Abstract: Jet quenching is the process of color-charged partons losing energy via interactions with quark-gluon plasma droplets created in heavy-ion collisions. The collective expansion of such droplets is well described by viscous hydrodynamics. Similar evidence of collectivity is consistently observed in smaller collision systems, including pp and p+ Pb collisions. In contrast, while jet quenching is observed in Pb + Pb collisions, no evidence has been found in these small systems to date, raising fundamental questions about the nature of the system created in these collisions. The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider has measured the yield of charged hadrons correlated with reconstructed jets in 0.36 nb-1 of p+ Pb and 3.6 pb-1 of pp collisions at 5.02 TeV. The yields of charged hadrons with p(T)(ch) > 0.5 GeV near and opposite in azimuth to jets with p(t)(je) T > 30 or 60 GeV, and the ratios of these yields between p+ Pb and pp collisions, IpPb, are reported. The collision centrality of p+ Pb events is categorized by the energy deposited by forward neutrons from the struck nucleus. The IpPb values are consistent with unity within a few percent for hadrons with p(T )(ch)> 4 GeV at all centralities. These data provide new, strong constraints that preclude almost any parton energy loss in central p+ Pb collisions.

Abstract: A search for flavour-changing neutral-current decays of a top quark into an up-type quark (either up or charm) and a light scalar particle X decaying into a bottom anti-bottom quark pair is presented. The search focuses on top-quark pair production where one top quark decays to qX, with X -> b (b) over bar, and the other top quark decays according to the Standard Model, with the W boson decaying leptonically. The final state is thus characterised by an isolated electron or muon and at least four jets. Events are categorised according to the multiplicity of jets and jets tagged as originating from b-quarks, and a neural network is used to discriminate between signal and background processes. The data analysed correspond to 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The 95% confidence-level upper limits between 0.019% and 0.062% are derived for the branching fraction B(t -> uX) and between 0.018% and 0.078% for the branching fraction B(t -> cX), for masses of the scalar particle X between 20 and 160 GeV.

Abstract: A search for pair production of doubly charged Higgs bosons (H-+/-+/-), each decaying into a pair of prompt, isolated, and highly energetic leptons with the same electric charge, is presented. The search uses a proton-proton collision data sample at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1) recorded by the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This analysis focuses on same-charge leptonic decays, H-+/-+/- -> l(+/-)l'(+/-) where l, l' = e, mu, tau, in two-, three-, and four-lepton channels, but only considers final states which include electrons or muons. No evidence of a signal is observed. Corresponding upper limits on the production cross-section of a doubly charged Higgs boson are derived, as a function of its mass m(H-+/-+/-), at 95% confidence level. Assuming that the branching ratios to each of the possible leptonic final states are equal, B(H-+/-+/- -> e(+/-)e(+/-)) = B(H-+/-+/- -> e(+/-)mu(+/-)) = B(H-+/-+/- -> mu(+/-)mu(+/-)) = B(H-+/-+/- -> e(+/-)tau(+/-)) = B(H-+/-+/- -> mu(+/-)tau(+/-)) = B(H-+/-+/- -> tau(+/-)tau(+/-)) = 1/6, the observed (expected) lower limit on the mass of a doubly charged Higgs boson is 1080GeV(1065 GeV) within the left-right symmetric type-II seesaw model, which is the strongest limit to date produced by the ATLAS Collaboration. Additionally, this paper provides the first direct test of the Zee-Babu neutrino mass model at the LHC, yielding an observed (expected) lower limit of m(H-+/-+/-) = 900 GeV (880 GeV).

Abstract: A study of the charge conjugation and parity (CP) properties of the interaction between the Higgs boson and tau -leptons is presented. The study is based on a measurement of CP-sensitive angular observables defined by the visible decay products of t -leptons produced in Higgs boson decays. The analysis uses 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Contributions from CP-violating interactions between the Higgs boson and t -leptons are described by a single mixing angle parameter phi(tau) in the generalised Yukawa interaction. Without constraining the H -> tau tau signal strength to its expected value under the Standard Model hypothesis, the mixing angle ft is measured to be 9 degrees +/- 16 degrees, with an expected value of 0 degrees +/- 28 degrees at the 68% confidence level. The pure CPodd hypothesis is disfavoured at a level of 3.4 standard deviations. The results are compatible with the predictions for the Higgs boson in the Standard Model.

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.