We present the status of the Czech Particle Physics Project (CPPP). The CPPP is a learning tool in masterclasses aimed at high school students (aged 15 to 18). The project is structured in modules. The first module is dedicated to the detection of an Axion-Like-Particle (ALP) using the ATLAS Forward Proton (AFP) detector. The second module focuses on the reconstruction of the Higgs boson mass using the Higgs boson golden channel with four leptons in the final state. The third and fourth modules are educational aids and sources for expert information. These web portals are dedicated to Higgs boson research and searches for Supersymmetry. Two databases are created with more than 1000 relevant articles each, using the CERN Document Server API and web scraping methods. The databases are automatically updated when new results on Higgs bosons or searches for Supersymmetric particles become available. Using artificial intelligence and natural language processing, the articles are categorized according to properties of the results. The modules are accessible at https://cern.ch/cppp.
The search for Higgs bosons in the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics and Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) started intensively at the Large Electron-Positron (LEP) collider, which operated from 1989 to 2000, and later at the Tevatron from 2001 to 2011. In 2012, with the discovery of a Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, a new era began. This allowed for precision measurements of the Higgs boson properties which, so far, are all consistent with the SM expectations. Many searches for predicted BSM Higgs bosons advanced the field of experimental Higgs boson physics. The LHC already operated in three running periods: Run-1 from 2010 to 2012, Run-2 from 2015 to 2018, and currently Run-3 from 2022 to 2026. The High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) operation is foreseen from 2030. The prospects of experimental Higgs boson research for the next decade are reviewed.
A key focus of the physics program at the LHC is the study of head-on proton-proton collisions. However, an important class of physics can be studied for cases where the protons narrowly miss one another and remain intact. In such cases, the electromagnetic fields surrounding the protons can interact producing high-energy photon-photon collisions. Alternatively, interactions mediated by the strong force can also result in intact forward scattered protons, providing probes of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In order to aid identification and provide unique information about these rare interactions, instrumentation to detect and measure protons scattered through very small angles is installed in the beam pipe far downstream of the interaction point. We review photoproduction results from data collected with the ATLAS Forward Proton (AFP) and Absolute Luminosity For ATLAS (ALFA) detectors in proton-proton and heavy ion collisions.
The latest results of Higgs boson searches beyond the Standard Model from the ATLAS and CMS experiments are reviewed. This includes searches for additional neutral, charged, and double charged Higgs-like bosons, searches for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson, and searches for new physics in Higgs boson production and decay processes. Interpretations are given within the hMSSM, a special parameterization of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model, in which the mass of the lightest Higgs boson is set to the value of 125 GeV measured at the LHC.
We describe the status of the ATLAS Forward Proton (AFP) detectors in Run-2 and the outlook for Run-3 analyses. The performance is discussed. This includes the Tracking and Time-of-Flight detectors, the luminosity, the alignment, the trigger, and data quality monitoring. Additionally, key physics results from the first AFP analyses are showcased.
A bstract A search for the exclusive decays of the Higgs and Z bosons to a ϕ or ρ meson and a photon is performed with a pp collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 35 . 6 fb −1 collected at $$ \sqrt{s}=13 $$ s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. These decays have been suggested as a probe of the Higgs boson couplings to light quarks. No significant excess of events is observed above the background, as expected from the Standard Model. Upper limits at 95% confidence level were obtained on the branching fractions of the Higgs boson decays to ϕ γ and ρ γ of 4 . 8 × 10 −4 and 8 . 8 × 10 −4 , respectively. The corresponding 95% confidence level upper limits for the Z boson decays are 0 . 9 × 10 −6 and 25 × 10 −6 for ϕ γ and ρ γ, respectively.
A search for leptoquarks decaying into the bτ final state is performed using Run 2 proton-proton collision data from the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 at √(s) = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector. The benchmark models considered in this search are vector leptoquarks with electric charge of 2/3e and scalar leptoquarks with an electric charge of 4/3e. No significant excess above the Standard Model prediction is observed, and 95
The total and differential Higgs boson production cross-sections are measured through a combined statistical analysis of the H → ZZ* → 4ℓ and H → γγ decay channels. The results are based on a dataset of 139 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measured total Higgs boson production cross-section is 55.5_-3.8^+4.0 pb, consistent with the Standard Model prediction of 55.6 ± 2.5 pb. All results from the two decay channels are compatible with each other, and their combination agrees with the Standard Model predictions. A combined statistical interpretation of the measured fiducial cross-sections as a function of the Higgs boson transverse momentum is performed in order to probe the Yukawa couplings to the bottom and charm quarks. A similar interpretation is performed by including also the constraints from the measurements of Higgs boson production in association with a W or Z boson in the H → bb and cc decay channels.
