Ratios of top-quark pair to $Z$-boson cross sections measured from proton--proton collisions at the LHC centre-of-mass energies of $\sqrt s=13$TeV, 8TeV, and 7TeV are presented by the ATLAS Collaboration. Single ratios, at a given $\sqrt s$ for the two processes and at different $\sqrt s$ for each process, as well as double ratios of the two processes at different $\sqrt s$, are evaluated. The ratios are constructed using previously published ATLAS measurements of the $t\overline{t}$ and $Z$-boson production cross sections, corrected to a common phase space where required, and a new analysis of $Z \rightarrow \ell^+ \ell^-$ where $\ell=e,\mu$ at $\sqrt s=13$TeV performed with data collected in 2015 with an integrated luminosity of $3.2$fb$^{-1}$. Correlations of systematic uncertainties are taken into account when evaluating the uncertainties in the ratios. The correlation model is also used to evaluate the combined cross section of the $Z\rightarrow e^+e^-$ and the $Z\rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-$ channels for each $\sqrt s$ value. The results are compared to calculations performed at next-to-next-to-leading-order accuracy using recent sets of parton distribution functions. The data demonstrate significant power to constrain the gluon distribution function for the Bjorken-$x$ values near 0.1 and the light-quark sea for $x<0.02$.

A measurement of angular correlations in Drell-Yan lepton pairs via the phistar observable is presented. This variable probes the same physics as the Z/gamma* boson transverse momentum with a better experimental resolution. The Z/gamma*->e+e- and Z/gamma*->mu+mu- decays produced in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV are used. The data were collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb-1. Normalised differential cross sections as a function of phistar are measured separately for electron and muon decay channels. These channels are then combined for improved accuracy. The cross section is also measured double differentially as a function of phistar for three independent bins of the Z boson rapidity. The results are compared to QCD calculations and to predictions from different Monte Carlo event generators. The data are reasonably well described, in all measured Z boson rapidity regions, by resummed QCD predictions combined with fixed-order perturbative QCD calculations. Some of the Monte Carlo event generators are also able to describe the data. The measurement precision is typically better by one order of magnitude than present theoretical uncertainties.

A search for charged Higgs bosons heavier than the top quark and decaying via $H^\pm \rightarrow tb$ is presented. The data analysed corresponds to 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV and was recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2015 and 2016. The production of a charged Higgs boson in association with a top quark and a bottom quark, $pp \rightarrow tb H^\pm$, is explored in the mass range from $m_{H^\pm}$ = 200 to 2000 GeV using multi-jet final states with one or two electrons or muons. Events are categorised according to the multiplicity of jets and how likely these are to have originated from hadronisation of a bottom quark. Multivariate 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 fraction of a charged Higgs boson as a function of its mass, which range from 2.9 pb at $m_{H^\pm}$ = 200 GeV to 0.070 pb at $m_{H^\pm}$ = 2000 GeV. The results are interpreted in two benchmark scenarios of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model.

The Standard Model of particle physics encapsulates our current best understanding of physics at the smallest scales. A fundamental axiom of this theory is the universality of the couplings of the different generations of leptons to the electroweak gauge bosons. The measurement of the ratio of the rate of decay of $W$ bosons to $\tau$-leptons and muons, $R(\tau/\mu) = B(W \to \tau \nu_\tau)/B(W \to \mu \nu_\mu)$, constitutes an important test of this axiom. A measurement of this quantity with a novel technique using di-leptonic $t\bar{t}$ events is presented based on 139 fb${}^{-1}$ of data recorded with the ATLAS detector in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV. Muons originating from $W$ bosons and those originating from an intermediate $\tau$-lepton are distinguished using the lifetime of the $\tau$-lepton, through the muon transverse impact parameter, and differences in the muon transverse momentum spectra. The value of $R(\tau/\mu)$ is found to be $0.992 \pm 0.013 [\pm 0.007 (stat) \pm 0.011 (syst)]$ and is in agreement with the hypothesis of universal lepton couplings as postulated in the Standard Model. This is the most precise measurement of this ratio, and the only such measurement from the Large Hadron Collider, to date.

A search for new physics with non-resonant signals in dielectron and dimuon final states in the mass range above 2 TeV is presented. This is the first search for non-resonant signals in dilepton final states at the LHC to use a background estimate from the data. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$, were recorded by the ATLAS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. The benchmark signal signature is a two-quark and two-lepton contact interaction, which would enhance the dilepton event rate at the TeV mass scale. To model the contribution from background processes a functional form is fit to the dilepton invariant-mass spectra in data in a mass region below the region of interest. It is then extrapolated to a high-mass signal region to obtain the expected background there. No significant deviation from the expected background is observed in the data. Upper limits at 95 % CL on the number of events and the visible cross-section times branching fraction for processes involving new physics are provided. Observed (expected) 95 % CL lower limits on the contact interaction energy scale reach 35.8 (37.6) TeV.

