A search for new heavy particles manifested as resonances in two-jet final states is presented. The data were produced in 7 TeV proton-proton collisions by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 315 nb^-1 collected by the ATLAS detector. No resonances were observed. Upper limits were set on the product of cross section and signal acceptance for excited-quark (q*) production as a function of q* mass. These exclude at the 95% CL the q* mass interval 0.30 < mq* < 1.26 TeV, extending the reach of previous experiments.
Four-lepton production in proton-proton collisions, pp to (Z/gamma*)(Z/gamma*) to l+l-l'+l'-, where l, l' = e or mu, is studied at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.6 inverse femtobarns. The ZZ production cross section, sigma(pp to ZZ) = 14.6 +1.9/-1.8 (stat) +0.5/-0.3 (syst) +/- 0.2 (theo) +/- 0.4 (lumi) pb, is measured for events with two opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs produced in the mass region 60 < m[l+l-], m[l'+l'-] < 120 GeV. The Z boson branching fraction to four leptons is measured to be B(Z to l+l-l'+l'-) = 4.9 +0.8/-0.7 (stat) +0.3/-0.2 (syst) +0.2/-0.1 (theo) +/- 0.1 (lumi) x E-6 for the four-lepton invariant mass in the range 80 < m[l+l-l'+l'-] < 100 GeV and dilepton mass m[l+l-] > 4 GeV for all opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs. The results are in agreement with standard model predictions.
A measurement of WZ electroweak (EW) vector boson scattering is presented. The measurement is performed in the leptonic decay modes WZ $\to$ $\ell\nu\ell'\ell'$, where $\ell, \ell' = $ e, $\mu$. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV at the LHC collected with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The WZ plus two jet production cross section is measured in fiducial regions with enhanced contributions from EW production and found to be consistent with standard model predictions. The EW WZ production in association with two jets is measured with an observed (expected) significance of 2.2 (2.5) standard deviations. Constraints on charged Higgs boson production and on anomalous quartic gauge couplings in terms of dimension-eight effective field theory operators are also presented.
The azimuthal variation of jet yields in heavy-ion collisions provides information about the path-length dependence of the energy loss experienced by partons passing through the hot, dense nuclear matter known as the quark-gluon plasma. This paper presents the azimuthal anisotropy coefficients $v_2$, $v_3$, and $v_4$ measured for jets in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 5.02 TeV using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurement uses data collected in 2015 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.2 nb$^{-1}$. The $v_n$ values are measured as a function of the transverse momentum of the jets between 71 GeV and 398 GeV and the event centrality. A nonzero value of $v_2$ is observed in all but the most central collisions. The value of $v_2$ is largest for jets with lower transverse momentum, with values up to 0.05 in mid-central collisions. A smaller, nonzero value of $v_3$ of approximately 0.01 is measured with no significant dependence on jet $p_T$ or centrality, suggesting that fluctuations in the initial state play a small but distinct role in jet energy loss. No significant deviation of $v_4$ from zero is observed in the measured kinematic region.
Two-particle long-range azimuthal correlations are measured in photonuclear collisions using 1.7 nb$^{-1}$ of 5.02 TeV Pb+Pb collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Candidate events are selected using a dedicated high-multiplicity photonuclear event trigger, a combination of information from the zero-degree calorimeters and forward calorimeters, and from pseudorapidity gaps constructed using calorimeter energy clusters and charged-particle tracks. Distributions of event properties are compared between data and Monte Carlo simulations of photonuclear processes. Two-particle correlation functions are formed using charged-particle tracks in the selected events, and a template-fitting method is employed to subtract the non-flow contribution to the correlation. Significant nonzero values of the second- and third-order flow coefficients are observed and presented as a function of charged-particle multiplicity and transverse momentum. The results are compared with flow coefficients obtained in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions in similar multiplicity ranges, and with theoretical expectations. The unique initial conditions present in this measurement provide a new way to probe the origin of the collective signatures previously observed only in hadronic collisions.
