Browsing by Author "Aguilar-Saavedra, J. A."

This search, a type not previously performed at ATLAS, uses a comparison of the production cross sections for e+μ− and e−μ+ pairs to constrain physics processes beyond the Standard Model. It uses 139 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded at √s = 13 TeV at the LHC. Targeting sources of new physics which prefer final states containing e+μ− to e−μ+, the search contains two broad signal regions which are used to provide model-independent constraints on the ratio of cross sections at the 2% level. The search also has two special selections targeting supersymmetric models and leptoquark signatures. Observations using one of these selections are able to exclude, at 95% confidence level, singly produced smuons with masses up to 640 GeV in a model in which the only other light sparticle is a neutralino when the Rparity-violating coupling λ 231 is close to unity. Observations using the other selection exclude scalar leptoquarks with masses below 1880 GeV when geu 1R = g μc 1R = 1, at 95% confidence level. The limit on the coupling reduces to geu 1R = g μc 1R = 0.46 for a mass of 1420 GeV.

A search for the exclusive decays of the Higgs and Z bosons to a ϕ or ρ meson and a photon is performed with a pp collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 35.6 fb−1 collected at s√=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. These decays have been suggested as a probe of the Higgs boson couplings to light quarks. No significant excess of events is observed above the background, as expected from the Standard Model. Upper limits at 95% confidence level were obtained on the branching fractions of the Higgs boson decays to ϕγ and ργ of 5.0×10−4 and 10.4×10−4, respectively. The corresponding 95% confidence level upper limits for the Z boson decays are 0.7×10−6 and 4.0×10−6 for ϕγ and ργ, respectively.

This paper presents updated Monte Carlo configurations used to model the production of single electroweak vector bosons (W,Z/γ∗) in association with jets in proton-proton collisions for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Improvements pertaining to the electroweak input scheme, parton-shower splitting kernels and scale-setting scheme are shown for multi-jet merged configurations accurate to next-to-leading order in the strong and electroweak couplings. The computational resources required for these set-ups are assessed, and approximations are introduced resulting in a factor three reduction of the per-event CPU time without affecting the physics modelling performance. Continuous statistical enhancement techniques are introduced by ATLAS in order to populate low cross-section regions of phase space and are shown to match or exceed the generated effective luminosity. This, together with the lower per-event CPU time, results in a 50% reduction in the required computing resources compared to a legacy set-up previously used by the ATLAS collaboration. The set-ups described in this paper will be used for future ATLAS analyses and lay the foundation for the next generation of Monte Carlo predictions for single vector-boson plus jets production.

Searches are conducted for new spin-0 or spin-1 bosons using events where a Higgs boson with mass 125 GeV decays into four leptons (ℓ = e, μ). This decay is presumed to occur via an intermediate state which contains two on-shell, promptly decaying bosons: H → XX/ZX → 4ℓ, where the new boson X has a mass between 1 and 60 GeV. The search uses pp collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 at a centre-of-mass energy= 13 TeV. The data are found to be consistent with Standard Model expectations. Limits are set on fiducial cross sections and on the branching ratio of the Higgs boson to decay into XX/ZX, improving those from previous publications by a factor between two and four. Limits are also set on mixing parameters relevant in extensions of the Standard Model containing a dark sector where X is interpreted to be a dark boson.

A search for long-lived charginos produced either directly or in the cascade decay of heavy prompt gluino states is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV between 2015 and 2018 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 136 fb^{-1}. Long-lived charginos are characterised by a distinct signature of a short and then disappearing track, and are reconstructed using at least four measurements in the ATLAS pixel detector, with no subsequent measurements in the silicon-microstrip tracking volume nor any associated energy deposits in the calorimeter. The final state is complemented by a large missing transverse-momentum requirement for triggering purposes and at least one high-transverse-momentum jet. No excess above the expected backgrounds is observed. Exclusion limits are set at 95% confidence level on the masses of the chargino and gluino for different chargino lifetimes. Chargino masses up to 660 (210) GeV are excluded in scenarios where the chargino is a pure wino (higgsino). For charginos produced during the cascade decay of a heavy gluino, gluinos with masses below 2.1 TeV are excluded for a chargino mass of 300 GeV and a lifetime of 0.2 ns.

Searches for scalar leptoquarks pair-produced in proton-proton collisions at s√=13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider are performed by the ATLAS experiment. A data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1 is used. Final states containing two electrons or two muons and two or more jets are studied, as are states with one electron or muon, missing transverse momentum and two or more jets. No statistically significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. The observed and expected lower limits on the leptoquark mass at 95% confidence level extend up to 1.29 TeV and 1.23 TeV for first- and second-generation leptoquarks, respectively, as postulated in the minimal Buchmüller-Rückl-Wyler model, assuming a branching ratio into a charged lepton and a quark of 50%. In addition, measurements of particle-level fiducial and differential cross sections are presented for the Z→ee, Z→μμ and tt¯ processes in several regions related to the search control regions. Predictions from a range of generators are compared with the measurements, and good agreement is seen for many of the observables. However, the predictions for the Z→ℓℓ measurements in observables sensitive to jet energies disagree with the data.

A study of B_c^+ → J/ψD_s^+ and B_c^+ → J/ψD_s^{+} decays using 139 fb^{-1} of integrated luminosity collected with the ATLAS detector from √s = 13 TeV pp collisions at the LHC is presented. The ratios of the branching fractions of the two decays to the branching fraction of the B_c^+ → J/ψπ^+ decay are measured: B(B_c^+ → J/ψD_s^+)/B(B_c^+ → J/ψπ^+) = 2.76 ± 0.47 and B(B_c^+ → J/ψD_s^{+})/B(B_c^+ → J/ψπ^+) = 5.33 ± 0.96. The ratio of the branching fractions of the two decays is found to be B(B_c^+ → J/ψD_s^{+})/B(B_c^+ → J/ψD_s^+) = 1.93 ± 0.26. For the B_c^+ → J/ψD_s^{+} decay, the transverse polarization fraction, Γ_{++}/Γ, is measured to be 0.70 ± 0.11. The reported uncertainties include both the statistical and systematic components added in quadrature. The precision of the measurements exceeds that in all previous studies of these decays. These results supersede those obtained in the earlier ATLAS study of the same decays with √s = 7 and 8 TeV pp collision data. A comparison with available theoretical predictions for the measured quantities is presented.