Abstract: This Letter presents a measurement of gamma gamma -> mu(+)mu(-)- production in Pb + Pb collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 0.49 nb(-1). The azimuthal angle and transverse momentum correlations between the muons are measured as a function of collision centrality. The muon pairs are produced from gamma gamma through the interaction of the large electromagnetic fields of the nuclei. The contribution from background sources of muon pairs is removed using a template fit method. In peripheral collisions, the muons exhibit a strong back-to-back correlation consistent with previous measurements of muon pair production in ultraperipheral collisions. The angular correlations are observed to broaden significantly in central collisions. The modifications arc qualitatively consistent with rescattering of the muons while passing through the hot matter produced in the collision.

Abstract: This article documents the muon reconstruction and identification efficiency obtained by the ATLAS experiment for 139 fb-1 of pp collision data at <mml:msqrt>s</mml:msqrt>=13 TeV collected between 2015 and 2018 during Run 2 of the LHC. The increased instantaneous luminosity delivered by the LHC over this period required a reoptimisation of the criteria for the identification of prompt muons. Improved and newly developed algorithms were deployed to preserve high muon identification efficiency with a low misidentification rate and good momentum resolution. The availability of large samples of Z -> μμand J/psi -> μμdecays, and the minimisation of systematic uncertainties, allows the efficiencies of criteria for muon identification, primary vertex association, and isolation to be measured with an accuracy at the per-mille level in the bulk of the phase space, and up to the percent level in complex kinematic configurations. Excellent performance is achieved over a range of transverse momenta from 3 GeV to several hundred GeV, and across the full muon detector acceptance of |eta|<2.7.

Abstract: The yield of charged particles opposite to a Z boson with large transverse momentum (p(T)) is measured in 260 pb(-1) of pp and 1.7 nb(-1) of Pb + Pb collision data at 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The Z boson tag is used to select hard-scattered partons with specific kinematics, and to observe how their showers are modified as they propagate through the quarkgluon plasma created in Pb + Pb collisions. Compared with pp collisions, charged-particle yields in Pb + Pb collisions show significant modifications as a function of charged-particle p(T) in a way that depends on event centrality and Z boson p(T). The data are compared with a variety of theoretical calculations and provide new information about the medium-induced energy loss of partons in a p(T) regime difficult to measure through other channels.

Abstract: Fiducial and differential cross-section measurements of W+W- production in association with at least one hadronic jet are presented. These measurements are sensitive to the properties of electroweak-boson self-interactions and provide a test of perturbative quantum chromodynamics and the electroweak theory. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data collected at root s = 13TeV with the ATLAS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1). Events are selected with exactly one oppositely charged electron-muon pair and at least one hadronic jet with a transverse momentum of p(T) > 30 GeV and a pseudorapidity of vertical bar eta vertical bar < 4.5. After subtracting the background contributions and correcting for detector effects, the jet-inclusive W+W-+ >= 1 jet fiducial cross-section and W+W-+ jets differential cross-sections with respect to several kinematic variables are measured. These measurements include leptonic quantities, such as the lepton transverse momenta and the transverse mass of the W+W- system, as well as jet-related observables such as the leading jet transverse momentum and the jet multiplicity. Limits on anomalous triple-gauge-boson couplings are obtained in a phase space where interference between the Standard Model amplitude and the anomalous amplitude is enhanced.

Abstract: A measurement of observables sensitive to spin correlations in tt<overbar></mml:mover> production is presented, using 36.1 fb-1 of pp collision data at <mml:msqrt>s</mml:msqrt>=13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Differential cross-sections are measured in events with exactly one electron and one muon with opposite-sign electric charge as a function of the azimuthal opening angle and the absolute difference in pseudorapidity between the electron and muon candidates in the laboratory frame. The azimuthal opening angle is also measured as a function of the invariant mass of the t<mml:mover accent=“true”>t<mml:mo stretchy=“false”><overbar></mml:mover> system. The measured differential cross-sections are compared to predictions by several NLO Monte Carlo generators and fixed-order calculations. The observed degree of spin correlation is somewhat higher than predicted by the generators used. The data are consistent with the prediction of one of the fixed-order calculations at NLO, but agree less well with higher-order predictions. Using these leptonic observables, a search is performed for pair production of supersymmetric top squarks decaying into Standard Model top quarks and light neutralinos. Top squark masses between 170 and 230 GeV are largely excluded at the 95% confidence level for kinematically allowed values of the neutralino mass.