A precision measurement of the $Z$ boson production cross-section at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV in the forward region is presented, using $pp$ collision data collected by the LHCb detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.1 fb$^{-1}$. The production cross-section is measured using $Z\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$ events within the fiducial region defined as pseudorapidity $2.0<\eta<4.5$ and transverse momentum $p_{T}>20$ GeV/$c$ for both muons and dimuon invariant mass $60<M_{\mu\mu}<120$ GeV/$c^2$. The integrated cross-section is determined to be $\sigma (Z \rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-)$ = 196.4 $\pm$ 0.2 $\pm$ 1.6 $\pm$ 3.9~pb, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is due to the luminosity determination. The measured results are in agreement with theoretical predictions within uncertainties.

A measurement of four-top-quark production using proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ is presented. Events are selected if they contain a single lepton (electron or muon) or an opposite-sign lepton pair, in association with multiple jets. The events are categorised according to the number of jets and how likely these are to contain $b$-hadrons. A multivariate technique is then used to discriminate between signal and background events. The measured four-top-quark production cross section is found to be 26$^{+17}_{-15}$ fb, with a corresponding observed (expected) significance of 1.9 (1.0) standard deviations over the background-only hypothesis. The result is combined with the previous measurement performed by the ATLAS Collaboration in the multilepton final state. The combined four-top-quark production cross section is measured to be 24$^{+7}_{-6}$ fb, with a corresponding observed (expected) signal significance of 4.7 (2.6) standard deviations over the background-only predictions. It is consistent within 2.0 standard deviations with the Standard Model expectation of 12.0$\pm$2.4 fb.

Exclusive photoproduction of $\rho^0(770)$ mesons is studied using the H1 detector at the $ep$ collider HERA. A sample of about 900000 events is used to measure single- and double-differential cross sections for the reaction $\gamma p \to \pi^{+}\pi^{-}Y$. Reactions where the proton stays intact (${m_Y{=}m_p}$) are statistically separated from those where the proton dissociates to a low-mass hadronic system ($m_p{<}m_Y{<}10$ GeV). The double-differential cross sections are measured as a function of the invariant mass $m_{\pi\pi}$ of the decay pions and the squared $4$-momentum transfer $t$ at the proton vertex. The measurements are presented in various bins of the photon-proton collision energy $W_{\gamma p}$. The phase space restrictions are $0.5 < m_{\pi\pi} < 2.2$ GeV, ${\vert t\vert < 1.5}$ GeV${}^2$, and ${20 < W_{\gamma p} < 80}$ GeV. Cross section measurements are presented for both elastic and proton-dissociative scattering. The observed cross section dependencies are described by analytic functions. Parametrising the $m_{\pi\pi}$ dependence with resonant and non-resonant contributions added at the amplitude level leads to a measurement of the $\rho^{0}(770)$ meson mass and width at $m_\rho = 770.8\ {}^{+2.6}_{-2.7}$ (tot) MeV and $\Gamma_\rho = 151.3\ {}^{+2.7}_{-3.6}$ (tot) MeV, respectively. The model is used to extract the $\rho^0(770)$ contribution to the $\pi^{+}\pi^{-}$ cross sections and measure it as a function of $t$ and $W_{\gamma p}$. In a Regge asymptotic limit in which one Regge trajectory $\alpha(t)$ dominates, the intercept $\alpha(t{=}0) = 1.0654\ {}^{+0.0098}_{-0.0067}$ (tot) and the slope $\alpha^\prime(t{=}0) = 0.233\ {}^{+0.067 }_{-0.074 }$ (tot) GeV${}^{-2}$ of the $t$ dependence are extracted for the case $m_Y{=}m_p$.

Two related searches for phenomena beyond the standard model (BSM) are performed using events with hadronic jets and significant transverse momentum imbalance. The results are based on a sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016-2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$. The first search is inclusive, based on signal regions defined by the hadronic energy in the event, the jet multiplicity, the number of jets identified as originating from bottom quarks, and the value of the kinematic variable $M_\mathrm{T2}$ for events with at least two jets. For events with exactly one jet, the transverse momentum of the jet is used instead. The second search looks in addition for disappearing tracks produced by BSM long-lived charged particles that decay within the volume of the tracking detector. No excess event yield is observed above the predicted standard model background. This is used to constrain a range of BSM models that predict the following: the pair production of gluinos and squarks in the context of supersymmetry models conserving $R$-parity, with or without intermediate long-lived charginos produced in the decay chain; the resonant production of a colored scalar state decaying to a massive Dirac fermion and a quark; or the pair production of scalar and vector leptoquarks each decaying to a neutrino and a top, bottom, or light-flavor quark. In most of the cases, the results obtained are the most stringent constraints to date.

This paper presents a measurement of the $W$ boson production cross section and the $W^{+}/W^{-}$ cross-section ratio, both in association with jets, in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is performed in final states containing one electron and missing transverse momentum using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb$^{-1}$. Differential cross sections for events with one or two jets are presented for a range of observables, including jet transverse momenta and rapidities, the scalar sum of transverse momenta of the visible particles and the missing transverse momentum in the event, and the transverse momentum of the $W$ boson. For a subset of the observables, the differential cross sections of positively and negatively charged $W$ bosons are measured separately. In the cross-section ratio of $W^{+}/W^{-}$ the dominant systematic uncertainties cancel out, improving the measurement precision by up to a factor of nine. The observables and ratios selected for this paper provide valuable input for the up quark, down quark, and gluon parton distribution functions of the proton.

