Person:

Spearman, William

A search for electroweak production of supersymmetric particles in scenarios with compressed mass spectra in final states with two low-momentum leptons and missing transverse momentum is presented. This search uses proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015–2016, corresponding to 36.1 fb−1 of integrated luminosity at √s=13 TeV. Events with same-flavor pairs of electrons or muons with opposite electric charge are selected. The data are found to be consistent with the Standard Model prediction. Results are interpreted using simplified models of R-parity-conserving supersymmetry in which there is a small mass difference between the masses of the produced supersymmetric particles and the lightest neutralino. Exclusion limits at 95% confidence level are set on next-to-lightest neutralino masses of up to 145 GeV for Higgsino production and 175 GeV for wino production, and slepton masses of up to 190 GeV for pair production of sleptons. In the compressed mass regime, the exclusion limits extend down to mass splittings of 2.5 GeV for Higgsino production, 2 GeV for wino production, and 1 GeV for slepton production. The results are also interpreted in the context of a radiatively-driven natural supersymmetry model with nonuniversal Higgs boson masses.

A search for doubly charged Higgs bosons with pairs of prompt, isolated, highly energetic leptons with the same electric charge is presented. The search uses a proton–proton collision data sample at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to 36.1 fb−1 of integrated luminosity recorded in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This analysis focuses on the decays H±± → e±e±, H±± → e±μ± and H±± → μ±μ±, fitting the dilepton mass spectra in several exclusive signal regions. No significant evidence of a signal is observed and corresponding limits on the production cross-section and consequently a lower limit on m(H±±) are derived at 95% confidence level. With l±l± = e±e±/μ±μ±/e±μ±, the observed lower limit on the mass of a doubly charged Higgs boson only coupling to left-handed leptons varies from 770 GeV to 870 GeV (850 GeV expected) for B(H±± → l±l±) = 100% and both the expected and observed mass limits are above 450 GeV for B(H±± → l±l±) = 10% and any combination of partial branching ratios.

The results of a search for squarks and gluinos in final states with an isolated electron or muon, multiple jets and large missing transverse momentum using proton--proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of s√ = 13 TeV are presented. The dataset used was recorded during 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1. No significant excess beyond the expected background is found. Exclusion limits at 95% confidence level are set in a number of supersymmetric scenarios, reaching masses up to 2.1 TeV for gluino pair production and up to 1.25 TeV for squark pair production.