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DarkSide-20k (DS-20k) is a dark matter detection experiment under construction at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy. It utilises ∼ 100 t of low radioactivity argon from an underground source (UAr) in its inner detector, with half serving as target in a dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC). The UAr cryogenics system must maintain stable thermodynamic conditions throughout the experiment's lifetime of over 10 years. Continuous removal of impurities and radon from the UAr is essential for maximising signal yield and mitigating background. We are developing an efficient and powerful cryogenics system with a gas purification loop with a target circulation rate of 1000 slpm. Central to its design is a condenser operated with liquid nitrogen which is paired with a gas heat exchanger cascade, delivering a combined cooling power of more than 8 kW. Here we present the design choices in view of the DS-20k requirements, in particular the condenser's working principle and the cooling control, and we show test results obtained with a dedicated benchmarking platform at CERN and LNGS. We find that the thermal efficiency of the recirculation loop, defined in terms of nitrogen consumption per argon flow rate, is 95 % and the pressure in the test cryostat can be maintained within ±(0.1–0.2) mbar. We further detail a 5-day cool-down procedure of the test cryostat, maintaining a cooling rate typically within -2 K/h, as required for the DS-20k inner detector. Additionally, we assess the circuit's flow resistance, and the heat transfer capabilities of two heat exchanger geometries for argon phase change, used to provide gas for recirculation. We conclude by discussing how our findings influence the finalisation of the system design, including necessary modifications to meet requirements and ongoing testing activities. 

The dual-phase liquid argon time projection chamber is presently one of the leading technologies to search for dark matter particles with masses below 10 GeV c−2. This was demonstrated by the DarkSide-50 experiment with approximately 50 kg of low-radioactivity liquid argon as target material. The next generation experiment DarkSide-20k, currently under construction, will use 1,000 times more argon and is expected to start operation in 2027. Based on the DarkSide-50 experience, here we assess the DarkSide-20k sensitivity to models predicting light dark matter particles, including Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) and sub-GeV c−2 particles interacting with electrons in argon atoms. With one year of data, a sensitivity improvement to dark matter interaction cross-sections by at least one order of magnitude with respect to DarkSide-50 is expected for all these models. A sensitivity to WIMP–nucleon interaction cross-sections below 1 × 10−42 cm2 is achievable for WIMP masses above 800 MeV c−2. With 10 years exposure, the neutrino fog can be reached for WIMP masses around 5 GeV c−2. 

Abstract Experiments aimed at direct searches for WIMP dark matter require highly effective reduction of backgrounds and control of any residual radioactive contamination. In particular, neutrons interacting with atomic nuclei represent an important class of backgrounds due to the expected similarity of a WIMP-nucleon interaction, so that such experiments often feature a dedicated neutron detector surrounding the active target volume. In the context of the development of DarkSide-20k detector at INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), several R&D projects were conceived and developed for the creation of a new hybrid material rich in both hydrogen and gadolinium nuclei to be employed as an essential element of the neutron detector. Thanks to its very high cross-section for neutron capture, gadolinium is one of the most widely used elements in neutron detectors, while the hydrogen-rich material is instrumental in efficiently moderating the neutrons. In this paper results from one of the R&Ds are presented. In this effort the new hybrid material was obtained as a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix, loaded with gadolinium oxide in the form of nanoparticles. We describe its realization, including all phases of design, purification, construction, characterization, and determination of mechanical properties of the new material. 

This paper presents a search for massive, charged, long-lived particles with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider using an integrated luminosity of $$140~fb^{−1}$$ of proton-proton collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=13$$~TeV. These particles are expected to move significantly slower than the speed of light. In this paper, two signal regions provide complementary sensitivity. In one region, events are selected with at least one charged-particle track with high transverse momentum, large specific ionisation measured in the pixel detector, and time of flight to the hadronic calorimeter inconsistent with the speed of light. In the other region, events are selected with at least two tracks of opposite charge which both have a high transverse momentum and an anomalously large specific ionisation. The search is sensitive to particles with lifetimes greater than about 3 ns with masses ranging from 200 GeV to 3 TeV. The results are interpreted to set constraints on the supersymmetric pair production of long-lived R-hadrons, charginos and staus, with mass limits extending beyond those from previous searches in broad ranges of lifetime 

