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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (61 results)

  • Article
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UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
This paper presents the observation of four-top-quark (tt¯ tt¯) production in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The analysis is performed using an integrated luminosity of 140 fb - 1 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected using the ATLAS detector. Events containing two leptons with the same electric charge or at least three leptons (electrons or muons) are selected. Event kinematics are used to separate signal from background through a multivariate discriminant, and dedicated control regions are used to constrain the dominant backgrounds. The observed (expected) significance of the measured tt¯ tt¯ signal with respect to the standard model (SM) background-only hypothesis is 6.1 (4.3) standard deviations. The tt¯ tt¯ production cross section is measured to be 22.5-5.5+6.6 fb, consistent with the SM prediction of 12.0 ± 2.4 fb within 1.8 standard deviations. Data are also used to set limits on the three-top-quark production cross section, being an irreducible background not measured previously, and to constrain the top-Higgs Yukawa coupling and effective field theory operator coefficients that affect tt¯ tt¯ production.
    Cover page: Observation of four-top-quark production in the multilepton final state with the ATLAS detectorCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
    A search for Majorana neutrinos in same-sign WW scattering events is presented. The analysis uses s=13 TeV proton–proton collision data with an integrated luminosity of 140 fb - 1 recorded during 2015–2018 by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis targets final states including exactly two same-sign muons and at least two hadronic jets well separated in rapidity. The modelling of the main backgrounds, from Standard Model same-sign WW scattering and WZ production, is constrained with data in dedicated signal-depleted control regions. The distribution of the transverse momentum of the second-hardest muon is used to search for signals originating from a heavy Majorana neutrino with a mass between 50 GeV and 20 TeV. No significant excess is observed over the background expectation. The results are interpreted in a benchmark scenario of the Phenomenological Type-I Seesaw model. In addition, the sensitivity to the Weinberg operator is investigated. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level are placed on the squared muon-neutrino–heavy-neutrino mass-mixing matrix element | VμN| 2 as a function of the heavy Majorana neutrino’s mass mN , and on the effective μμ Majorana neutrino mass | mμμ| .
      Cover page: Search for Majorana neutrinos in same-sign WW scattering events from pp collisions at s=13 TeVCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
      A search for a new pseudoscalar Formula Presented-boson produced in events with a top-quark pair, where the Formula Presented-boson decays into a pair of muons, is performed using Formula Presented Formula Presented collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of Formula Presented. The search targets the final state where only one top quark decays to an electron or muon, resulting in a signature with three leptons Formula Presented and Formula Presented. No significant excess of events above the Standard Model expectation is observed and upper limits are set on two signal models: Formula Presented and Formula Presented with Formula Presented, Formula Presented, where Formula Presented, in the mass ranges Formula Presented and Formula Presented.
        Cover page: Search for a new pseudoscalar decaying into a pair of muons in events with a top-quark pair at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detectorCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2024)
        Abstract: Presented is the search for anomalous Higgs boson decays into two axion-like particles (ALPs) using the full Run 2 data set of $$140\,\text {fb}^{-1}$$ 140 fb - 1 of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $$13\,\text {TeV}$$ 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment. The ALPs are assumed to decay into two photons, providing sensitivity to recently proposed models that could explain the $$(g-2)_\mu $$ ( g - 2 ) μ discrepancy. This analysis covers an ALP mass range from 100 to $$62\,\text {GeV}$$ 62 GeV and ALP-photon couplings in the range $$10^{-7}\,\text {TeV}^{-1} 10 - 7 TeV - 1 < C a γ γ / Λ < 1 TeV - 1 , and therefore includes signatures with significantly displaced vertices and highly collinear photons. No significant excess of events above the Standard Model background is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are placed on the branching ratio of the Higgs boson to two ALPs in the four-photon final state, and are in the range of $$ 10^{-5}$$ 10 - 5 to $$3\times 10^{-2}$$ 3 × 10 - 2 , depending on the hypothesized ALP mass and ALP-photon coupling strength.
          Creative Commons 'BY-NC' version 4.0 license
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          • Peer Reviewed
          UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2024)
          Abstract: A search is reported for long-lived dark photons with masses between 0.1 GeV and 15 GeV, from exotic decays of Higgs bosons produced via vector-boson-fusion. Events that contain displaced collimated Standard Model fermions reconstructed in the calorimeter or muon spectrometer are probed. This search uses the full LHC Run 2 (2015–2018) data sample collected in proton–proton collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 $$fb^{-1}$$ f b - 1 . Dominant backgrounds from Standard Model processes and non-collision sources are estimated using data-driven techniques. The observed event yields in the signal regions are consistent with the expected background. Upper limits on the Higgs boson to dark photon branching fraction are reported as a function of the dark photon mean proper decay length or of the dark photon mass and the coupling between the Standard Model and the potential dark sector. This search is combined with previous ATLAS searches obtained in the gluon–gluon fusion and WH production modes. A branching fraction above 10% is excluded at 95% CL for a 125 GeV Higgs boson decaying into two dark photons for dark photon mean proper decay lengths between 173 and 1296 mm and mass of 10 GeV.
