Abstract: A deep understanding of the epoch of reionization is still missing in our knowledge of the universe. While future probes will allow us to test the precise evolution of the free electron fraction from redshifts between z similar or equal to 6 and z similar or equal to 20, at present one could ask what kind of reionization processes are allowed by present cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization measurements. An early contribution to reionization could imply a departure from the standard picture where star formation determines the reionization onset. By considering a broad class of possible reionization parameterizations, we find that current data do not require an early reionization component in our universe and that only one marginal class of models, based on a particular realization of reionization, may point to that. In addition, the frequentist Akaike information criterion (AIC) provides strong evidence against alternative reionization histories, favoring the most simple reionization scenario, which describes reionization by means of only one (constant) reionization optical depth tau.

Abstract: A detailed study of multiparticle azimuthal correlations is presented using pp data at root s = 5.02 and 13 TeV, and p+Pb data at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The azimuthal correlations are probed using four-particle cumulants c(n){4} and flow coefficients v(n){4} = (-c(n){4})(1/4) for n = 2 and 3, with the goal of extracting long-range multiparticle azimuthal correlation signals and suppressing the short-range correlations. The values of c(n){4} are obtained as a function of the average number of charged particles per event, < N-ch >, using the recently proposed two-subevent and three-subevent cumulant methods, and compared with results obtained with the standard cumulant method. The standard method is found to be strongly biased by short-range correlations, which originate mostly from jetswith a positive contribution to c(n){4}. The threesubevent method, on the other hand, is found to be least sensitive to short-range correlations. The three-subevent method gives a negative c(2){4}, and therefore a well-defined v(2){4}, nearly independent of < N-ch >, which implies that the long-range multiparticle azimuthal correlations persist to events with low multiplicity. Furthermore, v(2){4} is found to be smaller than the v(2){2} measured using the two-particle correlation method, as expected for long-range collective behavior. Finally, the measured values of v(2){4} and v(2){2} are used to estimate the number of sources relevant for the initial eccentricity in the collision geometry. The results based on the subevent cumulant technique provide direct evidence, in small collision systems, for a long-range collectivity involving many particles distributed across a broad rapidity interval.

Abstract: A determination of the top-quark mass is presented using 20.2 fb-1 of 8 TeV proton-proton collision data produced by the Large Hadron Collider and collected by the ATLAS experiment. The normalised differential cross section of top-quark pair production in association with an energetic jet is measured in the lepton+jets final state and unfolded to parton and particle levels. The unfolded distribution at parton level can be described using next-to-leading-order QCD predictions in terms of either the top-quark pole mass or the running mass as defined in the (modified) minimal subtraction scheme. A comparison between the experimental distribution and the theoretical prediction allows the top-quark mass to be extracted in the two schemes. The value obtained for the pole-mass scheme is: rnirle 171.1 0.4 (stat) 0.9 (syst) 173 (theo) GeV. The extracted value in the running-mass scheme is: rnt(rnt) = 162.9 0.5 (stat) 1.0 (syst) 1:12 (theo) GeV. The results for the top -quark mass using the two schemes are consistent, when translated from one scheme to the other.

Abstract: 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 root 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 discrete-time Quantum Walk (QW) is an operator driving the evolution of a single particle on the lattice, through local unitaries. In a previous paper, we showed that QWs over the honeycomb and triangular lattices can be used to simulate the Dirac equation. We apply a spacetime coordinate transformation upon the lattice of this QW, and show that it is equivalent to introducing spacetime-dependent local unitaries-whilst keeping the lattice fixed. By exploiting this duality between changes in geometry, and changes in local unitaries, we show that the spacetime-dependent QW simulates the Dirac equation in (2 + 1)-dimensional curved spacetime. Interestingly, the duality crucially relies on the non linear-independence of the three preferred directions of the honeycomb and triangular lattices: The same construction would fail for the square lattice. At the practical level, this result opens the possibility to simulate field theories on curved manifolds, via the quantum walk on different kinds of lattices.