Fiducial and differential measurements of $W^+W^-$ production in events with at least one hadronic jet are presented. These cross-section measurements are sensitive to the properties of electroweak-boson self-interactions and provide a test of perturbative quantum chromodynamics and the electroweak theory. The analysis is performed using proton$-$proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s}=13~$TeV with the ATLAS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139$~$fb$^{-1}$. Events are selected with exactly one oppositely charged electron$-$muon pair and at least one hadronic jet with a transverse momentum of $p_{\mathrm{T}}>30~$GeV and a pseudorapidity of $|\eta|<4.5$. After subtracting the background contributions and correcting for detector effects, the jet-inclusive $W^+W^-+\ge 1~$jet fiducial cross-section and $W^+W^-+$ jets differential cross-sections with respect to several kinematic variables are measured, thus probing a previously unexplored event topology at the LHC. These measurements include leptonic quantities, such as the lepton transverse momenta and the transverse mass of the $W^+W^-$ system, as well as jet-related observables such as the leading jet transverse momentum and the jet multiplicity. Limits on anomalous triple-gauge-boson couplings are obtained in a phase space where interference between the Standard Model amplitude and the anomalous amplitude is enhanced.
A search for quantum black holes in electron+jet and muon+jet invariant mass spectra is performed with 140 fb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The observed invariant mass spectrum of lepton+jet pairs is consistent with Standard Model expectations. Upper limits are set at 95% confidence level on the production cross-sections times branching fractions for quantum black holes decaying into a lepton and a quark in a search region with invariant mass above 2.0 TeV. The resulting quantum black hole lower mass threshold limit is 9.2 TeV in the Arkani-Hamed-Dimopoulos-Dvali model, and 6.8 TeV in the Randall-Sundrum model.
A search for the Higgs boson decaying into a photon and a pair of electrons or muons with an invariant mass $m_{\ell\ell} < 30$ GeV is presented. The analysis is performed using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data, produced by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and collected by the ATLAS experiment. Evidence for the $H \rightarrow \ell \ell \gamma$ process is found with a significance of 3.2$\sigma$ over the background-only hypothesis, compared to an expected significance of 2.1$\sigma$. The best-fit value of the signal strength parameter, defined as the ratio of the observed signal yield to the one expected in the Standard Model, is $\mu = 1.5 \pm 0.5$. The Higgs boson production cross-section times the $H \rightarrow\ell\ell\gamma$ branching ratio for $m_{\ell\ell} <$ 30 GeV is determined to be 8.7 $^{+2.8}_{-2.7}$ fb.
The associated production of a Higgs boson and a top-quark pair is measured in events characterised by the presence of one or two electrons or muons. The Higgs boson decay into a $b$-quark pair is used. 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 $0.35^{+0.36}_{-0.34}$. This result is compatible with the Standard Model prediction and corresponds to an observed (expected) significance of 1.0 (2.7) standard deviations. The signal strength is also measured differentially in bins of the Higgs boson transverse momentum in the simplified template cross-section framework, including a bin for specially selected boosted Higgs bosons with transverse momentum above 300 GeV.
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.
We report measurements of the inclusive π− and π+ yields in 24-GeV proton-proton collisions at θc.m.=90° for 2.2≤PT≤2.8 GeV/c. There is a high-PT deficit, rather than excess, at this incident energy.
A search for charged leptons with large impact parameters using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV $pp$ collision data from the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented, addressing a long-standing gap in coverage of possible new physics signatures. Results are consistent with the background prediction. This search provides unique sensitivity to long-lived scalar supersymmetric lepton-partners (sleptons). For lifetimes of 0.1 ns, selectron, smuon and stau masses up to 720 GeV, 680 GeV, and 340 GeV are respectively excluded at 95% confidence level, drastically improving on the previous best limits from LEP.
