Asymmetric nuclear collisions of $p$$+$Al, $p$$+$Au, $d$$+$Au, and $^{3}$He$+$Au at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV provide an excellent laboratory for understanding particle production, as well as exploring interactions among these particles after their initial creation in the collision. We present measurements of charged hadron production $dN_{\rm ch}/d\eta$ in all such collision systems over a broad pseudorapidity range and as a function of collision multiplicity. A simple wounded quark model is remarkably successful at describing the full data set. We also measure the elliptic flow $v_{2}$ over a similarly broad pseudorapidity range. These measurements provide key constraints on models of particle emission and their translation into flow.
A search for light long-lived neutral particles with masses in the $O$(MeV-GeV) range is presented. The analysis targets the production of long-lived dark photons in the decay of a Higgs boson produced via gluon-gluon fusion or in association with a $W$ boson. Events that contain displaced collimated Standard Model fermions reconstructed in the calorimeter or muon spectrometer are selected in 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV $pp$ collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Background estimates for contributions from Standard Model processes and instrumental effects are extracted from data. The observed event yields are consistent with the expected background. Exclusion limits are reported on the production cross-section times branching fraction as a function of the mean proper decay length $c\tau$ of the dark photon, or as a function of the dark-photon mass and kinetic mixing parameter that quantifies the coupling between the Standard Model and potential hidden (dark) sectors. A Higgs boson branching fraction above 1% is excluded at 95% CL for a Higgs boson decaying into two dark photons for dark-photon mean proper decay lengths between 10 mm and 250 mm and dark photons with masses between 0.4 GeV and 2 GeV.
A search for the exotic decay of the Higgs boson to a pair of light pseudoscalars, each of which subsequently decays into a pair of photons, is presented. The search uses data from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC that corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 132 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis probes pseudoscalar bosons with masses in the range 15-62 GeV, coming from the Higgs boson decay, which leads to four well-isolated photons in the final state. No significant deviation from the background-only hypothesis is observed. Upper limits are set on the product of the Higgs boson production cross section and branching fraction into four photons. The observed (expected) limits range from 0.80 (1.00) fb for a pseudoscalar boson mass of 15 GeV to 0.26 (0.24) fb for a mass of 62 GeV at 95% confidence level.
We present a study of events with Z bosons and jets produced at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider in ppbar collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The data sample consists of nearly 14,000 Z/G* -> e+e- candidates corresponding to the integrated luminosity of 0.4 fb-1 collected using the D0 detector. Ratios of the Z/G* + >= n jet cross sections to the total inclusive Z/G* cross section have been measured for n = 1 to 4 jet events. Our measurements are found to be in good agreement with a next-to-leading order QCD calculation and with a tree-level QCD prediction with parton shower simulation and hadronization.
Charmonium is a valuable probe in heavy-ion collisions to study the properties of the quark gluon plasma, and is also an interesting probe in small collision systems to study cold nuclear matter effects, which are also present in large collision systems. With the recent observations of collective behavior of produced particles in small system collisions, measurements of the modification of charmonium in small systems have become increasingly relevant. We present the results of J/ψ measurements at forward and backward rapidity in various small collision systems, p+p, p+Al, p+Au and 3He+Au, at √sNN =200 GeV. The results are presented in the form of the observable RAB, the nuclear modification factor, a measure of the ratio of the J/ψ invariant yield compared to the scaled yield in p+p collisions. We examine the rapidity, transverse momentum, and collision centrality dependence of nuclear effects on J/ψ production with different projectile sizes p and 3He, and different target sizes Al and Au. The modification is found to be strongly dependent on the target size, but to be very similar for p+Au and 3He+Au. However, for 0%–20% central collisions at backward rapidity, the modification for 3He+Au is found to be smaller than that for p+Au, with a mean fit to the ratio of 0.89±0.03(stat)±0.08(syst), possibly indicating final state effects due to the larger projectile size.
