A search has been performed for photons originating in the decay of a neutral long-lived particle, exploiting the capabilities of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter to make precise measurements of the flight direction of photons, as well as the calorimeter's excellent time resolution. The search has been made in the diphoton plus missing transverse energy final state, using the full data sample of 4.8/fb of 7 TeV proton-proton collisions collected in 2011 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. No excess is observed above the background expected from Standard Model processes. The results are used to set exclusion limits in the context of Gauge Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking models, with the lightest neutralino being the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle and decaying with a lifetime in excess of 0.25 ns into a photon and a gravitino.
A search for flavor-changing neutral current interactions of the top quark (t) and the Higgs boson (H) is presented. The search is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. Events containing exactly one lepton (muon or electron) and at least three jets, among which at least two are identified as originating from the hadronization of a bottom quark, are analyzed. A set of deep neural networks is used for kinematic event reconstruction, while boosted decision trees distinguish the signal from the background events. No significant excess over the background predictions is observed, and upper limits on the signal production cross sections are extracted. These limits are interpreted in terms of top quark decay branching fractions ($\mathcal{B}$) to the Higgs boson and an up (u) or a charm quark (c). Assuming one nonvanishing extra coupling at a time, the observed (expected) upper limits at 95% confidence level are $\mathcal{B}$(t $\to$ Hu) $\lt$ 0.079 (0.11)% and $\mathcal{B}$(t $\to$ Hc) $\lt$ 0.094 (0.086)%.
The results of a search for new heavy $W^\prime$ bosons decaying to an electron or muon and a neutrino using proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV are presented. The dataset was collected in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$. As no excess of events above the Standard Model prediction is observed, the results are used to set upper limits on the $W^\prime$ boson cross-section times branching ratio to an electron or muon and a neutrino as a function of the $W^\prime$ mass. Assuming a $W^\prime$ boson with the same couplings as the Standard Model $W$ boson, $W^\prime$ masses below 5.1 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level.
Upper limits at the 95% CL on the cross section for SSM W' production and decay to the electron+neutrino channel as a function of the W' pole mass.
Upper limits at the 95% CL on the cross section for SSM W' production and decay to the electron+neutrino channel as a function of the W' pole mass.
Upper limits at the 95% CL on the cross section for SSM W' production and decay to the muon+neutrino channel as a function of the W' pole mass.
Two-particle azimuthal correlations are measured with the ALICE apparatus in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV to explore strangeness- and multiplicity-related effects in the fragmentation of jets and the transition regime between bulk and hard production, probed with the condition that a strange meson (K$^{0}_{\rm S}$) or baryon ($\Lambda$) with transverse momentum $p_{\rm T} > 3$ GeV/c is produced. Azimuthal correlations between kaons or $\Lambda$ hyperons with other hadrons are presented at midrapidity for a broad range of the trigger ($3 < p_{\rm T}^{\rm trigg} < 20$ GeV/$c$) and associated particle $p_{\rm T}$ (1 GeV/$c$$< p_{\rm T}^{\rm assoc} < p_{\rm T}^{\rm trigg}$), for minimum-bias events and as a function of the event multiplicity. The near- and away-side peak yields are compared for the case of either K$^{0}_{\rm S}$ or $\Lambda$($\overline{\Lambda}$) being the trigger particle with that of inclusive hadrons (a sample dominated by pions). In addition, the measurements are compared with predictions from PYTHIA 8 and EPOS LHC event generators.
This article reports on a search for dark matter pair production in association with bottom or top quarks in 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions collected at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events with large missing transverse momentum are selected when produced in association with high-momentum jets of which one or more are identified as jets containing $b$-quarks. Final states with top quarks are selected by requiring a high jet multiplicity and in some cases a single lepton. The data are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectations and limits are set on the mass scale of effective field theories that describe scalar and tensor interactions between dark matter and Standard Model particles. Limits on the dark-matter--nucleon cross-section for spin-independent and spin-dependent interactions are also provided. These limits are particularly strong for low-mass dark matter. Using a simplified model, constraints are set on the mass of dark matter and of a coloured mediator suitable to explain a possible signal of annihilating dark matter.
