The inclusive cross-section for jet production in association with a Z boson decaying into an electron-positron pair is measured as a function of the transverse momentum and the absolute rapidity of jets using 19.9 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt s = 8$ TeV proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measured Z + jets cross-section is unfolded to the particle level. The cross-section is compared with state-of-the-art Standard Model calculations, including the next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations, corrected for non-perturbative and QED radiation effects. The results of the measurements cover final-state jets with transverse momenta up to 1 TeV, and show good agreement with fixed-order calculations.
List of experimentally considered systematic uncertainties for the Z + jets cross-section measurement
The double-differential Z + jets production cross-section as a function of |y_{jet}| in the 25 GeV < p_{T}^{jet} < 50 GeV range. The particle level phase space definition: - 66 GeV < m_{ee} < 116 GeV - |eta_{electron}| < 2.47 - p_{T}^{electron} > 20 GeV - anti-kt R=0.4 jets N>=1 - |y_{jet}| < 3.4 - p_{T}^{jet} > 25 GeV - Delta R(jet, electron) > 0.4
The double-differential Z + jets production cross-section as a function of |y_{jet}| in the 50 GeV < p_{T}^{jet} < 100 GeV range. The particle level phase space definition: - 66 GeV < m_{ee} < 116 GeV - |eta_{electron}| < 2.47 - p_{T}^{electron} > 20 GeV - anti-kt R=0.4 jets N>=1 - |y_{jet}| < 3.4 - p_{T}^{jet} > 25 GeV - Delta R(jet, electron) > 0.4
Electroweak symmetry breaking explains the origin of the masses of elementary particles through their interactions with the Higgs field. Besides the measurements of the Higgs boson properties, the study of the scattering of massive vector bosons with spin one allows the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking to be probed. Among all processes related to vector-boson scattering, the electroweak production of two jets and a $Z$-boson pair is a rare and important one. Here we report the observation of this process from proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139/fb recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. We consider two different final states originating from the decays of the $Z$-boson pair - one containing four charged leptons and the other containing two charged leptons and two neutrinos. The hypothesis of no electroweak production is rejected with a statistical significance of 5.7 $\sigma$, and the measured cross-section for electroweak production is consistent with the standard model prediction. In addition, we report cross-sections for inclusive production of a $Z$-boson pair and two jets for the two final states.
Signal strength and significance of EW ZZjj processes
Signal strength and significance of EW ZZjj processes
Measured and predicted fiducial cross-sections in both the lllljj and ll$\nu\nu$jj channels for the inclusive ZZjj processes. Uncertainties due to different sources are presented
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.
Detector-level diphoton invariant mass distribution
Detector-level diphoton acoplanarity distribution
The measured total fiducial cross section
This paper presents for the first time a precise measurement of the production properties of the Z boson in the full phase space of the decay leptons. This is in contrast to the many previous precise unfolded measurements performed in the fiducial phase space of the decay leptons. The measurement is obtained from proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2012 at $\sqrt s$ = 8 TeV at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb$^{-1}$. The results, based on a total of 15.3 million Z-boson decays to electron and muon pairs, extend and improve a previous measurement of the full set of angular coefficients describing Z-boson decay. The double-differential cross-section distributions in Z-boson transverse momentum p$_T$ and rapidity y are measured in the pole region, defined as 80 $<$ m $<$ 100 GeV, over the range $|y| <$ 3.6. The total uncertainty of the normalised cross-section measurements in the peak region of the p$_T$ distribution is dominated by statistical uncertainties over the full range and increases as a function of rapidity from 0.5-1.0% for $|y| <$ 2.0 to 2-7% at higher rapidities. The results for the rapidity-dependent transverse momentum distributions are compared to state-of-the-art QCD predictions, which combine in the best cases approximate N$^4$LL resummation with N$^3$LO fixed-order perturbative calculations. The differential rapidity distributions integrated over p$_T$ are even more precise, with accuracies from 0.2-0.3% for $|y| <$ 2.0 to 0.4-0.9% at higher rapidities, and are compared to fixed-order QCD predictions using the most recent parton distribution functions. The agreement between data and predictions is quite good in most cases.
Measured $p_T$ cross sections in full-lepton phase space for |y| < 0.4.
Measured $p_T$ cross sections in full-lepton phase space for 0.4 < |y| < 0.8.
Measured $p_T$ cross sections in full-lepton phase space for 0.8 < |y| < 1.2.
The inclusive top-quark-pair production cross section $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ and its ratio to the $Z$-boson production cross section have been measured in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13.6$ TeV, using 29 fb${}^{-1}$ of data collected in 2022 with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Using events with an opposite-charge electron-muon pair and $b$-tagged jets, and assuming Standard Model decays, the top-quark-pair production cross section is measured to be $\sigma_{t\bar{t}} = 850 \pm 3\mathrm{(stat.)}\pm 18\mathrm{(syst.)}\pm 20\mathrm{(lumi.)}$ pb. The ratio of the $t\bar{t}$ and the $Z$-boson production cross sections is also measured, where the $Z$-boson contribution is determined for inclusive $e^+e^-$ and $\mu^+\mu^-$ events in a fiducial phase space. The relative uncertainty on the ratio is reduced compared to the $t\bar{t}$ cross section, thanks to the cancellation of several systematic uncertainties. The result for the ratio, $R_{t\bar{t}/Z} = 1.145 \pm 0.003\mathrm{(stat.)}\pm 0.021\mathrm{(syst.)}\pm 0.002\mathrm{(lumi.)}$ is consistent with the Standard Model prediction using the PDF4LHC21 PDF set.
The fiducial phase-space definition for the $Z$-boson measurement. Born-level leptons are used.
The measured $t\bar{t}$ cross section and the ratio of the cross sections of $t\bar{t}$ and the $Z$-boson. Full phase-space is considered for $t\bar{t}$, while fiducial phase-space is considered for the $Z$-boson.
Table with pre-fit yields in the four regions used in the measurement
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