A search is presented for hadronic signatures of beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, with an emphasis on signatures of a strongly coupled hidden dark sector accessed via resonant production of a <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msup><mi>Z</mi><mo>′</mo></msup></math> mediator. The ATLAS experiment dataset collected at the Large Hadron Collider from 2015 to 2018 is used, consisting of proton-proton collisions at <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msqrt><mi>s</mi></msqrt><mo>=</mo><mn>13</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>TeV</mi></math> and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>140</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><msup><mi>fb</mi><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></math>. The <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msup><mi>Z</mi><mo>′</mo></msup></math> mediator is considered to decay to two dark quarks, which each hadronize and decay to showers containing both dark and Standard Model particles, producing a topology of interacting and noninteracting particles within a jet known as “semivisible.” Machine learning methods are used to select these dark showers and reject the dominant background of mismeasured multijet events, including an anomaly detection approach to preserve broad sensitivity to a variety of BSM topologies. A resonance search is performed by fitting the transverse mass spectrum based on a functional form background estimation. No significant excess over the expected background is observed. Results are presented as limits on the production cross section of semivisible jet signals, parametrized by the fraction of invisible particles in the decay and the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msup><mi>Z</mi><mo>′</mo></msup></math> mass, and by quantifying the significance of any generic Gaussian-shaped mass peak in the anomaly region.

France

G. Aad

Norway

E. Aakvaag

United States

B. Abbott

United Arab Emirates

S. Abdelhameed

Germany

K. Abeling

N.J. Abicht

S.H. Abidi

M. Aboelela

Morocco

A. Aboulhorma

Israel

H. Abramowicz

Y. Abulaiti

Italy

B.S. Acharya

A. Ackermann

C. Adam Bourdarios

Poland

L. Adamczyk

S.V. Addepalli

United Kingdom

M.J. Addison

J. Adelman

Türkiye

A. Adiguzel

T. Adye

A.A. Affolder

Y. Afik

Spain

M.N. Agaras

A. Aggarwal

Romania

C. Agheorghiesei

F. Ahmadov

S. Ahuja

China

X. Ai

G. Aielli

A. Aikot

M. Ait Tamlihat

B. Aitbenchikh

M. Akbiyik

Sweden

T.P.A. Åkesson

A.V. Akimov

Japan

D. Akiyama

N.N. Akolkar

S. Aktas

G.L. Alberghi

Canada

J. Albert

P. Albicocco

G.L. Albouy

S. Alderweireldt

Z.L. Alegria

CERN

M. Aleksa

I.N. Aleksandrov

C. Alexa

Greece

T. Alexopoulos

F. Alfonsi

Switzerland

M. Algren

M. Alhroob

Czechia

B. Ali

H.M.J. Ali

S. Ali

S.W. Alibocus

South Africa

M. Aliev

G. Alimonti

W. Alkakhi

C. Allaire

B.M.M. Allbrooke

J.S. Allen

J.F. Allen

P.P. Allport

A. Aloisio

Argentina

F. Alonso

C. Alpigiani

Z.M.K. Alsolami

A. Alvarez Fernandez

M. Alves Cardoso

M.G. Alviggi

M. Aly

Brazil

Y. Amaral Coutinho

A. Ambler

C. Amelung

M. Amerl

C.G. Ames

T. Amezza

D. Amidei

B. Amini

K. Amirie

A. Amirkhanov

Portugal

S.P. Amor Dos Santos

K.R. Amos

D. Amperiadou

S. An

C. Anastopoulos

T. Andeen

J.K. Anders

A.C. Anderson

A. Andreazza

S. Angelidakis

A. Angerami

A.V. Anisenkov

A. Annovi

C. Antel

E. Antipov

M. Antonelli

F. Anulli

M. Aoki

T. Aoki

Search for new physics in final states with semivisible jets or anomalous signatures using the ATLAS detector

Particle azimuthal anisotropies inside jets, defined within the momentum plane perpendicular to the jet axis, carry the information of the QCD cascade process for jet formation. In this work, we propose to measure the medium-induced modifications of the elliptic anisotropy inside jets in relativistic heavy-ion collisions to provide novel insight into the jet quenching phenomenon. By simulating the jet propagation in the hot and dense nuclear medium with a Linear Boltzmann Transport model, we observe a de-correlation in the two-particle azimuthal angular distribution for inclusive jet production in AA collisions relative to that in <italic>pp</italic> collisions, which results in significant suppression of the in-jet elliptic anisotropy coefficient <math altimg='si1.svg'><msub><mrow><mi>v</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math>. This phenomenon arises from the stochastic and strong interactions with the thermal QGP medium undergone by the jet particles. Furthermore, the nuclear modifications of the in-jet <math altimg='si1.svg'><msub><mrow><mi>v</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math> are found to be sensitive to the medium properties in the model study, which provide a potential probe for the jet tomography of nuclear matter.

