Abstract: A search for Higgs boson decays into a Z boson and a light resonance in two-lepton plus jet events is performed, using a pp collision dataset with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1) collected at root s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN LHC. The resonance considered is a light boson with a mass below 4 GeV from a possible extended scalar sector or a charmonium state. Multivariate discriminants are used for the event selection and for evaluating the mass of the light resonance. No excess of events above the expected background is found. Observed (expected) 95% confidence-level upper limits are set on the Riggs boson production cross section times branching fraction to a Z boson and the signal resonance, with values in the range 17-340 pb (16(-5)(+6)-320(-90)(+130) pb) for the different light spin-0 boson mass and branching fraction hypotheses, and with values of 110 and 100 pb (100(-30)(+40) and 100(-30)(+40) pb) for the eta(c) and J/psi hypotheses, respectively.

Abstract: The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) employs a trigger system consisting of a first-level hardware trigger (L1) and a software-based high-level trigger. The L1 muon trigger system selects muon candidates, assigns them to the correct LHC bunch crossing and classifies them into one of six transverse-momentum threshold classes. The L1 muon trigger system uses resistive-plate chambers (RPCs) to generate the muon-induced trigger signals in the central (barrel) region of the ATLAS detector. The ATLAS RPCs are arranged in six concentric layers and operate in a toroidal magnetic field with a bending power of 1.5 to 5.5 Tm. The RPC detector consists of about 3700 gas volumes with a total surface area of more than 4000 m(2). This paper reports on the performance of the RPC detector and L1 muon barrel trigger using 60.8 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment in 2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Detector and trigger performance are studied using Z boson decays into a muon pair. Measurements of the RPC detector response, efficiency, and time resolution are reported. Measurements of the L1 muon barrel trigger efficiencies and rates are presented, along with measurements of the properties of the selected sample of muon candidates. Measurements of the RPC currents, counting rates and mean avalanche charge are performed using zero-bias collisions. Finally, RPC detector response and efficiency are studied at different high voltage and front-end discriminator threshold settings in order to extrapolate detector response to the higher luminosity expected for the High Luminosity LHC.

Abstract: A search optimized for new heavy particles decaying to two b-quarks and produced in association with additional b-quarks is reported. The sensitivity is improved by b-tagging at least one lower-pT jet in addition to the two highest-pT jets. The data used in this search correspond to an integrated luminosity of 103 fb-1 collected with a dedicated trijet trigger during the 2017 and 2018 pffisffi = 13 TeV proton-proton collision runs with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The search looks for resonant peaks in the b-tagged dijet invariant mass spectrum over a smoothly falling background. The background is estimated with an innovative data-driven method based on orthonormal functions. The observed b-tagged dijet invariant mass spectrum is compatible with the background-only hypothesis. Upper limits at 95% confidence level on a heavy vector-boson production cross section times branching ratio to a pair of b-quarks are derived.

Abstract: Searches are performed for nonresonant and resonant di-Higgs boson production in the b (b) over bar gamma gamma final state. The dataset used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of- mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No excess above the expected background is found and upper limits on the di-Higgs boson production cross sections are set. A 95% confidence-level upper limit of 4.2 times the cross section predicted by the Standard Model is set on pp -> HH nonresonant production, where the expected limit is 5.7 times the Standard Model predicted value. The expected constraints are obtained for a background hypothesis excluding pp -> HH production. The observed (expected) constraints on the Higgs boson trilinear coupling modifier kappa(lambda) are determined to be [-1.5, 6.7] ([-2.4, 7.7]) at 95% confidence level, where the expected constraints on kappa(lambda) are obtained excluding pp -> HH production from the background hypothesis. For resonant production of a new hypothetical scalar particle X (X -> HH -> b (b) over bar gamma gamma), limits on the cross section for pp -> X -> HH are presented in the narrow-width approximation as a function of m x in the range 251 GeV <= m(X) <= 1000 GeV. The observed (expected) limits on the cross section for pp ->> X -> HH range from 640 fb to 44 fb (391 fb to 46 fb) over the considered mass range.

Abstract: The yield of charged particles opposite to a Z boson with large transverse momentum (p(T)) is measured in 260 pb(-1) of pp and 1.7 nb(-1) of Pb + Pb collision data at 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The Z boson tag is used to select hard-scattered partons with specific kinematics, and to observe how their showers are modified as they propagate through the quarkgluon plasma created in Pb + Pb collisions. Compared with pp collisions, charged-particle yields in Pb + Pb collisions show significant modifications as a function of charged-particle p(T) in a way that depends on event centrality and Z boson p(T). The data are compared with a variety of theoretical calculations and provide new information about the medium-induced energy loss of partons in a p(T) regime difficult to measure through other channels.