A search for long-lived particles decaying into muon pairs is performed using proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2017 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb$^{-1}$. The data sets used in this search were collected with a dedicated dimuon trigger stream with low transverse momentum thresholds, recorded at high rate by retaining a reduced amount of information, in order to explore otherwise inaccessible phase space at low dimuon mass and nonzero displacement from the primary interaction vertex. No significant excess of events beyond the standard model expectation is found. Upper limits on branching fractions at 95% confidence level are set on a wide range of mass and lifetime hypotheses in beyond the standard model frameworks with the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of long-lived dark photons, or with a long-lived scalar resonance arising from a decay of a b hadron. The limits are the most stringent to date for substantial regions of the parameter space. These results can be also used to constrain models of displaced dimuons that are not explicitly considered in this paper.
A search for cascade decays of charged sleptons and sneutrinos using final states characterized by three leptons (electrons or muons) and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on a dataset with 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. This paper focuses on a supersymmetric scenario that is motivated by the muon anomalous magnetic moment observation, dark mattter relic density abundance, and electroweak naturalness. A mass spectrum involving light higgsinos and heavier sleptons with a bino at intermediate mass is targeted. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation is observed. This search enables to place stringent constraints on this model, excluding at the 95% confidence level charged slepton and sneutrino masses up to 450 GeV when assuming a lightest neutralino mass of 100 GeV and mass-degenerate selectrons, smuons and sneutrinos.
The paper presents a search for supersymmetric particles produced in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV and decaying into final states with missing transverse momentum and jets originating from charm quarks. The data were taken with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN from 2015 to 2018 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. No significant excess of events over the expected Standard Model background expectation is observed in optimized signal regions, and limits are set on the production cross-sections of the supersymmetric particles. Pair production of charm squarks or top squarks, each decaying into a charm quark and the lightest supersymmetric particle $\tilde{\chi}^0_1$, is excluded at 95% confidence level for squarks with masses up to 900 GeV for scenarios where the mass of $\tilde{\chi}^0_1$ is below 50 GeV. Additionally, the production of leptoquarks with masses up to 900 GeV is excluded for the scenario where up-type leptoquarks decay into a charm quark and a neutrino. Model-independent limits on cross-sections and event yields for processes beyond the Standard Model are also reported.
A search is presented for the pair production of higgsinos $\tilde{\chi}$ in gauge-mediated supersymmetry models, where the lightest neutralinos $\tilde{\chi}_1^0$ decay into a light gravitino $\tilde{G}$ in association with either a Higgs $h$ or a $Z$ boson. The search is performed with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. It targets final states in which a Higgs boson decays into a photon pair, while the other Higgs or $Z$ boson decays into a $b\bar{b}$ pair, with missing transverse momentum associated with the two gravitinos. Search regions dependent on the amount of missing transverse momentum are defined by the requirements that the diphoton mass should be consistent with the mass of the Higgs boson, and the $b\bar{b}$ mass with the mass of the Higgs or $Z$ boson. The main backgrounds are estimated with data-driven methods using the sidebands of the diphoton mass distribution. No excesses beyond Standard Model expectations are observed and higgsinos with masses up to 320 GeV are excluded, assuming a branching fraction of 100% for $\tilde{\chi}_1^0\rightarrow h\tilde{G}$. This analysis excludes higgsinos with masses of 130 GeV for branching fractions to $h\tilde{G}$ as low as 36%, thus providing complementarity to previous ATLAS searches in final states with multiple leptons or multiple $b$-jets, targeting different decays of the electroweak bosons.
A search for supersymmetry targeting the direct production of winos and higgsinos is conducted in final states with either two leptons ($e$ or $\mu$) with the same electric charge, or three leptons. The analysis uses 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV collected with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess over the Standard Model expectation is observed. Simplified and complete models with and without $R$-parity conservation are considered. In topologies with intermediate states including either $Wh$ or $WZ$ pairs, wino masses up to 525 GeV and 250 GeV are excluded, respectively, for a bino of vanishing mass. Higgsino masses smaller than 440 GeV are excluded in a natural $R$-parity-violating model with bilinear terms. Upper limits on the production cross section of generic events beyond the Standard Model as low as 40 ab are obtained in signal regions optimised for these models and also for an $R$-parity-violating scenario with baryon-number-violating higgsino decays into top quarks and jets. The analysis significantly improves sensitivity to supersymmetric models and other processes beyond the Standard Model that may contribute to the considered final states.
