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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (42 results)

  • Article
  • Peer Reviewed
UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
A search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson in final states with two hadronically decaying τ-leptons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis uses 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at s = 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018. No evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model is found. The results are interpreted in terms of a 2HDM+a model featuring two scalar Higgs doublets and a pseudoscalar singlet field. Exclusion limits on the parameters of the model in selected benchmark scenarios are derived at 95% confidence level. Model-independent limits are also set on the visible cross-section for processes beyond the Standard Model producing missing transverse momentum in association with a Higgs boson decaying into τ-leptons.
    Cover page: Search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to tau leptons at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detectorCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
    This paper presents direct searches for lepton flavour violation in Higgs boson decays, H → eτ and H → μτ, performed using data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The searches are based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb −1. Leptonic (τ → ℓνℓ ντ) and hadronic (τ → hadrons ντ) decays of the τ-lepton are considered. Two background estimation techniques are employed: the MC-template method, based on data-corrected simulation samples, and the Symmetry method, based on exploiting the symmetry between electrons and muons in the Standard Model backgrounds. No significant excess of events is observed and the results are interpreted as upper limits on lepton-flavour-violating branching ratios of the Higgs boson. The observed (expected) upper limits set on the branching ratios at 95% confidence level, B (H → eτ) < 0.20% (0.12%) and B (H → μτ) < 0.18% (0.09%), are obtained with the MC-template method from a simultaneous measurement of potential H → eτ and H → μτ signals. The best-fit branching ratio difference, B (H → μτ) → B (H → eτ), measured with the Symmetry method in the channel where the τ-lepton decays to leptons, is (0.25 ± 0.10)%, compatible with a value of zero within 2.5σ. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].
      Cover page: Searches for lepton-flavour-violating decays of the Higgs boson into eτ and μτ in s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detectorCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
      A model-independent search for new physics leading to final states containing a Higgs boson, with a mass of 125.09 GeV, decaying to a pair of photons is performed with 139 fb−1 of s = 13 TeV pp collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This search examines 22 final states categorized by the objects that are produced in association with the Higgs boson. These objects include isolated electrons or muons, hadronically decaying τ-leptons, additional photons, missing transverse momentum, and hadronic jets, as well as jets that are tagged as containing a b-hadron. No significant excesses above Standard Model expectations are observed and limits on the production cross section at 95% confidence level are set. Detector efficiencies are reported for all 22 signal regions, which can be used to convert detector-level cross-section limits reported in this paper to particle-level cross-section constraints. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].
        Cover page: Model-independent search for the presence of new physics in events including H → γγ with s = 13 TeV pp data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHCCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
        A search is reported for excited τ-leptons and leptoquarks in events with two hadronically decaying τ-leptons and two or more jets. The search uses proton-proton (pp) collision data at s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment during the Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider in 2015–2018. The total integrated luminosity is 139 fb −1. The excited τ-lepton is assumed to be produced and to decay via a four-fermion contact interaction into an ordinary τ-lepton and a quark-antiquark pair. The leptoquarks are assumed to be produced in pairs via the strong interaction, and each leptoquark is assumed to couple to a charm or lighter quark and a τ-lepton. No excess over the background prediction is observed. Excited τ-leptons with masses below 2.8 TeV are excluded at 95% CL in scenarios with the contact interaction scale Λ set to 10 TeV. At the extreme limit of model validity where Λ is set equal to the excited τ-lepton mass, excited τ-leptons with masses below 4.6 TeV are excluded. Leptoquarks with masses below 1.3 TeV are excluded at 95% CL if their branching ratio to a charm quark and a τ-lepton equals 1. The analysis does not exploit flavour-tagging in the signal region. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
          Cover page: Search for excited τ-leptons and leptoquarks in the final state with τ-leptons and jets in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detectorCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
          A search for forward proton scattering in association with light-by-light scattering mediated by an axion-like particle is presented, using the ATLAS Forward Proton spectrometer to detect scattered protons and the central ATLAS detector to detect pairs of outgoing photons. Proton-proton collision data recorded in 2017 at a centre-of-mass energy of s = 13 TeV were analysed, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 14.6 fb −1. A total of 441 candidate events were selected. A search was made for a narrow resonance in the diphoton mass distribution, corresponding to an axion-like particle (ALP) with mass in the range 150–1600 GeV. No excess is observed above a smooth background. Upper limits on the production cross section of a narrow resonance are set as a function of the mass, and are interpreted as upper limits on the ALP production coupling constant, assuming 100% decay branching ratio into a photon pair. The inferred upper limit on the coupling constant is in the range 0.04–0.09 TeV −1 at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
            Cover page: Search for an axion-like particle with forward proton scattering in association with photon pairs at ATLASCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
            Cross-sections for the production of a Z boson in association with two photons are measured in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb - 1 recorded by the ATLAS experiment during Run 2 of the LHC. The measurements use the electron and muon decay channels of the Z boson, and a fiducial phase-space region where the photons are not radiated from the leptons. The integrated Z(→ ℓℓ) γγ cross-section is measured with a precision of 12% and differential cross-sections are measured as a function of six kinematic variables of the Zγγ system. The data are compared with predictions from MC event generators which are accurate to up to next-to-leading order in QCD. The cross-section measurements are used to set limits on the coupling strengths of dimension-8 operators in the framework of an effective field theory.