            Creative Commons 'BY-NC' version 4.0 license
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            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2024)
            The ATLAS trigger system is a crucial component of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. It is responsible for selecting events in line with the ATLAS physics programme. This paper presents an overview of the changes to the trigger and data acquisition system during the second long shutdown of the LHC, and shows the performance of the trigger system and its components in the proton-proton collisions during the 2022 commissioning period as well as its expected performance in proton-proton and heavy-ion collisions for the remainder of the third LHC data-taking period (2022–2025).
              Creative Commons 'BY-NC' version 4.0 license
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2024)
              Measurements of the substructure of top-quark jets are presented, using Formula Presented of 13 TeV Formula Presented collision data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Top-quark jets reconstructed with the anti-Formula Presented algorithm with a radius parameter Formula Presented are selected in top-quark pair (Formula Presented) events where one top quark decays semileptonically and the other hadronically, or where both top quarks decay hadronically. The top-quark jets are required to have transverse momentum Formula Presented, yielding large samples of data events with jet Formula Presented values between 350 and 600 GeV. One- and two-dimensional differential cross sections for eight substructure variables, defined using only the charged components of the jets, are measured in a particle-level phase space by correcting for the smearing and acceptance effects induced by the detector. The differential cross sections are compared with the predictions of several Monte Carlo simulations in which top-quark pair-production quantum chromodynamic matrix-element calculations at next-to-leading-order precision in the strong coupling constant Formula Presented are passed to leading-order parton shower and hadronization generators. The Monte Carlo predictions for measures of the broadness, and also the two-body structure, of the top-quark jets are found to be in good agreement with the measurements, while variables sensitive to the three-body structure of the top-quark jets exhibit some tension with the measured distributions.
                Creative Commons 'BY-NC' version 4.0 license
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
                Parton energy loss in the quark–gluon plasma (QGP) is studied with a measurement of photon-tagged jet production in 1.7 nb−1 of Pb+Pb data and 260 pb−1 of pp data, both at sNN=5.02 TeV, with the ATLAS detector. The process pp →γ+jet+X and its analogue in Pb+Pb collisions is measured in events containing an isolated photon with transverse momentum (pT) above 50 GeV and reported as a function of jet pT. This selection results in a sample of jets with a steeply falling pT distribution that are mostly initiated by the showering of quarks. The pp and Pb+Pb measurements are used to report the nuclear modification factor, RAA, and the fractional energy loss, Sloss, for photon-tagged jets. In addition, the results are compared with the analogous ones for inclusive jets, which have a significantly smaller quark-initiated fraction. The RAA and Sloss values are found to be significantly different between those for photon-tagged jets and inclusive jets, demonstrating that energy loss in the QGP is sensitive to the colour-charge of the initiating parton. The results are also compared with a variety of theoretical models of colour-charge-dependent energy loss.
                  Creative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
                  The vector-boson production cross section for the Higgs boson decay in the Formula Presented channel is measured as a function of kinematic observables sensitive to the Higgs boson production and decay properties as well as integrated in a fiducial phase space. The analysis is performed using the proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector in Run 2 of the LHC at Formula Presented center-of-mass energy, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of Formula Presented. The different flavor final state is studied by selecting an electron and a muon originating from a pair of Formula Presented bosons and compatible with the Higgs boson decay. The data are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution, and the measurements are compared with different state-of-the-art theoretical predictions. The differential cross sections are used to constrain anomalous interactions described by dimension-six operators in an effective field theory.
                    Creative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
                    • Article
                    • Peer Reviewed
                    UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
                    This Letter presents the measurement of the fiducial and differential cross-sections of the electroweak production of a Zγ pair in association with two jets. The analysis uses 140 fb−1 of LHC proton–proton collision data taken at s=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector during the years 2015–2018. Events with a Z boson candidate decaying into either an e+e− or μ+μ− pair, a photon and two jets are selected. The electroweak component is extracted by requiring a large dijet invariant mass and by using the information about the centrality of the system and is measured with an observed and expected significance well above five standard deviations. The fiducial pp→Zγjj cross-section for the electroweak production is measured to be 3.6 ± 0.5 fb. The total fiducial cross-section that also includes contributions where the jets arise from strong interactions is measured to be 16.8−1.8+2.0 fb. The results are consistent with the Standard Model predictions. Differential cross-sections are also measured using the same events and are compared with parton-shower Monte Carlo simulations. Good agreement is observed between data and predictions.
                      Cover page: Measurement of the cross-sections of the electroweak and total production of a Zγ pair in association with two jets in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detectorCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
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