A search for diphoton resonances in the mass range between 10 and 70 GeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is presented. The analysis is based on $pp$ collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded from 2015 to 2018. Previous searches for diphoton resonances at the LHC have explored masses down to 65 GeV, finding no evidence of new particles. This search exploits the particular kinematics of events with pairs of closely spaced photons reconstructed in the detector, allowing examination of invariant masses down to 10 GeV. The presented strategy covers a region previously unexplored at hadron colliders because of the experimental challenges of recording low-energy photons and estimating the backgrounds. No significant excess is observed and the reported limits provide the strongest bound on promptly decaying axion-like particles coupling to gluons and photons for masses between 10 and 70 GeV.
Measurements of transverse energy$-$energy correlations and their associated azimuthal asymmetries in multijet events are presented. The analysis is performed using a data sample corresponding to 139 $\mbox{fb\(^{-1}\)}$ of proton$-$proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV, collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are presented in bins of the scalar sum of the transverse momenta of the two leading jets and unfolded to particle level. They are then compared to next-to-next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations for the first time, which feature a significant reduction in the theoretical uncertainties estimated using variations of the renormalisation and factorisation scales. The agreement between data and theory is good, thus providing a precision test of QCD at large momentum transfers $Q$. The strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$ is extracted differentially as a function of $Q$, showing a good agreement with the renormalisation group equation and with previous analyses. A simultaneous fit to all transverse energy$-$energy correlation distributions across different kinematic regions yields a value of $\alpha_\mathrm{s}(m_Z) = 0.1175 \pm 0.0006 \mbox{ (exp.)} ^{+0.0034}_{-0.0017} \mbox{ (theo.)}$, while the global fit to the asymmetry distributions yields $\alpha_{\mathrm{s}}(m_Z) = 0.1185 \pm 0.0009 \mbox{ (exp.)} ^{+0.0025}_{-0.0012} \mbox{ (theo.)}$.
A measurement of the top-quark mass ($m_t$) in the $t\bar{t}\rightarrow~\textrm{lepton}+\textrm{jets}$ channel is presented, with an experimental technique which exploits semileptonic decays of $b$-hadrons produced in the top-quark decay chain. The distribution of the invariant mass $m_{\ell\mu}$ of the lepton, $\ell$ (with $\ell=e,\mu$), from the $W$-boson decay and the muon, $\mu$, originating from the $b$-hadron decay is reconstructed, and a binned-template profile likelihood fit is performed to extract $m_t$. The measurement is based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s} = 13~\textrm{TeV}$$pp$ collisions provided by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded by the ATLAS detector. The measured value of the top-quark mass is $m_{t} = 174.41\pm0.39~(\textrm{stat.})\pm0.66~(\textrm{syst.})\pm0.25~(\textrm{recoil})~\textrm{GeV}$, where the third uncertainty arises from changing the PYTHIA8 parton shower gluon-recoil scheme, used in top-quark decays, to a recently developed setup.
A search for new phenomena has been performed in final states with at least one isolated high-momentum photon, jets and missing transverse momentum in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV. The data, collected by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 139 $fb^{-1}$. The experimental results are interpreted in a supersymmetric model in which pair-produced gluinos decay into neutralinos, which in turn decay into a gravitino, at least one photon, and jets. No significant deviations from the predictions of the Standard Model are observed. Upper limits are set on the visible cross section due to physics beyond the Standard Model, and lower limits are set on the masses of the gluinos and neutralinos, all at 95% confidence level. Visible cross sections greater than 0.022 fb are excluded and pair-produced gluinos with masses up to 2200 GeV are excluded for most of the NLSP masses investigated.
This paper presents measurements of charged-hadron spectra obtained in $pp$, $p$+Pb, and Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ or $\sqrt{s_{_\text{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV, and in Xe+Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_\text{NN}}}=5.44$ TeV. The data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC have total integrated luminosities of 25 pb${}^{-1}$, 28 nb${}^{-1}$, 0.50 nb${}^{-1}$, and 3 $\mu$b${}^{-1}$, respectively. The nuclear modification factors $R_{p\text{Pb}}$ and $R_\text{AA}$ are obtained by comparing the spectra in heavy-ion and $pp$ collisions in a wide range of charged-particle transverse momenta and pseudorapidity. The nuclear modification factor $R_{p\text{Pb}}$ shows a moderate enhancement above unity with a maximum at $p_{\mathrm{T}} \approx 3$ GeV; the enhancement is stronger in the Pb-going direction. The nuclear modification factors in both Pb+Pb and Xe+Xe collisions feature a significant, centrality-dependent suppression. They show a similar distinct $p_{\mathrm{T}}$-dependence with a local maximum at $p_{\mathrm{T}} \approx 2$ GeV and a local minimum at $p_{\mathrm{T}} \approx 7$ GeV. This dependence is more distinguishable in more central collisions. No significant $|\eta|$-dependence is found. A comprehensive comparison with several theoretical predictions is also provided. They typically describe $R_\text{AA}$ better in central collisions and in the $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ range from about 10 to 100 GeV.
