A search for single production of a vector-like quark $Q$, which could be either a singlet $T$, with charge $\tfrac23$, or a $Y$ from a $(T,B,Y)$ triplet, with charge $-\tfrac43$, is performed using data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data correspond to the full integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$ recorded with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis targets $Q \to Wb$ decays where the $W$ boson decays leptonically. The data are found to be consistent with the expected Standard Model background, so upper limits are set on the cross-section times branching ratio, and on the coupling of the $Q$ to the Standard Model sector for these two benchmark models. Effects of interference with the Standard Model background are taken into account. For the singlet $T$, the 95% confidence level limit on the coupling strength $κ$ ranges between 0.22 and 0.52 for masses from 1150 to 2300 GeV. For the $(T,B,Y)$ triplet, the limits on $κ$ vary from 0.14 to 0.46 for masses from 1150 to 2600 GeV.
Distributions of the VLQ-candidate mass, m<sub>VLQ</sub>, in the (a–c) SRs, (d–f) W+jets CRs and (g–i) tt̄ CRs after the fit to the background-only hypothesis. The columns correspond from left to right to the low-, middle-, and high-p<sub>T</sub><sup>W</sup> bins in each region. Other includes remaining backgrounds from top quarks or that contain two W/Z bosons. The last bin includes overflow. Note: the 'Data' values in the table are normalized by the width of the bin to correspond to the number of events per 100 GeV
Distributions of the VLQ-candidate mass, m<sub>VLQ</sub>, in the (a–c) SRs, (d–f) W+jets CRs and (g–i) tt̄ CRs after the fit to the background-only hypothesis. The columns correspond from left to right to the low-, middle-, and high-p<sub>T</sub><sup>W</sup> bins in each region. Other includes remaining backgrounds from top quarks or that contain two W/Z bosons. The last bin includes overflow. Note: the 'Data' values in the table are normalized by the width of the bin to correspond to the number of events per 100 GeV
Distributions of the VLQ-candidate mass, m<sub>VLQ</sub>, in the (a–c) SRs, (d–f) W+jets CRs and (g–i) tt̄ CRs after the fit to the background-only hypothesis. The columns correspond from left to right to the low-, middle-, and high-p<sub>T</sub><sup>W</sup> bins in each region. Other includes remaining backgrounds from top quarks or that contain two W/Z bosons. The last bin includes overflow. Note: the 'Data' values in the table are normalized by the width of the bin to correspond to the number of events per 100 GeV
The jet cross-section and jet-substructure observables in $p$$+$$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV were measured by the PHENIX Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Jets are reconstructed from charged-particle tracks and electromagnetic-calorimeter clusters using the anti-$k_{t}$ algorithm with a jet radius $R=0.3$ for jets with transverse momentum within $8.0<p_T<40.0$ GeV/$c$ and pseudorapidity $|η|<0.15$. Measurements include the jet cross section, as well as distributions of SoftDrop-groomed momentum fraction ($z_g$), charged-particle transverse momentum with respect to jet axis ($j_T$), and radial distributions of charged particles within jets ($r$). Also meaureed was the distribution of $ξ=-ln(z)$, where $z$ is the fraction of the jet momentum carried by the charged particle. The measurements are compared to theoretical next-to and next-to-next-to-leading-order calculatios, PYTHIA event generator, and to other existing experimental results. Indicated from these meaurements is a lower particle multiplicity in jets at RHIC energies when compared to models. Also noted are implications for future jet measurements with sPHENIX at RHIC as well as at the future Electron-Ion Collider.
The jet differential cross section as a function of jet $p_T$. Statistical uncertainties are typically smaller than the data points while systematic uncertainties are shown with boxes. An overall normalization systematic of 7% is not included in the point-by-point systematic uncertainties.
Distribution of the SoftDrop groomed momentum fraction $z_g$ for different jet $p_T$ bins. Standard SoftDrop parameters were used ($z_{cut}<0.1$ and $\beta=0$).
$\xi$ distributions for different jet $p_T$ bins.
Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions create a quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a hot and dense state of strongly interacting QCD matter. In ultracentral collisions, the QGP volume remains nearly constant event-by-event, while its total entropy can fluctuate due to quantum effects, leading to temperature variations. These features allow the correlation between the mean transverse momentum $(\langle p_{\mathrm{T}} \rangle)$ of charged hadrons and their multiplicity to serve as a probe of the QGP's speed of sound, $c_{s}$. This study extracts $c_{s}$ by analyzing the relative increase in $\langle p_{\mathrm{T}} \rangle$ with respect to the charged-particle density $(\langle \mathrm{d}N_\mathrm{ch}/\mathrm{d}\eta \rangle)$ at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 5.02~\mathrm{TeV}$, using data from the ALICE detector. Centrality is determined with estimators based on multiplicity and transverse energy, applying a pseudorapidity gap to reduce selection biases. The extracted value of $c_{s}^{2}$ is found to strongly depend on the employed centrality estimator and ranges between $0.1146 \pm 0.0028 \,\mathrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.0065 \,\mathrm{(syst.)}$ and $0.4374 \pm 0.0006 \mathrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.0184 \mathrm{(syst.)}$ in natural units. Additionally, the event-by-event $[p_{\mathrm{T}}]$ distribution is studied through its variance, skewness, and kurtosis. A pronounced decrease in the self-normalized variance and a peak followed by a drop in skewness suggest the suppression of impact-parameter fluctuations in ultracentral collisions. These observations provide new insights into the thermodynamic properties and initial-state fluctuations of the QGP.
Average number of participating nucleons ($\langle N_{\mathrm{part}} \rangle$) as a function of centrality percentile in $\mathrm{Pb}-\mathrm{Pb}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 5.02~\mathrm{TeV}$. Data points are shown for centrality estimators based on $N_{\mathrm{ch}}$, ${N_{\mathrm{tracklets}}}$, and $E_{\mathrm{T}}$ within $|\eta|\leq 0.8$.
Average number of participating nucleons ($\langle N_{\mathrm{part}} \rangle$) as a function of centrality percentile in $\mathrm{Pb}-\mathrm{Pb}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 5.02~\mathrm{TeV}$. Data points are shown for centrality estimator based on $N_{\mathrm{ch}} \in$ $-3.7<\eta<-1.7$ and $2.8 < \eta <5.1$.
Normalized $p_{\mathrm{T}}$-spectrum ratio as a function as a function of centrality in $\mathrm{Pb}-\mathrm{Pb}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 5.02~\mathrm{TeV}$. Data points are shown for centrality estimator based on $N_{\mathrm{ch}} \in$ $0.5 \leq |\eta|\leq 0.8$.
This paper presents the first observation of top-quark pair production in association with two photons ($t\bar{t}\gamma\gamma$). The measurement is performed in the single-lepton decay channel using proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$ recorded during Run 2 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The $t\bar{t}\gamma\gamma$ production cross section, measured in a fiducial phase space based on particle-level kinematic criteria for the lepton, photons, and jets, is found to be $2.42^{+0.58}_{-0.53}\, \text{fb}$, corresponding to an observed significance of 5.2 standard deviations. Additionally, the ratio of the production cross section of $t\bar{t}\gamma\gamma$ to top-quark pair production in association with one photon is determined, yielding $(3.30^{+0.70}_{-0.65})\times 10^{-3}$.
Measured $t\bar{t}\gamma\gamma$ production fiducial inclusive cross-section in single-lepton decay channel.
Measured ratio of production cross sections of $t\bar{t}\gamma\gamma$ to $t\bar{t}\gamma$ in single-lepton decay channel.
Summary of the relative impact of all the systematic uncertainties, in percentage, on the $t\bar{t}\gamma\gamma$ fiducial inclusive cross section and $R_{t\bar{t}\gamma\gamma/t\bar{t}\gamma}$ grouped into different categories. The category ‘Jet’ corresponds to the effect of JES, jet resolution and JVT uncertainties, ‘Photon’ and ‘Leptons’ include all experimental uncertainties related to photons and leptons (including trigger uncertainties), respectively.
A search is presented for hadronic signatures of beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, with an emphasis on signatures of a strongly-coupled hidden dark sector accessed via resonant production of a $Z'$ mediator. The ATLAS experiment dataset collected at the Large Hadron Collider from 2015 to 2018 is used, consisting of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. The $Z'$ mediator is considered to decay to two dark quarks, which each hadronize and decay to showers containing both dark and Standard Model particles, producing a topology of interacting and non-interacting particles within a jet known as ``semi-visible". Machine learning methods are used to select these dark showers and reject the dominant background of mismeasured multijet events, including an anomaly detection approach to preserve broad sensitivity to a variety of BSM topologies. A resonance search is performed by fitting the transverse mass spectrum based on a functional form background estimation. No significant excess over the expected background is observed. Results are presented as limits on the production cross section of semi-visible jet signals, parameterized by the fraction of invisible particles in the decay and the $Z'$ mass, and by quantifying the significance of any generic Gaussian-shaped mass peak in the anomaly region.
Acceptance times efficiency weighted yields across the signal grid.
