A search for charged Higgs bosons produced in vector boson fusion processes and decaying into vector bosons, using proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV at the LHC, is reported. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the CMS detector. Events are selected by requiring two or three electrons or muons, moderate missing transverse momentum, and two jets with a large rapidity separation and a large dijet mass. No excess of events with respect to the standard model background predictions is observed. Model independent upper limits at 95% confidence level are reported on the product of the cross section and branching fraction for vector boson fusion production of charged Higgs bosons as a function of mass, from 200 to 3000 GeV. The results are interpreted in the context of the Georgi-Machacek model.
A study of $B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^+$ and $B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^{*+}$ decays using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected with the ATLAS detector from $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV $pp$ collisions at the LHC is presented. The ratios of the branching fractions of the two decays to the branching fraction of the $B_c^+\to J/\psi \pi^+$ decay are measured: $\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^+)/\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi \pi^+) = 2.76\pm 0.47$ and $\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^{*+})/\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi \pi^+) = 5.33\pm 0.96$. The ratio of the branching fractions of the two decays is found to be $\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^{*+})/\mathcal B(B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^+) = 1.93\pm0.26$. For the $B_c^+\to J/\psi D_s^{*+}$ decay, the transverse polarization fraction, $\Gamma_{\pm\pm}/\Gamma$, is measured to be $0.70\pm0.11$. The reported uncertainties include both the statistical and systematic components added in quadrature. The precision of the measurements exceeds that in all previous studies of these decays. These results supersede those obtained in the earlier ATLAS study of the same decays with $\sqrt{s} = 7$ and 8 TeV $pp$ collision data. A comparison with available theoretical predictions for the measured quantities is presented.
A search for new phenomena has been performed in final states with at least one isolated high-momentum photon, jets and missing transverse momentum in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV. The data, collected by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 139 $fb^{-1}$. The experimental results are interpreted in a supersymmetric model in which pair-produced gluinos decay into neutralinos, which in turn decay into a gravitino, at least one photon, and jets. No significant deviations from the predictions of the Standard Model are observed. Upper limits are set on the visible cross section due to physics beyond the Standard Model, and lower limits are set on the masses of the gluinos and neutralinos, all at 95% confidence level. Visible cross sections greater than 0.022 fb are excluded and pair-produced gluinos with masses up to 2200 GeV are excluded for most of the NLSP masses investigated.
A search for long-lived particles decaying into muon pairs is performed using proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2017 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb$^{-1}$. The data sets used in this search were collected with a dedicated dimuon trigger stream with low transverse momentum thresholds, recorded at high rate by retaining a reduced amount of information, in order to explore otherwise inaccessible phase space at low dimuon mass and nonzero displacement from the primary interaction vertex. No significant excess of events beyond the standard model expectation is found. Upper limits on branching fractions at 95% confidence level are set on a wide range of mass and lifetime hypotheses in beyond the standard model frameworks with the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of long-lived dark photons, or with a long-lived scalar resonance arising from a decay of a b hadron. The limits are the most stringent to date for substantial regions of the parameter space. These results can be also used to constrain models of displaced dimuons that are not explicitly considered in this paper.
A search for pair-produced scalar and vector leptoquarks decaying into quarks and leptons of different generations is presented. It uses the full LHC Run 2 (2015-2018) data set of 139 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV. Scalar leptoquarks with charge -(1/3)e as well as scalar and vector leptoquarks with charge +(2/3)e are considered. All possible decays of the pair-produced leptoquarks into quarks of the third generation (t, b) and charged or neutral leptons of the first or second generation ($e, \mu, \nu$) with exactly one electron or muon in the final state are investigated. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectation are observed. Upper limits on the production cross-section are provided for eight models as a function of the leptoquark mass and the branching ratio of the leptoquark into the charged or neutral lepton. In addition, lower limits on the leptoquark masses are derived for all models across a range of branching ratios. Two of these models have the goal of providing an explanation for the recent B-anomalies. In both models, a vector leptoquark decays into charged and neutral leptons of the second generation with a similar branching fraction. Lower limits of 1980 GeV and 1710 GeV are set on the leptoquark mass for these two models.