A search for pair production of bottom squarks in events with hadronically decaying $\tau$-leptons, $b$-tagged jets and large missing transverse momentum is presented. The analyzed dataset is based on proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded by the ATLAS detector from 2015 to 2018, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The observed data are compatible with the expected Standard Model background. Results are interpreted in a simplified model where each bottom squark is assumed to decay into the second-lightest neutralino $\tilde \chi_2^0$ and a bottom quark, with $\tilde \chi_2^0$ decaying into a Higgs boson and the lightest neutralino $\tilde \chi_1^0$. The search focuses on final states where at least one Higgs boson decays into a pair of hadronically decaying $\tau$-leptons. This allows the acceptance and thus the sensitivity to be significantly improved relative to the previous results at low masses of the $\tilde \chi_2^0$, where bottom-squark masses up to 850 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, assuming a mass difference of 130 GeV between $\tilde \chi_2^0$ and $\tilde \chi_1^0$. Model-independent upper limits are also set on the cross section of processes beyond the Standard Model.

A search for heavy resonances decaying into a pair of $Z$ bosons leading to $\ell^+\ell^-\ell'^+\ell'^-$ and $\ell^+\ell^-\nu\bar\nu$ final states, where $\ell$ stands for either an electron or a muon, is presented. The search uses proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected from 2015 to 2018 that corresponds to the full integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. Different mass ranges spanning 200 GeV to 2000 GeV for the hypothetical resonances are considered, depending on the final state and model. In the absence of a significant observed excess, the results are interpreted as upper limits on the production cross section of a spin-0 or spin-2 resonance. The upper limits for the spin-0 resonance are translated to exclusion contours in the context of Type-I and Type-II two-Higgs-doublet models, and the limits for the spin-2 resonance are used to constrain the Randall--Sundrum model with an extra dimension giving rise to spin-2 graviton excitations.

Measurements of the top--antitop quark pair production charge asymmetry in the dilepton channel, characterized by two high-${p}_{\rm{T}}$ leptons (electrons or muons), are presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $20.3$ $\textrm{fb}^{-1}$ from $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Inclusive and differential measurements as a function of the invariant mass, transverse momentum, and longitudinal boost of the $t\bar{t}$ system are performed both in the full phase space and in a fiducial phase space closely matching the detector acceptance. Two observables are studied: $A^{\ell\ell}_{\textrm{C}}$ based on the selected leptons and $A^{t\bar{t}}_{\textrm{C}}$ based on the reconstructed $t\bar{t}$ final state. The inclusive asymmetries are measured in the full phase space to be $A^{\ell\ell}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.008 \pm 0.006$ and $A^{t\bar{t}}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.021 \pm 0.016$, which are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions of $A^{\ell\ell}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.0064 \pm 0.0003 $ and $A^{t\bar{t}}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.0111 \pm 0.0004$.

A search for strongly produced supersymmetric particles using signatures involving multiple energetic jets and either two isolated same-sign leptons ($e$ or $\mu$), or at least three isolated leptons, is presented. The analysis relies on the identification of $b$-jets and high missing transverse momentum to achieve good sensitivity. A data sample of proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}= 13$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 and 2016, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$, is used for the search. No significant excess over the Standard Model prediction is observed. The results are interpreted in several simplified supersymmetric models featuring $R$-parity conservation or $R$-parity violation, extending the exclusion limits from previous searches. In models considering gluino pair production, gluino masses are excluded up to 1.87 TeV at 95% confidence level. When bottom squarks are pair-produced and decay to a chargino and a top quark, models with bottom squark masses below 700 GeV and light neutralinos are excluded at 95% confidence level. In addition, model-independent limits are set on a possible contribution of new phenomena to the signal region yields.

A search for the supersymmetric partners of quarks and gluons (squarks and gluinos) in final states containing jets and missing transverse momentum, but no electrons or muons, is presented. The data used in this search were recorded by the ATLAS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The results are interpreted in the context of various $R$-parity-conserving models where squarks and gluinos are produced in pairs or in association and a neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle. An exclusion limit at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the gluino is set at 2.30 TeV for a simplified model containing only a gluino and the lightest neutralino, assuming the latter is massless. For a simplified model involving the strong production of mass-degenerate first- and second-generation squarks, squark masses below 1.85 TeV are excluded if the lightest neutralino is massless. These limits extend substantially beyond the region of supersymmetric parameter space excluded previously by similar searches with the ATLAS detector.