Search for: All records

The futureRicochetexperiment aims at searching for new physics in the electroweak sector by providing a high precision measurement of the Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CENNS) process down to the sub-100 eV nuclear recoil energy range. The experiment will deploy a kg-scale low-energy-threshold detector array combining Ge and Zn target crystals 8.8 m away from the 58 MW research nuclear reactor core of the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France. Currently, theRicochetCollaboration is characterizing the backgrounds at its future experimental site in order to optimize the experiment’s shielding design. The most threatening background component, which cannot be actively rejected by particle identification, consists of keV-scale neutron-induced nuclear recoils. These initial fast neutrons are generated by the reactor core and surrounding experiments (reactogenics), and by the cosmic rays producing primary neutrons and muon-induced neutrons in the surrounding materials. In this paper, we present theRicochetneutron background characterization using$$^3$$${}^3$He proportional counters which exhibit a high sensitivity to thermal, epithermal and fast neutrons. We compare these measurements to theRicochetGeant4 simulations to validate our reactogenic and cosmogenic neutron background estimations. Eventually, we present our estimated neutron background for the futureRicochetexperiment and the resulting CENNS detection significance. Our results show that depending on the effectiveness of the muon veto, we expect a total nuclear recoil background rate between 44 ± 3 and 9 ± 2 events/day/kg in the CENNS region of interest, i.e. between 50 eV and 1 keV. We therefore found that theRicochetexperiment should reach a statistical significance of 4.6 to 13.6 $$\sigma $$$\sigma$for the detection of CENNS after one reactor cycle, when only the limiting neutron background is considered.

 

A search for pair production of squarks or gluinos decaying via sleptons or weak bosons is reported. The search targets a final state with exactly two leptons with same-sign electric charge or at least three leptons without any charge requirement. The analysed data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb⁻¹of proton-proton collisions collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Multiple signal regions are defined, targeting several SUSY simplified models yielding the desired final states. A single control region is used to constrain the normalisation of theWZ+ jets background. No significant excess of events over the Standard Model expectation is observed. The results are interpreted in the context of several supersymmetric models featuring R-parity conservation or R-parity violation, yielding exclusion limits surpassing those from previous searches. In models considering gluino (squark) pair production, gluino (squark) masses up to 2.2 (1.7) TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level.

 

A search for supersymmetry targeting the direct production of winos and higgsinos is conducted in final states with either two leptons (eorμ) with the same electric charge, or three leptons. The analysis uses 139 fb⁻¹ofppcollision data at$$ \sqrt{s} $$$\sqrt{s}$= 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess over the Standard Model expectation is observed. Simplified and complete models with and withoutR-parity conservation are considered. In topologies with intermediate states including eitherWhorWZpairs, wino masses up to 525 GeV and 250 GeV are excluded, respectively, for a bino of vanishing mass. Higgsino masses smaller than 440 GeV are excluded in a naturalR-parity-violating model with bilinear terms. Upper limits on the production cross section of generic events beyond the Standard Model as low as 40 ab are obtained in signal regions optimised for these models and also for anR-parity-violating scenario with baryon-number-violating higgsino decays into top quarks and jets. The analysis significantly improves sensitivity to supersymmetric models and other processes beyond the Standard Model that may contribute to the considered final states.

 

Search for a new pseudoscalar a-boson decaying to muons in events with additional top quark pairs. 

A search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson in final states with two hadronically decayingτ-leptons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis uses 139 fb⁻¹of proton-proton collision data at$$ \sqrt{s} $$$\sqrt{s}$= 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018. No evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model is found. The results are interpreted in terms of a 2HDM+amodel featuring two scalar Higgs doublets and a pseudoscalar singlet field. Exclusion limits on the parameters of the model in selected benchmark scenarios are derived at 95% confidence level. Model-independent limits are also set on the visible cross-section for processes beyond the Standard Model producing missing transverse momentum in association with a Higgs boson decaying intoτ-leptons.

 

A bstract A first search for the lepton-flavour violating decays B 0 → K *0 τ ± μ ∓ is presented. The analysis is performed using a sample of proton-proton collision data, collected with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV between 2011 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb − 1 . No significant signal is observed, and upper limits on the branching fractions are determined to be $$ \mathcal{B}\left({B}^0\to {K}^{\ast 0}{\tau}^{+}{\mu}^{-}\right)<1.0(1.2)\times {10}^{-5} $$ B B 0 → K ∗ 0 τ + μ − < 1.0 1.2 × 10 − 5 and $$ \mathcal{B}\left({B}^0\to {K}^{\ast 0}{\tau}^{-}{\mu}^{+}\right)<8.2(9.8)\times {10}^{-6} $$ B B 0 → K ∗ 0 τ − μ + < 8.2 9.8 × 10 − 6 at the 90% (95%) confidence level. 