We report here the first observation of directed flow ($v_1$) of the hypernuclei $^3_{\Lambda}$H and $^4_{\Lambda}$H in mid-central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 3 GeV at RHIC. These data are taken as part of the beam energy scan program carried out by the STAR experiment. From 165 $\times$ 10$^{6}$ events in 5%-40% centrality, about 8400 $^3_{\Lambda}$H and 5200 $^4_{\Lambda}$H candidates are reconstructed through two- and three-body decay channels. We observe that these hypernuclei exhibit significant directed flow. Comparing to that of light nuclei, it is found that the midrapidity $v_1$ slopes of $^3_{\Lambda}$H and $^4_{\Lambda}$H follow baryon number scaling, implying that the coalescence is the dominant mechanism for these hypernuclei production in such collisions.
The production of a top quark-antiquark pair in association with a W boson ($\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$W) is measured in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The analyzed data was recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Events with two or three leptons (electrons and muons) and additional jets are selected. In events with two leptons, a multiclass neural network is used to distinguish between the signal and background processes. Events with three leptons are categorized based on the number of jets and of jets originating from b quark hadronization, and the lepton charges. The inclusive $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$W production cross section in the full phase space is measured to be 868 $\pm$ 40 (stat) $\pm$ 51 (syst) fb. The $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$W$^+$ and $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$W$^-$ cross sections are also measured as 553 $\pm$ 30 (stat) $\pm$ 30 (syst) and 343 $\pm$ 26 (stat) $\pm$ 25 (syst) fb, respectively, and the corresponding ratio of the two cross sections is found to be 1.61 $\pm$ 0.15 (stat) $^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$ (syst). The measured cross sections are larger than but consistent with the standard model predictions within two standard deviations, and represent the most precise measurement of these cross sections to date.
Measurements of transverse-single-spin asymmetries ($A_{N}$) in $p$$+$$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$62.4 and 200 GeV with the PHENIX detector at RHIC are presented. At midrapidity, $A_{N}$ is measured for neutral pion and eta mesons reconstructed from diphoton decay, and at forward rapidities, neutral pions are measured using both diphotons and electromagnetic clusters. The neutral-pion measurement of $A_{N}$ at midrapidity is consistent with zero with uncertainties a factor of 20 smaller than previous publications, which will lead to improved constraints on the gluon Sivers function. At higher rapidities, where the valence quark distributions are probed, the data exhibit sizable asymmetries. In comparison with previous measurements in this kinematic region, the new data extend the kinematic coverage in $\sqrt{s}$ and $p_T$, and it is found that the asymmetries depend only weakly on $\sqrt{s}$. The origin of the forward $A_{N}$ is presently not understood quantitatively. The extended reach to higher $p_T$ probes the transition between transverse momentum dependent effects at low $p_T$ and multi-parton dynamics at high $p_T$.
The azimuthal distribution of identified pi^0 and inclusive photons has been measured in sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions with the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The second harmonic parameter (v_2) was measured to describe the observed anisotropy of the azimuthal distribution. The measured inclusive photon v_2 is consistent with the value expected for the photons from hadron decay and is also consistent with the lack of direct photon signal over the measured p_T range 1-6 GeV/c. An attempt is made to extract v_2 of direct photons.
The mass of the top quark is measured in 36.3 fb$^{-1}$ of LHC proton-proton collision data collected with the CMS detector at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The measurement uses a sample of top quark pair candidate events containing one isolated electron or muon and at least four jets in the final state. For each event, the mass is reconstructed from a kinematic fit of the decay products to a top quark pair hypothesis. A profile likelihood method is applied using up to four observables to extract the top quark mass. The top quark mass is measured to be 171.77 $\pm$ 0.37 GeV. This approach significantly improves the precision over previous measurements.
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