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Abstract The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider has a broad physics programme ranging from precision measurements to direct searches for new particles and new interactions, requiring ever larger and ever more accurate datasets of simulated Monte Carlo events. Detector simulation with Geant4 is accurate but requires significant CPU resources. Over the past decade, ATLAS has developed and utilized tools that replace the most CPU-intensive component of the simulation—the calorimeter shower simulation—with faster simulation methods. Here, AtlFast3, the next generation of high-accuracy fast simulation in ATLAS, is introduced. AtlFast3 combines parameterized approaches with machine-learning techniques and is deployed to meet current and future computing challenges, and simulation needs of the ATLAS experiment. With highly accurate performance and significantly improved modelling of substructure within jets, AtlFast3 can simulate large numbers of events for a wide range of physics processes. 

A bstract A direct search for Higgs bosons produced via vector-boson fusion and subsequently decaying into invisible particles is reported. The analysis uses 139 fb − 1 of pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of $$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The observed numbers of events are found to be in agreement with the background expectation from Standard Model processes. For a scalar Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV and a Standard Model production cross section, an observed upper limit of 0 . 145 is placed on the branching fraction of its decay into invisible particles at 95% confidence level, with an expected limit of 0 . 103. These results are interpreted in the context of models where the Higgs boson acts as a portal to dark matter, and limits are set on the scattering cross section of weakly interacting massive particles and nucleons. Invisible decays of additional scalar bosons with masses from 50 GeV to 2 TeV are also studied, and the derived upper limits on the cross section times branching fraction decrease with increasing mass from 1 . 0 pb for a scalar boson mass of 50 GeV to 0 . 1 pb at a mass of 2 TeV. 

Abstract A search for the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of charm quarks is presented. The analysis uses proton–proton collisions to target the production of a Higgs boson in association with a leptonically decaying W or Z boson. The dataset delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of "Equation missing" and recorded by the ATLAS detector corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139  $$\text{ fb}^{-1}$$ fb - 1 . Flavour-tagging algorithms are used to identify jets originating from the hadronisation of charm quarks. The analysis method is validated with the simultaneous measurement of WW ,  WZ and ZZ production, with observed (expected) significances of 2.6 (2.2) standard deviations above the background-only prediction for the $$(W/Z)Z(\rightarrow c{\bar{c}})$$ ( W / Z ) Z ( → c c ¯ ) process and 3.8 (4.6) standard deviations for the $$(W/Z)W(\rightarrow cq)$$ ( W / Z ) W ( → c q ) process. The $$(W/Z)H(\rightarrow c {\bar{c}})$$ ( W / Z ) H ( → c c ¯ ) search yields an observed (expected) upper limit of 26 (31) times the predicted Standard Model cross-section times branching fraction for a Higgs boson with a mass of "Equation missing" , corresponding to an observed (expected) constraint on the charm Yukawa coupling modifier $$|\kappa _c| < 8.5~(12.4)$$ | κ c | < 8.5 ( 12.4 ) , at the 95% confidence level. A combination with the ATLAS $$(W/Z)H, H\rightarrow b{\bar{b}}$$ ( W / Z ) H , H → b b ¯ analysis is performed, allowing the ratio $$\kappa _c / \kappa _b$$ κ c / κ b to be constrained to less than 4.5 at the 95% confidence level, smaller than the ratio of the b- and c-quark masses, and therefore determines the Higgs-charm coupling to be weaker than the Higgs-bottom coupling at the 95% confidence level. 

Abstract Several improvements to the ATLAS triggers used to identify jets containing b -hadrons ( b -jets) were implemented for data-taking during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider from 2016 to 2018. These changes include reconfiguring the b -jet trigger software to improve primary-vertex finding and allow more stable running in conditions with high pile-up, and the implementation of the functionality needed to run sophisticated taggers used by the offline reconstruction in an online environment. These improvements yielded an order of magnitude better light-flavour jet rejection for the same b -jet identification efficiency compared to the performance in Run 1 (2011–2012). The efficiency to identify b -jets in the trigger, and the conditional efficiency for b -jets that satisfy offline b -tagging requirements to pass the trigger are also measured. Correction factors are derived to calibrate the b -tagging efficiency in simulation to match that observed in data. The associated systematic uncertainties are substantially smaller than in previous measurements. In addition, b -jet triggers were operated for the first time during heavy-ion data-taking, using dedicated triggers that were developed to identify semileptonic b -hadron decays by selecting events with geometrically overlapping muons and jets. 

A bstract The fragmentation properties of jets containing b -hadrons are studied using charged B mesons in 139 fb − 1 of pp collisions at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 13 TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during the period from 2015 to 2018. The B mesons are reconstructed using the decay of B ± into J/ψK ± , with the J/ψ decaying into a pair of muons. Jets are reconstructed using the anti- k t algorithm with radius parameter R = 0 . 4. The measurement determines the longitudinal and transverse momentum profiles of the reconstructed B hadrons with respect to the axes of the jets to which they are geometrically associated. These distributions are measured in intervals of the jet transverse momentum, ranging from 50 GeV to above 100 GeV. The results are corrected for detector effects and compared with several Monte Carlo predictions using different parton shower and hadronisation models. The results for the longitudinal and transverse profiles provide useful inputs to improve the description of heavy-flavour fragmentation in jets. 

Abstract A search for R-parity-violating supersymmetry in final states characterized by high jet multiplicity, at least one isolated light lepton and either zero or at least three b -tagged jets is presented. The search uses $${139}\,{\text {fb}^{-1}}$$ 139 fb - 1 of $$\sqrt{s} = {13}\hbox { TeV}$$ s = 13 TeV proton–proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. The results are interpreted in the context of R-parity-violating supersymmetry models that feature gluino production, top-squark production, or electroweakino production. The dominant sources of background are estimated using a data-driven model, based on observables at medium jet multiplicity, to predict the b -tagged jet multiplicity distribution at the higher jet multiplicities used in the search. Machine-learning techniques are used to reach sensitivity to electroweakino production, extending the data-driven background estimation to the shape of the machine-learning discriminant. No significant excess over the Standard Model expectation is observed and exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are extracted, reaching as high as 2.4 TeV in gluino mass, 1.35 TeV in top-squark mass, and 320 (365) GeV in higgsino (wino) mass. 

A bstract A measurement of prompt photon-pair production in proton-proton collisions at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 13 TeV is presented. The data were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb − 1 . Events with two photons in the well-instrumented region of the detector are selected. The photons are required to be isolated and have a transverse momentum of $$ {p}_{\mathrm{T}{,}_{\gamma 1(2)}} $$ p T , γ 1 2 > 40 (30) GeV for the leading (sub-leading) photon. The differential cross sections as functions of several observables for the diphoton system are measured and compared with theoretical predictions from state-of-the-art Monte Carlo and fixed-order calculations. The QCD predictions from next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations and multi-leg merged calculations are able to describe the measured integrated and differential cross sections within uncertainties, whereas lower-order calculations show significant deviations, demonstrating that higher-order perturbative QCD corrections are crucial for this process. The resummed predictions with parton showers additionally provide an excellent description of the low transverse-momentum regime of the diphoton system.