This paper presents a measurement of the production cross-section of a $Z$ boson in association with $b$- or $c$-jets, in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. Inclusive and differential cross-sections are measured for events containing a $Z$ boson decaying into electrons or muons and produced in association with at least one $b$-jet, at least one $c$-jet, or at least two $b$-jets with transverse momentum $p_\textrm{T} > 20$ GeV and rapidity $|y| < 2.5$. Predictions from several Monte Carlo generators based on next-to-leading-order matrix elements interfaced with a parton-shower simulation, with different choices of flavour schemes for initial-state partons, are compared with the measured cross-sections. The results are also compared with novel predictions, based on infrared and collinear safe jet flavour dressing algorithms. Selected $Z + \ge 1 c$-jet observables, optimized for sensitivity to intrinsic-charm, are compared with benchmark models with different intrinsic-charm fractions.
Inclusive and differential cross-sections are measured at particle level for the associated production of a top quark pair and a photon ($t\bar{t}\gamma$). The analysis is performed using an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector. The measurements are performed in the single-lepton and dilepton top quark pair decay channels focusing on $t\bar{t}\gamma$ topologies where the photon is radiated from an initial-state parton or one of the top quarks. The absolute and normalised differential cross-sections are measured for several variables characterising the photon, lepton and jet kinematics as well as the angular separation between those objects. The observables are found to be in good agreement with the Monte Carlo predictions. The photon transverse momentum differential distribution is used to set limits on effective field theory parameters related to the electroweak dipole moments of the top quark. The combined limits using the photon and the $Z$ boson transverse momentum measured in $t\bar{t}$ production in associations with a $Z$ boson are also set.
Measurements of inclusive, differential cross-sections for the production of events with missing transverse momentum in association with jets in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13~$TeV are presented. The measurements are made with the ATLAS detector using an integrated luminosity of $140~$fb$^{-1}$ and include measurements of dijet distributions in a region in which vector-boson fusion processes are enhanced. They are unfolded to correct for detector resolution and efficiency within the fiducial acceptance, and are designed to allow robust comparisons with a wide range of theoretical predictions. A measurement of differential cross sections for the $Z~\to \nu\nu$ process is made. The measurements are generally well-described by Standard Model predictions except for the dijet invariant mass distribution. Auxiliary measurements of the hadronic system recoiling against isolated leptons, and photons, are also made in the same phase space. Ratios between the measured distributions are then derived, to take advantage of cancellations in modelling effects and some of the major systematic uncertainties. These measurements are sensitive to new phenomena, and provide a mechanism to easily set constraints on phenomenological models. To illustrate the robustness of the approach, these ratios are compared with two common Dark Matter models, where the constraints derived from the measurement are comparable to those set by dedicated detector-level searches.
A measurement is presented of a ratio observable that provides a measure of the azimuthal correlations among jets with large transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}$. This observable is measured in multijet events over the range of $p_\mathrm{T}$ = 360-3170 GeV based on data collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 134 fb$^{-1}$. The results are compared with predictions from Monte Carlo parton-shower event generator simulations, as well as with fixed-order perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) predictions at next-to-leading-order (NLO) accuracy obtained with different parton distribution functions (PDFs) and corrected for nonperturbative and electroweak effects. Data and theory agree within uncertainties. From the comparison of the measured observable with the pQCD prediction obtained with the NNPDF3.1 NLO PDFs, the strong coupling at the Z boson mass scale is $\alpha_\mathrm{S}(m_\mathrm{Z})$ = 0.1177 $\pm$ 0.0013 (exp) $_{-0.0073}^{+0.0116}$ (theo) = 0.1177 $_{-0.0074}^{+0.0117}$, where the total uncertainty is dominated by the scale dependence of the fixed-order predictions. A test of the running of $\alpha_\mathrm{S}(m_\mathrm{Z})$ in the TeV region shows no deviation from the expected NLO pQCD behaviour.
Energy correlators that describe energy-weighted distances between two or three particles in a jet are measured using an event sample of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.3 fb$^{-1}$. The measured distributions are consistent with the trends in the simulation that reveal two key features of the strong interaction: confinement and asymptotic freedom. By comparing the ratio of the measured three- and two-particle energy correlator distributions with theoretical calculations that resum collinear emissions at approximate next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy matched to a next-to-leading order calculation, the strong coupling is determined at the Z boson mass: $\alpha_\mathrm{S}(m_\mathrm{Z})$ = 0.1229 $^{+0.0040}_{-0.0050}$, the most precise $\alpha_\mathrm{S}(m_\mathrm{Z})$ value obtained using jet substructure observables.