Measurements of Higgs boson production cross-sections are carried out in the diphoton decay channel using 139 fb⁻¹ofppcollision data at$$ \sqrt{s} $$$\sqrt{s}$= 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The analysis is based on the definition of 101 distinct signal regions using machine-learning techniques. The inclusive Higgs boson signal strength in the diphoton channel is measured to be$$ {1.04}_{-0.09}^{+0.10} $$${1.04}_{-0.09}^{+0.10}$. Cross-sections for gluon-gluon fusion, vector-boson fusion, associated production with aWorZboson, and top associated production processes are reported. An upper limit of 10 times the Standard Model prediction is set for the associated production process of a Higgs boson with a single top quark, which has a unique sensitivity to the sign of the top quark Yukawa coupling. Higgs boson production is further characterized through measurements of Simplified Template Cross-Sections (STXS). In total, cross-sections of 28 STXS regions are measured. The measured STXS cross-sections are compatible with their Standard Model predictions, with ap-value of 93%. The measurements are also used to set constraints on Higgs boson coupling strengths, as well as on new interactions beyond the Standard Model in an effective field theory approach. No significant deviations from the Standard Model predictions are observed in these measurements, which provide significant sensitivity improvements compared to the previous ATLAS results.

 

A bstract A search for Higgs boson pair production in events with two b -jets and two τ -leptons is presented, using a proton–proton collision dataset with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb − 1 collected at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Higgs boson pairs produced non-resonantly or in the decay of a narrow scalar resonance in the mass range from 251 to 1600 GeV are targeted. Events in which at least one τ -lepton decays hadronically are considered, and multivariate discriminants are used to reject the backgrounds. No significant excess of events above the expected background is observed in the non-resonant search. The largest excess in the resonant search is observed at a resonance mass of 1 TeV, with a local (global) significance of 3 . 1 σ (2 . 0 σ ). Observed (expected) 95% confidence-level upper limits are set on the non-resonant Higgs boson pair-production cross-section at 4.7 (3.9) times the Standard Model prediction, assuming Standard Model kinematics, and on the resonant Higgs boson pair-production cross-section at between 21 and 900 fb (12 and 840 fb), depending on the mass of the narrow scalar resonance. 

This paper presents a search for dark matter,$$\chi $$$\chi$, using events with a single top quark and an energeticWboson. The analysis is based on proton–proton collision data collected with the ATLAS experiment at$$\sqrt{s}=$$$\sqrt{s}=$13 TeV during LHC Run 2 (2015–2018), corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$$^{-1}$$${}^{-1}$. The search considers final states with zero or one charged lepton (electron or muon), at least oneb-jet and large missing transverse momentum. In addition, a result from a previous search considering two-charged-lepton final states is included in the interpretation of the results. The data are found to be in good agreement with the Standard Model predictions and the results are interpreted in terms of 95% confidence-level exclusion limits in the context of a class of dark matter models involving an extended two-Higgs-doublet sector together with a pseudoscalar mediator particle. The search is particularly sensitive to on-shell production of the charged Higgs boson state,$$H^{\pm }$$$H^{\pm }$, arising from the two-Higgs-doublet mixing, and its semi-invisible decays via the mediator particle,a:$$H^{\pm } \rightarrow W^\pm a (\rightarrow \chi \chi )$$$H^{\pm }\to W^{\pm }a(\to \chi \chi )$. Signal models with$$H^{\pm }$$$H^{\pm }$masses up to 1.5 TeV andamasses up to 350 GeV are excluded assuming a$$\tan \beta $$$tan\beta$value of 1. For masses ofaof 150 (250) GeV,$$\tan \beta $$$tan\beta$values up to 2 are excluded for$$H^{\pm }$$$H^{\pm }$masses between 200 (400) GeV and 1.5 TeV. Signals with$$\tan \beta $$$tan\beta$values between 20 and 30 are excluded for$$H^{\pm }$$$H^{\pm }$masses between 500 and 800 GeV.