The 95% CL limits on the cross-section $\sigma(pp \rightarrow Z' \rightarrow \chi \chi$) times branching ratio B in fb with all statistical and systematic uncertainties, for the $R_{\text{inv}}=$0.2 signal points.
The 95% CL limits on the cross-section $\sigma(pp \rightarrow Z' \rightarrow \chi \chi$) times branching ratio B in fb with all statistical and systematic uncertainties, for the $R_{\text{inv}}=$0.4 signal points.
This work reports femtoscopic correlations of p$-$p ($\bar{\rm p}-\bar{\rm p}$) and p$-$d ($\bar{\rm p}-\bar{\rm d}$) pairs measured in Pb$-$Pb collisions at center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV by the ALICE Collaboration. A fit to the measured proton-proton correlation functions allows one to extract the dependence of the nucleon femtoscopic radius of the particle-emitting source on the pair transverse mass ($m_\text{T}$) and on the average charge particle multiplicity $\langle\text{dN}_\text{ch}/\text{d}\eta\rangle^{1/3}$ for three centrality intervals (0$-$10$\%$, 10$-$30$\%$, 30$-$50$\%$). In both cases, the expected power-law and linear scalings are observed, respectively. The measured p$-$d correlations can be described by both two- and three-body calculations, indicating that the femtoscopy observable is not sensitive to the short-distance features of the dynamics of the p$-$(p$-$n) system, due to the large inter-particle distances in Pb$-$Pb collisions at the LHC. Indeed, in this study, the minimum measured femtoscopic source sizes for protons and deuterons have a minimum value at $2.73^{+0.05}_{-0.05}$ and $3.10^{+1.04}_{-0.86}$ fm, respectively, for the 30$-$50$\%$ centrality collisions. Moreover, the $m_{\rm{T}}$-scaling obtained for the p$-$p and p$-$d systems is compatible within 1$\sigma$ of the uncertainties. These findings provide new input for fundamental studies on the production of light (anti)nuclei under extreme conditions.
proton-proton (same charge) correlation function for centrality 0-10% from Pb-Pb collisions at 5020 GeV
proton-proton (same charge) correlation function for centrality 10-30% from Pb-Pb collisions at 5020 GeV
proton-proton (same charge) correlation function for centrality 30-50% from Pb-Pb collisions at 5020 GeV
Higgs boson production cross-sections via gluon-gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion in proton-proton collisions are measured in the $H\rightarrow WW^\ast \rightarrow \ellν\ellν$ decay channel. The Large Hadron Collider delivered proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $13\,\textrm{TeV}$ between 2015 and 2018, which were recorded by the ATLAS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $140\,\textrm{fb}^{-1}$. The total cross-sections for Higgs boson production by gluon-gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion times the $H\rightarrow WW^\ast$ branching ratio are measured to be $12.4^{+1.3}_{-1.2}\,\textrm{pb}$ and $0.79^{+0.18}_{-0.16}\,\textrm{pb}$, respectively, in agreement with the Standard Model predictions. Higgs boson production is further characterised through measurements of Simplified Template Cross-Sections in a total of fifteen kinematic fiducial regions. A new scheme of kinematic fiducial regions has been introduced to enhance the sensitivity to CP-violating effects in Higgs boson interactions. Both schemes are used to constrain CP-even and CP-odd dimension-six operators in the Standard Model effective field theory.
Expected values and uncertainties for the $H \to WW^{\ast}$ cross-sections measured in each of the STXS categories, normalised to the corresponding SM predictions.
Best-fit values and uncertainties for the $H \to WW^{\ast}$ cross-sections measured in each of the STXS categories, normalised to the corresponding SM predictions.
Expected correlations between the production cross-sections multiplied by the $H \to WW^{\ast}$ branching ratio for each of the STXS categories.
This Letter presents measurements of long-range transverse-momentum correlations using a new observable, $v_{0}(p_\mathrm{T})$, which serves as a probe of radial flow and medium properties in heavy-ion collisions. Results are reported for inclusive charged particles, pions, kaons, and protons across various centrality intervals in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV, recorded by the ALICE detector. A pseudorapidity-gap technique, similar to that used in anisotropic-flow studies, is employed to suppress short-range correlations. At low $p_\mathrm{T}$, a characteristic mass ordering consistent with hydrodynamic collective flow is observed. At higher $p_\mathrm{T}$ ($> 3$ GeV/$c$), protons exhibit larger $v_{0}(p_\mathrm{T})$ than pions and kaons, in agreement with expectations from quark-recombination models. These results are sensitive to the bulk viscosity and the equation of state of the QCD medium formed in heavy-ion collisions.