Differential cross-sections are measured for the production of four charged leptons in association with two jets. These measurements are sensitive to final states in which the jets are produced via the strong interaction as well as to the purely-electroweak vector boson scattering process. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data collected by ATLAS at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV and with an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. The data are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution and are compared to state-of-the-art Monte Carlo event generator predictions. The differential cross-sections are used to search for anomalous weak-boson self-interactions that are induced by dimension-six and dimension-eight operators in Standard Model effective field theory.
The observation of WW$\gamma$ production in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ is presented. The observed (expected) significance is 5.6 (5.1) standard deviations. Events are selected by requiring exactly two leptons (one electron and one muon) of opposite charge, moderate missing transverse momentum, and a photon. The measured fiducial cross section for WW$\gamma$ is 5.9 $\pm$ 0.8 (stat) $\pm$ 0.8 (syst) $\pm$ 0.7 (modeling) fb, in agreement with the next-to-leading order quantum chromodynamics prediction. The analysis is extended with a search for the associated production of the Higgs boson and a photon, which is generated by a coupling of the Higgs boson to light quarks. The result is used to constrain the Higgs boson couplings to light quarks.
This paper reports cross-section measurements of $ZZ$ production in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13.6$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The data were collected by the ATLAS detector in 2022, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 29 fb$^-1$. Events in the $ZZ\rightarrow4\ell$ ($\ell = e$, $\mu$) final states are selected and used to measure the inclusive and differential cross-sections in a fiducial region defined close to the analysis selections. The inclusive cross-section is further extrapolated to the total phase space with a requirement of 66 $< m_Z <$ 116 GeV for both $Z$ bosons, yielding $16.8 \pm 1.1$ pb. The results are well described by the Standard Model predictions.
Measurements of inclusive and normalized differential cross sections of the associated production of top quark-antiquark and bottom quark-antiquark pairs, ttbb, are presented. The results are based on data from proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The cross sections are measured in the lepton+jets decay channel of the top quark pair, using events containing exactly one isolated electron or muon and at least five jets. Measurements are made in four fiducial phase space regions, targeting different aspects of the ttbb process. Distributions are unfolded to the particle level through maximum likelihood fits, and compared with predictions from several event generators. The inclusive cross section measurements of this process in the fiducial phase space regions are the most precise to date. In most cases, the measured inclusive cross sections exceed the predictions with the chosen generator settings. The only exception is when using a particular choice of dynamic renormalization scale, $\mu_\mathrm{R}=\frac{1}{2} \prod_{i = \mathrm{t, \bar{t}, b, \bar{b}}} m_{\mathrm{T},i}^{1/4}$, where $m_{\mathrm{T}, i}^2 = m_i^2 + p^2_{\mathrm{T}, i}$ are the transverse masses of top and bottom quarks. The differential cross sections show varying degrees of compatibility with the theoretical predictions, and none of the tested generators with the chosen settings simultaneously describe all the measured distributions.
This Letter presents the measurement of the fiducial and differential cross-sections of the electroweak production of a $Z \gamma$ pair in association with two jets. The analysis uses 140 fb$^{-1}$ of LHC proton-proton collision data taken at $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector during the years 2015-2018. Events with a $Z$ boson candidate decaying into either an $e^+e^-$ or $\mu^+ \mu^-$ pair, a photon and two jets are selected. The electroweak component is extracted by requiring a large dijet invariant mass and a large rapidity gap between the two jets and is measured with an observed and expected significance well above five standard deviations. The fiducial $pp \rightarrow Z \gamma jj$ cross-section for the electroweak production is measured to be 3.6 $\pm$ 0.5 fb. The total fiducial cross-section that also includes contributions where the jets arise from strong interactions is measured to be $16.8^{+2.0}_{-1.8}$ fb. The results are consistent with the Standard Model predictions. Differential cross-sections are also measured using the same events and are compared with parton-shower Monte Carlo simulations. Good agreement is observed between data and predictions.
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