Measurements of both the inclusive and differential production cross sections of a top-quark-antiquark pair in association with a $Z$ boson ($t\bar{t}Z$) are presented. The measurements are performed by targeting final states with three or four isolated leptons (electrons or muons) and are based on $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV proton-proton collision data with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$, recorded from 2015 to 2018 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The inclusive cross section is measured to be $\sigma_{t\bar{t}Z} = 0.99 \pm 0.05$ (stat.) $\pm 0.08$ (syst.) pb, in agreement with the most precise theoretical predictions. The differential measurements are presented as a function of a number of kinematic variables which probe the kinematics of the $t\bar{t}Z$ system. Both absolute and normalised differential cross-section measurements are performed at particle and parton levels for specific fiducial volumes and are compared with theoretical predictions at different levels of precision, based on a $\chi^{2}/$ndf and $p$-value computation. Overall, good agreement is observed between the unfolded data and the predictions.
A search is performed for the electroweak pair production of charginos and associated production of a chargino and neutralino, each of which decays through an $R$-parity-violating coupling into a lepton and a $W$, $Z$, or Higgs boson. The trilepton invariant-mass spectrum is constructed from events with three or more leptons, targeting chargino decays that include an electron or muon and a leptonically decaying $Z$ boson. The analyzed dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV and collected by the ATLAS experiment between 2015 and 2018. The data are found to be consistent with predictions from the Standard Model. The results are interpreted as limits at 95% confidence level on model-independent cross sections for processes beyond the Standard Model. Limits are also set on the production of charginos and neutralinos for a Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with an approximate $B$-$L$ symmetry. Charginos and neutralinos with masses between 100 GeV and 1100 GeV are excluded depending on the assumed decay branching fractions into a lepton (electron, muon, or $\tau$-lepton) plus a boson ($W$, $Z$, or Higgs).
A search is presented for four-top-quark production using an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are selected if they contain a same-sign lepton pair or at least three leptons (electrons or muons). Jet multiplicity, jet flavour and event kinematics are used to separate signal from the background through a multivariate discriminant, and dedicated control regions are used to constrain the dominant backgrounds. The four-top-quark production cross section is measured to be 24$^{+7}_{-6}$ fb. This corresponds to an observed (expected) significance with respect to the background-only hypothesis of 4.3 (2.4) standard deviations and provides evidence for this process.
A search for charged Higgs bosons decaying into a top quark and a bottom quark is presented. The data analysed correspond to 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=13TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The production of a heavy charged Higgs boson in association with a top quark and a bottom quark, $pp\rightarrow tbH^{+}\rightarrow tbtb$, is explored in the $H^+$ mass range from 200 to 2000 GeV using final states with jets and one electron or muon. Events are categorised according to the multiplicity of jets and $b$-tagged jets, and multivariate analysis techniques are used to discriminate between signal and background events. No significant excess above the background-only hypothesis is observed and exclusion limits are derived for the production cross-section times branching ratio of a charged Higgs boson as a function of its mass; they range from 3.6 pb at 200 GeV to 0.036 pb at 2000 GeV at 95% confidence level. The results are interpreted in the hMSSM and $M_h^{125}$ scenarios.
Searches for new phenomena inspired by supersymmetry in final states containing an $e^+e^-$ or $\mu^+\mu^-$ pair, jets, and missing transverse momentum are presented. These searches make use of proton-proton collision data with an integrated luminosity of 139 $\text{fb}^{-1}$, collected during 2015-2018 at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=13 $TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Two searches target the pair production of charginos and neutralinos. One uses the recursive-jigsaw reconstruction technique to follow up on excesses observed in 36.1 $\text{fb}^{-1}$ of data, and the other uses conventional event variables. The third search targets pair production of coloured supersymmetric particles (squarks or gluinos) decaying through the next-to-lightest neutralino $(\tilde\chi_2^0)$ via a slepton $(\tilde\ell)$ or $Z$ boson into $\ell^+\ell^-\tilde\chi_1^0$, resulting in a kinematic endpoint or peak in the dilepton invariant mass spectrum. The data are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectations. Results are interpreted using simplified models and exclude masses up to 900 GeV for electroweakinos, 1550 GeV for squarks, and 2250 GeV for gluinos.
