The measurement of the production of ${\rm f}_{0}(980)$ in inelastic pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 5.02$ TeV is presented. This is the first reported measurement of inclusive ${\rm f}_{0}(980)$ yield at LHC energies. The production is measured at midrapidity, $|y| < 0.5$, in a wide transverse momentum range, $0 < p_{\rm T} < 16$ GeV/$c$, by reconstructing the resonance in the ${\rm f}_{0}(980) \rightarrow \pi^{+}\pi^{-}$ hadronic decay channel using the ALICE detector. The $p_{\rm T}$-differential yields are compared to those of pions, protons and $\phi$ mesons as well as to predictions from the HERWIG 7.2 QCD-inspired Monte Carlo event generator and calculations from a coalescence model that uses the AMPT model as an input. The ratio of the $p_{\rm T}$-integrated yield of ${\rm f}_{0}(980)$ relative to pions is compared to measurements in ${\rm e}^{+}{\rm e}^{-}$ and pp collisions at lower energies and predictions from statistical hadronisation models and HERWIG 7.2. A mild collision energy dependence of the ${\rm f}_{0}(980)$ to pion production is observed in pp collisions from SPS to LHC energies. All considered models underpredict the $p_{\rm T}$-integrated $2{\rm f}_{0}(980)/(\pi^{+}+\pi^{-})$ ratio. The prediction from the canonical statistical hadronisation model assuming a zero total strangeness content of ${\rm f}_{0}(980)$ is consistent with the data within 1.9$\sigma$ and is the closest to the data. The results provide an essential reference for future measurements of the particle yield and nuclear modification in p$-$Pb and Pb$-$Pb collisions, which have been proposed to be instrumental to probe the elusive nature and quark composition of the ${\rm f}_{0}(980)$ scalar meson.
The cross section of jets reconstructed from charged particles is measured in the transverse momentum range of $5<p_\mathrm{T}<100\ \mathrm{GeV}/c$ in pp collisions at the center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 5.02\ \mathrm{TeV}$ with the ALICE detector. The jets are reconstructed using the anti-$k_\mathrm{T}$ algorithm with resolution parameters $R=0.2$, $0.3$, $0.4$, and $0.6$ in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|< 0.9-R$. The charged jet cross sections are compared with the leading order (LO) and to next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative Quantum ChromoDynamics (pQCD) calculations. It was found that the NLO calculations agree better with the measurements. The cross section ratios for different resolution parameters were also measured. These ratios increase from low $p_\mathrm{T}$ to high $p_\mathrm{T}$ and saturate at high $p_\mathrm{T}$, indicating that jet collimation is larger at high $p_\mathrm{T}$ than at low $p_\mathrm{T}$. These results provide a precision test of pQCD predictions and serve as a baseline for the measurement in Pb$-$Pb collisions at the same energy to quantify the effects of the hot and dense medium created in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC.
This Letter reports the observation of $WZ\gamma$ production and a measurement of its cross-section using 140.1 $\pm$ 1.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The $WZ\gamma$ production cross-section, with both the $W$ and $Z$ bosons decaying leptonically, $pp \rightarrow WZ\gamma \rightarrow {\ell'}^{\pm}\nu\ell^{+}\ell^{-}\gamma$ ($\ell^{(')} = e, \mu$), is measured in a fiducial phase-space region defined such that the leptons and the photon have high transverse momentum and the photon is isolated. The cross-section is found to be 2.01 $\pm$ 0.30 (stat.) $\pm$ 0.16 (syst) fb. The corresponding Standard Model predicted cross-section calculated at next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics and at leading order in the electroweak coupling constant is 1.50 $\pm$ 0.06 fb. The observed significance of the $WZ\gamma$ signal is 6.3$\sigma$, compared with an expected significance of 5.0$\sigma$.
The production of $\Upsilon$ mesons in Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5 TeV is measured with the muon spectrometer of the ALICE detector at the LHC. The yields as well as the nuclear modification factors are determined in the forward rapidity region $2.5<y<4.0$, as a function of rapidity, transverse momentum and collision centrality. The results show that the production of the $\Upsilon$(1S) meson is suppressed by a factor of about three with respect to the production in proton-proton collisions. For the first time, a significant signal for the $\Upsilon$(2S) meson is observed at forward rapidity, indicating a suppression stronger by about a factor 2-3 with respect to the ground state. The measurements are compared with transport, hydrodynamic, comover and statistical hadronisation model calculations.
This paper presents studies of Bose-Einstein correlations (BEC) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, using data from the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Data were collected in a special low-luminosity configuration with a minimum-bias trigger and a high-multiplicity track trigger, accumulating integrated luminosities of 151 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ and 8.4 nb$^{-1}$ respectively. The BEC are measured for pairs of like-sign charged particles, each with $|\eta|$ < 2.5, for two kinematic ranges: the first with particle $p_T$ > 100 MeV and the second with particle $p_T$ > 500 MeV. The BEC parameters, characterizing the source radius and particle correlation strength, are investigated as functions of charged-particle multiplicity (up to 300) and average transverse momentum of the pair (up to 1.5 GeV). The double-differential dependence on charged-particle multiplicity and average transverse momentum of the pair is also studied. The BEC radius is found to be independent of the charged-particle multiplicity for high charged-particle multiplicity (above 100), confirming a previous observation at lower energy. This saturation occurs independent of the transverse momentum of the pair.