Abstract The direct search for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) is performed by detecting nuclear recoils produced in a target material from the WIMP elastic scattering. The experimental identification of the direction of the WIMP-induced nuclear recoils is a crucial asset in this field, as it enables unmistakable modulation signatures for dark matter. The Recoil Directionality (ReD) experiment was designed to probe for such directional sensitivity in argon dual-phase time projection chambers (TPC), that are widely considered for current and future direct dark matter searches. The TPC of ReD was irradiated with neutrons at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud. Data were taken with nuclear recoils of known directions and kinetic energy of 72 keV, which is within the range of interest for WIMP-induced signals in argon. The direction-dependent liquid argon charge recombination model by Cataudella et al. was adopted and a likelihood statistical analysis was performed, which gave no indications of significant dependence of the detector response to the recoil direction. The aspect ratioRof the initial ionization cloud is$$R < 1.072$$ $R<1.072$with 90 % confidence level. 

This report presents a comprehensive collection of searches for new physics performed by the ATLAS Collaboration during the Run~2 period of data taking at the Large Hadron Collider, from 2015 to 2018, corresponding to about 140~$$^{-1}$$ of $$\sqrt{s}=13$$~TeV proton--proton collision data. These searches cover a variety of beyond-the-standard model topics such as dark matter candidates, new vector bosons, hidden-sector particles, leptoquarks, or vector-like quarks, among others. Searches for supersymmetric particles or extended Higgs sectors are explicitly excluded as these are the subject of separate reports by the Collaboration. For each topic, the most relevant searches are described, focusing on their importance and sensitivity and, when appropriate, highlighting the experimental techniques employed. In addition to the description of each analysis, complementary searches are compared, and the overall sensitivity of the ATLAS experiment to each type of new physics is discussed. Summary plots and statistical combinations of multiple searches are included whenever possible. 

Top-quark pair production is observed in lead–lead ( $\mathrm{Pb}+\mathrm{Pb}$) collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$at the Large Hadron Collider with the ATLAS detector. The data sample was recorded in 2015 and 2018, amounting to an integrated luminosity of $1.9{\mathrm{nb}}^{-1}$. Events with exactly one electron and one muon and at least two jets are selected. Top-quark pair production is measured with an observed (expected) significance of 5.0 (4.1) standard deviations. The measured top-quark pair production cross section is ${\sigma }_{t\overline{t}}=3.6{}_{-0.9}^{+1.0}\left(\mathrm{stat}\right){}_{-0.5}^{+0.8}\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{b}$, with a total relative uncertainty of 31%, and is consistent with theoretical predictions using a range of different nuclear parton distribution functions. The observation of this process consolidates the evidence of the existence of all quark flavors in the preequilibrium stage of the quark-gluon plasma at very high energy densities, similar to the conditions present in the early Universe. © 2025 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration2025CERN 

A<sc>bstract</sc> A study of the Higgs boson decaying into bottom quarks (H→$$ b\overline{b} $$ $b\overline{b}$) and charm quarks (H→$$ c\overline{c} $$ $c\overline{c}$) is performed, in the associated production channel of the Higgs boson with aWorZboson, using 140 fb⁻¹of proton-proton collision data at$$ \sqrt{s} $$ $\sqrt{s}$= 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector. The individual production ofWHandZHwithH→$$ b\overline{b} $$ $b\overline{b}$is established with observed (expected) significances of 5.3 (5.5) and 4.9 (5.6) standard deviations, respectively. Differential cross-section measurements of the gauge boson transverse momentum within the simplified template cross-section framework are performed in a total of 13 kinematical fiducial regions. The search for theH→$$ c\overline{c} $$ $c\overline{c}$decay yields an observed (expected) upper limit at 95% confidence level of 11.5 (10.6) times the Standard Model prediction. The results are also used to set constraints on the charm coupling modifier, resulting in|κ_c| <4.2 at 95% confidence level. Combining theH→$$ b\overline{b} $$ $b\overline{b}$andH→$$ c\overline{c} $$ $c\overline{c}$measurements constrains the absolute value of the ratio of Higgs-charm and Higgs-bottom coupling modifiers (|κ_c/κ_b|) to be less than 3.6 at 95% confidence level. 

The ATLAS experiment has developed extensive software and distributed computing systems for Run 3 of the LHC. These systems are described in detail, including software infrastructure and workflows, distributed data and workload management, database infrastructure, and validation. The use of these systems to prepare the data for physics analysis and assess its quality are described, along with the software tools used for data analysis itself. An outlook for the development of these projects towards Run 4 is also provided.