As an educational aid and source for expert information, a web portal dedicated to Higgs boson research is presented. A database is created with more than 1000 relevant articles using CERN Document Server API and web scraping methods. The database is automatically updated when new results on the Higgs boson become available. Using artificial intelligence and natural language processing, the articles are categorized according to properties of the Higgs boson and other criteria. The process of designing and implementing the Higgs Boson Portal (HBP) is described. The components of the HBP are deployed to CERN Web Services using the OpenShift cloud platform. The HBP is accessible within the Czech Particle Physics Project (CPPP) at http://cern.ch/cppp and directly at http://cern.ch/higgs.
This Letter reports the observation of WWW production and a measurement of its cross section using 139 fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with two same-sign leptons (electrons or muons) and at least two jets, as well as events with three charged leptons, are selected. A multivariate technique is then used to discriminate between signal and background events. Events from WWW production are observed with a significance of 8.0 standard deviations, where the expectation is 5.4 standard deviations. The inclusive WWW production cross section is measured to be 820±100 (stat)±80 (syst) fb, approximately 2.6 standard deviations from the predicted cross section of 511±18 fb calculated at next-to-leading-order QCD and leading-order electroweak accuracy.
We present two modules as part of the Czech Particle Physics Project (CPPP). These modules are intended as learning tools in masterclasses aimed at high-school students (aged 15 to 18). The first module is dedicated to the detection of an Axion-Like-Particle (ALP) using the ATLAS Forward Proton (AFP) detector. The second module focuses on the reconstruction of the Higgs boson mass using the Higgs boson golden channel with four leptons in the final state. The modules are accessible at http://cern.ch/cppp.
This letter presents a search for narrow, high-mass resonances in the Zγ final state with the Z boson decaying into a pair of electrons or muons. The s=13 TeV pp collision data were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and have an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. The data are found to be in agreement with the Standard Model background expectation. Upper limits are set on the resonance production cross section times the decay branching ratio into Zγ. For spin-0 resonances produced via gluon–gluon fusion, the observed limits at 95% confidence level vary between 65.5 fb and 0.6 fb, while for spin-2 resonances produced via gluon–gluon fusion (or quark–antiquark initial states) limits vary between 77.4 (76.1) fb and 0.6 (0.5) fb, for the mass range from 220 GeV to 3400 GeV.
Leptoquarks (LQ) are predicted by many new physics theories to describe the similarities between the lepton and quark sectors of the Standard Model and offer an attractive potential explanation for the lepton flavour anomalies observed at LHCb and flavour factories. The ATLAS experiment has a broad program of direct searches for Leptoquarks, coupling to the first-, second- or third-generation particles. The most recent 13 TeV results on the searches for Leptoquarks and contact interactions with the ATLAS detector are reviewed, covering flavour-diagonal and cross-generational final states.
The precise determination of the luminosity is essential for many analyses in physics based on the data from the particle accelerator Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. There are different types of detectors used for the luminosity measurements. The focus of this review is on luminosity measurements with hybrid-pixel detectors and the progress made over the past decade. The first generations of detectors of the Medipix and Timepix families had frame-based readout, while Timepix3 has a quasi-continuous readout. The applications of the detectors are manifold, and in particular, the detectors have been operated in the harsh environment of the LHC. The excellent performance in detecting high fluxes of elementary particles made these detectors ideal tools to measure the delivered luminosity resulting from proton–proton collisions. Important aspects of this review are the performance improvements in relative luminosity measurements from one detector generation to another, the long-term stability of the measurements, absolute luminosity measurements, material activation (radiation-induced) corrections, and the measurement of luminosity from neutron counting. Rather than bunch-average luminosity provided by previous detector generations, owing to the excellent time-resolution, Timepix3 measured the luminosity of individual proton bunches that are 25 ns apart. This review demonstrates the large progress in the precision of luminosity measurements during LHC Run-1 and Run-2 operations using hybrid-pixel detectors, and thus their importance for luminosity measurements in the future of LHC operations.