A search for supersymmetric partners of top quarks decaying as $\tilde{t}_1\to c\tilde\chi^0_1$ and supersymmetric partners of charm quarks decaying as $\tilde{c}_1\to c\tilde\chi^0_1$, where $\tilde\chi^0_1$ is the lightest neutralino, is presented. The search uses 36.1 ${\rm fb}^{-1}$ $pp$ collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider and is performed in final states with jets identified as containing charm hadrons. Assuming a 100% branching ratio to $c\tilde\chi^0_1$, top and charm squarks with masses up to 850 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level for a massless lightest neutralino. For $m_{\tilde{t}_1,\tilde{c}_1}-m_{\tilde\chi^0_1}
A search for heavy neutral Higgs bosons is performed using the LHC Run 2 data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector. The search for heavy resonances is performed over the mass range 0.2-2.5 TeV for the $\tau^+\tau^-$ decay with at least one $\tau$-lepton decaying into final states with hadrons. The data are in good agreement with the background prediction of the Standard Model. In the $M_{h}^{125}$ scenario of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, values of $\tan\beta>8$ and $\tan\beta>21$ are excluded at the 95% confidence level for neutral Higgs boson masses of 1.0 TeV and 1.5 TeV, respectively, where $\tan\beta$ is the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the two Higgs doublets.
Fiducial and differential measurements of $W^+W^-$ production in events with at least one hadronic jet are presented. These cross-section measurements are sensitive to the properties of electroweak-boson self-interactions and provide a test of perturbative quantum chromodynamics and the electroweak theory. The analysis is performed using proton$-$proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s}=13~$TeV with the ATLAS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139$~$fb$^{-1}$. Events are selected with exactly one oppositely charged electron$-$muon pair and at least one hadronic jet with a transverse momentum of $p_{\mathrm{T}}>30~$GeV and a pseudorapidity of $|\eta|<4.5$. After subtracting the background contributions and correcting for detector effects, the jet-inclusive $W^+W^-+\ge 1~$jet fiducial cross-section and $W^+W^-+$ jets differential cross-sections with respect to several kinematic variables are measured, thus probing a previously unexplored event topology at the LHC. These measurements include leptonic quantities, such as the lepton transverse momenta and the transverse mass of the $W^+W^-$ system, as well as jet-related observables such as the leading jet transverse momentum and the jet multiplicity. Limits on anomalous triple-gauge-boson couplings are obtained in a phase space where interference between the Standard Model amplitude and the anomalous amplitude is enhanced.
The production cross-sections for $W^{\pm}$ and $Z$ bosons are measured using ATLAS data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.0 pb$^{-1}$ collected at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ TeV. The decay channels $W \rightarrow \ell \nu$ and $Z \rightarrow \ell \ell $ are used, where $\ell$ can be an electron or a muon. The cross-sections are presented for a fiducial region defined by the detector acceptance and are also extrapolated to the full phase space for the total inclusive production cross-section. The combined (average) total inclusive cross-sections for the electron and muon channels are: \begin{eqnarray} \sigma^{\text{tot}}_{W^{+}\rightarrow \ell \nu}& = & 2312 \pm 26\ (\text{stat.})\ \pm 27\ (\text{syst.}) \pm 72\ (\text{lumi.}) \pm 30\ (\text{extr.})\text{pb} \nonumber, \\ \sigma^{\text{tot}}_{W^{-}\rightarrow \ell \nu}& = & 1399 \pm 21\ (\text{stat.})\ \pm 17\ (\text{syst.}) \pm 43\ (\text{lumi.}) \pm 21\ (\text{extr.})\text{pb} \nonumber, \\ \sigma^{\text{tot}}_{Z \rightarrow \ell \ell}& = & 323.4 \pm 9.8\ (\text{stat.}) \pm 5.0\ (\text{syst.}) \pm 10.0\ (\text{lumi.}) \pm 5.5 (\text{extr.}) \text{pb} \nonumber. \end{eqnarray} Measured ratios and asymmetries constructed using these cross-sections are also presented. These observables benefit from full or partial cancellation of many systematic uncertainties that are correlated between the different measurements.
The production of a prompt photon in association with a $Z$ boson is studied in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV. The analysis uses a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC from 2015 to 2018. The production cross-section for the process $pp \rightarrow \ell^+\ell^-\gamma+X$ ($\ell = e, \mu$) is measured within a fiducial phase-space region defined by kinematic requirements on the photon and the leptons, and by isolation requirements on the photon. An experimental precision of 2.9% is achieved for the fiducial cross-section. Differential cross-sections are measured as a function of each of six kinematic variables characterising the $\ell^+\ell^-\gamma$ system. The data are compared with theoretical predictions based on next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations. The impact of next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections is also considered.