The associated production of a Higgs boson with a $W$ or $Z$ boson decaying into leptons and where the Higgs boson decays to a $b\bar{b}$ pair is measured in the high vector-boson transverse momentum regime, above 250 GeV, with the ATLAS detector. The analysed data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$, were collected in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV. The measured signal strength, defined as the ratio of the measured signal yield to that predicted by the Standard Model, is $0.72 ^{+0.39}_{-0.36}$ corresponding to an observed (expected) significance of 2.1 (2.7) standard deviations. Cross-sections of associated production of a Higgs boson decaying into $b$ quark pairs with a $W$ or $Z$ gauge boson, decaying into leptons, are measured in two exclusive vector boson transverse momentum regions, 250-400 GeV and above 400 GeV, and interpreted as constraints on anomalous couplings in the framework of a Standard Model effective field theory.
The production rates of prompt and non-prompt $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2\mathrm{S})$ mesons are measured using 2.1 $fb^{-1}$ and 11.4 $fb^{-1}$ of data collected with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ and 8 TeV respectively. Production cross-sections for both prompt and non-prompt production sources, ratios of $\psi(2\mathrm{S})$ to $J/\psi$ production, and fractions of non-prompt to inclusive production for $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2\mathrm{S})$ are measured double-differentially as a function of meson $p_{T}$ and rapidity. These measurements are made in a restricted fiducial volume and also corrected for geometrical acceptance after which they are compared to a variety of theoretical predictions.
A search for a heavy neutral Higgs boson, $A$, decaying into a $Z$ boson and another heavy Higgs boson, $H$, 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 in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search considers the $Z$ boson decaying to electrons or muons and the $H$ boson into a pair of $b$-quarks. No evidence for the production of an $A$ boson is found. Considering each production process separately, the 95% confidence-level upper limits on the $pp\rightarrow A\rightarrow ZH$ production cross-section times the branching ratio $H\rightarrow bb$ are in the range of 14-830 fb for the gluon-gluon fusion process and 26-570 fb for the $b$-associated process for the mass ranges 130-700 GeV of the $H$ boson and process for the mass ranges 130-700 GeV of the $H$ boson and 230-800 GeV of the $A$ boson. The results are interpreted in the context of the two-Higgs-doublet model.
Measurements of jet activity in top-quark pair events produced in proton--proton collisions are presented, using 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are chosen by requiring an opposite-charge $e\mu$ pair and two $b$-tagged jets in the final state. The normalised differential cross-sections of top-quark pair production are presented as functions of additional-jet multiplicity and transverse momentum, $p_{\mathrm T}$. The fraction of signal events that do not contain additional jet activity in a given rapidity region, the gap fraction, is measured as a function of the $p_{\mathrm T}$ threshold for additional jets, and is also presented for different invariant mass regions of the $e\mu b\bar{b}$ system. All measurements are corrected for detector effects and presented as particle-level distributions compared to predictions with different theoretical approaches for QCD radiation. While the kinematics of the jets from top-quark decays are described well, the generators show differing levels of agreement with the measurements of observables that depend on the production of additional jets.
Results of a search for the electroweak associated production of charginos and next-to-lightest neutralinos, pairs of charginos or pairs of tau sleptons are presented. These processes are characterised by final states with at least two hadronically decaying tau leptons, missing transverse momentum and low jet activity. The analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess is observed with respect to the predictions from Standard Model processes. Limits are set at 95% confidence level on the masses of the lighter chargino and next-to-lightest neutralino for various hypotheses for the lightest neutralino mass in simplified models. In the scenario of direct production of chargino pairs, with each chargino decaying into the lightest neutralino via an intermediate tau slepton, chargino masses up to 345 GeV are excluded for a massless lightest neutralino. For associated production of mass-degenerate charginos and next-to-lightest neutralinos, both decaying into the lightest neutralino via an intermediate tau slepton, masses up to 410 GeV are excluded for a massless lightest neutralino.