The $p_\mathrm{T}$ dependence of $v_{0}(p_\mathrm{T})$ for inclusive charged particles is measured in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV within the 10$–$20% centrality interval, using a two-particle correlation method with a pseudorapidity gap of $\Delta\eta = 0.4$.
The $p_\mathrm{T}$ dependence of $v_{0}(p_\mathrm{T})$ for inclusive charged particles is measured in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV within the 30$–$40% centrality interval, using a two-particle correlation method with a pseudorapidity gap of $\Delta\eta = 0.4$.
The $p_\mathrm{T}$ dependence of $v_{0}(p_\mathrm{T})$ for inclusive charged particles is measured in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV within the 60$–$70% centrality interval, using a two-particle correlation method with a pseudorapidity gap of $\Delta\eta = 0.4$.
Heavy-flavor quarks produced in proton-proton (pp) collisions provide a unique opportunity to investigate the evolution of quark-initiated parton showers from initial hard scatterings to final-state hadrons. By examining jets that contain heavy-flavor hadrons, this study explores the effects of both perturbative and non-perturbative QCD on jet formation and structure. The angular differences between various jet axes, $\Delta R_{\rm axis}$, offer insight into the radiation patterns and fragmentation of charm quarks. The first measurement of D$^{0}$-tagged jet axes differences in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ TeV by the ALICE experiment at the LHC is presented for jets with transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}^{\rm ch~jet} \geq 10$${\rm GeV}/c$ and D$^0$ mesons with $p_{\rm T}^{\rm D^{0}} \geq 5$${\rm GeV}/c$. In this D$^0$-meson-tagged jet measurement, three jet axis definitions, each with different sensitivities to soft, wide-angle radiation, are used: the Standard axis, Soft Drop groomed axis, and Winner-Takes-All axis. Measurements of the radial distributions of D$^0$ mesons with respect to the jet axes, $\Delta R_{\mathrm{axis-D^0}}$, are reported, along with the angle, $\Delta R_{\mathrm{axis}}$, between the three jet axes. The D$^{0}$ meson emerges as the leading particle in these jets, closely aligning with the Winner-Takes-All axis and diverging from the Standard jet axis. The results also examine how varying the sensitivity to soft radiation with grooming influences the orientation of the Soft Drop jet axis, and uncover that charm-jet structure is more likely to survive grooming when the Soft Drop axis is further from the D$^{0}$ direction, providing further evidence of the dead-cone effect recently measured by ALICE.
$\Delta R_{\rm axis}$ distribution for $\rm STD-D^0$ for $\rm D^0$-tagged jets of $R=0.4$, in the intervals $10<p_{\rm T}^{\rm ch \ jet}<20 \ {\rm GeV}/c$ and $5<p_{\rm T}^{\rm D^0}<20 \ {\rm GeV}/c$.
$\Delta R_{\rm axis}$ distribution for $\rm WTA-D^0$ for $\rm D^0$-tagged jets of $R=0.4$, in the intervals $10<p_{\rm T}^{\rm ch \ jet}<20 \ {\rm GeV}/c$ and $5<p_{\rm T}^{\rm D^0}<20 \ {\rm GeV}/c$.
$\Delta R_{\rm axis}$ distribution for $\rm STD-WTA$ for $\rm D^0$-tagged jets of $R=0.4$, in the intervals $10<p_{\rm T}^{\rm ch \ jet}<20 \ {\rm GeV}/c$ and $5<p_{\rm T}^{\rm D^0}<20 \ {\rm GeV}/c$.
Femtoscopy of non-identical particle pairs has been instrumental for precision measurements of both two-particle sources and the final-state interactions in high-energy elementary and heavy-ion collisions. The majority of measurements assessing the source properties are based on identical particle pairs, providing direct access to the characteristics of the single-particle source. The work in this paper demonstrates, via femtoscopy measurements of charged pion-deuteron pairs in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV, the feasibility of accessing the characteristics of the single-particle femtoscopic source by using particle pairs with large mass differences such as pions and deuterons. The first experimental results of the measurement of deuteron source sizes in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions are presented. The results show good agreement with the trend derived from other charged hadrons such as pions, kaons, and protons as a function of transverse mass, indicating similar source properties
pion-deuteron (same charge) correlation function for centrality 0-10% from Pb-Pb collisions at 5020 GeV
pion-deuteron (same charge) correlation function for centrality 10-30% from Pb-Pb collisions at 5020 GeV
pion-deuteron (same charge) correlation function for centrality 30-50% from Pb-Pb collisions at 5020 GeV