In 2015 the PHENIX collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider recorded $p+p$, $p+$Al, and $p+$Au collision data at center of mass energies of $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV with the proton beam(s) transversely polarized. At very forward rapidities $\eta>6.8$ relative to the polarized proton beam, neutrons were detected either inclusively or in (anti)correlation with detector activity related to hard collisions. The resulting single spin asymmetries, that were previously reported, have now been extracted as a function of the transverse momentum of the neutron as well as its longitudinal momentum fraction $x_F$. The explicit kinematic dependence, combined with the correlation information allows for a closer look at the interplay of different mechanisms suggested to describe these asymmetries, such as hadronic interactions or electromagnetic interactions in ultra-peripheral collisions, UPC. Events that are correlated with a hard collision indeed display a mostly negative asymmetry that increases in magnitude as a function of transverse momentum with only little dependence on $x_F$. In contrast, events that are not likely to have emerged from a hard collision display positive asymmetries for the nuclear collisions with a kinematic dependence that resembles that of a UPC based model. Because the UPC interaction depends strongly on the charge of the nucleus, those effects are very small for $p+p$ collisions, moderate for $p+$Al collisions, and large for $p+$Au collisions.
Searches for new phenomena inspired by supersymmetry in final states containing an $e^+e^-$ or $\mu^+\mu^-$ pair, jets, and missing transverse momentum are presented. These searches make use of proton-proton collision data with an integrated luminosity of 139 $\text{fb}^{-1}$, collected during 2015-2018 at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=13 $TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Two searches target the pair production of charginos and neutralinos. One uses the recursive-jigsaw reconstruction technique to follow up on excesses observed in 36.1 $\text{fb}^{-1}$ of data, and the other uses conventional event variables. The third search targets pair production of coloured supersymmetric particles (squarks or gluinos) decaying through the next-to-lightest neutralino $(\tilde\chi_2^0)$ via a slepton $(\tilde\ell)$ or $Z$ boson into $\ell^+\ell^-\tilde\chi_1^0$, resulting in a kinematic endpoint or peak in the dilepton invariant mass spectrum. The data are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectations. Results are interpreted using simplified models and exclude masses up to 900 GeV for electroweakinos, 1550 GeV for squarks, and 2250 GeV for gluinos.
We present a measurement of the $\ttbar$ production cross section using $194 \mathrm{pb^{-1}}$ of CDF II data using events with a high transverse momentum electron or muon, three or more jets, and missing transverse energy. The measurement assumes 100% $t\to Wb$ branching fraction. Events consistent with $\ttbar$ decay are found by identifying jets containing heavy flavor semileptonic decays to muons. The dominant backgrounds are evaluated directly from the data. Based on 20 candidate events and an expected background of 9.5$\pm$1.1 events, we measure a production cross section of $5.3\pm3.3^{+1.3}_{-1.0} \mathrm{pb}$, in agreement with the standard model.
We present a measurement of the t anti-t production cross section in p anti-p collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96 TeV which uses events with an inclusive signature of significant missing transverse energy and jets. This is the first measurement which makes no explicit lepton identification requirements, so that sensitivity to W --> tau nu decays is maintained. Heavy flavor jets from top quark decay are identified with a secondary vertex tagging algorithm. From 311 pb-1 of data collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab we measure a production cross section of 5.8 +/- 1.2(stat.)+0.9_-0.7(syst.) pb for a top quark mass of 178 GeV/c2, in agreement with previous determinations and standard model predictions.
We measure the ratio of cross section times branching fraction, $R_p \equiv \sigma_{\chi_{c2}} {\cal B}(\chi_{c2} \to J/\psi \gamma)/ \sigma_{\chi_{c1}} {\cal B}(\chi_{c1} \to J/\psi \gamma)$, in 1.1 fb$^{-1}$ of $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 1.96 TeV. This measurement covers the kinematic range $p_T(J/\psi)>4.0$ GeV/$c$, $|\eta(J/\psi)| < 1.0$, and $p_T(\gamma)>1.0$ GeV/$c$. For events due to prompt processes, we find $R_p = 0.395\pm0.016(stat.)\pm0.015(sys.)$. This result represents a significant improvement in precision over previous measurements of prompt $\chi_{c1,2}$ hadroproduction.
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