Meng-Quan Yang

Wei-Xi Kong

Peng Ru

Ben-Wei Zhang

Suppression of elliptic anisotropy inside jets: A new perspective for jet quenching

Among the three known types of static solutions proposed within the Hamiltonian constraint approach to effective quantum gravity (EQG), the first two have been extensively investigated, whereas the third type-which preserves general covariance, is free of Cauchy horizons, and was only recently obtained-remains relatively unexplored. This solution can describe a black hole with an event horizon for certain parameter ranges, or a horizonless compact object beyond those ranges. In this paper, we focus on the third type and show that its light rings feature both stable and unstable branches, and that the black hole shadow size grows with the quantum parameter-unlike in the first two types. However, when we account for both the shadow and the lensing ring, the overall behavior closely resembles that of the second type, in which an increasing quantum parameter leads to a larger portion of the lensing ring being occupied by the shadow. This feature can serve as a hallmark of black holes in EQG, offering a potential way to distinguish them from their GR counterparts. Remarkably, the parameter ranges under which the solution remains a black hole are highly consistent with the current observational constraints on black hole shadows, lending strong support to the classification of the third type of compact object in EQG as a black hole endowed with an event horizon.

Wentao Liu

Di Wu

Jieci Wang

Light rings and shadows of static black holes in effective quantum gravity II: A new solution without Cauchy horizons

An important theoretical achievement of the last century was the realization that strict renormalizability can be a powerful criterion to select Lagrangians in the framework of perturbative quantum field theory. The Standard Model Lagrangian (without gravity) is strictly renormalizable from a perturbative point of view. On the other hand, the inclusion of gravity seems not to respect this criterion, since general relativity is perturbatively non-renormalizable. The aim of this work is to provide concrete evidence that strict renormalizability is still a valid criterion even when applied to gravity. First, we show that adding quadratic curvature terms to the Einstein-Hilbert action gives rise to a strictly renormalizable theory known as quadratic gravity. Second, we argue that this unique theory represents the most conservative approach to quantum gravity and, at the same time, is highly predictive, as it can explain new physics beyond general relativity already in the sub-Planckian regime. In particular, it provides one of the best fits to the CMB anisotropies via Starobinsky inflation and makes sharp cosmological predictions that can be tested in the near future. Finally, we comment on the (super-)Planckian regime and conclude with a historical note.

Netherlands

Luca Buoninfante

Strict renormalizability as a paradigm for fundamental physics

We introduce a new model for conditional and continuous data morphing called TRansport Adversarial Network for Smooth InTerpolation (TRANSIT). We apply it to create a background data template for weakly-supervised searches at the LHC. The method smoothly transforms sideband events to match signal region mass distributions. We demonstrate the performance of TRANSIT using the LHC Olympics R&D dataset. The model captures non-linear mass correlations of features and produces a template that offers a competitive anomaly sensitivity compared to state-of-the-art transport-based template generators. Moreover, the computational training time required for TRANSIT is an order of magnitude lower than that of competing deep learning methods. This makes it ideal for analyses that iterate over many signal regions and signal models. Unlike generative models, which must learn a full probability density distribution, i.e., the correlations between all the variables, the proposed transport model only has to learn a smooth conditional shift of the distribution. This allows for a simpler, more efficient residual architecture, enabling mass uncorrelated features to pass the network unchanged while the mass correlated features are adjusted accordingly. Furthermore, we show that the latent space of the model provides a set of mass decorrelated features useful for anomaly detection without background sculpting.

