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 dynamics of isolated-photon plus two-jet production in $pp$ collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$. Cross sections are measured as functions of a variety of observables, including angular correlations and invariant masses of the objects in the final state, $\gamma+jet+jet$. Measurements are also performed in phase-space regions enriched in each of the two underlying physical mechanisms, namely direct and fragmentation processes. The measurements cover the range of photon (jet) transverse momenta from 150 GeV (100 GeV) to 2 TeV. The tree-level plus parton-shower predictions from SHERPA and PYTHIA as well as the next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from SHERPA are compared with the measurements. The next-to-leading-order QCD predictions describe the data adequately in shape and normalisation except for regions of phase space such as those with high values of the invariant mass or rapidity separation of the two jets, where the predictions overestimate the data.
The fragmentation properties of jets containing $b$-hadrons are studied using charged $B$ mesons in 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during the period from 2015 to 2018. The $B$ mesons are reconstructed using the decay of $B^{\pm}$ into $J/\psi K^{\pm}$, with the $J/\psi$ decaying into a pair of muons. Jets are reconstructed using the anti-$k_t$ algorithm with radius parameter $R=0.4$. The measurement determines the longitudinal and transverse momentum profiles of the reconstructed $B$ hadrons with respect to the axes of the jets to which they are geometrically associated. These distributions are measured in intervals of the jet transverse momentum, ranging from 50 GeV to above 100 GeV. The results are corrected for detector effects and compared with several Monte Carlo predictions using different parton shower and hadronisation models. The results for the longitudinal and transverse profiles provide useful inputs to improve the description of heavy-flavour fragmentation in jets.
This paper presents a measurement of the production cross-section of a $Z$ boson in association with $b$-jets, in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.6 fb$^{-1}$. Inclusive and differential cross-sections are measured for events containing a $Z$ boson decaying into electrons or muons and produced in association with at least one or at least two $b$-jets with transverse momentum $p_\textrm{T}>$ 20 GeV and rapidity $|y| < 2.5$. Predictions from several Monte Carlo generators based on leading-order (LO) or next-to-leading-order (NLO) matrix elements interfaced with a parton-shower simulation and testing different flavour schemes for the choice of initial-state partons are compared with measured cross-sections. The 5-flavour number scheme predictions at NLO accuracy agree better with data than 4-flavour number scheme ones. The 4-flavour number scheme predictions underestimate data in events with at least one b-jet.
The prevalence of hadronic jets at the LHC requires that a deep understanding of jet formation and structure is achieved in order to reach the highest levels of experimental and theoretical precision. There have been many measurements of jet substructure at the LHC and previous colliders, but the targeted observables mix physical effects from various origins. Based on a recent proposal to factorize physical effects, this Letter presents a double-differential cross-section measurement of the Lund jet plane using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector using jets with transverse momentum above 675 GeV. The measurement uses charged particles to achieve a fine angular resolution and is corrected for acceptance and detector effects. Several parton shower Monte Carlo models are compared with the data. No single model is found to be in agreement with the measured data across the entire plane.
Differential cross-section measurements are presented for the electroweak production of two jets in association with a $Z$ boson. These measurements are sensitive to the vector-boson fusion production mechanism and provide a fundamental test of the gauge structure of the Standard Model. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data collected by ATLAS at $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV and with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The differential cross-sections are measured in the $Z\rightarrow \ell^+\ell^-$ decay channel ($\ell=e,\mu$) as a function of four observables: the dijet invariant mass, the rapidity interval spanned by the two jets, the signed azimuthal angle between the two jets, and the transverse momentum of the dilepton pair. The data are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution and are sufficiently precise to distinguish between different state-of-the-art theoretical predictions calculated using Powheg+Pythia8, Herwig7+Vbfnlo and Sherpa 2.2. The differential cross-sections are used to search for anomalous weak-boson self-interactions using a dimension-six effective field theory. The differential cross-section as a function of the signed azimuthal angle between the two jets is found to be particularly sensitive to the interference between the Standard Model and dimension-six scattering amplitudes and provides a direct test of charge-conjugation and parity invariance in the weak-boson self-interactions.
Inclusive and differential fiducial cross sections of the Higgs boson are measured in the $H \to ZZ^{*} \to 4\ell$ ($\ell = e,\mu$) decay channel. The results are based on proton$-$proton collision data produced at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector from 2015 to 2018, equivalent to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The inclusive fiducial cross section for the $H \to ZZ^{*} \to 4\ell$ process is measured to be $\sigma_\mathrm{fid} = 3.28 \pm 0.32$ fb, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction of $\sigma_\mathrm{fid, SM} = 3.41 \pm 0.18 $ fb. Differential fiducial cross sections are measured for a variety of observables which are sensitive to the production and decay of the Higgs boson. All measurements are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions. The results are used to constrain anomalous Higgs boson interactions with Standard Model particles.
This paper presents measurements of charged-particle distributions sensitive to the properties of the underlying event in events containing a $Z$ boson decaying into a muon pair. The data were obtained using the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$. Distributions of the charged-particle multiplicity and of the charged-particle transverse momentum are measured in regions of the azimuth defined relative to the $Z$ boson direction. The measured distributions are compared with the predictions of various Monte Carlo generators which implement different underlying-event models. The Monte Carlo model predictions qualitatively describe the data well, but with some significant discrepancies.
A measurement of event-shape variables in proton$-$proton collisions at large momentum transfer is presented using data collected at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Six event-shape variables calculated using hadronic jets are studied in inclusive multijet events using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. Measurements are performed in bins of jet multiplicity and in different ranges of the scalar sum of the transverse momenta of the two leading jets, reaching scales beyond 2 TeV. These measurements are compared with predictions from Monte Carlo event generators containing leading-order or next-to-leading order matrix elements matched to parton showers simulated to leading-logarithm accuracy. At low jet multiplicities, shape discrepancies between the measurements and the Monte Carlo predictions are observed. At high jet multiplicities, the shapes are better described but discrepancies in the normalisation are observed.
A search for high-mass dielectron and dimuon resonances in the mass range of 250 GeV to 6 TeV is presented. The data were recorded by the ATLAS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=$13 TeV during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. A functional form is fitted to the dilepton invariant-mass distribution to model the contribution from background processes, and a generic signal shape is used to determine the significance of observed deviations from this background estimate. No significant deviation is observed and upper limits are placed at the 95% confidence level on the fiducial cross-section times branching ratio for various resonance width hypotheses. The derived limits are shown to be applicable to spin-0, spin-1 and spin-2 signal hypotheses. For a set of benchmark models, the limits are converted into lower limits on the resonance mass and reach 4.5 TeV for the E6-motivated $Z^\prime_\psi$ boson. Also presented are limits on Heavy Vector Triplet model couplings.
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