A measurement of the four-lepton invariant mass spectrum is made with the ATLAS detector, using an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV delivered by the Large Hadron Collider. The differential cross-section is measured for events containing two same-flavour opposite-sign lepton pairs. It exhibits a rich structure, with different mass regions dominated in the Standard Model by single $Z$ boson production, Higgs boson production, and $Z$ boson pair production, and non-negligible interference effects at high invariant masses. The measurement is compared with state-of-the-art Standard Model calculations, which are found to be consistent with the data. These calculations are used to interpret the data in terms of $gg\rightarrow ZZ \rightarrow 4\ell$ and $Z \rightarrow 4\ell$ subprocesses, and to place constraints on a possible contribution from physics beyond the Standard Model.
A search for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production, as predicted by the Standard Model, is presented, where one of the Higgs bosons decays via the $H\rightarrow bb$ channel and the other via one of the $H \rightarrow WW^*/ZZ^*/\tau\tau$ channels. The analysis selection requires events to have at least two $b$-tagged jets and exactly two leptons (electrons or muons) with opposite electric charge in the final state. Candidate events consistent with Higgs boson pair production are selected using a multi-class neural network discriminant. The analysis uses 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. An observed (expected) upper limit of 1.2 ($0.9^{+0.4}_{-0.3}$) pb is set on the non-resonant Higgs boson pair production cross-section at 95% confidence level, which is equivalent to 40 ($29^{+14}_{-9}$) times the value predicted in the Standard Model.
A search for a right-handed gauge boson $W_{\mathrm{R}}$, decaying into a boosted right-handed heavy neutrino $N_{\mathrm{R}}$, in the framework of Left-Right Symmetric Models is presented. It is based on data from proton-proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during the years 2015, 2016 and 2017, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 80 fb$^{-1}$. The search is performed separately for electrons and muons in the final state. A distinguishing feature of the search is the use of large-radius jets containing electrons. Selections based on the signal topology result in smaller background compared with to expected signal. No significant deviation from the Standard Model prediction is observed and lower limits are set in the $W_{\mathrm{R}}$ and $N_{\mathrm{R}}$ mass plane. Mass values of the $W_{\mathrm{R}}$ smaller than 3.8-5 TeV are excluded for $N_{\mathrm{R}}$ in the mass range 0.1-1.8 TeV.
The production of dark matter in association with Higgs bosons is predicted in several extensions of the Standard Model. An exploration of such scenarios is presented, considering final states with missing transverse momentum and $b$-tagged jets consistent with a Higgs boson. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC during Run 2, amounting to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis, when compared with previous searches, benefits from a larger dataset, but also has further improvements providing sensitivity to a wider spectrum of signal scenarios. These improvements include both an optimised event selection and advances in the object identification, such as the use of the likelihood-based significance of the missing transverse momentum and variable-radius track-jets. No significant deviation from Standard Model expectations is observed. Limits are set, at 95% confidence level, in two benchmark models with two Higgs doublets extended by either a heavy vector boson $Z'$ or a pseudoscalar singlet $a$ and which both provide a dark matter candidate $\chi$. In the case of the two-Higgs-doublet model with an additional vector boson $Z'$, the observed limits extend up to a $Z'$ mass of 3 TeV for a mass of 100 GeV for the dark matter candidate. The two-Higgs-doublet model with a dark matter particle mass of 10 GeV and an additional pseudoscalar $a$ is excluded for masses of the $a$ up to 520 GeV and 240 GeV for $\tan \beta = 1$ and $\tan \beta = 10$ respectively. Limits on the visible cross-sections are set and range from 0.05 fb to 3.26 fb, depending on the missing transverse momentum and $b$-quark jet multiplicity requirements.