I. Oleksiyuk

S. Voloshynovskiy

T. Golling

TRANSIT your events into a new mass: fast background interpolation for weakly-supervised anomaly searches

The discovery of numerous new hadrons over the past two decades has provided unprecedented opportunities to understand the nonperturbative QCD and hadron structure. The hadronic molecule picture plays an important role in explaining these new hadrons and enriching the configurations of exotic hadronic states. In this Letter, using the model-independent <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>D</mi><mi>K</mi></math> potential extracted from the relevant experimental data, a <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msup><mi>J</mi><mrow><mi>P</mi><mi>C</mi></mrow></msup><mo>=</mo><msup><mn>0</mn><mrow><mo>−</mo><mo>−</mo></mrow></msup></math> <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mover accent="true"><mi>D</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover><mi>s</mi></msub><mi>D</mi><mi>K</mi></math> three-body hadronic molecule is predicted with a mass of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msubsup><mrow><mn>4310</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>24</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo><mn>14</mn></mrow></msubsup><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>MeV</mi></mrow></math>. This state shows decoupling to conventional <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>c</mi><mover accent="true"><mi>c</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover></math> charmonia or the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mover accent="true"><mi>D</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover><mi>s</mi></msub><msubsup><mi>D</mi><mrow><mi>s</mi><mn>0</mn></mrow><mo>*</mo></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>2317</mn><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></math> two-body molecular state. It can be regarded as a compelling three-body hadronic molecular candidate. We further demonstrate that the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msup><mi>B</mi><mo>+</mo></msup><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><msup><mi>D</mi><mrow><mo>*</mo><mo>±</mo></mrow></msup><msup><mi>D</mi><mo>∓</mo></msup><msup><mi>K</mi><mo>+</mo></msup></math> decays could be promising channels for searching for the predicted state in future high-luminosity LHCb runs.

Tian-Wei Wu

Ming-Zhu Liu

Li-Sheng Geng

Implication of the Existence of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>J</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>P</mi><mi>C</mi></mrow></msup><mo>=</mo><msup><mrow><mn>0</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mo>−</mo></mrow></msup><mtext> </mtext><msub><mrow><mover accent="true"><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mrow></mover></mrow><mrow><mi>s</mi></mrow></msub><mi>D</mi><mi>K</mi></mrow></math> Bound State on the Nature of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msubsup><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>s</mi><mn>0</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo></mrow></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>2317</mn><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow></math>, and a New Configuration of Exotic State

A measurement of the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mi>Z</mi><mi>γ</mi></mrow></math> triboson production cross section is presented. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msqrt><mi>s</mi></msqrt><mo>=</mo><mn>13</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>TeV</mi></math> recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>138</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><msup><mi>fb</mi><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></math>. The analysis focuses on the final state with three charged leptons, <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mrow><msup><mrow><mo>ℓ</mo></mrow><mrow><mo>±</mo></mrow></msup></mrow><mi>ν</mi><mrow><msup><mrow><mo>ℓ</mo></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo></mrow></msup></mrow><mrow><msup><mrow><mo>ℓ</mo></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo></mrow></msup></mrow></mrow></math>, where <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mo>ℓ</mo><mo>=</mo><mi>e</mi></math> or <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>μ</mi></mrow></math>, accompanied by an additional photon. The observed (expected) significance of the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mi>Z</mi><mrow><mi>γ</mi></mrow></math> signal is 5.4 (3.8) standard deviations. The cross section is measured in a fiducial region, where events with an ℓ originating from a tau lepton decay are excluded, to be <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>5.48</mn><mo>±</mo><mn>1.11</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>fb</mi></math>, which is compatible with the prediction of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>3.69</mn><mo>±</mo><mn>0.24</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>fb</mi></math> at next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics. Exclusion limits are set on anomalous quartic gauge couplings and on the production cross sections of massive axionlike particles.

Armenia

V. Chekhovsky

A. Hayrapetyan

V. Makarenko

A. Tumasyan

Austria

W. Adam

J.W. Andrejkovic

L. Benato

T. Bergauer

S. Chatterjee

K. Damanakis

M. Dragicevic

P.S. Hussain

M. Jeitler

N. Krammer

A. Li

D. Liko

I. Mikulec

J. Schieck

R. Schöfbeck

D. Schwarz

M. Sonawane

W. Waltenberger

C.E. Wulz

Belgium

T. Janssen

H. Kwon

T. Van Laer

P. Van Mechelen

N. Breugelmans

J. D’Hondt

S. Dansana

A. De Moor

M. Delcourt

F. Heyen

Y. Hong

S. Lowette

I. Makarenko

D. Müller

S. Tavernier

M. Tytgat

G.P. Van Onsem

S. Van Putte

D. Vannerom

B. Bilin

B. Clerbaux

A.K. Das

Observation of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>W</mi><mi>Z</mi><mi>γ</mi></math> production and constraints on new physics scenarios in proton-proton collisions at <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msqrt><mi>s</mi></msqrt><mo>=</mo><mn>13</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>TeV</mi></math>