Abstract: A search for flavour-changing neutral current decays of a top quark into an up-type quark (q = u, c) and the Standard Model Higgs boson, t Hq, is presented. The search is based on a dataset of pp collisions at = 13 TeV recorded in 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1). Two complementary analyses are performed to search for top-quark pair events in which one top quark decays into Wb and the other top quark decays into Hq, and target the Hbb and H (+-) decay modes, respectively. The high multiplicity of b-quark jets, or the presence of hadronically decaying -leptons, is exploited in the two analyses respectively. Multivariate techniques are used to separate the signal from the background, which is dominated by top-quark pair production. No significant excess of events above the background expectation is found, and 95% CL upper limits on the t Hq branching ratios are derived. The combination of these searches with ATLAS searches in diphoton and multilepton final states yields observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits on the t Hc and t Hu branching ratios of 1.1 x 10(-3) (8.3 x 10(-4)) and 1.2 x 10(-3) (8.3 x 10(-4)), respectively. The corresponding combined observed (expected) upper limits on the |(tcH)| and |(tuH)| couplings are 0.064 (0.055) and 0.066 (0.055), respectively.

Abstract: A search for direct pair production of top squarks in final states with two tau leptons, b-jets, and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on proton-proton collision data at root s = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1) recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 and 2016. Two exclusive channels with either two hadronically decaying tau leptons or one hadronically and one leptonically decaying tau lepton are considered. No significant deviation from the Standard Model predictions is observed in the data. The analysis results are interpreted in terms of model-independent limits and used to derive exclusion limits on the masses of the top squark (t) over tilde (1) and the tau slepton (tau) over tilde (1) in a simplified model of supersymmetry with a nearly massless gravitino. In this model, masses up to m((t) over tilde (1)) = 1.16 TeV and m ((tau) over tilde (1)) = 1.00 TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level.

Abstract: A search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a top-quark pair, t(t)overbar H, is presented. The analysis uses 36.1 fb(-1) of pp collision data at root s = 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 and 2016. The search targets the H -> b(b)overbar decay mode. The selected events contain either one or two electrons or muons from the top-quark decays, and are then categorized according to the number of jets and how likely these are to contain b-hadrons. Multivariate techniques are used to discriminate between signal and background events, the latter being dominated by ft + jets production. For a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV, the ratio of the measured t(t)overbarH signal cross-section to the standard model expectation is found to be μ= 0.84(-0.61)(+0.64). A value of μgreater than 2.0 is excluded at 95% confidence level (C.L.) while the expected upper limit is μ< 1.2 in the absence of a t(t)overbar H signal.

Abstract: This Letter presents a search for the production of a long-lived neutral particle (Z(d)) decaying within the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter, in association with a standard model (SM) Z boson produced via an intermediate scalar boson, where Z -> l(+) l(-) (l = e, mu). The data used were collected by the ATLAS detector during 2015 and 2016 pp collisions with a center-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 +/- 0.8 fb(-1). No significant excess of events is observed above the expected background. Limits on the production cross section of the scalar boson times its decay branching fraction into the long-lived neutral particle are derived as a function of the mass of the intermediate scalar boson, the mass of the long-lived neutral particle, and its c tau from a few centimeters to one hundred meters. In the case that the intermediate scalar boson is the SM Higgs boson, its decay branching fraction to a long-lived neutral particle with a c tau approximately between 0.1 and 7 m is excluded with a 95% confidence level up to 10% for m(zd) between 5 and 15 GeV.

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.