The results of a search for electroweakino pair production $pp \rightarrow \tilde\chi^\pm_1 \tilde\chi^0_2$ in which the chargino ($\tilde\chi^\pm_1$) decays into a $W$ boson and the lightest neutralino ($\tilde\chi^0_1$), while the heavier neutralino ($\tilde\chi^0_2$) decays into the Standard Model 125 GeV Higgs boson and a second $\tilde\chi^0_1$ are presented. The signal selection requires a pair of $b$-tagged jets consistent with those from a Higgs boson decay, and either an electron or a muon from the $W$ boson decay, together with missing transverse momentum from the corresponding neutrino and the stable neutralinos. The analysis is based on data corresponding to 139 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ collisions provided by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded by the ATLAS detector. No statistically significant evidence of an excess of events above the Standard Model expectation is found. Limits are set on the direct production of the electroweakinos in simplified models, assuming pure wino cross-sections. Masses of $\tilde{\chi}^{\pm}_{1}/\tilde{\chi}^{0}_{2}$ up to 740 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level for a massless $\tilde{\chi}^{0}_{1}$.
A search is presented for the pair production of heavy vector-like $B$ quarks, primarily targeting $B$ quark decays into a $W$ boson and a top quark. The search is based on $36.1$ $fb^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded in 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Data are analysed in the lepton-plus-jets final state, characterised by a high-transverse-momentum isolated electron or muon, large missing transverse momentum, and multiple jets, of which at least one is $b$-tagged. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation is observed. The 95% confidence level lower limit on the $B$ mass is 1350 GeV assuming a 100% branching ratio to $Wt$. In the SU(2) singlet scenario, the lower mass limit is 1170 GeV. This search is also sensitive to a heavy vector-like $B$ quark decaying into other final states ($Zb$ and $Hb$) and thus mass limits on $B$ production are set as a function of the decay branching ratios. The 100% branching ratio limits are found to be also applicable to heavy vector-like $X$ production, with charge $+$5/3, that decay into $Wt$.
Several extensions of the Standard Model predict the production of dark matter particles at the LHC. An uncharted signature of dark matter particles produced in association with $VV=W^\pm W^\mp$ or $ZZ$ pairs from a decay of a dark Higgs boson $s$ is searched for using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The $s\to V(q\bar q)V(q\bar q)$ decays are reconstructed with a novel technique aimed at resolving the dense topology from boosted $VV$ pairs using jets in the calorimeter and tracking information. Dark Higgs scenarios with $m_s > 160$ GeV are excluded.
A measurement of the $ZZ$ production in the $\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\ell^{\prime -}\ell^{\prime +}$ and $\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\nu\bar{\nu}$ channels $(\ell = e, \mu)$ in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2012 is presented. The fiducial cross sections for $ZZ\to\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\ell^{\prime -}\ell^{\prime +}$ and $ZZ\to \ell^{-}\ell^{+}\nu\bar{\nu}$ are measured in selected phase-space regions. The total cross section for $ZZ$ events produced with both $Z$ bosons in the mass range 66 to 116 GeV is measured from the combination of the two channels to be $7.3\pm0.4\textrm{(stat)}\pm0.3\textrm{(syst)}\pm0.2\textrm{(lumi)}$ pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of $6.6^{+0.7}_{-0.6}$ pb. The differential cross sections in bins of various kinematic variables are presented. The differential event yield as a function of the transverse momentum of the leading $Z$ boson is used to set limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge boson couplings in $ZZ$ production.
This paper presents a study of the production of $WW$ or $WZ$ boson pairs, with one $W$ boson decaying to $e\nu$ or $\mu\nu$ and one $W$ or $Z$ boson decaying hadronically. The analysis uses 20.2 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV $pp$ collision data, collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Cross-sections for $WW/WZ$ production are measured in high-$p_{T}$ fiducial regions defined close to the experimental event selection. The cross-section is measured for the case where the hadronically decaying boson is reconstructed as two resolved jets, and the case where it is reconstructed as a single jet. The transverse momentum distribution of the hadronically decaying boson is used to search for new physics. Observations are consistent with the Standard Model predictions, and $95\%$ confidence intervals are calculated for parameters describing anomalous triple gauge-boson couplings.