Production of $B_c^+$ mesons in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV is studied with data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $2.0~{\rm fb}^{-1}$ recorded by the LHCb experiment. The ratio of production cross-sections times branching fractions between the $B_c^+\to J/\psi \pi^+$ and $B^+\to J/\psi K^+$ decays is measured as a function of transverse momentum and rapidity in the regions $0 < p_{\rm T} < 20~{\rm GeV}/c$ and $2.0 < y < 4.5$. The ratio in this kinematic range is measured to be $(0.683\pm0.018\pm0.009)\%$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic.
The differential cross-section as a function of rapidity has been measured for the exclusive production of $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2S)$ mesons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV, using data collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 930 pb$^{-1}$. The cross-sections times branching fractions to two muons having pseudorapidities between 2.0 and 4.5 are measured to be $$\begin{array}{rl} \sigma_{pp\rightarrow J/\psi\rightarrow{\mu^+}{\mu^-}}(2.0<\eta_{\mu^\pm }<4.5)=&291\pm 7\pm19 {\rm \ pb},\\ \sigma_{pp\rightarrow\psi(2S)\rightarrow{\mu^+}{\mu^-}}(2.0<\eta_{\mu^\pm}<4.5)=&6.5\pm 0.9\pm 0.4 {\rm \ pb},\end{array}$$ where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The measurements agree with next-to-leading order QCD predictions as well as with models that include saturation effects.
Measurements of the differential branching fraction and angular moments of the decay $B^0 \to K^+ \pi^- \mu^+ \mu^-$ in the $K^+\pi^-$ invariant mass range $1330<m(K^+ \pi^-)<1530~MeV/c^2$ are presented. Proton-proton collision data are used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 $fb^{-1}$ collected by the LHCb experiment. Differential branching fraction measurements are reported in five bins of the invariant mass squared of the dimuon system, $q^2$, between 0.1 and 8.0 $GeV^2/c^4$. For the first time, an angular analysis sensitive to the S-, P- and D-wave contributions of this rare decay is performed. The set of 40 normalised angular moments describing the decay is presented for the $q^2$ range 1.1--6.0 $GeV^2/c^4$.
The production cross-section of $J/\psi$ pairs is measured using a data sample of $pp$ collisions collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13 \,{\mathrm{TeV}}$, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $279 \pm 11 \,{\mathrm{pb^{-1}}}$. The measurement is performed for $J/\psi$ mesons with a transverse momentum of less than $10 \,{\mathrm{GeV}}/c$ in the rapidity range $2.0<y<4.5$. The production cross-section is measured to be $15.2 \pm 1.0 \pm 0.9 \,{\mathrm{nb}}$. The first uncertainty is statistical, and the second is systematic. The differential cross-sections as functions of several kinematic variables of the $J/\psi$ pair are measured and compared to theoretical predictions.
A search for long-lived particles decaying to displaced, nonprompt jets and missing transverse momentum is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2016-2018. Candidate signal events containing nonprompt jets are identified using the timing capabilities of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter. The results of the search are consistent with the background prediction and are interpreted using a gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking reference model with a gluino next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle. In this model, gluino masses up to 2100, 2500, and 1900 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level for proper decay lengths of 0.3, 1, and 100 m, respectively. These are the best limits to date for such massive gluinos with proper decay lengths greater than $\sim$0.5 m.
We present an observation of photon-photon production of $\tau$ lepton pairs in ultraperipheral lead-lead collisions. The measurement is based on a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 404 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ collected by the CMS experiment at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The $\gamma\gamma$$\to$$\tau^+\tau^-$ process is observed for $\tau\tau$ events with a muon and three charged hadrons in the final state. The measured fiducial cross section is $\sigma(\gamma\gamma$$\to$$\tau^+\tau^-)$ = 4.8 $\pm$ 0.6 (stat) $\pm$ 0.5 (syst) $\mu$b, in agreement with leading-order QED predictions. Using $\sigma(\gamma\gamma$$\to$$\tau^+\tau^-)$, we estimate a model-dependent value of the anomalous magnetic moment of the $\tau$ lepton of $a_\tau$ = 0.001 $^{+0.055}_{-0.089}$.
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