Abstract: Searches for new heavy resonances decaying into different pairings of W, Z, or Higgs bosons, as well as directly into leptons, are presented using a data sample corresponding to 36.1 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV collected during 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Analyses selecting bosonic decay modes in the qqqq, vvqq, evqq, eeqq, evev, eevv, evee, eeee, qqbb, vvbb, evbb, and eebb final states are combined, searching for a narrow-width resonance. Likewise, analyses selecting the leptonic ev and ee final states are also combined. These two sets of analyses are then further combined. No significant deviation from the Standard Model predictions is observed. Three benchmark models are tested: a model predicting the existence of a new heavy scalar singlet, a simplified model predicting a heavy vector-boson triplet, and a bulk Randall-Sundrum model with a heavy spin-2 Kaluza-Klein excitation of the graviton. Cross section limits are set at the 95% confidence level using an asymptotic approximation and are compared with predictions for the benchmark models. These limits are also expressed in terms of constraints on couplings of the heavy vector-boson triplet to quarks, leptons, and the Higgs boson. The data exclude a heavy vector-boson triplet with mass below 5.5 TeV in a weakly coupled scenario and 4.5 TeV in a strongly coupled scenario, as well as a Kaluza-Klein graviton with mass below 2.3 TeV.

Abstract: Semi-inclusive processes arc very promising to investigate XYZ hadrons at the next generation of electron-hadron facilities, because they generally boast higher cross sections. We extend our formalism of exclusive photoproduction to semi-inclusive final states. The inclusive production cross sections for charged axial-vector Z states from pion exchange are predicted. We isolate the contribution of Delta resonances at small missing mass. Production near threshold is shown to be enhanced roughly by a factor of two compared to the exclusive reaction. We benchmark the model with data of semi-inclusive b(1)(+/-) production.

Abstract: Semileptonic b -> c transitions, and in particular the ratios R(D-(*())) = Gamma(B -> D-(*())tau nu)/Gamma(B -> D-(*())l nu), can be used to test the universality of the weak interactions. In light of the recent discrepancies between the experimental measurements of these observables by the BABAR, Belle, and LHCb collaborations and the Standard Model predicted values, we study the robustness of the latter. Our analysis reveals that R(D) might be enhanced by lepton mass effects associated to the mostly unknown scalar form factor. In contrast, the Standard Model prediction for R(D*) is found to be more robust, because possible pollutions from B* contributions turn out to be negligibly small; this indicates that R(D) is a promising observable for searches of new physics.

Abstract: Several observables sensitive to the fragmentation of b quarks into b hadrons are measured using 36 fb(-1) of root s = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Jets containing b hadrons are obtained from a sample of dileptonic (tt) over bar events, and the associated set of charged-particle tracks is separated into those from the primary pp interaction vertex and those from the displaced b-decay secondary vertex. This division is used to construct observables that characterize the longitudinal and transverse momentum distributions of the b hadron within the jet. The measurements have been corrected for detector effects and provide a test of heavy-quark-fragmentation modeling at the LHC in a system where the top-quark decay products are color connected to the proton beam remnants. The unfolded distributions are compared with the predictions of several modern Monte Carlo parton-shower generators and generator tunes, and a wide range of agreement with the data is observed, with p values varying from 5 x 10(-4) to 0.98. These measurements complement similar measurements from e(+)e(-) collider experiments in which the b quarks originate from a color singlet Z/gamma*.

Abstract: Simple SO(10) Higgs models with the adjoint representation triggering the grand unified symmetry breaking, discarded long ago due to inherent tree-level tachyonic instabilities in the physically interesting scenarios, have been recently brought back to life by quantum effects. In this work we focus on the variant with 45(H) circle plus 126(H) in the Higgs sector and show that there are several regions in the parameter space of this model that can support stable unifying configurations with the B – L-breaking scale as high as 10(14) GeV, well above the previous generic estimates based on the minimal survival hypothesis. This admits for a renormalizable implementation of the canonical seesaw and makes the simplest potentially realistic scenario of this kind a good candidate for a minimal SO(10) grand unification. Last, but not least, this setting is likely to be extensively testable at future large-volume facilities such as Hyper-Kamiokande.