Abstract: A search for Higgs boson pair production via vector-boson fusion (VBF) in the b bbar b bbar final state is carried out with the ATLAS experiment using 126 fb(-1) of proton- proton collision data delivered at root s = 13 TeV by the Large Hadron Collider. This search is sensitive to VBF production of additional heavy bosons that may decay into Higgs boson pairs, and in a non-resonant topology it can constrain the quartic coupling between the Higgs bosons and vector bosons. No significant excess relative to the Standard Model expectation is observed, and limits on the production cross-section are set at the 95% confidence level for a heavy scalar resonance in the context of an extended Higgs sector, and for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production. Interpretation in terms of the coupling between a Higgs boson pair and two vector bosons is also provided: coupling values normalised to the Standard Model expectation of kappa (2V)< -0.76 and <kappa>(2V)> 2.90 are excluded at the 95% confidence level in data.

Abstract: A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1). A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015-2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV.

Abstract: A search for the direct production of the supersymmetric partners of tau-leptons (staus) in final states with two hadronically decaying tau-leptons is presented. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1), recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant deviation from the expected Standard Model background is observed. Limits are derived in scenarios of direct production of stau pairs with each stau decaying into the stable lightest neutralino and one tau-lepton in simplified models where the two stau mass eigenstates are degenerate. Stau masses from 120 GeV to 390 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level for a massless lightest neutralino.

Abstract: This paper describes the measurements of flow harmonics v(2)-v(6) in 3 μb(-1) of Xe Xe collisions at root S-NN = 5.44 TeV performed using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Measurements of the centrality, multiplicity, and p(T) dependence of the v(n) obtained using two-particle correlations and the scalar product technique are presented. The measurements are also performed using a template-fit procedure, which was developed to remove nonflow correlations in small collision systems. This nonflow removal is shown to have a significant influence on the measured v(n) at high p(T), especially in peripheral events. Comparisons of the measured v(n) with measurements in Pb + Pb collisions and p + Pb collisions at root S-NN = 5.02 TeV are also presented. The v(n) values in Xe + Xe collisions are observed to be larger than those in Pb + Pb collisions for n = 2, 3, and 4 in the most central events. However, with decreasing centrality or increasing harmonic order n, the v(n) values in Xe + Xe collisions become smaller than those in Pb + Pb collisions. The v(n) in Xe + Xe and Pb + Pb collisions are also compared as a function of the mean number of participating nucleons, < N-part >, and the measured charged-particle multiplicity in the detector. The v(3) values in Xe + Xe and Pb + Pb collisions are observed to be similar at the same < N-part > or multiplicity, but the other harmonics are significantly different. The ratios of the measured v(n) in Xe + Xe and Pb + Pb collisions, as a function of centrality, are also compared to theoretical calculations.

Abstract: The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles produced in sNN=8.16TeV p+Pb collisions is measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 165 nb-1 that was collected in 2016. Azimuthal anisotropy coefficients, elliptic v2 and triangular v3\, extracted using two-particle correlations with a non-flow template fit procedure, are presented as a function of particle transverse momentum (pT) between 0.5 and 50 GeV. The v2 results are also reported as a function of centrality in three different particle pTintervals. The results are reported from minimum-bias events and jet-triggered events, where two jet pT thresholds are used. The anisotropies for particles with pT less than about 2 GeV are consistent with hydrodynamic flow expectations, while the significant non-zero anisotropies for pT in the range 9-50 GeV are not explained within current theoretical frameworks. In the pTrange 2-9 GeV, the anisotropies are larger in minimum-bias than in jet-triggered events. Possible origins of these effects, such as the changing admixture of particles from hard scattering and the underlying event, are discussed.