A search for heavy neutral Higgs bosons and $Z^{\prime}$ bosons is performed using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2015 and 2016. The heavy resonance is assumed to decay to $\tau^+\tau^-$ with at least one tau lepton decaying to final states with hadrons and a neutrino. The search is performed in the mass range of 0.2-2.25 TeV for Higgs bosons and 0.2-4.0 TeV for $Z^{\prime}$ bosons. The data are in good agreement with the background predicted by the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in benchmark scenarios. In the context of the hMSSM scenario, the data exclude $\tan\beta > 1.0$ for $m_A$ = 0.25 TeV and $\tan\beta > 42$ for $m_A$ = 1.5 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the Sequential Standard Model, $Z^{\prime}_\mathrm{SSM}$ with $m_{Z^{\prime}} < 2.42$ TeV is excluded at 95% confidence level, while $Z^{\prime}_\mathrm{NU}$ with $m_{Z^{\prime}} < 2.25$ TeV is excluded for the non-universal $G(221)$ model that exhibits enhanced couplings to third-generation fermions.

Differential cross sections for a W boson produced in association with jets are measured in a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 inverse femtobarns. The W bosons are identified through their decay mode W to mu nu. The cross sections are reported as functions of jet multiplicity, transverse momenta, and the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT) for different jet multiplicities. Distributions of the angular correlations between the jets and the muon are examined, as well as the average number of jets as a function of HT and as a function of angular variables. The measured differential cross sections are compared with tree-level and higher-order recent event generators, as well as next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order theoretical predictions. The agreement of the generators with the measurements builds confidence in their use for the simulation of W+jets background processes in searches for new physics at the LHC.

Measurements are presented of electroweak boson production using data from $pp$ collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8\mathrm{\,Te\kern -0.1em V}$. The analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of $2.0\mathrm{\,fb}^{-1}$ recorded with the LHCb detector. The bosons are identified in the $W\rightarrow\mu\nu$ and $Z\rightarrow\mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ decay channels. The cross-sections are measured for muons in the pseudorapidity range $2.0 < \eta < 4.5$, with transverse momenta $p_{\rm T} > 20{\mathrm{\,Ge\kern -0.1em V\!/}c}$ and, in the case of the $Z$ boson, a dimuon mass within $60 < M_{\mu^{+}\mu^{-}} < 120{\mathrm{\,Ge\kern -0.1em V\!/}c^{2}}$. The results are \begin{align*} \sigma_{W^{+}\rightarrow\mu^{+}\nu} &= 1093.6 \pm 2.1 \pm 7.2 \pm 10.9 \pm 12.7{\rm \,pb} \, , \sigma_{W^{-}\rightarrow\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}} &= \phantom{0}818.4 \pm 1.9 \pm 5.0 \pm \phantom{0}7.0 \pm \phantom{0}9.5{\rm \,pb} \, , \sigma_{Z\rightarrow\mu^{+}\mu^{-}} &= \phantom{00}95.0 \pm 0.3 \pm 0.7 \pm \phantom{0}1.1 \pm \phantom{0}1.1{\rm \,pb} \, , \end{align*} where the first uncertainties are statistical, the second are systematic, the third are due to the knowledge of the LHC beam energy and the fourth are due to the luminosity determination. The evolution of the $W$ and $Z$ boson cross-sections with centre-of-mass energy is studied using previously reported measurements with $1.0\mathrm{\,fb}^{-1}$ of data at $7\mathrm{\,Te\kern -0.1em V}$. Differential distributions are also presented. Results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics.

Neutrons arising from the breakup of a 30 MeV/nucleon 19 C beam on a tantalum target have been measured using the 98 element array DEMON. A narrow, forward peaked neutron angular distribution, with a corresponding momentum spread considerably smaller than those measured simultaneously for 21 N, 22 O and 24 F, was observed for charged fragments with Z < Z proj . Interpreted in terms of the core-breakup reaction model, the results support the existence of a one neutron halo in 19 C.

At the projectile-fragment separator FRS of GSI, relativistic secondary beams of about 520 MeV/nucleon were produced by fragmentation of a primary beam of58Ni at 650 MeV/nucleon in a beryllium target. By means of aΔE—Bρ—TOF measurement, the fragments have been identified and their charge-changing probabilities in targets of CH2, C, Al, and Pb have been determined. We describe the results for the total charge-changing cross sections in this first paper, whereas a second article deals with the partial charge-changing cross sections. At the drip line, the measured charge-changing cross sections exhaust close to 100% of the total interaction cross sections as calculated with semiempirical models. The measurements at the proton drip line with low-Z targets indicate that only a very small increase of the cross sections may be observed, whereas the measurements with a lead target show that no significant increase of the total charge-changing cross sections is present which would be a hint for low-lying dipole strength. Our experimental data are compared to Glauber-type calculations.