ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Bouchhar, N., Cabrera Urban, S., et al. (2023). Observation of four-top-quark production in the multilepton final state with the ATLAS detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 83(6), 496–35pp.
Abstract: This paper presents the observation of four-topquark (t (t) over bart (t) over bar) production in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The analysis is performed using an integrated luminosity of 140 fb-1 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeVcollected using the ATLAS detector. Events containing two leptons with the same electric charge or at least three leptons (electrons or muons) are selected. Event kinematics are used to separate signal from background through a multivariate discriminant, and dedicated control regions are used to constrain the dominant backgrounds. The observed (expected) significance of themeasured t (t) over bart (t) over bar signal with respect to the standard model (SM) background-only hypothesis is 6.1 (4.3) standard deviations. The t (t) over bart (t) over bar production cross section is measured to be 22.5(-5.5)(+6.6), consistent with the SM prediction of 12.0 +/- 2.4 fb within 1.8 standard deviations. Data are also used to set limits on the three-top-quark production cross section, being an irreducible background not measured previously, and to constrain the top-Higgs Yukawa coupling and effective field theory operator coefficients that affect t (t) over bart (t) over bar production.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cantero, J., et al. (2023). Measurement of the total cross section and ρ-parameter from elastic scattering in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 83(5), 441–49pp.
Abstract: In a special run of the LHC with beta star=2.5 km, proton-proton elastic-scattering events were recorded at root s=13 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 340 μb(-1) using the ALFA subdetector of ATLAS in 2016. The elastic cross section was measured differentially in the Mandelstam t variable in the range from -t=2.5 center dot 10(-4) GeV2 to -t=0.46 GeV2 using 6.9 million elastic-scattering candidates. This paper presents measurements of the total cross section sigma(tot), parameters of the nuclear slope, and the rho-parameter defined as the ratio of the real part to the imaginary part of the elastic-scattering amplitude in the limit t -> 0. These parameters are determined from a fit to the differential elastic cross section using the optical theorem and different parameterizations of the t-dependence. The results for sigma(tot) and rho are sigma(tot) (PP -> X ) =104.7 +/- 1.1 mob , rho=0.098 +/- 0.011. The uncertainty in sigma(tot) is dominated by the luminosity measurement, and in rho by imperfect knowledge of the detector alignment and by modelling of the nuclear amplitude.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., et al. (2022). Determination of the parton distribution functions of the proton using diverse ATLAS data from pp collisions at root s=7, 8 and 13 TeV. Eur. Phys. J. C, 82(5), 438–70pp.
Abstract: This paper presents an analysis at next-to-next-to-leading order in the theory of quantum chromodynamics for the determination of a new set of proton parton distribution functions using diverse measurements in pp collisions at root s = 7, 8 and 13 TeV, performed by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, together with deep inelastic scattering data from ep collisions at the HERA collider. The ATLAS data sets considered are differential cross-section measurements of inclusive W-+/- and Z/gamma* boson production, W-+/- and Z boson production in association with jets, t (t) over bar production, inclusive jet production and direct photon production. In the analysis, particular attention is paid to the correlation of systematic uncertainties within and between the various ATLAS data sets and to the impact of model, theoretical and parameterisation uncertainties. The resulting set of parton distribution functions is called ATLASpdf21.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cantero, J., et al. (2023). Measurement of the nuclear modification factor of b-jets in 5.02 TeV Pb+Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 83(5), 438–32pp.
Abstract: This paper presents a measurement of b-jet production in Pb+Pb and pp collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurement uses 260 pb(-1) of pp collisions collected in 2017 and 1.4 nb(-1) of Pb+Pb collisions collected in 2018. In both collision systems, jets are reconstructed via the anti-kt algorithm. The b-jets are identified from a sample of jets containing muons from the semileptonic decay of b-quarks using template fits of the muon momentum relative to the jet axis. In pp collisions, b-jets are reconstructed for radius parameters R=0.2 and R=0.4, and only R=0.2 jets are used in Pb+Pb collisions. For comparison, inclusive R=0.2 jets are also measured using 1.7 nb(-1) of Pb+Pb collisions collected in 2018 and the same pp collision data as the b-jet measurement. The nuclear modification factor, RAA, is calculated for both b-jets and inclusive jets with R=0.2 over the transverse momentum range of 80-290 GeV. The nuclear modification factor for b-jets decreases from peripheral to central collisions. The ratio of the b-jet RAA to inclusive jet RAA is also presented and suggests that the RAA for b-jets is larger than that for inclusive jets in central Pb+Pb collisions. The measurements are compared with theoretical calculations and suggest a role for mass and colour-charge effects in partonic energy loss in heavy-ion collisions.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., et al. (2022). Measurement of the energy asymmetry in t(t)over-barj production at 13 TeV with the ATLAS experiment and interpretation in the SMEFT framework. Eur. Phys. J. C, 82(4), 374–36pp.