A search for pair production of third-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying into a top quark and a $\tau$-lepton is presented. The search is based on a dataset of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. Events are selected if they have one light lepton (electron or muon) and at least one hadronically decaying $\tau$-lepton, or at least two light leptons. In addition, two or more jets, at least one of which must be identified as containing $b$-hadrons, are required. Six final states, defined by the multiplicity and flavour of lepton candidates, are considered in the analysis. Each of them is split into multiple event categories to simultaneously search for the signal and constrain several leading backgrounds. The signal-rich event categories require at least one hadronically decaying $\tau$-lepton candidate and exploit the presence of energetic final-state objects, which is characteristic of signal events. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed in any of the considered event categories, and 95% CL upper limits are set on the production cross section as a function of the leptoquark mass, for different assumptions about the branching fractions into $t\tau$ and $b\nu$. Scalar leptoquarks decaying exclusively into $t\tau$ are excluded up to masses of 1.43 TeV while, for a branching fraction of 50% into $t\tau$, the lower mass limit is 1.22 TeV.
The $t\bar{t}$ production cross-section is measured in the lepton+jets channel using proton$-$proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. Events with exactly one charged lepton and four or more jets in the final state, with at least one jet containing $b$-hadrons, are used to determine the $t\bar{t}$ production cross-section through a profile-likelihood fit. The inclusive cross-section is measured to be ${\sigma_{\text{inc}} = 830 \pm 0.4~ \text{(stat.)}\pm 36~\text{(syst.)}\pm 14~\text{(lumi.)}~\mathrm{pb}}$ with a relative uncertainty of 4.6 %. The result is consistent with theoretical calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD. The fiducial $t\bar{t}$ cross-section within the experimental acceptance is also measured.
A measurement of single top-quark production in the s-channel is performed in proton$-$proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis is performed on events with an electron or muon, missing transverse momentum and exactly two $b$-tagged jets in the final state. A discriminant based on matrix element calculations is used to separate single-top-quark s-channel events from the main background contributions, which are top-quark pair production and $W$-boson production in association with jets. The observed (expected) signal significance over the background-only hypothesis is 3.3 (3.9) standard deviations, and the measured cross-section is $\sigma=8.2^{+3.5}_{-2.9}$ pb, consistent with the Standard Model prediction of $\sigma^{\mathrm{SM}}=10.32^{+0.40}_{-0.36}$ pb.
A search for decays of pair-produced neutral long-lived particles (LLPs) is presented using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2015-2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Dedicated techniques were developed for the reconstruction of displaced jets produced by LLPs decaying hadronically in the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter. Two search regions are defined for different LLP kinematic regimes. The observed numbers of events are consistent with the expected background, and limits for several benchmark signals are determined. For a SM Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV, branching ratios above 10% are excluded at 95% confidence level for values of $c$ times LLP mean proper lifetime in the range between 20 mm and 10 m depending on the model. Upper limits are also set on the cross-section times branching ratio for scalars with a mass of 60 GeV and for masses between 200 GeV and 1 TeV.
A measurement of the charge asymmetry in top-quark pair ($t\bar{t}$) production in association with a photon is presented. The measurement is performed in the single-lepton $t\bar{t}$ decay channel using proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN at a centre-of-mass-energy of 13 TeV during the years 2015-2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The charge asymmetry is obtained from the distribution of the difference of the absolute rapidities of the top quark and antiquark using a profile likelihood unfolding approach. It is measured to be $A_\text{C}=-0.003 \pm 0.029$ in agreement with the Standard Model expectation.
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