In quantum scattering processes between two particles, aspects characterizing the strong and Coulomb forces can be observed in kinematic distributions of the particle pairs. The sensitivity to the interaction potential reaches a maximum at low relative momentum and vanishing distance between the two particles. Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at the LHC provide an abundant source of many hadron species and can be employed as a measurement method of scattering parameters that is complementary to scattering experiments. This study confirms that momentum correlations of particles produced in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC provide an accurate measurement of kaon-proton scattering parameters at low relative momentum, allowing precise access to the $ {K}^{-} p\rightarrow {K}^{-} p$ process. This work also validates the femtoscopic measurement in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions as an alternative to scattering experiments and a complementary tool to the study of exotic atoms with comparable precision. In this work, the first femtoscopic measurement of momentum correlations of ${K}^{-} p\ ({K}^{+}\overline{p})$ and ${K}^{+}p ({K}^{-}\overline{p})$ pairs in Pb-Pb collisions at centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV registered by the ALICE experiment is reported. The components of the ${K}^{-} p$ complex scattering length are extracted and found to be $\Re f_0=-0.91\pm~{0.03}$(stat)$^{+0.17}_{-0.03}$(syst) and $\Im f_0 = 0.92\pm~{0.05}$(stat)$^{+0.12}_{-0.33}$(syst). The results are compared with chiral effective field theory predictions as well as with existing data from dedicated scattering and exotic kaonic atom experiments.
A search for charged-lepton-flavour violating $\mu\tau qt$ ($q=u,c$) interactions is presented, considering both top-quark production and decay. The data analysed correspond to 140 $\textrm{fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}= $13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis targets events containing two muons with the same electric charge, a hadronically decaying $\tau$-lepton and at least one jet, with exactly one $b$-tagged jet, produced by a $\mu\tau qt$ interaction. Agreement with the Standard Model expectation within $1.6\sigma$ is observed, and limits are set at the 95% CL on the charged-lepton-flavour violation branching ratio of $\mathcal{B}(t \to \mu\tau q) < 8.7 \times 10^{-7}$. An Effective Field Theory interpretation is performed yielding 95% CL limits on Wilson coefficients, dependent on the flavour of the associated light quark and the Lorentz structure of the coupling. These range from $|c_{\mathsf{lequ}}^{3(2313)}| / \Lambda^{2} < 0.10\textrm{ TeV}^{-2}$ for $\mu\tau ut$ to $|c_{\mathsf{ lequ}}^{1(2323)}| / \Lambda^{2} < 1.8\textrm{ TeV}^{-2}$ for $\mu\tau ct$. An additional interpretation is performed for scalar leptoquark production inducing charged lepton flavour violation, with fixed inter-generational couplings. Upper limits on leptoquark coupling strengths are set at the 95% CL, ranging from $\lambda^{\textrm{LQ}} = $1.3 to $\lambda^{\textrm{LQ}} = $3.7 for leptoquark masses between 0.5 and 2.0 TeV.
The production of $J/\psi$ pairs in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been observed using an integrated luminosity of $37.5 pb^{-1}$ collected with the LHCb detector. The production cross-section for pairs with both \jpsi in the rapidity range $2<y^{J/\psi}<4.5$ and transverse momentum $p_{T}^{J/\psi}<10 GeV/c$ is $$ \sigma^{J/\psi J/\psi} = 5.1\pm1.0\pm1.1 nb,$$ where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic.
The first measurements from proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are presented. Data were collected in December 2009 using a minimum-bias trigger during collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 900 GeV. The charged-particle multiplicity, its dependence on transverse momentum and pseudorapidity, and the relationship between mean transverse momentum and charged-particle multiplicity are measured for events with at least one charged particle in the kinematic range |eta|<2.5 and pT>500 MeV. The measurements are compared to Monte Carlo models of proton-proton collisions and to results from other experiments at the same centre-of-mass energy. The charged-particle multiplicity per event and unit of pseudorapidity at eta = 0 is measured to be 1.333 +/- 0.003 (stat.) +/- 0.040 (syst.), which is 5-15% higher than the Monte Carlo models predict.
Azimuthally anisotropic distributions of D$^0$, D$^+$ and D$^{*+}$ mesons were studied in the central rapidity region ($|y|<0.8$) in Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV per nucleon-nucleon collision, with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The second Fourier coefficient $v_2$ (commonly denoted elliptic flow) was measured in the centrality class 30-50% as a function of the D meson transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}$, in the range 2-16 GeV/$c$. The measured $v_2$ of D mesons is comparable in magnitude to that of light-flavour hadrons. It is positive in the range $2 < p_{\rm T} < 6$ GeV/$c$ with $5.7\sigma$ significance, based on the combination of statistical and systematic uncertainties.
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