Angular correlations between heavy quarks provide a unique probe of the quark-gluon plasma created in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. Results are presented of a measurement of the azimuthal angle correlations between muons originating from semileptonic decays of heavy quarks produced in 5.02 TeV Pb+Pb and 𝑝⁢𝑝 collisions at the LHC. The muons are measured with transverse momenta and pseudorapidities satisfying and |𝜂^𝜇|<2.4, respectively. The distributions of azimuthal angle separation Δ⁢𝜙 for muon pairs having pseudorapidity separation |Δ⁢𝜂|>0.8, are measured in different Pb +Pb centrality intervals and compared to the same distribution measured in 𝑝⁢𝑝 collisions at the same center-of-mass energy. Results are presented separately for muon pairs with opposite-sign charges, same-sign charges, and all pairs. A clear peak is observed in all Δ⁢𝜙 distributions at Δ⁢𝜙∼𝜋, consistent with the parent heavy-quark pairs being produced via hard-scattering processes. The widths of that peak, characterized using Cauchy-Lorentz fits to the Δ⁢𝜙 distributions, are found to not vary significantly as a function of Pb +Pb collision centrality and are similar for 𝑝⁢𝑝 and Pb +Pb collisions. This observation will provide important constraints on theoretical descriptions of heavy-quark interactions with the quark-gluon plasma.

Results from a wide range of searches targeting different experimental signatures with and without missing transverse momentum (ETmiss) are used to constrain a Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM) with an additional pseudo-scalar mediating the interaction between ordinary and dark matter (2HDM+a). The analyses use up to 139 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s=13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during 2015–2018. The results from three of the most sensitive searches are combined statistically. These searches target signatures with large ETmiss and a leptonically decaying Z boson; large ETmiss and a Higgs boson decaying to bottom quarks; and production of charged Higgs bosons in final states with top and bottom quarks, respectively. Constraints are derived for several common and new benchmark scenarios in the 2HDM+a.

A statistical combination of various searches for pair-produced leptoquarks is presented, using the full LHC Run 2 (2015–2018) data set of 139 fb−1 collected with the ATLAS detector from proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s=13 TeV. All possible decays of the leptoquarks into quarks of the third generation and charged or neutral leptons of any generation are investigated. Since no significant deviations from the Standard Model expectation are observed in any of the individual analyses, combined exclusion limits are set on the production cross-sections for scalar and vector leptoquarks. The resulting lower bounds on leptoquark masses exceed those from the individual analyses by up to 100 GeV, depending on the signal hypothesis.

The need for large-scale production of highly accurate simulated event samples for the extensive physics programme of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider motivates the development of new simulation techniques. Building on the recent success of deep learning algorithms, variational autoencoders and generative adversarial networks are investigated for modelling the response of the central region of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter to photons of various energies. The properties of synthesised showers are compared with showers from a full detector simulation using ɢᴇᴀɴᴛ4. Both variational autoencoders and generative adversarial networks are capable of quickly simulating electromagnetic showers with correct total energies and stochasticity, though the modelling of some shower shape distributions requires more refinement. This feasibility study demonstrates the potential of using such algorithms for ATLAS fast calorimeter simulation in the future and shows a possible way to complement current simulation techniques.

Differential cross-sections are measured for the production of four charged leptons in association with two jets. These measurements are sensitive to final states in which the jets are produced via the strong interaction as well as to the purely-electroweak vector boson scattering process. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data collected by ATLAS at √s = 13 TeV and with an integrated luminosity of 140 fb⁻¹. The data are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution and are compared to state-of-the-art Monte Carlo event generator predictions. The differential cross-sections are used to search for anomalous weak-boson self-interactions that are induced by dimension-six and dimension-eight operators in Standard Model effective field theory.

