Search for new phenomena in multi-body invariant masses in events with at least one isolated lepton and two jets using $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for new particle resonances in events with leptons and jets at the LHC, setting limits on potential new physics signals using a large dataset from the ATLAS detector.

Contribution

It introduces a model-independent approach to set limits on generic resonances decaying into multiple leptons and jets using multi-body invariant mass distributions.

Findings

No significant deviations observed from background expectations.

Established 95% CL upper limits on cross-section times branching ratios for various new physics models.

Provided constraints on cascade decay scenarios involving multiple jets and leptons.

Abstract

A search for resonances in events with at least one isolated lepton ($e$ or $\mu$) and two jets is performed using $139 \, {\text{fb}}^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Deviations from a smoothly falling background hypothesis are tested in three- and four-body invariant mass distributions constructed from leptons and jets, including jets identified as originating from bottom quarks. Model-independent limits on generic resonances characterised by cascade decays of particles leading to multiple jets and leptons in the final state are presented. The limits are calculated using Gaussian shapes with different widths for the invariant masses. The multi-body invariant masses are also used to set 95% confidence level upper limits on the cross-section times branching ratios for the production and subsequent decay of resonances predicted by several new physics scenarios