A search is conducted for new resonant and non-resonant high-mass phenomena in dielectron and dimuon final states. The search uses 36.1 fb −1 of proton-proton collision data, collected at √ s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015 and 2016. No significant deviation from the Standard Model prediction is observed. Upper limits at 95% credibility level are set on the cross-section times branching ratio for resonances decaying into dileptons, which are converted to lower limits on the resonance mass, up to 4.1 TeV for the E 6 -motivated Z χ . Lower limits on the qq contact interaction scale are set between 2.4 TeV and 40 TeV, depending on the model. Conclusion 21A Dilepton invariant mass tables 22The ATLAS collaboration 44 IntroductionThis article presents a search for resonant and non-resonant new phenomena, based on the analysis of dilepton final states (ee and µµ) in proton-proton (pp) collisions with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) operating at √ s = 13 TeV. The data set was collected during 2015 and 2016, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb −1 . In the search for new physics carried out at hadron colliders, the study of -1 - JHEP10(2017)182dilepton final states provides excellent sensitivity to a large variety of phenomena. This experimental signature benefits from a fully reconstructed final state, high signal-selection efficiencies and relatively small, well-understood backgrounds, representing a powerful test for a wide range of theories beyond the Standard Model (SM).Models with extended gauge groups often feature additional U(1) symmetries with corresponding heavy spin-1 bosons. These bosons, generally referred to as Z , would manifest as a narrow resonance through its decay, in the dilepton mass spectrum. Among these models are those inspired by Grand Unified Theories, which are motivated by gauge unification or a restoration of the left-right symmetry violated by the weak interaction. Examples considered in this article include the Z bosons of the E 6 -motivated [1,2] theories as well as Minimal models [3]. The Sequential Standard Model (SSM) [2] is also considered due to its inherent simplicity and usefulness as a benchmark model. The SSM manifests a Z SSM boson with couplings to fermions equal to those of the SM Z boson.The most sensitive previous searches for a Z boson decaying into the dilepton final state were carried out by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations [4,5]. Using 3.2 fb −1 of pp collision data at √ s = 13 TeV collected in 2015, ATLAS set a lower exclusion limit at 95% credibility level (CL) on the Z SSM pole mass of 3.4 TeV for the combined ee and µµ channels. Similar limits were set by CMS using the 2015 data sample.This search is also sensitive to a series of other models that predict the presence of narrow dilepton resonances. These models include the Randall-Sundrum (RS) model [6] with a warped extra dimension giving rise to spin-2 graviton excitations, the quantum black-hole model [7], the Z * model [8], and the minimal wal...

The ATLAS CollaborationThis letter describes the observation of the light-by-light scattering process, γγ → γγ, in Pb+Pb collisions at √ s 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 γ T > 3 GeV and pseudorapidity |η γ | < 2.4, 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 ± 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 ± 13 (stat.) ± 7 (syst.) ± 3 (lumi.) nb.Light-by-light scattering, γγ → γγ, is a quantum-mechanical process that is forbidden in the classical theory of electrodynamics [1, 2]. In the Standard Model (SM), the γγ → γγ reaction proceeds at one-loop level at order α 4 (where α is the fine-structure constant) via virtual box diagrams involving electrically charged fermions (leptons and quarks) or W ± bosons. However, in various extensions of the SM, extra contributions are possible, making the measurement of γγ → γγ scattering sensitive to new physics. Relevant examples are magnetic monopoles [3], vector-like fermions [4] and axion-like particles [5,6]. The light-by-light cross section is also sensitive to the effect of possible non-SM operators in an effective field theory [7][8][9]. Light-by-light scattering graphs with electron loops also contribute to the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron and muon [10,11].Strong evidence for this process in relativistic heavy-ion (Pb+Pb) collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has been reported by the ATLAS [12] and CMS [13] collaborations with observed significances of 4.4 and 4.1 standard deviations, respectively. Exclusive light-by-light scattering can occur in these collisions at impact parameters larger than about twice the radius of the ions, as demonstrated for the first time in Ref. [14]. The strong interaction becomes less significant and the electromagnetic (EM) interaction becomes more important in these ultraperipheral collision (UPC) events. In general, this allows to study processes involving nuclear photoexcitation, photoproduction of hadrons, and two-photon interactions [15,16]. The EM fields produced by the colliding Pb nuclei can be described as a beam of quasi-real photons with a small virtuality of Q 2 < 1/R 2 , where R is the radius of the charge distribution and so Q 2 < 10 −3 GeV 2 [17, 18]. The cross section for the elastic reaction Pb+Pb (γγ) → Pb+Pb γγ can then be calculated by convolving the appropriate photon flux with the elementary cross section for the process γγ → γγ. Since the photon flux associated with each nucleus scales with the square of the number of protons, the cross section is strongl...

Search for heavy Majorana or Dirac neutrinos and right-handed W gauge bosons in final states with two charged leptons and two jets at √ s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector The ATLAS Collaboration A search for heavy right-handed Majorana or Dirac neutrinos N R and heavy right-handed gauge bosons W R is performed in events with a pair of energetic electrons or muons, with the same or opposite electric charge, and two energetic jets. The events are selected from pp collision data with an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb −1 collected by the ATLAS detector at √ s = 13 TeV. No significant deviations from the Standard Model are observed. The results are interpreted within the theoretical framework of a left-right symmetric model and lower limits are set on masses in the heavy right-handed W boson and neutrino mass plane. The excluded region extends to m W R = 4.7 TeV for both Majorana and Dirac N R neutrinos.