A search for Majorana neutrinos in same-sign $WW$ scattering events is presented. The analysis uses $\sqrt{s}= 13$ TeV proton-proton collision data with an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$ recorded during 2015-2018 by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis targets final states including exactly two same-sign muons and at least two hadronic jets well separated in rapidity. The modelling of the main backgrounds, from Standard Model same-sign $WW$ scattering and $WZ$ production, is constrained with data in dedicated signal-depleted control regions. The distribution of the transverse momentum of the second-hardest muon is used to search for signals originating from a heavy Majorana neutrino with a mass between 50 GeV and 20 TeV. No significant excess is observed over the background expectation. The results are interpreted in a benchmark scenario of the Phenomenological Type-I Seesaw model. In addition, the sensitivity to the Weinberg operator is investigated. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level are placed on the squared muon-neutrino-heavy-neutrino mass-mixing matrix element $\vert V_{\mu N} \vert^{2}$ as a function of the heavy Majorana neutrino's mass $m_N$, and on the effective $\mu\mu$ Majorana neutrino mass $|m_{\mu\mu}|$.
Using a data sample collected with the CLEO II detector at CESR, we have searched for dipion transitions between pairs of $\Upsilon$ resonances at energies near the $\Upsilon(4S)$. We obtain upper limits $B(\Upsilon(4S)\to \Upsilon(2S)\pi^+\pi^-) < 3.9 \times 10^{-4}$ and $B(\Upsilon(4S)\to \Upsilon(1S)\pi^+\pi^-) < 1.2 \times 10^{-4}$. We also observe the transitions $\Upsilon(3S)\to \Upsilon(1S)$, $\Upsilon(3S)\to \Upsilon(2S)$, and $\Upsilon(2S)\to \Upsilon(1S)$, from which we measure the cross-sections for the radiative processes $e^+e^- \to \Upsilon(3S)\gamma$ and $e^+e^- \to \Upsilon(2S)\gamma$.
The results of a study of the annihilation reactions n p → θπ + and n p → ωπ + are reported; the data were collected by the OBELIX apparatus, with antineutrons annihilating in flight (momenta from ∼ 50 MeV/ c to 405 MeV/ c ). Annihilation frequencies and annihilation cross sections have been deduced, for both channels, as a function of antineutron momentum. From the cross section ratio, a substantial deviation from OZI rule expectations is observed. An s s quark content in the nucleon offers a fairly plausible explanation for such an effect.
We report measurement of the cross section of $e^+e^-\to \pi^+\pi^-\psi(2S)$ between 4.0 and $5.5 {\rm GeV}$, based on an analysis of initial state radiation events in a $980 \rm fb^{-1}$ data sample recorded with the Belle detector. The properties of the $Y(4360)$ and $Y(4660)$ states are determined. Fitting the mass spectrum of $\pi^+\pi^-\psi(2S)$ with two coherent Breit-Wigner functions, we find two solutions with identical mass and width but different couplings to electron-positron pairs: $M_{Y(4360)} = (4347\pm 6\pm 3) {\rm MeV}/c^2$, $\Gamma_{Y(4360)} = (103\pm 9\pm 5) {\rm MeV}$, $M_{Y(4660)} = (4652\pm10\pm 8) {\rm MeV}/c^2$, $\Gamma_{Y(4660)} = (68\pm 11\pm 1) \rm MeV$; and ${\cal{B}}[Y(4360)\to \pi^+\pi^-\psi(2S)]\cdot \Gamma_{Y(4360)}^{e^+e^-} = (10.9\pm 0.6\pm 0.7) \rm eV$ and ${\cal{B}}[Y(4660)\to \pi^+\pi^-\psi(2S)]\cdot \Gamma_{Y(4660)}^{e^+e^-} = (8.1\pm 1.1\pm 0.5) \rm eV$ for one solution; or ${\cal{B}}[Y(4360)\to \pi^+\pi^-\psi(2S)]\cdot \Gamma_{Y(4360)}^{e^+e^-} = (9.2\pm 0.6\pm 0.6) \rm eV$ and ${\cal{B}}[Y(4660)\to \pi^+\pi^-\psi(2S)]\cdot \Gamma_{Y(4660)}^{e^+e^-} = (2.0\pm 0.3\pm 0.2) \rm eV$ for the other. Here, the first errors are statistical and the second systematic. Evidence for a charged charmoniumlike structure at $4.05 {\rm GeV}/c^2$ is observed in the $\pi^{\pm}\psi(2S)$ intermediate state in the $Y(4360)$ decays.
This paper presents a search for new particles in events with one lepton (electron or muon) and missing transverse momentum using 20.3 $fb^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess beyond Standard Model expectations is observed. A $W'$ with Sequential Standard Model couplings is excluded at the 95% confidence level for masses up to 3.24 TeV. Excited chiral bosons ($W^{*}$) with equivalent coupling strengths are excluded for masses up to 3.21 TeV. In the framework of an effective field theory limits are also set on the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross-section as well as the mass scale $M_{*}$ of the unknown mediating interaction for dark matter pair production in association with a leptonically decaying $W$.
Forum