Evidence for the production of three massive vector bosons with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

WOS: 000494939000011 ; A search for the production of three massive vector bosons in proton-proton collisions is performed using data at root s = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in the years 2015-2017, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 79.8 fb(-1). Events with two same-sign leptons l (electrons or muons) and at least two reconstructed jets are selected to search for WWW -> l nu l nu qq. Events with three leptons without any same-flavour opposite-sign lepton pairs are used to search for WWW > l nu l nu l nu, while events with three leptons and at least one same-flavour opposite-sign lepton pair and one or more reconstructed jets are used to search for WWZ -> l nu qqll. Finally, events with four leptons are analysed to search for WWZ > l nu l nu ll and WZZ > qqllll. Evidence for the joint production of three massive vector bosons is observed with a significance of 4.1 standard deviations, where the expectation is 3.1 standard deviations. (C) 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. ; ANPCyT, ArgentinaANPCyT; YerPhI, Armenia; ARC, AustraliaAustralian Research Council; BMWFW, Austria; FWF, AustriaAustrian Science Fund (FWF); ANAS, AzerbaijanAzerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS); SSTC, Belarus; CNPq, BrazilNational Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq); FAPESP, BrazilFundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP); NSERC, CanadaNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; NRC, Canada; CFI, CanadaCanada Foundation for Innovation; CERN; CONICYT, ChileComision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT); CAS, ChinaChinese Academy of Sciences; MOST, ChinaMinistry of Science and Technology, China; NSFC, ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China; COLCIENCIAS, ColombiaDepartamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion Colciencias; MSMT CR, Czech RepublicMinistry of Education, Youth & Sports - Czech RepublicCzech Republic Government; MPO CR, Czech RepublicCzech Republic Government; VSC CR, Czech RepublicCzech Republic Government; DNRF, Denmark; DNSRC, DenmarkDanish Natural Science Research Council; IN2P3-CNRS, CEA-DRF/IRFU, France; SRNSFG, Georgia; BMBF, GermanyFederal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF); HGF, Germany; MPG, GermanyMax Planck Society; GSRT, GreeceGreek Ministry of Development-GSRT; RGC, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaHong Kong Research Grants Council; ISF, IsraelIsrael Science Foundation; Benoziyo Center, Israel; INFN, ItalyIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; MEXT, JapanMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT); JSPS, JapanMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT)Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; CNRST, Morocco; NWO, NetherlandsNetherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)Netherlands Government; RCN, Norway; MNiSW, PolandMinistry of Science and Higher Education, Poland; NCN, Poland; FCT, PortugalPortuguese Foundation for Science and Technology; MNE/IFA, Romania; MES of Russia, Russian FederationRussian Federation; NRC KI, Russian Federation; JINR; MESTD, Serbia; MSSR, Slovakia; ARRS, SloveniaSlovenian Research Agency - Slovenia; MIZS, Slovenia; DST/NRF, South Africa; MINECO, Spain; SRC, Sweden; Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden; SERI, Switzerland; SNSF, SwitzerlandSwiss National Science Foundation (SNSF); Canton of Bern, Switzerland; Canton of Geneva, Switzerland; MOST, TaiwanMinistry of Science and Technology, Taiwan; TAEK, TurkeyMinistry of Energy & Natural Resources - Turkey; STFC, United KingdomScience & Technology Facilities Council (STFC); DOE, United States of AmericaUnited States Department of Energy (DOE); NSF, United States of AmericaNational Science Foundation (NSF); BCKDF, Canada; CANARIE, Canada; CRC, Canada; Compute Canada, Canada; COST, European Union; ERC, European UnionEuropean Union (EU)European Research Council (ERC); ERDF, European UnionEuropean Union (EU); Horizon 2020, European Union; Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, European UnionEuropean Union (EU); Investissements d' Avenir Labex and Idex, ANR, FranceFrench National Research Agency (ANR); DFG, GermanyGerman Research Foundation (DFG); AvH Foundation, GermanyAlexander von Humboldt Foundation; Herakleitos programme; EU-ESF, Greece; Greek NSRF, Greece; BSF-NSF, Israel; GIF, IsraelGerman-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development; CERCA Programme Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain; Royal Society, United KingdomRoyal Society of London; Leverhulme Trust, United KingdomLeverhulme Trust; Thales programme; Aristeia programme ; We thank CERN for the very successful operation of the LHC, as well as the support staff from our institutions without whom ATLAS could not be operated efficiently.r We acknowledge the support of ANPCyT, Argentina; YerPhI, Armenia; ARC, Australia; BMWFW and FWF, Austria; ANAS, Azerbaijan; SSTC, Belarus; CNPq and FAPESP, Brazil; NSERC, NRC and CFI, Canada; CERN; CONICYT, Chile; CAS, MOST and NSFC, China; COLCIENCIAS, Colombia; MSMT CR, MPO CR and VSC CR, Czech Republic; DNRF and DNSRC, Denmark; IN2P3-CNRS, CEA-DRF/IRFU, France; SRNSFG, Georgia; BMBF, HGF, and MPG, Germany; GSRT, Greece; RGC, Hong Kong SAR, China; ISF and Benoziyo Center, Israel; INFN, Italy; MEXT and JSPS, Japan; CNRST, Morocco; NWO, Netherlands; RCN, Norway; MNiSW and NCN, Poland; FCT, Portugal; MNE/IFA, Romania; MES of Russia and NRC KI, Russian Federation; JINR; MESTD, Serbia; MSSR, Slovakia; ARRS and MIZS, Slovenia; DST/NRF, South Africa; MINECO, Spain; SRC and Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden; SERI, SNSF and Cantons of Bern and Geneva, Switzerland; MOST, Taiwan; TAEK, Turkey; STFC, United Kingdom; DOE and NSF, United States of America. In addition, individual groups and members have received support from BCKDF, CANARIE, CRC and Compute Canada, Canada; COST, ERC, ERDF, Horizon 2020, and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, European Union; Investissements d' Avenir Labex and Idex, ANR, France; DFG and AvH Foundation, Germany; Herakleitos, Thales and Aristeia programmes cofinanced by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF, Greece; BSF-NSF and GIF, Israel; CERCA Programme Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain; The Royal Society and Leverhulme Trust, United Kingdom.r The crucial computing support from all WLCG partners is acknowledged gratefully, in particular from CERN, the ATLAS Tier1 facilities at TRIUMF (Canada), NDGF (Denmark, Norway, Sweden), CC-IN2P3 (France), KIT/GridKA (Germany), INFN-CNAF (Italy), NL-T1 (Netherlands), PIC (Spain), ASGC (Taiwan), RAL (UK) and BNL (USA), the Tier-2 facilities worldwide and large non-WLCG resource providers. Major contributors of computing resources are listed in Ref.[70].