This letter describes the observation of the light-by-light scattering process, $\gamma\gamma\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$, in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The analysis is conducted using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.73 nb$^{-1}$, collected in November 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Light-by-light scattering candidates are selected in events with two photons produced exclusively, each with transverse energy $E_{\textrm{T}}^{\gamma} > 3$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta_{\gamma}| < 2.37$, diphoton invariant mass above 6 GeV, and small diphoton transverse momentum and acoplanarity. After applying all selection criteria, 59 candidate events are observed for a background expectation of 12 $\pm$ 3 events. The observed excess of events over the expected background has a significance of 8.2 standard deviations. The measured fiducial cross section is 78 $\pm$ 13 (stat.) $\pm$ 7 (syst.) $\pm$ 3 (lumi.) nb.

We present an analysis of proton number fluctuations in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.4 GeV Au+Au collisions measured with the High-Acceptance DiElectron Spectrometer (HADES) at GSI. With the help of extensive detector simulations done with IQMD transport model events including nuclear clusters, various nuisance effects influencing the observed proton cumulants have been investigated. Acceptance and efficiency corrections have been applied as a function of fine grained rapidity and transverse momentum bins, as well as considering local track density dependencies. Next, the effects of volume changes within particular centrality selections have been considered and beyond-leading-order corrections have been applied to the data. The efficiency and volume corrected proton number moments and cumulants Kn of orders n = 1, . . . , 4 have been obtained as a function of centrality and phase-space bin, as well as the corresponding correlators C_n . We find that the observed correlators show a power-law scaling with the mean number of protons, i.e. $C_n \propto <N>^n$, indicative of mostly long-range multi-particle correlations in momentum space. We also present a comparison of our results with Au+Au collision data obtained at RHIC at similar centralities, but higher $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$.

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 $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV, with the ATLAS detector. The process $pp \to \gamma$+jet+$X$ and its analogue in Pb+Pb collisions is measured in events containing an isolated photon with transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) above $50$ GeV and reported as a function of jet $p_\mathrm{T}$. This selection results in a sample of jets with a steeply falling $p_\mathrm{T}$ distribution that are mostly initiated by the showering of quarks. The $pp$ and Pb+Pb measurements are used to report the nuclear modification factor, $R_\mathrm{AA}$, and the fractional energy loss, $S_\mathrm{loss}$, 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 $R_\mathrm{AA}$ and $S_\mathrm{loss}$ 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.

We present high-statistic data on charged pion emission from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 2.4 GeV (corresponding to $E_{beam}$ = 1.23 A GeV) in four centrality classes in the range 0 - 40$\%$ of the most central collisions. The data are analyzed as a function of transverse momentum, transverse mass, rapidity, and polar angle. Pion multiplicity per participating nucleon decreases moderately with increasing centrality. The polar angular distributions are found to be non-isotropic even for the most central event class. Our results on pion multiplicity fit well into the general trend of the world data, but undershoot by $2.5 \sigma$ data from the FOPI experiment measured at slightly lower beam energy. We compare our data to state-of-the-art transport model calculations (PHSD, IQMD, PHQMD, GiBUU and SMASH) and find substantial differences between the measurement and the results of these calculations.

Jets created in association with a photon can be used as a calibrated probe to study energy loss in the medium created in nuclear collisions. Measurements of the transverse momentum balance between isolated photons and inclusive jets are presented using integrated luminosities of 0.49 nb$^{-1}$ of Pb+Pb collision data at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=5.02$ TeV and 25 pb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Photons with transverse momentum $63.1 < p_\mathrm{T}^{\gamma} < 200$ GeV and $\left|\eta^{\gamma}\right| < 2.37$ are paired inclusively with all jets in the event that have $p_\mathrm{T}^\mathrm{jet} > 31.6$ GeV and pseudorapidity $\left|\eta^\mathrm{jet}\right| < 2.8$. The transverse momentum balance given by the jet-to-photon $p_\mathrm{T}$ ratio, $x_\mathrm{J\gamma}$, is measured for pairs with azimuthal opening angle $\Delta\phi > 7\pi/8$. Distributions of the per-photon jet yield as a function of $x_\mathrm{J\gamma}$, $(1/N_\gamma)(\mathrm{d}N/\mathrm{d}x_\mathrm{J\gamma})$, are corrected for detector effects via a two-dimensional unfolding procedure and reported at the particle level. In $pp$ collisions, the distributions are well described by Monte Carlo event generators. In Pb+Pb collisions, the $x_\mathrm{J\gamma}$ distribution is modified from that observed in $pp$ collisions with increasing centrality, consistent with the picture of parton energy loss in the hot nuclear medium. The data are compared with a suite of energy-loss models and calculations.

