Abstract: Measurements of the production cross-sections of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson (H) decaying into a pair of tau -leptons are presented. The measurements use data collected with the ATLAS detector from pp collisions produced at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of p root s = 13TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb-1. Leptonic ( tau -> l upsilon(l)upsilon(tau)) and hadronic ( tau -> hadrons upsilon tau) decays of the tau -lepton are considered. All measurements account for the branching ratio of H -> tau tau and are performed with a requirement |yH| < 2.5, where yH is the true Higgs boson rapidity. The cross-section of the pp -> H -> tau tau process is measured to be 2.94 +/- 0.21(stat)+ 0.37 – 0.32(syst) pb, in agreement with the SM prediction of 3.17 +/- 0.09 pb. Inclusive cross-sections are determined separately for the four dominant production modes: 2.65 +/- 0.41(stat)+ 0.91 – 0.67(syst) pb for gluon-gluon fusion, 0.197 +/- 0.028(stat)+ 0.032 – 0.026(syst) pb for vectorboson fusion, 0.115 +/- 0.058(stat)+ 0.042 – 0.040(syst) pb for vector-boson associated production, and 0.033 +/- 0.031(stat)+ 0.022 – 0.017(syst) pb for top-quark pair associated production. Measurements in exclusive regions of the phase space, using the simplified template cross-section framework, are also performed. All results are in agreement with the SM predictions.

Abstract: A novel search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson into pairs of long-lived neutral particles, each decaying into a bottom quark pair, is performed using 139 fb(-1)of root s = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events consistent with the production of a Higgs boson in association with a leptonically decaying Z boson are analysed. Long-lived particle (LLP) decays are reconstructed from inner-detector tracks as displaced vertices with high mass and track multiplicity relative to Standard Model processes. The analysis selection requires the presence of at least two displaced vertices, effectively suppressing Standard Model backgrounds. The residual background contribution is estimated using a data-driven technique. No excess over Standard Model predictions is observed, and upper limits are set on the branching ratio of the Higgs boson to LLPs. Branching ratios above 10% are excluded at 95% confidence level for LLP mean proper lifetimes c tau as small as 4 mm and as large as 100 mm. For LLP masses below 40 GeV, these results represent the most stringent constraint in this lifetime regime.

Abstract: The search for effective field theory deformations of the Standard Model (SM) is a major goal of particle physics that can benefit from a global approach in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). For the first time, we include LHC data on top production and differential distributions together with Higgs production and decay rates and Simplified Template Cross-Section (STXS) measurements in a global fit, as well as precision electroweak and diboson measurements from LEP and the LHC, in a global analysis with SMEFT operators of dimension 6 included linearly. We present the constraints on the coefficients of these operators, both individually and when marginalised, in flavour-universal and top-specific scenarios, studying the interplay of these datasets and the correlations they induce in the SMEFT. We then explore the constraints that our linear SMEFT analysis imposes on specific ultra-violet completions of the Standard Model, including those with single additional fields and low-mass stop squarks. We also present a model-independent search for deformations of the SM that contribute to between two and five SMEFT operator coefficients. In no case do we find any significant evidence for physics beyond the SM. Our underlying Fitmaker public code provides a framework for future generalisations of our analysis, including a quadratic treatment of dimension-6 operators.