A search for pair production of the supersymmetric partners of the Higgs boson (higgsinos $\tilde{H}$) in gauge-mediated scenarios is reported. Each higgsino is assumed to decay to a Higgs boson and a gravitino. Two complementary analyses, targeting high- and low-mass signals, are performed to maximize sensitivity. The two analyses utilize LHC $pp$ collision data at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV, the former with an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ and the latter with 24.3 fb$^{-1}$, collected with the ATLAS detector in 2015 and 2016. The search is performed in events containing missing transverse momentum and several energetic jets, at least three of which must be identified as $b$-quark jets. No significant excess is found above the predicted background. Limits on the cross-section are set as a function of the mass of the $\tilde{H}$ in simplified models assuming production via mass-degenerate higgsinos decaying to a Higgs boson and a gravitino. Higgsinos with masses between 130 and 230 GeV and between 290 and 880 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level. Interpretations of the limits in terms of the branching ratio of the higgsino to a $Z$ boson or a Higgs boson are also presented, and a 45% branching ratio to a Higgs boson is excluded for $m_{\tilde{H}} \approx 400$ GeV.
The result of a search for pair production of the supersymmetric partner of the Standard Model bottom quark ($\tilde{b}_1$) is reported. The search uses 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015. Bottom squarks are searched for in events containing large missing transverse momentum and exactly two jets identified as originating from $b$-quarks. No excess above the expected Standard Model background yield is observed. Exclusion limits at 95% confidence level on the mass of the bottom squark are derived in phenomenological supersymmetric $R$-parity-conserving models in which the $\tilde{b}_1$ is the lightest squark and is assumed to decay exclusively via $\tilde{b}_1 \rightarrow b \tilde{\chi}_1^0$, where $\tilde{\chi}_1^0$ is the lightest neutralino. The limits significantly extend previous results; bottom squark masses up to 800 (840) GeV are excluded for the $\tilde{\chi}_1^0$ mass below 360 (100) GeV whilst differences in mass above 100 GeV between the $\tilde{b}_1$ and the $\tilde{\chi}_1^0$ are excluded up to a $\tilde{b}_1$ mass of 500 GeV.
A search for Higgs boson pair production in the $b\bar{b}b\bar{b}$ final state is carried out with up to 36.1 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of LHC proton--proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector in 2015 and 2016. Three benchmark signals are studied: a spin-2 graviton decaying into a Higgs boson pair, a scalar resonance decaying into a Higgs boson pair, and Standard Model non-resonant Higgs boson pair production. Two analyses are carried out, each implementing a particular technique for the event reconstruction that targets Higgs bosons reconstructed as pairs of jets or single boosted jets. The resonance mass range covered is 260--3000 GeV. The analyses are statistically combined and upper limits on the production cross section of Higgs boson pairs times branching ratio to $b\bar{b}b\bar{b}$ are set in each model. No significant excess is observed; the largest deviation of data over prediction is found at a mass of 280 GeV, corresponding to 2.3 standard deviations globally. The observed 95% confidence level upper limit on the non-resonant production is 13 times the Standard Model prediction.
This Letter presents the measurement of differential cross sections of isolated prompt photons produced in association with a b-jet or a c-jet. These final states provide sensitivity to the heavy-flavour content of the proton and aspects related to the modelling of heavy-flavour quarks in perturbative QCD. The measurement uses proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2012 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 20.2 fb$^{-1}$. The differential cross sections are measured for each jet flavour with respect to the transverse energy of the leading photon in two photon pseudorapidity regions: $|\eta^\gamma|<1.37$ and $1.56<|\eta^\gamma|<2.37$. The measurement covers photon transverse energies $25 < E_\textrm{T}^\gamma<400$ GeV and $25 < E_\textrm{T}^\gamma<350$ GeV respectively for the two $|\eta^\gamma|$ regions. For each jet flavour, the ratio of the cross sections in the two $|\eta^\gamma|$ regions is also measured. The measurement is corrected for detector effects and compared to leading-order and next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations, based on various treatments and assumptions about the heavy-flavour content of the proton. Overall, the predictions agree well with the measurement, but some deviations are observed at high photon transverse energies. The total uncertainty in the measurement ranges between 13% and 66%, while the central $\gamma+b$ measurement exhibits the smallest uncertainty, ranging from 13% to 27%, which is comparable to the precision of the theoretical predictions.
We report on a search for bottom squarks produced in pbarp collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV using the D0 detector at Fermilab. Bottom squarks are assumed to be produced in pairs and to decay to the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) and a b quark with branching fraction of 100%. The LSP is assumed to be the lightest neutralino and stable. We set limits on the production cross section as a function of bottom squark mass and LSP mass.
We present a measurement of the b-quark cross section in 1.8 TeV p-p¯ collisions recorded with the Collider Detector at Fermilab using muonic b-quark decays. In the central rapidity region (‖yb‖<1.0), the cross section is 295±21±75 nb (59±14±15 nb) for pTb>21 GeV/c (29 GeV/c). Comparisons are made to previous measurements and next-to-leading order QCD calculations.
This Letter describes a measurement of the muon cross section originating from b quark decay in the forward rapidity range 2.4 < y(mu) < 3.2 in pbarp collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV. The data used in this analysis were collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron. We find that NLO QCD calculations underestimate b quark production by a factor of four in the forward rapidity region. A cross section measurement using muon+jet data has been included in this version of the paper.
We summarize the results obtained in the UA1 experiment on the production of bottom quarks in proton-antiproton collisions at √ s =0.63 TeV. Independent muon data samples are used to determine the bottom quark production cross section in different transverse momentum ranges from 6 to 30 GeV. A recent theoretical calculation to O(α s 3 ) of the inclusive bottom quark transverse momentum spectrum in hadronic collisions shows reasonable agreement with the data. We extrapolate the integral P T distribution to P T =0 and in rapidity to estimate the total cross section forthe production of bottom quark pairs. Assuming the shape in P T and rapidity given by the O(α s 3 ) calcultaion, we obtain σ( p p→b b +X) = 10.2 ±3.3 μb .
The momentum distribution of electrons from semi-leptonic decays of charm and bottom for mid-rapidity |y|<0.35 in p+p collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV is measured by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) over the transverse momentum range 2 < p_T < 7 GeV/c. The ratio of the yield of electrons from bottom to that from charm is presented. The ratio is determined using partial D/D^bar --> e^{+/-} K^{-/+} X (K unidentified) reconstruction. It is found that the yield of electrons from bottom becomes significant above 4 GeV/c in p_T. A fixed-order-plus-next-to-leading-log (FONLL) perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) calculation agrees with the data within the theoretical and experimental uncertainties. The extracted total bottom production cross section at this energy is \sigma_{b\b^bar}= 3.2 ^{+1.2}_{-1.1}(stat) ^{+1.4}_{-1.3}(syst) micro b.
We present measurements of the bottom-quark production cross sections in pp¯ collisions at √s =1.8 TeV. From the inclusive electron production rate, we have determined the bottom-quark production cross sections to be 1010±270, 168±43, 37±10 nb for the rapidity range of ‖yb‖<1.0 and the transverse momentum ranges of pTb>15, 23, 32 GeV/c, respectively. In addition, from the associated electron-D0 production rate, we have determined the bottom-quark cross section to be 364±80(stat)±95(syst) nb for ‖yb‖<1.0 and pTb>19 GeV/c.
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