Abstract: A measurement of the energy asymmetry in jet-associated top-quark pair production is presented using 139 fb(-1) of data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV. The observable measures the different probability of top and antitop quarks to have the higher energy as a function of the jet scattering angle with respect to the beam axis. The energy asymmetry is measured in the semileptonic t (t) over bar decay channel, and the hadronically decaying top quark must have transverse momentum above 350 GeV. The results are corrected for detector effects to particle level in three bins of the scattering angle of the associated jet. The measurement agrees with the SM prediction at next-to-leading-order accuracy in quantum chromodynamics in all three bins. In the bin with the largest expected asymmetry, where the jet is emitted perpendicular to the beam, the energy asymmetry is measured to be -0.043 +/- 0.020, in agreement with the SM prediction of -0.037 +/- 0.003. Interpreting this result in the framework of the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT), it is shown that the energy asymmetry is sensitive to the top-quark chirality in four-quark operators and is therefore a valuable new observable in global SMEFT fits.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., et al. (2022). Search for flavour-changing neutral-current interactions of a top quark and a gluon in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 82(4), 334–35pp.
Abstract: A search is presented for the production of a single top quark via left-handed flavour-changing neutralcurrent (FCNC) interactions of a top quark, a gluon and an up or charm quark. Two production processes are considered: u + g -> t and c + g -> t. The analysis is based on proton-proton collision data taken at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1). Events with exactly one electron or muon, exactly one b-tagged jet and missing transverse momentum are selected, resembling the decay products of a singly produced top quark. Neural networks based on kinematic variables differentiate between events from the two signal processes and events from background processes. The measured data are consistent with the background-only hypothesis, and limits are set on the production cross-sections of the signal processes: sigma(u + g -> t) x B(t -> Wb) x B(W -> l nu) < 3.0 pb and sigma(c + g -> t) xB(t -> Wb) xB(W -> l nu) < 4.7pb at the 95% confidence level, with B(W -> l nu) = 0.325 being the sum of branching ratios of all three leptonic decay modes of the W boson. Based on the framework of an effective field theory, the cross-section limits are translated into limits on the strengths of the tug and tcg couplings occurring in the theory: vertical bar C-uG(ut)vertical bar Lambda(2) < 0.057 TeV-2 and vertical bar C-uG(ct)vertical bar Lambda(2) < 0.14 TeV-2. These bounds correspond to limits on the branching ratios of FCNC-induced top-quark decays: B(t -> u + g) < 0.61 x 10(-4) and B(t -> c + g) < 3.7 x 10(-4).
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo, F. L., Castillo Gimenez, V., et al. (2023). Observation of electroweak production of two jets and a Z-boson pair. Nat. Phys., 19(2), 237–253.
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.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Bouchhar, N., Cabrera Urban, S., et al. (2023). Search for an axion-like particle with forward proton scattering in association with photon pairs at ATLAS. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 234–38pp.
Abstract: A search for forward proton scattering in association with light-by-light scattering mediated by an axion-like particle is presented, using the ATLAS Forward Proton spectrometer to detect scattered protons and the central ATLAS detector to detect pairs of outgoing photons. Proton-proton collision data recorded in 2017 at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13TeV were analysed, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 14.6 fb(-1). A total of 441 candidate events were selected. A search was made for a narrow resonance in the diphoton mass distribution, corresponding to an axion-like particle (ALP) with mass in the range 150-1600 GeV. No excess is observed above a smooth background. Upper limits on the production cross section of a narrow resonance are set as a function of the mass, and are interpreted as upper limits on the ALP production coupling constant, assuming 100% decay branching ratio into a photon pair. The inferred upper limit on the coupling constant is in the range 0.04-0.09TeV-1 at 95% confidence level.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., Castillo Gimenez, V., et al. (2022). Measurement of the energy response of the ATLAS calorimeter to charged pions from W-+/- -> tau(+/-) (->pi(+/-)nu(tau))nu(tau) events in Run 2 data. Eur. Phys. J. C, 82(3), 223–31pp.
Abstract: The energy response of the ATLAS calorimeter is measured for single charged pions with transverse momentum in the range 10<p(T) < 300 GeV. The measurement is performed using 139 fb(-1) of LHC proton-proton collision data at root s =13 TeV taken in Run 2 by the ATLAS detector. Charged pions originating from tau-lepton decays are used to provide a sample of high-p(T) isolated particles, where the composition is known, to test an energy regime that has not previously been probed by in situ single-particle measurements. The calorimeter response to single-pions is observed to be overestimated by similar to 2% across a large part of the p(T) spectrum in the central region and underestimated by similar to 4% in the endcaps in the ATLAS simulation. The uncertainties in the measurements are less than or similar to 1% for 15<p(T) <185 GeV in the central region. To investigate the source of the discrepancies, the width of the distribution of the ratio of calorimeter energy to track momentum, the energies per layer and response in the hadronic calorimeter are also compared between data and simulation.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., Castillo Gimenez, V., et al. (2022). The ATLAS inner detector trigger performance in pp collisions at 13 TeV during LHC Run 2. Eur. Phys. J. C, 82(3), 206–57pp.
Abstract: The design and performance of the inner detector trigger for the high level trigger of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider during the 2016-2018 data taking period is discussed. In 2016, 2017, and 2018 the ATLAS detector recorded 35.6 fb(-1), 46.9 fb(-1), and 60.6 fb(-1) respectively of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV. In order to deal with the very high interaction multiplicities per bunch crossing expected with the 13TeV collisions the inner detector trigger was redesigned during the long shutdown of the Large Hadron Collider from 2013 until 2015. An overview of these developments is provided and the performance of the tracking in the trigger for the muon, electron, tau and b-jet signatures is discussed. The high performance of the inner detector trigger with these extreme interaction multiplicities demonstrates how the inner detector tracking continues to lie at the heart of the trigger performance and is essential in enabling the ATLAS physics programme.
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