Abstract: Results of a search for new phenomena in events with at least three photons are reported. Data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1), were collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The observed data are well described by the Standard Model. Limits at the 95 % confidence level on new phenomena are presented based on the rate of events in an inclusive signal region and a restricted signal region targeting the rare decay Z -> 3 gamma, as well as di-photon and tri-photon resonance searches. For a Standard Model Higgs boson decaying to four photons via a pair of intermediate pseudoscalar particles ( a), limits are found to be sigma xBR( h -> aa) xBR(a -> gamma gamma) 2 < 10(-3) sigma(SM) for 10 GeV < m(a) < 62 GeV. Limits are also presented for Higgs boson-like scalars (H) for m(H) > 125 GeV, and for a Z' decaying to three photons via Z' -> a + gamma -> 3 gamma. Additionally, the observed limit on the branching ratio of the Z boson decay to three photons is found to be BR( Z -> 3 gamma) < 2.2 x 10(-6), a result five times stronger than the previous result from LEP.

Abstract: A 6.8 nb(-1) sample of pp collision data collected under low-luminosity conditions at root s = 7 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is used to study diffractive dijet production. Events containing at least two jets with p(T) > 20 GeV are selected and analysed in terms of variables which discriminate between diffractive and non-diffractive processes. Cross sections are measured differentially in Delta eta(F), the size of the observable forward region of pseudorapidity which is devoid of hadronic activity, and in an estimator, (xi) over tilde, of the fractional momentum loss of the proton assuming single diffractive dissociation (pp -> pX). Model comparisons indicate a dominant non-diffractive contribution up to moderately large Delta eta(F) and small (xi) over tilde, with a diffractive contribution which is significant at the highest Delta eta(F) and the lowest (xi) over tilde. The rapidity-gap survival probability is estimated from comparisons of the data in this latter region with predictions based on diffractive parton distribution functions.

Abstract: A measurement of off-shell Higgs boson production in the ZZ -> 4l and ZZ -> 2l2v decay channels, where stands for either an electron or a muon, is performed using data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV. The data were collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2015 and 2016 at the Large Hadron Collider, and they correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1). An observed (expected) upper limit on the off-shell Higgs signal strength, defined as the event yield normalised to the Standard Model prediction, of 3.8 (3.4) is obtained at 95% confidence level (CL). Assuming the ratio of the Higgs boson couplings to the Standard Model predictions is independent of the momentum transfer of the Higgs production mechanism considered in the analysis, a combination with the on-shell signal-strength measurements yields an observed (expected) 95% CL upper limit on the Higgs boson total width of 14.4 (15.2) MeV.

Abstract: The production of a Z boson in association with a J/psi meson in proton-proton collisions probes the production mechanisms of quarkonium and heavy flavour in association with vector bosons, and allows studies of multiple parton scattering. Using 20.3 fb(-1) of data collected with theATLAS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV, the first measurement of associated Z + J/psi production is presented for both prompt and non-prompt J/psi production, with both signatures having a significance in excess of 5 sigma. The inclusive production cross-sections for Z boson production (analysed in mu(+) mu(-) or e(+) e(-) decay modes) in association with prompt and non-prompt J/psi (-> mu(+) mu(-)) are measured relative to the inclusive production rate of Z bosons in the same fiducial volume to be (36.8 +/- 6.7 +/- 2.5) x 10(-7) and (65.8 +/- 9.2 +/- 4.2) x 10(-7) respectively. Normalised differential production cross-section ratios are also determined as a function of the J/psi transverse momentum. The fraction of signal events arising from single and double parton scattering is estimated, and a lower limit of 5.3 (3.7) mb at 68 (95)% confidence level is placed on the effective cross-section regulating double parton interactions.

Abstract: The inclusive production rates of isolated, prompt photons in p Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 8.16 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 165 nb(-1) recorded in 2016. The cross-section and nuclear modification factor R-p pb are measured as a function of photon transverse energy from 20 GeV to 550 GeV and in three nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass pseudorapidity regions, (-2.83, -2.02), (-1.84, 0.91), and (1.09, 1.90). The cross-section and R-p pb values are compared with the results of a next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculation, with and without nuclear parton distribution function modifications, and with expectations based on a model of the energy loss of partons prior to the hard scattering. The data disfavour a large amount of energy loss and provide new constraints on the parton densities in nuclei.