Abstract: Searches for scalar leptoquarks pair-produced in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider are performed by the ATLAS experiment. A data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1) is used. Final states containing two electrons or two muons and two or more jets are studied, as are states with one electron or muon, missing transverse momentum and two or more jets. No statistically significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. The observed and expected lower limits on the leptoquark mass at 95% confidence level extend up to 1.29 TeV and 1.23 TeV for first-and second-generation leptoquarks, respectively, as postulated in the minimal Buchmuller-Ruckl-Wyler model, assuming a branching ratio into a charged lepton and a quark of 50%. In addition, measurements of particle-level fiducial and differential cross sections are presented for the Z -> ee, Z -> μμand t (t) over bar processes in several regions related to the search control regions. Predictions from a range of generators are compared with the measurements, and good agreement is seen for many of the observables. However, the predictions for the Z -> ll measurements in observables sensitive to jet energies disagree with the data.

Abstract: This paper presents direct searches for lepton flavour violation in Higgs boson decays, H -> e tau and H -> μtau, performed using data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The searches are based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb(-1). Leptonic (tau -> l nu(l)nu(tau)) and hadronic (tau -> hadrons nu(tau)) decays of the tau-lepton are considered. Two background estimation techniques are employed: the MC-template method, based on data-corrected simulation samples, and the Symmetry method, based on exploiting the symmetry between electrons and muons in the Standard Model backgrounds. No significant excess of events is observed and the results are interpreted as upper limits on lepton-flavour-violating branching ratios of the Higgs boson. The observed (expected) upper limits set on the branching ratios at 95% confidence level, B(H -> e tau) < 0.20% (0.12%) and B(H -> μtau ) < 0.18% (0.09%), are obtained with the MC-template method from a simultaneous measurement of potential H -> e tau and H -> μtau signals. The best-fit branching ratio difference, B(H -> μtau) -> B(H -> e tau), measured with the Symmetry method in the channel where the tau-lepton decays to leptons, is (0.25 0.10)%, compatible with a value of zero within 2.5 sigma.

Abstract: Searches for the exclusive decays of the Higgs and Z bosons into a J/psi, psi(2S), or Upsilon(nS) (n = 1, 2, 3) meson and a photon are performed with a pp collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1) collected at root s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess of events is observed above the expected backgrounds, and 95% confidence- level upper limits on the branching fractions of the Higgs boson decays to J/psi gamma, psi(2S) gamma and Upsilon(nS) gamma of 3.5 x 10(-4), 2.0 x 10(-3), and (4.9, 5.9, 5.7) x 10(-4), respectively, are obtained assuming Standard Model production. The corresponding 95% confidence-level upper limits for the branching fractions of the Z boson decays are 2.3 x 10(-6), 4.5 x 10(-6) and (2.8, 1.7, 4.8) 10(-6), respectively.