The inclusive production rates of isolated, prompt photons in $p$+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 8.16$ TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 165 nb$^{-1}$ recorded in 2016. The cross-section and nuclear modification factor $R_{p\mathrm{Pb}}$ are measured as a function of photon transverse energy from 20 GeV to 550 GeV and in three nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass pseudorapidity regions, (-2.83,-2.02), (-1.84,0.91), and (1.09,1.90). The cross-section and $R_{p\mathrm{Pb}}$ values are compared with the results of a next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculation, with and without nuclear parton distribution function modifications, and with expectations based on a model of the energy loss of partons prior to the hard scattering. The data disfavour a large amount of energy loss and provide new constraints on the parton densities in nuclei.

Light-by-light scattering ($\gamma\gamma\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$) is a quantum-mechanical process that is forbidden in the classical theory of electrodynamics. This reaction is accessible at the Large Hadron Collider thanks to the large electromagnetic field strengths generated by ultra-relativistic colliding lead (Pb) ions. Using 480 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ of Pb+Pb collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV by the ATLAS detector, the ATLAS Collaboration reports evidence for the $\gamma\gamma\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$ reaction. A total of 13 candidate events are observed with an expected background of 2.6$\pm$0.7 events. After background subtraction and analysis corrections, the fiducial cross section of the process $\textrm{Pb+Pb}\,(\gamma\gamma)\rightarrow \textrm{Pb}^{(\ast)}\textrm{+}\textrm{Pb}^{(\ast)}\,\gamma\gamma$, for photon transverse energy $E_{\mathrm{T}}>$3 GeV, photon absolute pseudorapidity $|\eta|<$2.4, diphoton invariant mass greater than 6 GeV, diphoton transverse momentum lower than 2 GeV and diphoton acoplanarity below 0.01, is measured to be 70 $\pm$ 24 (stat.) $\pm$ 17 (syst.) nb, which is in agreement with Standard Model predictions.

We present data on charged kaons (K+-) and {\phi} mesons in Au(1.23A GeV)+Au collisions. It is the first simultaneous measurement of K and {\phi} mesons in central heavy-ion collisions below a kinetic beam energy of 10A GeV. The {\phi}/K- multiplicity ratio is found to be surprisingly high with a value of 0.52 +- 0.16 and shows no dependence on the centrality of the collision. Consequently, the different slopes of the K+ and K- transverse-mass spectra can be explained solely by feed- down, which substantially softens the spectra of K- mesons. Hence, in contrast to the commonly adapted argumentation in literature, the different slopes do not necessarily imply diverging freeze- out temperatures of K+ and K- mesons caused by different couplings to baryons.

The ATLAS experiment has observed 1995 Z boson candidates in data corresponding to 0.15 inverse nb of integrated luminosity obtained in the 2011 LHC Pb+Pb run at sqrt(s_NN)=2.76 TeV. The Z bosons are reconstructed via di-electron and di-muon decay channels, with a background contamination of less than 3%. Results from the two channels are consistent and are combined. Within the statistical and systematic uncertainties, the per-event Z boson yield is proportional to the number of binary collisions estimated by the Glauber model. The elliptic anisotropy of the azimuthal distribution of the Z boson with respect to the event plane is found to be consistent with zero.

The ATLAS Collaboration has measured the inclusive production of $Z$ bosons via their decays into electron and muon pairs in $p+$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are made using data corresponding to integrated luminosities of 29.4 nb$^{-1}$ and 28.1 nb$^{-1}$ for $Z \rightarrow ee$ and $Z \rightarrow \mu\mu$, respectively. The results from the two channels are consistent and combined to obtain a cross section times the $Z \rightarrow \ell\ell$ branching ratio, integrated over the rapidity region $|y^{*}_{Z}|<3.5$, of 139.8 $\pm$ 4.8 (stat.) $\pm$ 6.2 (syst.) $\pm$ 3.8 (lumi.) nb. Differential cross sections are presented as functions of the $Z$ boson rapidity and transverse momentum, and compared with models based on parton distributions both with and without nuclear corrections. The centrality dependence of $Z$ boson production in $p+$Pb collisions is measured and analyzed within the framework of a standard Glauber model and the model's extension for fluctuations of the underlying nucleon-nucleon scattering cross section.