Abstract: This search, a type not previously performed at ATLAS, uses a comparison of the production cross sections for e(+)mu(-) and e(-)mu(+) pairs to constrain physics processes beyond the Standard Model. It uses 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded at root s = 13 TeV at the LHC. Targeting sources of new physics which prefer final states containing e(+)mu(-) and e(-)mu(+), the search contains two broad signal regions which are used to provide model-independent constraints on the ratio of cross sections at the 2% level. The search also has two special selections targeting supersymmetric models and leptoquark signatures. Observations using one of these selections are able to exclude, at 95% confidence level, singly produced smuons with masses up to 640 GeV in a model in which the only other light sparticle is a neutralino when the R-parity-violating coupling lambda(23)(1)' is close to unity. Observations using the other selection exclude scalar leptoquarks with masses below 1880 GeV when g(1R)(eu) = g(1R)(mu c) = 1, at 95% confidence level. The limit on the coupling reduces to g(1R)(eu) = g(1R)(mu c) = 0.46 for a mass of 1420 GeV.

Abstract: A search for heavy resonances decaying into a Higgs boson (H) and a new particle (X) is reported, utilizing 36.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at root s = 13 TeV collected during 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The particle Xis assumed to decay to a pair of light quarks, and the fully hadronic final state XH -> q (q) over bar 'b (b) over bar is analysed. The search considers the regime of high XH resonance masses, where the X and H bosons are both highly Lorentz-boosted and are each reconstructed using a single jet with large radius parameter. A two-dimensional phase space of XH mass versus X mass is scanned for evidence of a signal, over a range of XH resonance mass values between 1 TeV and 4 TeV, and for X particles with masses from 50 GeV to 1000 GeV. All search results are consistent with the expectations for the background due to Standard Model processes, and 95% CL upper limits are set, as a function of XH and X masses, on the production cross-section of the XH -> q (q) over bar 'b (b) over bar resonance.

Abstract: A search for the dimuon decay of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson is performed using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1) collected with the ATLAS detector in Run 2 pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The observed (expected) significance over the background-only hypothesis for a Higgs boson with a mass of 125.09 GeV is 2.0 sigma (1.7 sigma). The observed upper limit on the cross section times branching ratio for pp -> H -> μμis 2.2 times the SM prediction at 95% confidence level, while the expected limit on a H -> μμsignal assuming the absence (presence) of a SM signal is 1.1(2.0). The best-fit value of the signal strength parameter, defined as the ratio of the observed signal yield to the one expected in the SM, is μ= 1.2 +/- 0.6.

Abstract: This paper describes a strategy for a general search used by the ATLAS Collaboration to find potential indications of new physics. Events are classified according to their final state into many event classes. For each event class an automated search algorithm tests whether the data are compatible with the Monte Carlo simulated expectation in several distributions sensitive to the effects of new physics. The significance of a deviation is quantified using pseudo-experiments. A data selection with a significant deviation defines a signal region for a dedicated follow-up analysis with an improved background expectation. The analysis of the data-derived signal regions on a new dataset allows a statistical interpretation without the large look-elsewhere effect. The sensitivity of the approach is discussed using Standard Model processes and benchmark signals of new physics. As an example, results are shown for 3.2fb-1 of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2015, in which more than 700 event classes and more than 105 regions have been analysed. No significant deviations are found and consequently no data-derived signal regions for a follow-up analysis have been defined.

Abstract: The electroweak production and subsequent decay of single top quarks in the t-channel is determined by the properties of the Wtb vertex, which can be described by the complex parameters of an effective Lagrangian. An analysis of a triple-differential decay rate in t-channel production is used to simultaneously determine five generalised helicity fractions and phases, as well as the polarisation of the produced top quark. The complex parameters are then constrained. This analysis is based on 20.2 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The fraction of decays containing transversely polarised W bosons is measured to be f(1) = 0.30 +/- 0.05. The phase between amplitudes for transversely and longitudinally polarised W bosons recoiling against left-handed b-quarks is measured to be delta = 0.002 pi(+0.016 pi)(+0.017 pi), giving no indication of CP violation. The fractions of longitudinal or transverse W bosons accompanied by right-handed b-quarks are also constrained. Based on these measurements, limits are placed at 95% CL on the ratio of the complex coupling parameters Re [g(R)/V-L is an element of [-0.12, 0.17] and Im [g(R)/V-L is an element of [-0.07, 0.06]. Constraints are also placed on the ratios vertical bar V-R/V-L vertical bar and vertical bar g(L)/V-L vertical bar. In addition, the polarisation of single top quarks in the t-channel is constrained to be P > 0.72 (95% CL). None of the above measurements make assumptions about the value of any of the other parameters or couplings and all of them are in agreement with the Standard Model.