Abstract: This Letter describes a model-agnostic search for pairs of jets (dijets) produced by resonant and non-resonant phenomena beyond the Standard Model in 3.6 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The distribution of the invariant mass of the two leading jets is examined for local excesses above a data-derived estimate of the smoothly falling prediction of the Standard Model. The data are also compared to a Monte Carlo simulation of Standard Model angular distributions derived from the rapidity of the two jets. No evidence of anomalous phenomena is observed in the data, which are used to exclude, at 95% CL, quantum black holes with threshold masses below 8.3 TeV, 8.1 TeV, or 5.1 TeV in three different benchmark scenarios; resonance masses below 5.2 TeV for excited quarks, 2.6 TeV in a W' model, a range of masses starting from mZ' = 1.5 TeVand couplings from g(q) = 0.2 in a Z' model; and contact interactions with a compositeness scale below 12.0 TeV and 17.5 TeV respectively for destructive and constructive interference between the new interaction and QCD processes. These results significantly extend the ATLAS limits obtained from 8 TeV data. Gaussian-shaped contributions to the mass distribution are also excluded if the effective cross-section exceeds values ranging from approximately 50-300 fb for masses below 2 TeV to 2-20 fb for masses above 4 TeV.

Abstract: This article reports on a search for dark matter pair production in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks, using data from 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The decay of the Higgs boson is reconstructed as a high-momentum b (b) over bar system with either a pair of small-radius jets, or a single large-radius jet with substructure. The observed data are found to be consistent with the expected Standard Model backgrounds. Model-independent upper limits are placed on the visible cross sections for events with a Higgs boson decaying into b (b) over bar and large missing transverse momentum with thresholds ranging from 150 to 400 GeV. Results are interpreted using a simplified model with a Z' gauge boson decaying into different Higgs bosons predicted in a two-Higgs-doublet model, of which the heavy pseudoscalar Higgs decays into a pair of dark matter particles. Exclusion limits are also presented for the mass scales of various effective field theory operators that describe the interaction between dark matter particles and the Higgs boson.

Abstract: This article presents searches for the Z gamma decay of the Higgs boson and for narrow high-mass resonances decaying to Z gamma, exploiting Z boson decays to pairs of electrons or muons. The data analysis uses 36.1 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 13 recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The data are found to be consistent with the expected Standard Model background. The observed (expected – assuming Standard Model pp -> H -> Z gamma production and decay) upper limit on the production cross section times the branching ratio for pp -> H -> Z gamma is 6.6. (5.2) times the Standard Model prediction at the 95% confidence level for a Higgs boson mass of 125.09 GeV. In addition, upper limits are set on the production cross section times the branching ratio as a function of the mass of a narrow resonance between 250 GeV and 2.4 TeV, assuming spin-0 resonances produced via gluon-gluon fusion, and spin-2 resonances produced via gluon-gluon or quark-antiquark initial states. For high-mass spin-0 resonances, the observed (expected) limits vary between 88 fb (61 fb) and 2.8 fb (2.7 fb) for the mass range from 250 GeV to 2.4 TeV at the 95% confidence level.

Abstract: This article presents measurements of t (t) over bar differential cross-sections in a fiducial phase-space region, using an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1) of proton-proton data at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015. Differential crosssections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum and absolute rapidity of the top quark, and of the transverse momentum, absolute rapidity and invariant mass of the t (t) over bar system. The t (t) over bar events are selected by requiring one electron and onemuonof opposite electric charge, and at least two jets, one of which must be tagged as containing a b-hadron. The measured differential cross-sections are compared to predictions of next-to-leading order generators matched to parton showers and the measurements are found to be consistent with all models within the experimental uncertainties with the exception of the Powheg-Box + Herwig++ predictions, which differ significantly from the data in both the transverse momentum of the top quark and the mass of the t (t) over bar system.

Abstract: This article documents the performance of the ATLAS muon identification and reconstruction using the LHC dataset recorded at root s = 13 TeVin 2015. Using a large sample of J/.psi -> μμand Z -> μμdecays from 3.2 fb(-1) of pp collision data, measurements of the reconstruction efficiency, as well as of the momentum scale and resolution, are presented and compared to Monte Carlo simulations. The reconstruction efficiency is measured to be close to 99 % over most of the covered phase space (vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.5 and 5 < p(T) < 100 GeV). The isolation efficiency varies between 93 and 100 % depending on the selection applied and on the momentum of the muon. Both efficiencies are well reproduced in simulation. In the central region of the detector, the momentum resolution is measured to be 1.7 % (2.3 %) for muons from J/psi -> μmu(Z -> μmu) decays, and the momentum scale is known with an uncertainty of 0.05 %. In the region vertical bar eta vertical bar > 2.2, the p(T) resolution for muons from Z -> μdecays is 2.9 % while the precision of the momentum scale for low-p(T) muons from J/psi -> μμdecays is about 0.2 %.