Abstract: A search for a right-handed gauge boson W-R, decaying into a boosted right-handed heavy neutrino N-R, in the framework of Left-Right Symmetric Models is presented. It is based on data from proton-proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during the years 2015, 2016 and 2017, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 80 fb(-1). The search is performed separately for electrons and muons in the final state. A distinguishing feature of the search is the use of large-radius jets containing electrons. Selections based on the signal topology result in smaller background compared to the expected signal. No significant deviation from the Standard Model prediction is observed and lower limits are set in the W-R and N-R mass plane. Mass values of the W-R smaller than 3.8-5 TeV are excluded for N-R in the mass range 0.1-1.8 TeV.

Abstract: Studies of the fragmentation of jets into charged particles in heavy-ion collisions can provide information about the mechanism of jet quenching by the hot and dense QCD matter created in such collisions, the quark-gluon plasma. This paper presents a measurement of the angular distribution of charged particles around the jet axis in root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV Pb + Pb and pp collisions, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The Pb + Pb and pp data sets have integrated luminosities of 0.49 nb(-1) and 25 pb(-1), respectively. The measurement is performed for jets reconstructed with the anti-k(t) algorithm with radius parameter R = 0.4 and is extended to an angular distance of r = 0.8 from the jet axis. Results are presented as a function of Pb + Pb collision centrality and distance from the jet axis for charged particles with transverse momenta in the 1- to 63-GeV range, matched to jets with transverse momenta in the 126- to 316-GeV range and an absolute value of jet rapidity of less than 1.7. Modifications to the measured distributions are quantified by taking a ratio to the measurements in pp collisions. Yields of charged particles with transverse momenta below 4 GeV are observed to be increasingly enhanced as a function of angular distance from the jet axis, reaching a maximum at r = 0.6. Charged particles with transverse momenta above 4 GeV have an enhanced yield in Pb + Pb collisions in the jet core for angular distances up to r = 0.05 from the jet axis, with a suppression at larger distances.

Abstract: We report a search for Higgs bosons that are produced via vector boson fusion and subsequently decay into invisible particles. The experimental signature is an energetic jet pair with invariant mass of O(1) TeVand O(100) GeVmissing transverse momentum. The analysis uses 36.1 fb(-1) of pp collision data at root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. In the signal region the 2252 observed events are consistent with the background estimation. Assuming a 125 GeV scalar particle with Standard Model cross sections, the upper limit on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson decay into invisible particles is 0.37 at 95% confidence level where 0.28 was expected. This limit is interpreted in Higgs portal models to set bounds on the wimp-nucleon scattering cross section. We also consider invisible decays of additional scalar bosons with masses up to 3 TeV for which the upper limits on the cross section times branching fraction are in the range of 0.3-1.7 pb.

Abstract: Results of a search for the pair production of photon-jets-collimated groupings of photons-in the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. Highly collimated photon-jets can arise from the decay of new, highly boosted particles that can decay to multiple photons collimated enough to be identified in the electromagnetic calorimeter as a single, photonlike energy cluster. Data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.7 fb(-1), were collected in 2015 and 2016. Candidate photon-jet pair production events are selected from those containing two reconstructed photons using a set of identification criteria much less stringent than that typically used for the selection of photons, with additional criteria applied to provide improved sensitivity to photon-jets. Narrow excesses in the reconstructed diphoton mass spectra are searched for. The observed mass spectra are consistent with the Standard Model background expectation. The results are interpreted in the context of a model containing a new, high-mass scalar particle with narrow width, X, that decays into pairs of photon-jets via new, light particles, a. Upper limits are placed on the cross section times the product of branching ratios sigma x B(X -> aa) x B(a -> gamma gamma)(2) for 200 GeV < m(X) < 2 TeV and for ranges of m(a) from a lower mass of 100 MeV up to between 2 and 10 GeV, depending upon m(X). Upper limits are also placed on sigma x B(X -> aa) x B(a -> 3 pi(0))(2) for the same range of m(X) and for ranges of m(a) from a lower mass of 500 MeV up to between 2 and 10 GeV.

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.