Abstract: Electroweak symmetry breaking explains the origin of the masses of elementary particles through their interactions with the Higgs field. Besides the measurements of the Higgs boson properties, the study of the scattering of massive vector bosons with spin 1 allows the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking to be probed. Among all processes related to vector-boson scattering, the electroweak production of two jets and a Z-boson pair is a rare and important one. Here we report the observation of this process from proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139fb(-1) recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. We consider two different final states originating from the decays of the Z-boson pair: one containing four charged leptons and another containing two charged leptons and two neutrinos. The hypothesis of no electroweak production is rejected with a statistical significance of 5.7 sigma, and the measured cross-section for electroweak production is consistent with the Standard Model prediction. In addition, we report cross-sections for inclusive production of a Z-boson pair and two jets for the two final states.

Abstract: The production of a W boson in association with a single charm quark is studied using 140 fb(-1) of vS = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. ffiffis The charm quark is tagged by the presence of a charmed hadron reconstructed with a secondary-vertex fit. The W boson is reconstructed from the decay to either an electron or a muon and the missing transverse momentum present in the event. The charmed mesons reconstructed are D+ ?K-p+p+ and D*+ ? D0p+ ? (K-p+)p+ and the charge conjugate decays in the fiducial regions where pT(e; mu) > 30 GeV, l?(e; mu)l < 2.5, pT(D(*)) > 8 GeV, and l?(D(*))l < 2.2. The integrated and normalized differential cross sections as a function of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the W boson decay, and of the transverse momentum of the charmed hadron, are extracted from the data using a profile likelihood fit. The measured total fiducial cross sections are sfidOS-SS(W- + D+) = 50.2 + 0.2(stat)+2.4 -2.3(syst) pb, s(OS-SS) (fid)(W- + D+) = 48.5 + 0.2(stat)+2.3-2.2(syst) pb, sfidOS-SS(W- + D*+) = 51.1 + 0.4(stat)+1.9 -1.8 (syst) pb, and s(OS-SS) (fid)(W+ + D*-) = 50.0 + 0.4(stat)+1.9 -1.8 (syst) pb. Results are compared with the predictions of next-to-leading-order quantum chromodynamics calculations performed using state-of-the-art parton distribution functions. Additionally, the ratio of charm to anticharm production cross sections is studied to probe the s -s- quark asymmetry. The ratio is found to be R+ c = 0.971 + 0.006(stat) + 0.011(syst). The ratio and cross-section measurements are consistent with the predictions obtained with parton distribution function sets that have a symmetric s -s- sea, indicating that any s -s- asymmetry in the Bjorken-x region relevant for this measurement is small.

Abstract: The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider reads out particle collision data from over 100 million electronic channels at a rate of approximately 100 kHz, with a recording rate for physics events of approximately 1 kHz. Before being certified for physics analysis at computer centres worldwide, the data must be scrutinised to ensure they are clean from any hardware or software related issues that may compromise their integrity. Prompt identification of these issues permits fast action to investigate, correct and potentially prevent future such problems that could render the data unusable. This is achieved through the monitoring of detector-level quantities and reconstructed collision event characteristics at key stages of the data processing chain. This paper presents the monitoring and assessment procedures in place at ATLAS during 2015-2018 data-taking. Through the continuous improvement of operational procedures, ATLAS achieved a high data quality efficiency, with 95.6% of the recorded proton-proton collision data collected at root s = 13 TeV certified for physics analysis.

Abstract: A search for Higgs boson production in association with a pair of top quarks (t (t) over barH) is performed, where the Higgs boson decays to b (b) over bar, and both top quarks decay hadronically. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search selects events with at least six energetic jets and uses a boosted decision tree algorithm to discriminate between signal and Standard Model background. The dominant multijet background is estimated using a dedicated data-driven technique. For a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV, an upper limit of 6.4 (5.4) times the Standard Model cross section is observed (expected) at 95% confidence level. The best-fit value for the signal strength is μ= 1.6 +/- 2.6 times the Standard Model expectation for m(H) = 125 GeV. Combining all t (t) over barH searches carried out by ATLAS at root s = 8 and 7 TeV, an observed (expected) upper limit of 3.1 (1.4) times the Standard Model expectation is obtained at 95% confidence level, with a signal strength μ= 1.7 +/- 0.8.

Abstract: A search for supersymmetry involving the pair production of gluinos decaying via third-generation squarks to the lightest neutralino (chi) over tilde (0)(1) is reported. It uses an LHC proton-proton data set at a center-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1) collected with the ATLAS detector in 2015. The signal is searched for in events containing several energetic jets, of which at least three must be identified as b jets, large missing transverse momentum, and, potentially, isolated electrons or muons. Large-radius jets with a high mass are also used to identify highly boosted top quarks. No excess is found above the predicted background. For (chi) over tilde (0)(1) masses below approximately 700 GeV, gluino masses of less than 1.78 TeVand 1.76 TeV are excluded at the 95% C. L. in simplified models of the pair production of gluinos decaying via sbottom and stop, respectively. These results significantly extend the exclusion limits obtained with the root s = 8 TeV data set.