Abstract: A search for a narrow scalar resonance decaying into an opposite-sign muon pair produced in events with and without b-tagged jets is presented in this paper. The search uses 36.1 fb(-1) of =13 TeV proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. No significant excess of events above the expected Standard Model background is observed in the investigated mass range of 0.2 to 1.0 TeV. The observed upper limits at 95% confidence level on the cross section times branching ratio for b-quark associated production and gluon-gluon fusion are between 1.9 and 41 fb and 1.6 and 44 fb respectively, which is consistent with expectations.

Abstract: A search for flavour-changing neutral current decays of a top quark into an up-type quark (q = u, c) and the Standard Model Higgs boson, t Hq, is presented. The search is based on a dataset of pp collisions at = 13 TeV recorded in 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1). Two complementary analyses are performed to search for top-quark pair events in which one top quark decays into Wb and the other top quark decays into Hq, and target the Hbb and H (+-) decay modes, respectively. The high multiplicity of b-quark jets, or the presence of hadronically decaying -leptons, is exploited in the two analyses respectively. Multivariate techniques are used to separate the signal from the background, which is dominated by top-quark pair production. No significant excess of events above the background expectation is found, and 95% CL upper limits on the t Hq branching ratios are derived. The combination of these searches with ATLAS searches in diphoton and multilepton final states yields observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits on the t Hc and t Hu branching ratios of 1.1 x 10(-3) (8.3 x 10(-4)) and 1.2 x 10(-3) (8.3 x 10(-4)), respectively. The corresponding combined observed (expected) upper limits on the |(tcH)| and |(tuH)| couplings are 0.064 (0.055) and 0.066 (0.055), respectively.

Abstract: The inclusive production of four isolated charged leptons in pp collisions is analysed for the presence of hard double-parton scattering, using 20.2 fb(-1) of data recorded in the ATLAS detector at the LHC at centre-of-mass energy root s = 8 TeV. In the four-lepton invariant-mass range of 80 < m(4l) < 1000 GeV, an artificial neural network is used to enhance the separation between single- and double-parton scattering based on the kinematics of the four leptons in the final state. An upper limit on the fraction of events originating from double-parton scattering is determined at 95% confidence level to be f(DPS) = 0.042, which results in an estimated lower limit on the effective cross section at 95% confidence level of 1.0 mb.

Abstract: Multi-particle azimuthal cumulants are measured as a function of centrality and transverse momentum using 470 μb(-1) of Pb+Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. These cumulants provide information on the event-by-event fluctuations of harmonic flow coefficients v(n) and correlated fluctuations between two harmonics v(n) and v(m). For the first time, a non-zero four-particle cumulant is observed for dipolar flow, v(1). The four-particle cumulants for elliptic flow, v(2), and triangular flow, v(3), exhibit a strong centrality dependence and change sign in ultra-central collisions. This sign change is consistent with significant non-Gaussian fluctuations in v(2) and v(3). The four-particle cumulant for quadrangular flow, v(4), is found to change sign in mid-central collisions. Correlations between two harmonics are studied with three- and four-particle mixed-harmonic cumulants, which indicate an anti-correlation between v(2) and v(3), and a positive correlation between v(2) and v(4). These correlations decrease in strength towards central collisions and either approach zero or change sign in ultra-central collisions. To investigate the possible flow fluctuations arising from intrinsic centrality or volume fluctuations, the results are compared between two different event classes used for centrality definitions. In peripheral and mid-central collisions where the cumulant signals are large, only small differences are observed. In ultra-central collisions, the differences are much larger and transverse momentum dependent. These results provide new information to disentangle flow fluctuations from the initial and final states, as well as new insights on the influence of centrality fluctuations.

Abstract: A search for heavy neutral Higgs bosons and Z' bosons is performed using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1) from proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2015 and 2016. The heavy resonance is assumed to decay to tau(+)tau(-) with at least one tau lepton decaying to final states with hadrons and a neutrino. The search is performed in the mass range of 0.2-2.25 TeV for Higgs bosons and 0.2-4.0 TeV for Z' bosons. The data are in good agreement with the background predicted by the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in benchmark scenarios. In the context of the hMSSM scenario, the data exclude tan beta > 1.0 for m(A) = 0.25 TeV and tan beta > 42 for m(A) = 1.5 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the Sequential Standard Model, Z'(SSM) with m(Z') < 2.42 TeV is excluded at 95% confidence level, while Z'(NU) with m(Z') < 2.25 TeV is excluded for the non-universal G(221) model that exhibits enhanced couplings to third-generation fermions.