This paper presents the electron and photon energy calibration obtained with the ATLAS detector using 140 fb^-1 of LHC proton-proton collision data recorded at √(s) = 13 TeV between 2015 and 2018. Methods for the measurement of electron and photon energies are outlined, along with the current knowledge of the passive material in front of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter. The energy calibration steps are discussed in detail, with emphasis on the improvements introduced in this paper. The absolute energy scale is set using a large sample of Z-boson decays into electron-positron pairs, and its residual dependence on the electron energy is used for the first time to further constrain systematic uncertainties. The achieved calibration uncertainties are typically 0.05% for electrons from resonant Z-boson decays, 0.4% at E_T ∼ 10 GeV, and 0.3% at E_T ∼ 1 TeV; for photons at E_T ∼ 60 GeV, they are 0.2% on average. This is more than twice as precise as the previous calibration. The new energy calibration is validated using J/ψ → ee and radiative Z-boson decays.

The first evidence for the Higgs boson decay to a Z boson and a photon is presented, with a statistical significance of 3.4 standard deviations. The result is derived from a combined analysis of the searches performed by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations with proton-proton collision datasets collected at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) from 2015 to 2018. These correspond to integrated luminosities of around 140  fb⁻¹ for each experiment, at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The measured signal yield is 2.2±0.7 times the standard model prediction, and agrees with the theoretical expectation within 1.9 standard deviations.

The observation of the electroweak production of a W boson and a photon in association with two jets, using pp collision data at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre of mass energy of √s=13 TeV, is reported. The data were recorded by the ATLAS experiment from 2015 to 2018 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb⁻¹. This process is sensitive to the quartic gauge boson couplings via the vector boson scattering mechanism and provides a stringent test of the electroweak sector of the Standard Model. Events are selected if they contain one electron or muon, missing transverse momentum, at least one photon, and two jets. Multivariate techniques are used to distinguish the electroweak Wγjj process from irreducible background processes. The observed significance of the electroweak Wγjj process is well above six standard deviations, compared to an expected significance of 6.3 standard deviations. Fiducial and differential cross sections are measured in a fiducial phase space close to the detector acceptance, which are in reasonable agreement with leading order Standard Model predictions from MadGraph5+Pythia8 and Sherpa. The results are used to constrain new physics effects in the context of an effective field theory.

ATLAS measured the centrality dependence of the dijet yield using 165  nb⁻¹ of p+Pb data collected at √s_NN=8.16  TeV in 2016. The event centrality, which reflects the p+Pb impact parameter, is characterized by the total transverse energy registered in the Pb-going side of the forward calorimeter. The central-to-peripheral ratio of the scaled dijet yields, R_CP, is evaluated, and the results are presented as a function of variables that reflect the kinematics of the initial hard parton scattering process. The R_CP shows a scaling with the Bjorken x of the parton originating from the proton, x_p, while no such trend is observed as a function of x_Pb. This analysis provides unique input to understanding the role of small proton spatial configurations in p+Pb collisions by covering parton momentum fractions from the valence region down to x_p∼10⁻³ and x_Pb∼4×10⁻⁴.

The inclusive Higgs boson production cross-section is measured in the di-photon and the ZZ* → 4ℓ decay channels using 31.4 and 29.0 fb⁻¹ of pp collision data respectively, collected with the ATLAS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of √s=13.6 TeV. To reduce the model dependence, the measurement in each channel is restricted to a particle-level phase space that closely matches the channel’s detector-level kinematic selection, and it is corrected for detector effects. These measured fiducial cross-sections are σ_fid,γγ= fb, and σ_fid,4ℓ= 2.80±0.74 fb, in agreement with the corresponding Standard Model predictions of 67.6±3.7 fb and 3.67±0.19 fb. Assuming Standard Model acceptances and branching fractions for the two channels, the fiducial measurements are extrapolated to the full phase space yielding total cross-sections of σ(pp→H)= pb and 46±12 pb at 13.6 TeV from the di-photon and ZZ*→ 4ℓ measurements respectively. The two measurements are combined into a total cross-section measurement of σ(pp→H)=58.2±8.7 pb, to be compared with the Standard Model prediction of σ(pp→H)_SM=59.9±2.6 pb.