Abstract: Searches for long-lived particles (LLPs) are among the most promising avenues for discovering physics beyond the Standard Model at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). However, displaced signatures are notoriously difficult to identify due to their ability to evade standard object reconstruction strategies. In particular, the ATLAS track reconstruction applies strict pointing requirements which limit sensitivity to charged particles originating far from the primary interaction point. To recover efficiency for LLPs decaying within the tracking detector volume, the ATLAS Collaboration employs a dedicated large-radius tracking (LRT) passwith loosened pointing requirements. During Run 2 of the LHC, the LRT implementation produced many incorrectly reconstructed tracks and was therefore only deployed in small subsets of events. In preparation for LHC Run 3, ATLAS has significantly improved both standard and large-radius track reconstruction performance, allowing for LRT to run in all events. This development greatly expands the potential phase-space of LLP searches and streamlines LLP analysis workflows. This paper will highlight the above achievement and report on the readiness of the ATLAS detector for track-based LLP searches in Run 3.

Abstract: A measurement of the production of vector bottomonium states, Upsilon(1S), Upsilon(2S), and Upsilon(3S), in Pb + Pb and pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV is presented. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of 1.38 nb(-1) of Pb + Pb data collected in 2018, 0.44 nb-1 of Pb + Pb data collected in 2015, and 0.26 fb(-1) of pp data collected in 2017 by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are performed in the dimuon decay channel for transverse momentum p(T)(mu mu) < 30 GeV, absolute rapidity vertical bar y(mu mu)vertical bar < 1.5, and Pb + Pb event centrality 0-80%. The production rates of the three bottomonium states in Pb + Pb collisions are compared with those in pp collisions to extract the nuclear modification factors as functions of event centrality, p(T)(mu mu), and vertical bar y(mu mu)vertical bar. In addition, the suppression of the excited states relative to the ground state is studied. The results are compared with theoretical model calculations.

Abstract: A search for a heavy CP-odd Higgs boson, A, decaying into a Z boson and a heavy CP-even Higgs boson, H, is presented. It uses the full LHC Run 2 dataset of pp collisions at root s = 13TeV collected with the ATLAS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb(-1). The search for A -> ZH is performed in the l(+)l(-)t (t) over bar t and nu(nu) over barb (b) over bar final states and surpasses the reach of previous searches in different final states in the region with m(H) > 350 GeV and m(A) > 800 GeV. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation is found. Upper limits are placed on the production cross-section times the decay branching ratios. Limits with less model dependence are also presented as functions of the reconstructed m(t (t) over bar) and m(b (b) over bar) distributions in the l(+)l(-)t (t) over bar and nu(nu) over barb (b) over bar channels, respectively. In addition, the results are interpreted in the context of two-Higgs-doublet models.

Abstract: A search for a new heavy scalar particle X decaying into a Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson and a new singlet scalar particle S is presented. The search uses a proton-proton (pp) collision data sample with an integrated luminosity of 140 fb(-1) recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The most sensitive mass parameter space is explored in X mass ranging from 500 to 1500 GeV, with the corresponding S mass in the range 200-500 GeV. The search selects events with two hadronically decaying tau-lepton candidates from H -> tau(+)tau(-) decays and one or two light leptons (l = e, mu) from S -> VV (V = W, Z) decays while the remaining V boson decays hadronically or to neutrinos. A multivariate discriminant based on event kinematics is used to separate the signal from the background. No excess is observed beyond the expected SM background and 95% confidence level upper limits between 72 fb and 542 fb are derived on the cross-section sigma(pp -> X -> SH) assuming the same SM-Higgs boson-like decay branching ratios for the S -> VV decay. Upper limits on the visible cross-sections sigma(pp -> X -> SH -> WW tau tau) and sigma(pp -> X -> SH -> ZZ tau tau) are also set in the ranges 3-26 fb and 6-33 fb, respectively.

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.