Abstract: A search for resonant and nonresonant pair production of Higgs bosons in the b (b) over bar tau(+)tau(-) final state is presented. The search uses 36.1 fb(-1) of pp collision data with root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015 and 2016. Decays of the tau-lepton pairs with at least one tau lepton decaying to final states with hadrons and a neutrino are considered. No significant excess above the expected background is observed in the data. The cross-section times branching ratio for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production is constrained to be less than 30.9 fb, 12.7 times the standard model expectation, at 95% confidence level. The data are also analyzed to probe resonant Higgs boson pair production, constraining a model with an extended Higgs sector based on two doublets and a Randall-Sundrum bulk graviton model. Upper limits are placed on the resonant Higgs boson pair production cross-section times branching ratio, excluding resonances X in the mass range 305 GeV < m(X) < 402 GeV in the simplified hMSSM minimal supersymmetric model for tan beta = 2 and excluding bulk Randall-Sundrum gravitons G(KK) in the mass range 325 GeV < m(GKK) < 885 GeV for k/(M) over bar P-1 = 1.

Abstract: This Letter presents a measurement of the inelastic proton-proton cross section using 60 μb(-1) of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy root s of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Inelastic interactions are selected using rings of plastic scintillators in the forward region (2.07 <vertical bar eta vertical bar < 3.86) of the detector. A cross section of 68.1 +/- 1.4 mb is measured in the fiducial region. xi = M-X(2) > s > 10(-6), where M-X is the larger invariant mass of the two hadronic systems separated by the largest rapidity gap in the event. In this xi range the scintillators are highly efficient. For diffractive events this corresponds to cases where at least one proton dissociates to a system with M-X > 13 GeV. The measured cross section is compared with a range of theoretical predictions. When extrapolated to the full phase space, a cross section of 78.1 +/- 2.9 mb is measured, consistent with the inelastic cross section increasing with center-of-mass energy.

Abstract: Several extensions of the standard model predict associated production of dark-matter particles with a Higgs boson. Such processes arc searched for in final states with missing transverse momentum and a Higgs boson decaying to a b (b) over bar pair with the ATLAS detector using 36.1 fb(-1) of pp collisions at a center-of mass energy of 13 TeV at the LHC. The observed data are in agreement with the standard model predictions and limits are placed on the associated production of dark-matter particles and a Higgs boson.

Abstract: ATLAS has measured two-particle correlations as a function of the relative azimuthal angle, Delta phi, and pseudorapidity, Delta eta, in root s = 13 and 2.76 TeV pp collisions at the LHC using charged particles measured in the pseudorapidity interval vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.5. The correlation functions evaluated in different intervals of measured charged-particle multiplicity show a multiplicity-dependent enhancement at Delta phi similar to 0 that extends over a wide range of Delta eta, which has been referred to as the “ridge.” Per-trigger-particle yields, Y(Delta phi) are measured over 2 < vertical bar Delta eta vertical bar < 5. For both collision energies, the Y(Delta phi) distribution in all multiplicity intervals is found to be consistent with a linear combination of the per-trigger-particle yields measured in collisions with less than 2 phi reconstructed tracks, and a constant combinatoric contribution modulated by cos (2 Delta phi). The fitted Fourier coefficient, nu(2,2), exhibits factorization, suggesting that the ridge results from per-event cos (2 phi) modulation of the single-particle distribution with Fourier coefficients nu(2). The nu(2) values are presented as a function of multiplicity and transverse momentum. They are found to be approximately constant as a function of multiplicity and to have a p(T) dependence similar to that measured in p + Pb and Pb + Pb collisions. The nu(2) values in the 13 and 2.76 TeV data are consistent within uncertainties. These results suggest that the ridge in pp collisions arises from the same or similar underlying physics as observed in p + Pb collisions, and that the dynamics responsible for the ridge has no strong root s dependence.

Abstract: A search for scalar particles decaying via narrow resonances into two photons in the mass range 65-600 GeV is performed using 20.3 fb(-1) of root s = 8 TeV pp collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The recently discovered Higgs boson is treated as a background. No significant evidence for an additional signal is observed. The results are presented as limits at the 95% confidence level on the production cross section of a scalar boson times branching ratio into two photons, in a fiducial volume where the reconstruction efficiency is approximately independent of the event topology. The upper limits set extend over a considerably wider mass range than previous searches.