The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider has been used to measure jet substructure modification and suppression in Pb+Pb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_{_\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02~\mathrm{TeV}$ in comparison with $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02~\mathrm{TeV}$. The Pb+Pb data, collected in 2018, have an integrated luminosity of $1.72~\mathrm{nb^{-1}}$, while the $pp$ data, collected in 2017, have an integrated luminosity of $260~\mathrm{pb}^{-1}$. Jets used in this analysis are clustered using the anti-$k_{t}$ algorithm with a radius parameter $R=0.4$. The jet constituents, defined by both tracking and calorimeter information, are used to determine the angular scale $r_\mathrm{g}$ of the first hard splitting inside the jet by reclustering them using the Cambridge-Aachen algorithm and employing the soft-drop grooming technique. The nuclear modification factor, $R_\mathrm{AA}$, used to characterize jet suppression in Pb+Pb collisions, is presented differentially in $r_\mathrm{g}$, jet transverse momentum, and in intervals of collision centrality. The $R_\mathrm{AA}$ value is observed to depend significantly on jet $r_\mathrm{g}$. Jets produced with the largest measured $r_\mathrm{g}$ are found to be twice as suppressed as those with the smallest $r_\mathrm{g}$ in central Pb+Pb collisions. The $R_\mathrm{AA}$ values do not exhibit a strong variation with jet $p_\mathrm{T}$ in any of the $r_\mathrm{g}$ intervals. The $r_\mathrm{g}$ and $p_\mathrm{T}$ dependence of jet $R_\mathrm{AA}$ is qualitatively consistent with a picture of jet quenching arising from coherence and provides the most direct evidence in support of this approach.
The electroweak production of $Z(\nu\bar{\nu})\gamma$ in association with two jets is studied in a regime with a photon of high transverse momentum above 150 GeV using proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis uses a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS detector during the 2015-2018 LHC data-taking period. This process is an important probe of the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism in the Standard Model and is sensitive to quartic gauge boson couplings via vector-boson scattering. The fiducial $Z(\nu\bar{\nu})\gamma jj$ cross section for electroweak production is measured to be 0.77$^{+0.34}_{-0.30}$ fb and is consistent with the Standard Model prediction. Evidence of electroweak $Z(\nu\bar{\nu})\gamma jj$ production is found with an observed significance of 3.2$\sigma$ for the background-only hypothesis, compared with an expected significance of 3.7$\sigma$. The combination of this result with the previously published ATLAS observation of electroweak $Z(\nu\bar{\nu})\gamma jj$ production yields an observed (expected) signal significance of 6.3$\sigma$ (6.6$\sigma$). Limits on anomalous quartic gauge boson couplings are obtained in the framework of effective field theory with dimension-8 operators.
A search for pair-produced scalar or vector leptoquarks decaying into a $b$-quark and a $\tau$-lepton is presented using the full LHC Run 2 (2015-2018) data sample of 139 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} =13$ TeV. Events in which at least one $\tau$-lepton decays hadronically are considered, and multivariate discriminants are used to extract the signals. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectation are observed and 95% confidence-level upper limits on the production cross-section are derived as a function of leptoquark mass and branching ratio $B$ into a $\tau$-lepton and $b$-quark. For scalar leptoquarks, masses below 1460 GeV are excluded assuming $B=100$%, while for vector leptoquarks the corresponding limit is 1650 GeV (1910 GeV) in the minimal-coupling (Yang-Mills) scenario.
Cross-section measurements for a $Z$ boson produced in association with high-transverse-momentum jets ($p_{\mathrm{T}} \geq 100$ GeV) and decaying into a charged-lepton pair ($e^+e^-,\mu^+\mu^-$) are presented. The measurements are performed using proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $139$ fb$^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Measurements of angular correlations between the $Z$ boson and the closest jet are performed in events with at least one jet with $p_{\mathrm{T}} \geq 500$ GeV. Event topologies of particular interest are the collinear emission of a $Z$ boson in dijet events and a boosted $Z$ boson recoiling against a jet. Fiducial cross sections are compared with state-of-the-art theoretical predictions. The data are found to agree with next-to-next-to-leading-order predictions by NNLOjet and with the next-to-leading-order multi-leg generators MadGraph5_aMC@NLO and Sherpa.
A search for high-mass resonances decaying into a $\tau$-lepton and a neutrino using proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV is presented. The full Run 2 data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the ATLAS experiment in the years 2015-2018 is analyzed. The $\tau$-lepton is reconstructed in its hadronic decay modes and the total transverse momentum carried out by neutrinos is inferred from the reconstructed missing transverse momentum. The search for new physics is performed on the transverse mass between the $\tau$-lepton and the missing transverse momentum. No excess of events above the Standard Model expectation is observed and upper exclusion limits are set on the $W^\prime\to \tau \nu$ production cross-section. Heavy $W^\prime$ vector bosons with masses up to 5.0 TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level, assuming that they have the same couplings as the Standard Model $W$ boson. For non-universal couplings, $W^\prime$ bosons are excluded for masses less than 3.5-5.0 TeV, depending on the model parameters. In addition, model-independent limits on the visible cross-section times branching ratio are determined as a function of the lower threshold on the transverse mass of the $\tau$-lepton and missing transverse momentum.