAS data to investigate top-philic cross-generational couplings that could provide explanations for recently observed anomalies in $B$ meson decays. This analysis targets high leptoquark masses which cause the decay products of each resultant top quark to be contained within a single high-$p_{\mathrm{T}}$ large-radius jet. The full Run 2 dataset is exploited, consisting of 139 fb$^{-1}$ of data collected from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV from 2015 to 2018 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. In the absence of any significant deviation from the background expectation, lower limits on the leptoquark masses are set at 1480 GeV and 1470 GeV for the electron and muon channel, respectively.
Expected and observed upper limits at the 95% CL on the leptoquark pair production cross section as a function of leptoquark mass under the assumption of $\mathcal{B}$(LQ->$te$)=1.
Expected and observed upper limits at the 95% CL on the leptoquark pair production cross section as a function of leptoquark mass under the assumption of $\mathcal{B}$(LQ->$t\mu$)=1.
Expected and observed 95% CL lower limits on the leptoquark mass as a function of the branching ratio $\mathcal{B}$(LQ->$te$).
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