Abstract: Searches for non- resonant and resonant Higgs boson pair production are performed in the..WW * channel with the final state of.. .j j using 36.1 fb – 1 of protonpv roton collision data recorded at a centre- of- mass energy of s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No significant deviation from the Standard Model prediction is observed. A 95% confidence- level observed upper limit of 7.7 pb is set on the cross section for nonresonant production, while the expected limit is 5.4 pb. A search for a narrow- width resonance X decaying to a pair of Standard Model Higgs bosons HH is performed with the same set of data, and the observed upper limits on s( pp. X) x B( X. HH) range between 40.0 and 6.1 pb for masses of the resonance between 260 and 500GeV, while the expected limits range between 17.6 and 4.4 pb. When deriving the limits above, the StandardModel branching ratios of the H... and H. WW * are assumed.

Abstract: A search for vectorlike quarks is presented, which targets their decay into a Z boson and a third-generation Standard Model quark. In the case of a vectorlike quark T (B) with charge +2/3e (-1/3e), the decay searched for is T -> Zt (B -> Zb). Data for this analysis were taken during 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV. The final state used is characterized by the presence of b-tagged jets, as well as a Z boson with high transverse momentum, which is reconstructed from a pair of opposite-sign same-flavor leptons. Pair and single production of vectorlike quarks are both taken into account and are each searched for using optimized dileptonic exclusive and trileptonic inclusive event selections. In these selections, the high scalar sum of jet transverse momenta, the presence of high-transverse-momentum large-radius jets, as well as-in the case of the single-production selections-the presence of forward jets are used. No significant excess over the background-only hypothesis is found and exclusion limits at 95% confidence level allow masses of vectorlike quarks of m(T) > 1030 GeV (m(T) > 1210 GeV) and m(B) > 1010 GeV (m(B) > 1140 GeV) in the singlet (doublet) model. In the case of 100% branching ratio for T -> Zt (B -> Zb), the limits are m(T) > 1340 GeV (m(B) > 1220 GeV). Limits at 95% confidence level are also set on the coupling to Standard Model quarks for given vectorlike quark masses.

Abstract: The performance of the missing transverse (E-T(miss) momentum) reconstruction with the ATLAS detector is evaluated using data collected in proton-proton collisions at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2015. To reconstruct E-T(miss), fully calibrated electrons, muons, photons, hadronically decaying tau-leptons, and jets reconstructed from calorimeter energy deposits and charged-particle tracks are used. These are combined with the soft hadronic activity measured by reconstructed charged-particle tracks not associated with the hard objects. Possible double counting of contributions from reconstructed charged-particle tracks from the inner detector, energy deposits in the calorimeter, and reconstructed muons from the muon spectrometer is avoided by applying a signal ambiguity resolution procedure which rejects already used signals when combining the various E-T(miss) contributions. The individual terms as well as the overall reconstructed E-T(miss) are evaluated with various performance metrics for scale (linearity), resolution, and sensitivity to the data-taking conditions. The method developed to determine the systematic uncertainties of the E-T(miss) scale and resolution is discussed. Results are shown based on the full 2015 data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1).

Abstract: A search for direct top squark pair production resulting in events with either a same-flavour opposite-sign dilepton pair with invariant mass compatible with a Z boson or a pair of jets compatible with a Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson (h) is presented. Requirements on the missing transverse momentum, together with additional selections on leptons, jets, jets identified as originating from b-quarks are imposed to target the other decay products of the top squark pair. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data at root s = 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 20152016, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1). No excess is observed in the data with respect to the SM predictions. The results are interpreted in two sets of models. In the first set, direct production of pairs of lighter top squarks ((t) over tilde (1)) with long decay chains involving Z or Higgs bosons is considered. The second set includes direct pair production of the heavier top squark pairs ((t) over tilde (2)) decaying via (t) over tilde (2) -> Z (t) over tilde (1) or (t) over tilde (2) -> h (t) over tilde (1). The results exclude at 95% confidence level (t) over tilde (2) and (t) over tilde (1) masses up to about 800 GeV, extending the exclusion region of supersymmetric parameter space covered by previous LHC searches.

Abstract: The results of a search for vector-like top quarks using events with exactly one lepton, at least four jets, and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search is optimised for pair production of vector-like top quarks in the Z(->nu nu) t + X decay channel. LHC pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of root S = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector in 2015 and 2016 are used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1). No significant excess over the Standard Model expectation is seen and upper limits on the production cross-section of a vector-like T quark pair as a function of the T quark mass are derived. The observed (expected) 95% CL lower limits on the T mass are 870 GeV (890 GeV) for the weak-isospin singlet model, 1.05 TeV (1.06 TeV) for the weak-isospin doublet model and 1.16 TeV (1.17 TeV) for the pure Zt decay mode. Limits are also set on the mass as a function of the decay branching ratios, excluding large parts of the parameter space for masses below 1 TeV.