Two-particle long-range azimuthal correlations are measured in photonuclear collisions using 1.7 nb$^{-1}$ of 5.02 TeV Pb+Pb collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Candidate events are selected using a dedicated high-multiplicity photonuclear event trigger, a combination of information from the zero-degree calorimeters and forward calorimeters, and from pseudorapidity gaps constructed using calorimeter energy clusters and charged-particle tracks. Distributions of event properties are compared between data and Monte Carlo simulations of photonuclear processes. Two-particle correlation functions are formed using charged-particle tracks in the selected events, and a template-fitting method is employed to subtract the non-flow contribution to the correlation. Significant nonzero values of the second- and third-order flow coefficients are observed and presented as a function of charged-particle multiplicity and transverse momentum. The results are compared with flow coefficients obtained in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions in similar multiplicity ranges, and with theoretical expectations. The unique initial conditions present in this measurement provide a new way to probe the origin of the collective signatures previously observed only in hadronic collisions.
Exclusive dimuon production in ultraperipheral collisions (UPC), resulting from photon-photon interactions in the strong electromagnetic fields of colliding high-energy lead nuclei, $\mathrm{PbPb}(\gamma\gamma) \rightarrow \mu^+\mu^- (\mathrm{Pb}^{(\star)}\mathrm{Pb}^{(\star)} )$, is studied using $\mathcal{L}_{\mathrm{int}} = 0.48$ nb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=5.02$ TeV lead-lead collision data at the LHC with the ATLAS detector. Dimuon pairs are measured in the fiducial region $p_{\mathrm{T}\mu} > 4$ GeV, $|\eta_{\mu}| < 2.4$, invariant mass $m_{\mu\mu} > 10$ GeV, and $p_{\mathrm{T,\mu\mu}} < 2$ GeV. The primary background from single-dissociative processes is extracted from the data using a template fitting technique. Differential cross sections are presented as a function of $m_{\mu\mu}$, absolute pair rapidity ($|y_{\mu\mu}|$), scattering angle in the dimuon rest frame ($|\cos \vartheta^{\star}_{\mu\mu}|$) and the colliding photon energies. The total cross section of the UPC $\gamma \gamma \rightarrow \mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ process in the fiducial volume is measured to be $\sigma_{\mathrm{fid}}^{\mu\mu} = 34.1 \! \pm \! 0.3 \mathrm{(stat.)} \! \pm \! 0.7 \mathrm{(syst.)}$ $\mu\mathrm{b}$. Generally good agreement is found with calculations from STARlight, which incorporate the leading-order Breit-Wheeler process with no final-state effects, albeit differences between the measurements and theoretical expectations are observed. In particular, the measured cross sections at larger $|y_{\mu\mu}|$ are found to be about 10-20% larger in data than in the calculations, suggesting the presence of larger fluxes of photons in the initial state. Modification of the dimuon cross sections in the presence of forward and/or backward neutron production is also studied and is found to be associated with a harder incoming photon spectrum, consistent with expectations.
Jet substructure quantities are measured using jets groomed with the soft-drop grooming procedure in dijet events from 32.9 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions collected with the ATLAS detector at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV. These observables are sensitive to a wide range of QCD phenomena. Some observables, such as the jet mass and opening angle between the two subjets which pass the soft-drop condition, can be described by a high-order (resummed) series in the strong coupling constant $\alpha_S$. Other observables, such as the momentum sharing between the two subjets, are nearly independent of $\alpha_S$. These observables can be constructed using all interacting particles or using only charged particles reconstructed in the inner tracking detectors. Track-based versions of these observables are not collinear safe, but are measured more precisely, and universal non-perturbative functions can absorb the collinear singularities. The unfolded data are directly compared with QCD calculations and hadron-level Monte Carlo simulations. The measurements are performed in different pseudorapidity regions, which are then used to extract quark and gluon jet shapes using the predicted quark and gluon fractions in each region. All of the parton shower and analytical calculations provide an excellent description of the data in most regions of phase space.