              Cover page: Measurement of Zγγ production in pp collisions at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detectorCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
              This paper describes a search for dark photons (γd) in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The dark photons are searched for in the decay of Higgs bosons (H → γγd) produced through the ZH production mode. The transverse mass of the system, made of the photon and the missing transverse momentum from the non-interacting γd, presents a distinctive signature as it peaks near the Higgs boson mass. The results presented use the total Run-2 integrated luminosity of 139 fb −1 recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dominant reducible background processes are estimated using data-driven techniques. A Boosted Decision Tree technique is adopted to enhance the sensitivity of the search. As no excess is observed with respect to the Standard Model prediction, an observed (expected) upper limit on the branching ratio BR(H → γγd) of 2.28% (2.82−0.84+1.33%) is set at 95% CL for massless γd. For massive dark photons up to 40 GeV, the observed (expected) upper limits on BR(H → γγd) at 95% confidence level is found within the [2.19,2.52]% ([2.71,3.11]%) range. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
                Cover page: Search for dark photons from Higgs boson decays via ZH production with a photon plus missing transverse momentum signature from pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detectorCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
                Measurements of differential cross sections are presented for inclusive isolated-photon production in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV provided by the LHC and using 139 fb −1 of data recorded by the ATLAS experiment. The cross sections are measured as functions of the photon transverse energy in different regions of photon pseudorapidity. The photons are required to be isolated by means of a fixed-cone method with two different cone radii. The dependence of the inclusive-photon production on the photon isolation is investigated by measuring the fiducial cross sections as functions of the isolation-cone radius and the ratios of the differential cross sections with different radii in different regions of photon pseudorapidity. The results presented in this paper constitute an improvement with respect to those published by ATLAS earlier: the measurements are provided for different isolation radii and with a more granular segmentation in photon pseudorapidity that can be exploited in improving the determination of the proton parton distribution functions. These improvements provide a more in-depth test of the theoretical predictions. Next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from JETPHOX and SHERPA and next-to-next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from NNLOJET are compared to the measurements, using several parameterisations of the proton parton distribution functions. The measured cross sections are well described by the fixed-order QCD predictions within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties in most of the investigated phase-space region. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
                  Cover page: Inclusive-photon production and its dependence on photon isolation in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV using 139 fb−1 of ATLAS dataCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
                  A search for the leptonic charge asymmetry (Acℓ) of top-quark-antiquark pair production in association with a W boson (tt¯ W) is presented. The search is performed using final states with exactly three charged light leptons (electrons or muons) and is based on s = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN during the years 2015–2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb −1. A profile-likelihood fit to the event yields in multiple regions corresponding to positive and negative differences between the pseudorapidities of the charged leptons from top-quark and top-antiquark decays is used to extract the charge asymmetry. At reconstruction level, the asymmetry is found to be −0.12 ± 0.14 (stat.) ± 0.05 (syst.). An unfolding procedure is applied to convert the result at reconstruction level into a charge-asymmetry value in a fiducial volume at particle level with the result of −0.11 ± 0.17 (stat.) ± 0.05 (syst.). The Standard Model expectations for these two observables are calculated using Monte Carlo simulations with next-to-leading-order plus parton shower precision in quantum chromodynamics and including next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections. They are −0.084−0.003+0.005 (scale) ± 0.006 (MC stat.) and −0.063−0.004+0.007 (scale) ± 0.004 (MC stat.) respectively, and in agreement with the measurements. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].
                    Cover page: Search for leptonic charge asymmetry in tt¯W production in final states with three leptons at s = 13 TeVCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
                    • Article
                    • Peer Reviewed
                    UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
                    The flavour-tagging algorithms developed by the ATLAS Collaboration and used to analyse its dataset of s=13 TeV pp collisions from Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider are presented. These new tagging algorithms are based on recurrent and deep neural networks, and their performance is evaluated in simulated collision events. These developments yield considerable improvements over previous jet-flavour identification strategies. At the 77% b-jet identification efficiency operating point, light-jet (charm-jet) rejection factors of 170 (5) are achieved in a sample of simulated Standard Model tt¯ events; similarly, at a c-jet identification efficiency of 30%, a light-jet (b-jet) rejection factor of 70 (9) is obtained.
                      Cover page: ATLAS flavour-tagging algorithms for the LHC Run 2 pp collision datasetCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
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