Abstract: Single- and double-differential cross-section measurements are presented for the production of top-quark pairs, in the lepton + jets channel at particle and parton level. Two topologies, resolved and boosted, are considered and the results are presented as a function of several kinematic variables characterising the top and t <overline> t system and jet multiplicities. The study was performed using data from pp collisions at centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 fb-1. Due to the large tt cross-section at the LHC, such measurements allow a detailed study of the properties of top-quark production and decay, enabling precision tests of several Monte Carlo generators and fixed-order Standard Model predictions. Overall, there is good agreement between the theoretical predictions and the data.

Abstract: A measurement of W-+/- boson production in Pb+Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV is reported using data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 0.49 nb(-1). The W-+/- bosons are reconstructed in the electron or muon leptonic decay channels. Production yields of leptonically decaying W-+/- bosons, normalised by the total number of minimum-bias events and the nuclear thickness function, are measured within a fiducial region defined by the detector acceptance and the main kinematic requirements. These normalised yields are measured separately for W+ and W- bosons, and are presented as a function of the absolute value of pseudorapidity of the charged lepton and of the collision centrality. The lepton charge asymmetry is also measured as a function of the absolute value of lepton pseudorapidity. In addition, nuclear modification factors are calculated using the W-+/- boson production cross-sections measured in pp collisions. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-leading-order calculations with CT14 parton distribution functions as well as with predictions obtained with the EPPS16 and nCTEQ15 nuclear parton distribution functions. No dependence of normalised production yields on centrality and a good agreement with predictions are observed for mid-central and central collisions. For peripheral collisions, the data agree with predictions within 1.7 (0.9) standard deviations for W- (W+) bosons.

Abstract: The algorithms used by the ATLAS Collaboration during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider to identify jets containing b-hadrons are presented. The performance of the algorithms is evaluated in the simulation and the efficiency with which these algorithms identify jets containing b-hadrons is measured in collision data. The measurement uses a likelihood-based method in a sample highly enriched in t (t) over bar events. The topology of the t -> Wb decays is exploited to simultaneously measure both the jet flavour composition of the sample and the efficiency in a transverse momentum range from 20 to 600 GeV. The efficiency measurement is subsequently compared with that predicted by the simulation. The data used in this measurement, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 80.5 fb(-1), were collected in proton-proton collisions during the years 2015-2017 at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV. By simultaneously extracting both the efficiency and jet flavour composition, this measurement significantly improves the precision compared to previous results, with uncertainties ranging from 1 to 8% depending on the jet transverse momentum.

Abstract: In this paper, we minimize and compare two different fine-tuning measures in four high-scale supersymmetric models that are embedded in the MSSM. In addition, we determine the impact of current and future dark matter direct detection and collider experiments on the fine-tuning. We then compare the low-scale electroweak measure with the high-scale Barbieri-Giudice measure. We find that they reduce to the same value when the higgsino parameter drives the degree of fine-tuning. We also find spectra where the high-scale measure turns out to be lower than the low-scale measure. Depending on the high-scale model and fine-tuning definition, we find a minimal fine-tuning of 3-38 (corresponding to O(10-1)%) for the low-scale measure, and 63-571 (corresponding to O(1-0.1)%) for the high-scale measure. We stress that it is too early to conclude on the fate of supersymmetry, based only on the fine-tuning paradigm.

Abstract: We evaluate the implications of LHC and LEP/SLC measurements for the electro-weak couplings of the top and bottom quarks. We derive global bounds on the Wilson coefficients of ten two-fermion operators in an effective field theory description. The combination of hadron collider data with Z -pole measurements is found to yield tight limits on the operator coefficients that modify the left-handed couplings of the bottom and top quark to the Z boson. We also present projections for the high-luminosity phase of the LHC and for future electron-positron colliders. The bounds on the operator coefficients are expected to improve substantially during the remaining LHC programme, by factors of 1 to 5 if systematic uncertainties are scaled as statistical ones. The operation of an e(+)e(-) collider at a center-of-mass energy above the top-quark pair production threshold is expected to further improve the bounds by one to two orders of magnitude. The combination of measurements in pp and e(+)e(-) collisions allows for a percent-level determination of the top-quark Yukawa coupling, that is robust in a global fit.