Search for: All records

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 search is performed for dark matter particles produced in association with a resonantly produced pair of b-quarks with 30 < mbb < 150 GeV using 140 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This signature is expected in extensions of the standard model predicting the production of dark matter particles, in particular those containing a dark Higgs boson s that decays into bb¯. The highly boosted s → bb¯ topology is reconstructed using jet reclustering and a new identification algorithm. This search places stringent constraints across regions of the dark Higgs model parameter space that satisfy the observed relic density, excluding dark Higgs bosons with masses between 30 and 150 GeV in benchmark scenarios with Z0 mediator masses up to 4.8 TeV at 95% confidence level. 

Z boson events at the Large Hadron Collider can be selected with high purity and are sensitive to a diverse range of QCD phenomena. As a result, these events are often used to probe the nature of the strong force, improve Monte Carlo event generators, and search for deviations from standard model predictions. All previous measurements of Z boson production characterize the event properties using a small number of observables and present the results as differential cross sections in predetermined bins. In this analysis, a machine learning method called omnifold is used to produce a simultaneous measurement of twenty-four Z+jets observables using 139 /fb of proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) =  TeV collected with the ATLAS detector. Unlike any previous fiducial differential cross-section measurement, this result is presented unbinned as a dataset of particle-level events, allowing for flexible reuse in a variety of contexts and for new observables to be constructed from the twenty-four measured observables. 

This paper describes a measurement of the jet radius dependence of the dijet momentum balance between leading back-to-back jets in $1.72{\mathrm{nb}}^{-1}$of $\text{Pb}+\text{Pb}$collisions collected in 2018 and $255{\mathrm{pb}}^{-1}$of $pp$collisions collected in 2017 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Both datasets were collected at $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}=5.02$TeV. Jets are reconstructed using the anti- $k_t$algorithm with jet radius parameters $R=0.2$, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6. The dijet momentum balance distributions are constructed for leading jets with transverse momentum $p_{\text{T}}$from 100 to 562 GeV for $R=0.2$, 0.3, and 0.4 jets, and from 158 to 562 GeV for $R=0.5$and 0.6 jets. The absolutely normalized dijet momentum balance distributions are constructed to compare measurements of the dijet yields in $\text{Pb}+\text{Pb}$collisions directly to the dijet cross sections in $pp$collisions. For all jet radii considered here, there is a suppression of more balanced dijets in $\text{Pb}+\text{Pb}$collisions compared with $pp$collisions, while for more imbalanced dijets there is an enhancement. There is a jet radius dependence to the dijet yields, being stronger for more imbalanced dijets than for more balanced dijets. Additionally, jet pair nuclear modification factors are measured. The subleading jet yields are found to be more suppressed than leading jet yields in dijets. A jet radius dependence of the pair nuclear modification factors is observed, with the suppression decreasing with increasing jet radius. These measurements provide new constraints on jet quenching scenarios in the quark-gluon plasma. ©2024 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration2024CERN 

The associated production of Higgs and $W$bosons via vector-boson fusion is highly sensitive to the relative sign of the Higgs boson couplings to $W$and $Z$bosons. In this Letter, two searches for this process are presented, using $140{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The first search targets scenarios with opposite-sign couplings of the $W$and $Z$bosons to the Higgs boson, while the second targets standard model-like scenarios with same-sign couplings. Both analyses consider Higgs boson decays into a pair of $b$quarks and $W$boson decays with an electron or muon. The data exclude the opposite-sign coupling hypothesis with a significance beyond $5\sigma$, and the observed (expected) upper limit set on the cross section for vector-boson fusion $WH$production is 9.0 (8.7) times the standard model value at 95% confidence level. © 2024 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration2024CERN 

This paper presents a search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson into a pair of new pseudoscalar particles, H → aa, where one pseudoscalar decays into a b-quark pair and the other decays into a τ-lepton pair, in the mass range 12 ≤ ma ≤ 60 GeV. The analysis uses pp collision data at \sqrt{s} = 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model (SM) prediction is observed. Assuming the SM Higgs boson production cross section, the search sets upper limits at 95% confidence level on the branching ratio of Higgs bosons decaying into BR (H → aa → bb\tau\tau), between 2.2% and 3.9% depending on the pseudoscalar mass. 

