Light-by-light scattering ($\gamma\gamma\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$) is a quantum-mechanical process that is forbidden in the classical theory of electrodynamics. This reaction is accessible at the Large Hadron Collider thanks to the large electromagnetic field strengths generated by ultra-relativistic colliding lead (Pb) ions. Using 480 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ of Pb+Pb collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV by the ATLAS detector, the ATLAS Collaboration reports evidence for the $\gamma\gamma\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$ reaction. A total of 13 candidate events are observed with an expected background of 2.6$\pm$0.7 events. After background subtraction and analysis corrections, the fiducial cross section of the process $\textrm{Pb+Pb}\,(\gamma\gamma)\rightarrow \textrm{Pb}^{(\ast)}\textrm{+}\textrm{Pb}^{(\ast)}\,\gamma\gamma$, for photon transverse energy $E_{\mathrm{T}}>$3 GeV, photon absolute pseudorapidity $|\eta|<$2.4, diphoton invariant mass greater than 6 GeV, diphoton transverse momentum lower than 2 GeV and diphoton acoplanarity below 0.01, is measured to be 70 $\pm$ 24 (stat.) $\pm$ 17 (syst.) nb, which is in agreement with Standard Model predictions.
Evidence for the light-by-light scattering process, $\gamma\gamma$ $\to$ $\gamma\gamma$, in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV is reported. The analysis is conducted using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 390 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Light-by-light scattering processes are selected in events with two photons exclusively produced, each with transverse energy E$_\mathrm{T}^{\gamma}$ $>$ 2 GeV, pseudorapidity $|\eta^{\gamma}|$ $\lt$ 2.4, diphoton invariant mass $m^{\gamma\gamma}$ $\gt$ 5 GeV, diphoton transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}^{\gamma\gamma}$ $\lt$ 1 GeV, and diphoton acoplanarity below 0.01. After all selection criteria are applied, 14 events are observed, compared to expectations of 9.0 $\pm$ 0.9 (theo) events for the signal and 4.0 $\pm$ 1.2 (stat) for the background processes. The excess observed in data relative to the background-only expectation corresponds to a significance of 3.7 standard deviations, and has properties consistent with those expected for the light-by-light scattering signal. The measured fiducial light-by-light scattering cross section, $\sigma_\mathrm{fid} (\gamma\gamma$ $\to$ $\gamma\gamma) =$ 120 $\pm$ 46 (stat) $\pm$ 28 (syst) $\pm$ 12 (theo) nb, is consistent with the standard model prediction. The $m^{\gamma\gamma}$ distribution is used to set new exclusion limits on the production of pseudoscalar axion-like particles, via the $\gamma\gamma$ $\to$ a $\to$ $\gamma\gamma$ process, in the mass range $m_{\mathrm{a}} =$ 5-90 GeV.
Searches for exclusively produced $W$ boson pairs in the process $pp(\gamma\gamma) \rightarrow pW^+W^-p$ and exclusively produced Higgs boson in the process $pp(gg) \rightarrow pHp$ have been performed using $e^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$ final states. These measurements use 20.2 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions collected by the ATLAS experiment at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV at the LHC. Exclusive production of $W^+W^-$ consistent with the Standard Model prediction is found with 3.0$\sigma$ significance. The exclusive $W^+W^-$ production cross-section is determined to be $\sigma (\gamma\gamma\rightarrow W^{+}W^{-}\rightarrow e^{\pm}\mu^{\mp} X) = 6.9 \pm 2.2 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 1.4 (\mathrm{sys.})$ fb, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction. Limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings are set at 95\% confidence-level as $-1.7 \times 10^{-6} < a_0^W/\Lambda^2 < 1.7 \times 10^{-6}$ GeV$^{-2}$and $-6.4 \times 10^{-6} < a_C^W/\Lambda^2 < 6.3 \times 10^{-6}$ GeV$^{-2}$. A 95\% confidence-level upper limit on the total production cross-section for exclusive Higgs boson is set to 1.2 pb.
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