CARQUIN, EDSON

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.

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.

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.

A search with minimal model dependence for physics beyond the Standard Model in events featuring three or four charged leptons (3l and 4l, l = e, mu) is presented. The analysis aims to be sensitive to a wide range of potential new-physics theories simultaneously. This analysis uses data from pp collisions delivered by the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV and recorded with the ATLAS detector, corresponding to the full Run 2 dataset of 139 fb(-1). The 3l and 4l phase space is divided into 22 event categories according to the number of leptons in the event, the missing transverse momentum, the invariant mass of the leptons, and the presence of leptons originating from a Z-boson candidate. These event categories are analysed independently for the presence of deviations from the Standard Model. No statistically significant deviations from the Standard Model predictions are observed. Upper limits for all signal regions are reported in terms of the visible cross-section.