Abstract: Multi-particle azimuthal cumulants are measured as a function of centrality and transverse momentum using 470 μb(-1) of Pb+Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. These cumulants provide information on the event-by-event fluctuations of harmonic flow coefficients v(n) and correlated fluctuations between two harmonics v(n) and v(m). For the first time, a non-zero four-particle cumulant is observed for dipolar flow, v(1). The four-particle cumulants for elliptic flow, v(2), and triangular flow, v(3), exhibit a strong centrality dependence and change sign in ultra-central collisions. This sign change is consistent with significant non-Gaussian fluctuations in v(2) and v(3). The four-particle cumulant for quadrangular flow, v(4), is found to change sign in mid-central collisions. Correlations between two harmonics are studied with three- and four-particle mixed-harmonic cumulants, which indicate an anti-correlation between v(2) and v(3), and a positive correlation between v(2) and v(4). These correlations decrease in strength towards central collisions and either approach zero or change sign in ultra-central collisions. To investigate the possible flow fluctuations arising from intrinsic centrality or volume fluctuations, the results are compared between two different event classes used for centrality definitions. In peripheral and mid-central collisions where the cumulant signals are large, only small differences are observed. In ultra-central collisions, the differences are much larger and transverse momentum dependent. These results provide new information to disentangle flow fluctuations from the initial and final states, as well as new insights on the influence of centrality fluctuations.

Abstract: This paper describes a study of techniques for identifying Higgs bosons at high transverse momenta decaying into bottom-quark pairs, H -> b (b) over bar, for proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV. These decays are reconstructed from calorimeter jets found with the anti-k(t) R = 1.0 jet algorithm. To tag Higgs bosons, a combination of requirements is used: b-tagging of R = 0.2 track-jets matched to the large-R calorimeter jet, and requirements on the jet mass and other jet substructure variables. The Higgs boson tagging efficiency and corresponding multijet and hadronic top-quark background rejections are evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation. Several benchmark tagging selections are defined for different signal efficiency targets. The modelling of the relevant input distributions used to tag Higgs bosons is studied in 36 fb(-1) of data collected in 2015 and 2016 using g -> b (b) over bar and Z(-> b (b) over bar)gamma event selections in data. Both processes are found to be well modelled within the statistical and systematic uncertainties.

Abstract: The first measurement of longitudinal decorrelations of harmonic flow amplitudes v(n) for n = 2-4 in Xe + Xe collisions at root s(NN) = 5.44 TeV is obtained using 3 μb(-1) of data with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The decorrelation signal for v(3) and v(4) is found to be nearly independent of collision centrality and transverse momentum (p(T)) requirements on fmal-state particles, but for v(2) a strong centrality and p(T) dependence is seen. When compared with the results from Pb + Pb collisions at. root s(NN) = 5.02 TcV, the longitudinal decorrelation signal in midcentral Xe + Xe collisions is found to be larger for v(2), but smaller for v(3). Current hydrodynamic models reproduce the ratios of the v(n) measured in Xe + Xe collisions to those in Pb + Pb collisions but fail to describe the magnitudes and trends of the ratios of longitudinal flow decorrelations between Xe + Xe and Pb + Pb. The results on the system-size dependence provide new insights and an important lever arm to separate effects of the longitudinal structure of the initial state from other early and late time effects in heavy-ion collisions.