A search for supersymmetry involving the pair production of gluinos decaying via off-shell third-generation squarks into the lightest neutralino ($\tilde\chi^0_1$) is reported. It exploits LHC proton$-$proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the ATLAS detector from 2015 to 2018. The search uses events containing large missing transverse momentum, up to one electron or muon, and several energetic jets, at least three of which must be identified as containing $b$-hadrons. Both a simple kinematic event selection and an event selection based upon a deep neural-network are used. No significant excess above the predicted background is found. In simplified models involving the pair production of gluinos that decay via off-shell top (bottom) squarks, gluino masses less than 2.44 TeV (2.35 TeV) are excluded at 95% CL for a massless $\tilde\chi^0_1$. Limits are also set on the gluino mass in models with variable branching ratios for gluino decays to $b\bar{b}\tilde\chi^0_1$, $t\bar{t}\tilde\chi^0_1$ and $t\bar{b}\tilde\chi^-_1$ / $\bar{t}b\tilde\chi^+_1$.
This paper presents a search for top-squark pair production in final states with a top quark, a charm quark and missing transverse momentum. The data were collected with the ATLAS detector during LHC Run 2 and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The analysis is motivated by an extended Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model featuring a non-minimal flavour violation in the second- and third-generation squark sector. The top squark in this model has two possible decay modes, either $\tilde{t}_1 \rightarrow c\tilde{\chi}_1^0$ or $\tilde{t}_1\rightarrow t\tilde{\chi}_1^0$, where the $\tilde{\chi}_1^0$ is undetected. The analysis is optimised assuming that both of the decay modes are equally probable, leading to the most likely final state of $tc + E_{\text{T}}^{\text{miss}}$. Good agreement is found between the Standard Model expectation and the data in the search regions. Exclusion limits at 95% CL are obtained in the $m(\tilde{t}_1)$ vs $m(\tilde{\chi}_1^0)$ plane and, in addition, limits on the branching ratio of the $\tilde{t}_1\rightarrow t\tilde{\chi}_1^0$ decay as a function of $m(\tilde{t}_1)$ are also produced. Top-squark masses of up to 800 GeV are excluded for scenarios with light neutralinos, and top-squark masses up to 600 GeV are excluded in scenarios where the neutralino and the top squark are almost mass degenerate.
A search for $t$-channel exchange of leptoquarks (LQs) is performed in dimuon and dielectron spectra using proton-proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Eight scenarios are considered, in which scalar or vector LQs couple up or down quarks to muons or electrons, for dilepton invariant masses above 500 GeV. The LQ masses are probed up to 5 TeV, beyond a regime probed by previous pair-production and single-production searches. The differential distributions of dilepton events are fit to templates that model the nonresonant LQ exchange and various standard model background processes. Limits are set on LQ-fermion coupling strengths for scalar and vector LQ masses in the 1-5 TeV range at 95% confidence level, establishing stringent limits on first- and second-generation LQs.
This paper presents a search for new physics through the process where a new massive particle, X, decays into a Higgs boson and a second particle, Y. The Higgs boson subsequently decays into a bottom quark-antiquark pair, reconstructed as a single large-radius jet. The decay products of Y are also assumed to produce a single large-radius jet. The identification of the Y particle is enhanced by computing the anomaly score of its candidate jet using an autoencoder, which measures deviations from typical QCD multijet jets. This allows a simultaneous search for multiple Y decay scenarios within a single analysis. In the main benchmark process, Y is a scalar particle that decays into W$^+$W$^-$. Two other benchmark processes are also considered, where Y is a scalar particle decaying into a light quark-antiquark pair, or into a top quark-antiquark pair. The last benchmark considers Y as a hadronically decaying top quark, arising from the decay of a vector-like quark into a top quark and a Higgs boson. Data recorded by the CMS experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2016$-$2018, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$, are analyzed. No significant excess is observed, and upper limits on the benchmark signal cross section for various masses of X and Y, at 95% confidence level, are placed.
A search for long-lived particles originating from the decay of b hadrons produced in proton-proton collisions with a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the LHC is presented. The analysis is performed on a data set recorded in 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41.6 fb$^{-1}$. Interactions of the long-lived particles in the CMS endcap muon system would create hadronic or electromagnetic showers, producing clusters of detector hits. Selected events contain at least one such high-multiplicity cluster in the muon endcaps and require the presence of a displaced muon. The most stringent upper limits to date on the branching fraction $\mathcal{B}$(B $\to$ K$Φ$), where the long-lived particle $Φ$ decays to a pair of hadrons, are obtained for $Φ$ masses of 0.3$-$3.0 GeV and $Φ$ mean proper decay lengths in the range of 1$-$500 cm.