Abstract: A search for heavy pseudoscalar (A) and scalar (H) Higgs bosons decaying into a top quark pair (t (t) over bar) has been performed with 20.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy root s = 8 TeV. Interference effects between the signal process and standard model t (t) over bar production, which are expected to distort the signal shape from a single peak to a peak-dip structure, are taken into account. No significant deviation from the standard model prediction is observed in the t (t) over bar invariant mass spectrum in final states with an electron or muon, large missing transverse momentum, and at least four jets. The results are interpreted within the context of a type-II two-Higgs-doublet model. Exclusion limits on the signal strength are derived as a function of the mass m(A/H) and the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the two Higgs fields, tan beta, for m(A/H) > 500 GeV.

Abstract: This Letter presents a measurement of the inelastic proton-proton cross section using 60 μb(-1) of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy root s of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Inelastic interactions are selected using rings of plastic scintillators in the forward region (2.07 <vertical bar eta vertical bar < 3.86) of the detector. A cross section of 68.1 +/- 1.4 mb is measured in the fiducial region. xi = M-X(2) > s > 10(-6), where M-X is the larger invariant mass of the two hadronic systems separated by the largest rapidity gap in the event. In this xi range the scintillators are highly efficient. For diffractive events this corresponds to cases where at least one proton dissociates to a system with M-X > 13 GeV. The measured cross section is compared with a range of theoretical predictions. When extrapolated to the full phase space, a cross section of 78.1 +/- 2.9 mb is measured, consistent with the inelastic cross section increasing with center-of-mass energy.

Abstract: The total cross section and differential cross sections for the production of B-c(+/-) mesons, times their branching fraction to J/psi pi(+/-), are measured relative to those for the production of B-+/- mesons, times their branching fraction to J/psi K-+/-. The data used for this study correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012 at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV. The measurement is performed differentially in bins of transverse momentum p(T) for 13 GeV < p(T)(B-c(+/-)) < 22 GeV and p(T)(B-c(+/-)) > 22 GeV and in bins of rapidity y for vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.75 and 0.75 < vertical bar y vertical bar < 2.3. The relative cross section times branching fraction for the full range p(T) > 13 GeV and vertical bar y vertical bar < 2.3 is (0.34 +/- 0.04(stat) (+0.06)(-0.02 sys) +/- 0.01(lifetime))%. The differential measurements suggest that the production cross section of the B-c(+/-) decreases faster with p(T) than the production cross section of the B-+/-, while no significant dependence on rapidity is observed.

Abstract: A search for long-lived particles decaying into hadrons and at least one muon is presented. The analysis selects events that pass a muon or missing-transverse-momentum trigger and contain a displaced muon track and a displaced vertex. The analyzed dataset of proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV was collected with the ATLAS detector and corresponds to 136 fb(-1). The search employs dedicated reconstruction techniques that significantly increase the sensitivity to long-lived particle decays that occur in the ATLAS inner detector. Background estimates for Standard Model processes and instrumental effects are extracted from data. The observed event yields are compatible with those expected from background processes. The results are presented as limits at 95% confidence level on model-independent cross sections for processes beyond the Standard Model, and interpreted as exclusion limits in scenarios with pair production of long-lived top squarks that decay via a small R-parity-violating coupling into a quark and a muon. Top squarks with masses up to 1.7 TeV are excluded for a lifetime of 0.1 ns, and masses below 1.3 TeV are excluded for lifetimes between 0.01 ns and 30 ns.

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.