The first measurement of longitudinal decorrelations of harmonic flow amplitudes v_{n} for n=2-4 in Xe+Xe collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.44 TeV is obtained using 3 μb^{-1} of data with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The decorrelation signal for v_{3} and v_{4} is found to be nearly independent of collision centrality and transverse momentum (p_{T}) requirements on final-state particles, but for v_{2} a strong centrality and p_{T} dependence is seen. When compared with the results from Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV, the longitudinal decorrelation signal in midcentral Xe+Xe collisions is found to be larger for v_{2}, but smaller for v_{3}. Current hydrodynamic models reproduce the ratios of the v_{n} measured in Xe+Xe collisions to those in Pb+Pb collisions but fail to describe the magnitudes and trends of the ratios of longitudinal flow decorrelations between Xe+Xe and Pb+Pb. The results on the system-size dependence provide new insights and an important lever arm to separate effects of the longitudinal structure of the initial state from other early and late time effects in heavy-ion collisions.
The ATLAS Collaboration has performed several analyses of nucleon structure and soft QCD. This review gives a concise summary of selected topics. New results with ATLAS W+jets and Z+jets data improve Quantum Chromo Dynamics proton Parton Distribution Functions. Single dissociative (soft QCD) reactions and re-scattering are probed in photon-induced di-lepton production with a forward proton tag. A comparison of measurements with predictions of gg -> gamma gamma production and dissociative reactions in light-by-light scattering and di-muon production in ultra-peripheral Pb+Pb collisions is presented. Inclusive single diffractive dissociation cross-section and a comparison with event generator predictions are reviewed. Properties of Underlying Event are determined by measuring charged-particle distributions in events containing Z bosons decaying into a muon pair. There are various opportunities for co-operations with phenomenologists.
A concise review of precision measurements in the Higgs sector of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics is given using ATLAS and CMS data. The results are based on LHC Run-2 data, taken between 2015 and 2018. Impressive progress has been made since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 for measuring all major production and decay modes. Good agreement with the SM predictions was observed in all measurements.
Data taken by the DELPHI experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 183 GeV and 189 GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 212 pb^{-1} have been used to search for the supersymmetric partners of the electrons, muons, and taus in the context of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The decay topologies searched for were the direct decay ({\tilde \ell} -> \ell {\tilde \chi_1^0}), producing acoplanar lepton pairs plus missing energy, and the cascade decay ({\tilde \ell} -> \ell {\tilde \chi_2^0} > \ell \gamma {\tilde \chi_1^0}), producing acoplanar lepton and photon pairs plus missing energy. The observed number of events is in agreement with Standard Model predictions. The 95% CL excluded mass limits for selectrons, smuons and staus are m_{\tilde {e}} \leq 87 GeV/c^2, m_{\tilde {\mu}} \leq 80 GeV/c^2 and m_{\tilde {\tau}} \leq 75 GeV/c^2, respectively, for values of \mu=-200 GeV/c^2 and tan(beta)=1.5.
Medipix and Timepix devices, installed in the ATLAS cavern at the LHC, have provided valuable complementary luminosity information. Results are presented from measurements with Timepix3 (TPX3) detectors. In contrast with previously employed frame-based data acquisition, the TPX3 detector remains active continuously, sending information on pixel hits as they occur. Hit- and cluster-counting methods were used for the luminosity determination of the LHC protonproton collisions. The LHC luminosity versus time is determined using these two methods and fitted to a simple model, which incorporates luminosity reduction from single bunch and beam-beam interactions. The precision of the luminosity determination could be improved by counting the number of clusters, instead of just pixel hits. The internal precision and long-term stability of the TPX3 luminosity measurement are below 0.5%. TPX3, owing to its 1.56 ns time-tagging, is able to resolve the time structure of the luminosity due to the collisions of individual proton bunches when integrated over an LHC fill.
The capability of Timepix3 detectors installed in ATLAS to measure luminosity is evaluated. It is described how noisy pixels are identified and excluded. Two different methods for luminosity determination, i.e. cluster counting and thermal neutron counting are described and compared with each other. The achieved short-term relative precision with both methods is determined by modeling the luminosity curve. It is shown that using cluster counting a short-term relative precision of < 0.5 % can be achieved for 60 s time intervals. For thermal neutrons, a short-term relative precision (for 60 s intervals) of ≈ 2 % was found. Hereby statistics was the limiting factor. The findings are discussed in view of Timepix3 upgrade plans for LHC Run-3.