Abstract: This Letter describes a model-agnostic search for pairs of jets (dijets) produced by resonant and non-resonant phenomena beyond the Standard Model in 3.6 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The distribution of the invariant mass of the two leading jets is examined for local excesses above a data-derived estimate of the smoothly falling prediction of the Standard Model. The data are also compared to a Monte Carlo simulation of Standard Model angular distributions derived from the rapidity of the two jets. No evidence of anomalous phenomena is observed in the data, which are used to exclude, at 95% CL, quantum black holes with threshold masses below 8.3 TeV, 8.1 TeV, or 5.1 TeV in three different benchmark scenarios; resonance masses below 5.2 TeV for excited quarks, 2.6 TeV in a W' model, a range of masses starting from mZ' = 1.5 TeVand couplings from g(q) = 0.2 in a Z' model; and contact interactions with a compositeness scale below 12.0 TeV and 17.5 TeV respectively for destructive and constructive interference between the new interaction and QCD processes. These results significantly extend the ATLAS limits obtained from 8 TeV data. Gaussian-shaped contributions to the mass distribution are also excluded if the effective cross-section exceeds values ranging from approximately 50-300 fb for masses below 2 TeV to 2-20 fb for masses above 4 TeV.

Abstract: The four-lepton (4l, l = e, mu) production cross section is measured in the mass range from 80 to 1000GeV using 20.3 fb(-1)of data in pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The 4l events are produced in the decays of resonant Zand Higgs bosons and the nonresonant ZZcontinuum originating from q (q) over bar, gg, and qg initial states. A total of 476 signal candidate events are observed with a background expectation of 26.2 +/- 3.6 events, enabling the measurement of the integrated cross section and the differential cross section as a function of the invariant mass and transverse momentum of the four-lepton system. In the mass range above 180GeV, assuming the theoretical constraint on the q (q) over bar production cross section calculated with perturbative NNLO QCD and NLO electroweak corrections, the signal strength of the gluon-fusion component relative to its leading-order prediction is determined to be mu(gg) = 2.4 +/- 1.0(stat.) +/- 0.5(syst.) +/- 0.8(theory).

Abstract: This Letter describes the observation of the light-by-light scattering process, gamma gamma -> gamma gamma, in Pb + Pb collisions at root S-NN = 5.02 TeV. The analysis is conducted using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.73 nb(-1), collected in November 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Light-by-light scattering candidates are selected in events with two photons produced exclusively, each with transverse energy E-T(gamma) > 3 GeV and pseudorapidity vertical bar eta(gamma)vertical bar < 2.4, diphoton invariant mass above 6 GeV, and small diphoton transverse momentum and acoplanarity. After applying all selection criteria, 59 candidate events are observed for a background expectation of 12 +/- 3 events. The observed excess of events over the expected background has a significance of 8.2 standard deviations. The measured fiducial cross section is 78 +/- 13(stat) +/- 7(syst) +/- 3(lumi) nb.

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: Jet substructure observables have significantly extended the search program for physics beyond the standard model at the Large Hadron Collider. The state-of-the-art tools have been motivated by theoretical calculations, but there has never been a direct comparison between data and calculations of jet substructure observables that are accurate beyond leading-logarithm approximation. Such observables are significant not only for probing the collinear regime of QCD that is largely unexplored at a hadron collider, but also for improving the understanding of jet substructure properties that are used in many studies at the Large Hadron Collider. This Letter documents a measurement of the first jet substructure quantity at a hadron collider to be calculated at next-to-next-to-leading-logarithm accuracy. The normalized, differential cross section is measured as a function of log(10)rho(2), where rho is the ratio of the soft-drop mass to the ungroomed jet transverse momentum. This quantity is measured in dijet events from 32.9 fb(-1) of root s = 13 TeV proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector. The data are unfolded to correct for detector effects and compared to precise QCD calculations and leading-logarithm particle-level Monte Carlo simulations.