Abstract: Searches are conducted for new spin-0 or spin-1 bosons using events where a Higgs boson with mass 125 GeV decays into four leptons (l = e, mu). This decay is presumed to occur via an intermediate state which contains two on-shell, promptly decaying bosons: H -> XX/ZX 4l, where the new boson X has a mass between 1 and 60 GeV. The search uses pp collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1) at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV. The data are found to be consistent with Standard Model expectations. Limits are set on fiducial cross sections and on the branching ratio of the Higgs boson to decay into XX/ZX, improving those from previous publications by a factor between two and four. Limits are also set on mixing parameters relevant in extensions of the Standard Model containing a dark sector where X is interpreted to be a dark boson.

Abstract: In this paper, a new technique for reconstructing and identifying hadronically decaying tau (+)tau (-) pairs with a large Lorentz boost, referred to as the di-tau tagger, is developed and used for the first time in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. A benchmark di-tau tagging selection is employed in the search for resonant Higgs boson pair production, where one Higgs boson decays into a boosted bbbar pair and the other into a boosted tau (+)tau (-) pair, with two hadronically decaying tau -leptons in the final state. Using 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, the efficiency of the di-tau tagger is determined and the background with quark- or gluon-initiated jets misidentified as di-tau objects is estimated. The search for a heavy, narrow, scalar resonance produced via gluon-gluon fusion and decaying into two Higgs bosons is carried out in the mass range 1-3 TeV using the same dataset. No deviations from the Standard Model predictions are observed, and 95% confidence-level exclusion limits are set on this model.

Abstract: A search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson into a pair of spin-zero particles, H -> aa, where the a-boson decays into b-quarks promptly or with a mean proper lifetime c tau(a) up to 6 mm and has a mass in the range of 20-60GeV, is presented. The search is performed in events where the Higgs boson is produced in association with a W or Z boson, giving rise to a signature of one or two charged leptons (electrons or muons) and multiple jets from b-quark decays. The analysis is based on the dataset of proton-proton collisions at root s = 13TeV recorded in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36: 1 fb(-1). No significant excess of events above the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and 95% confidence-level upper limits are derived for the production cross-sections for pp -> WH, ZH and their combination, times the branching ratio of the decay chain H -> aa -> 4b. For a-bosons which decay promptly, the upper limit on the combination of cross-sections for WH and ZH times the branching ratio of H -> aa -> 4b ranges from 3.0 pb for m(a) = 20 GeV to 1.3 pb for m(a) = 60 GeV, assuming that the ratio of WH to ZH cros-ssections follows the Standard Model prediction. For a-bosons with longer proper lifetimes, the most stringent limits are 1.8 pb and 0.68 pb, respectively, at c tau(a) similar to 0.4 mm.

Abstract: This paper presents a search for a new Z' vector gauge boson with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using pp collision data collected at root s = 13TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1). The new gauge boson Z' is predicted by L-mu – L-tau models to address observed phenomena that can not be explained by the Standard Model. The search examines the four-muon (4 mu) final state, using a deep learning neural network classifier to separate the Z' signal from the Standard Model background events. The di-muon invariant masses in the 4 μevents are used to extract the Z' resonance signature. No significant excess of events is observed over the predicted background. Upper limits at a 95% confidence level on the Z' production cross-section times the decay branching fraction of pp -> Z' μμ-> 4 μare set from 0.31 to 4.3 fb for the Z' mass ranging from 5 to 81 GeV. The corresponding common coupling strengths, g(Z'), of the Z' boson to the second and third generation leptons above 0.003 – 0.2 have been excluded.

Abstract: A search for leptoquarks decaying into the b tau final state is performed using Run 2 proton-proton collision data from the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1) at root s = 13TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector. The benchmark models considered in this search are vector leptoquarks with electric charge of 2/3e and scalar leptoquarks with an electric charge of 4/3e. No significant excess above the Standard Model prediction is observed, and 95% confidence level upper limits are set on the cross-section times branching fraction of leptoquarks decaying into b tau. For the vector leptoquark production two models are considered: the Yang-Mills and Minimal coupling models. In the Yang-Mills (Minimal coupling) scenario, vector leptoquarks with a mass below 1.58 (1.35) TeV are excluded for a gauge coupling of 1.0 and below 2.05 (1.99) TeV for a gauge coupling of 2.5. In the case of scalar leptoquarks, masses below 1.28 (1.53) TeV are excluded for a Yukawa coupling of 1.0 (2.5). Finally, an interpretation of the results with minimal model dependence is performed for each of the signal region categories, and limits on the visible cross-section for beyond the Standard Model processes are provided.