A search for the nonresonant production of Higgs boson pairs in the $HH\to b\overline{b}{\tau }^{+}{\tau }^{-}$channel is performed using $140{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The analysis strategy is optimized to probe anomalous values of the Higgs boson self-coupling modifier ${\kappa }_{\lambda }$and of the quartic $HHVV$( $V=W,Z$) coupling modifier ${\kappa }_{2V}$. No significant excess above the expected background from Standard Model processes is observed. An observed (expected) upper limit ${\mu }_{HH}<5.9\left(3.3\right)$is set at 95% confidence-level on the Higgs boson pair production cross section normalized to its Standard Model prediction. The coupling modifiers are constrained to an observed (expected) 95% confidence interval of $-3.1<{\kappa }_{\lambda }<9.0$( $-2.5<{\kappa }_{\lambda }<9.3$) and $-0.5<{\kappa }_{2V}<2.7$( $-0.2<{\kappa }_{2V}<2.4$), assuming all other Higgs boson couplings are fixed to the Standard Model prediction. The results are also interpreted in the context of effective field theories via constraints on anomalous Higgs boson couplings and Higgs boson pair production cross sections assuming different kinematic benchmark scenarios. © 2024 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration2024CERN 

This Letter presents results from a combination of searches for Higgs boson pair production using $126–140{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$recorded with the ATLAS detector. At 95% confidence level (CL), the upper limit on the production rate is 2.9 times the standard model (SM) prediction, with an expected limit of 2.4 assuming no Higgs boson pair production. Constraints on the Higgs boson self-coupling modifier ${\kappa }_{\lambda }={\lambda }_{HHH}/{\lambda }_{HHH}^{\mathrm{SM}}$, and the quartic $HHVV$coupling modifier ${\kappa }_{2V}=g_{HHVV}/g_{HHVV}^{\mathrm{SM}}$, are derived individually, fixing the other parameter to its SM value. The observed 95% CL intervals are $-1.2<{\kappa }_{\lambda }<7.2$and $0.6<{\kappa }_{2V}<1.5$, respectively, while the expected intervals are $-1.6<{\kappa }_{\lambda }<7.2$and $0.4<{\kappa }_{2V}<1.6$in the SM case. Constraints obtained for several interaction parameters within Higgs effective field theory are the strongest to date, offering insights into potential deviations from SM predictions. © 2024 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration2024CERN 

A search for high-mass resonances decaying into a $\tau$-lepton and a neutrino using proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$is presented. The full run 2 data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $139{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$recorded by the ATLAS experiment in the years 2015–2018 is analyzed. The $\tau$-lepton is reconstructed in its hadronic decay modes and the total transverse momentum carried out by neutrinos is inferred from the reconstructed missing transverse momentum. The search for new physics is performed on the transverse mass between the $\tau$-lepton and the missing transverse momentum. No excess of events above the Standard Model expectation is observed and upper exclusion limits are set on the $W^{\prime }\to \tau \nu$production cross section. Heavy $W^{\prime }$vector bosons with masses up to 5.0 TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level, assuming that they have the same couplings as the Standard Model $W$boson. For nonuniversal couplings, $W^{\prime }$bosons are excluded for masses less than 3.5–5.0 TeV, depending on the model parameters. In addition, model-independent limits on the visible cross section times branching ratio are determined as a function of the lower threshold on the transverse mass of the $\tau$-lepton and missing transverse momentum. © 2024 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration2024CERN 

This paper presents a search for pair production of higgsinos, the supersymmetric partners of the Higgs bosons, in scenarios with gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. Each higgsino is assumed to decay into a Higgs boson and a nearly massless gravitino. The search targets events where each Higgs boson decays into $b\overline{b}$, leading to a reconstructed final state with at least three energetic $b$-jets and missing transverse momentum. Two complementary analysis channels are used, with each channel specifically targeting either low or high values of the higgsino mass. The low-mass (high-mass) channel exploits $126\left(139\right){\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$of $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$data collected by the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess above the Standard Model prediction is found. At 95% confidence level, masses between 130 GeV and 940 GeV are excluded for higgsinos decaying exclusively into Higgs bosons and gravitinos. Exclusion limits as a function of the higgsino decay branching ratio to a Higgs boson are also reported. © 2024 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration2024CERN