A theory of amorphous polymeric solids undergoing large deformations: application to micro-indentation of poly(methyl methacrylate)

Although existing continuum models for the elasto-viscoplastic response of amorphous polymeric materials phenomenologically capture the large deformation response of these materials in a reasonably acceptable manner, they do not adequately account for the creep response of these materials at stress levels below those causing “macro-yield”, as well as the Bauschinger-type reverse yielding phenomena at strain levels less than ≈ 30% associated with the macro-yield transient. Anand [1] has recently generalized the model of Anand and Gurtin [2] to begin to capture these important aspects of the mechanical response of such materials. In this work, we summarize Anand’s constitutive model and apply it to the amorphous polymeric solid poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), at ambient temperature and compressive stress states under which this material does not exhibit crazing. We describe our compression-tension and creep experiments on this material from which the material parameters in the model were determined. We have implemented the constitutive model in the finite-element computer program ABAQUS/Explicit [3], and using this finite-element program, we show numerical results for some representative problems in micro-indentation of PMMA, and compare them against corresponding results from physical experiments. The overall predictions of the details of the load, P, versus depth of indentaion, h, curves are very encouraging.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

Diffusion of particles moving with constant speed

The propagation of light in a scattering medium is described as the motion of a special kind of a Brownian particle on which the fluctuating forces act only perpendicular to its velocity. This enforces strictly and dynamically the constraint of constant speed of the photon in the medium. A Fokker-Planck equation is derived for the probability distribution in the phase space assuming the transverse fluctuating force to be a white noise. Analytic expressions for the moments of the displacement $$ along with an approximate expression for the marginal probability distribution function $P(x,t)$ are obtained. Exact numerical solutions for the phase space probability distribution for various geometries are presented. The results show that the velocity distribution randomizes in a time of about eight times the mean free time ($8t^*$) only after which the diffusion approximation becomes valid. This factor of eight is a well known experimental fact. A persistence exponent of $0.435 \pm 0.005$ is calculated for this process in two dimensions by studying the survival probability of the particle in a semi-infinite medium. The case of a stochastic amplifying medium is also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures(Submitted to Phys. Rev. E

Search for boosted diphoton resonances in the 10 to 70 GeV mass range using 138 fb−1 of 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for diphoton resonances in the mass range between 10 and 70 GeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is presented. The analysis is based on pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded from 2015 to 2018. Previous searches for diphoton resonances at the LHC have explored masses down to 65 GeV, finding no evidence of new particles. This search exploits the particular kinematics of events with pairs of closely spaced photons reconstructed in the detector, allowing examination of invariant masses down to 10 GeV. The presented strategy covers a region previously unexplored at hadron colliders because of the experimental challenges of recording low-energy photons and estimating the backgrounds. No significant excess is observed and the reported limits provide the strongest bound on promptly decaying axion-like particles coupling to gluons and photons for masses between 10 and 70 GeV

Search for heavy resonances decaying into a Z or W boson and a Higgs boson in final states with leptons and b-jets in 139 fb−1 of pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This article presents a search for new resonances decaying into a Z or W boson and a 125 GeV Higgs boson h, and it targets the νν¯¯¯bb¯¯, ℓ+ℓ−bb¯¯, or ℓ±νbb¯¯ final states, where ℓ = e or μ, in proton-proton collisions at s√ = 13 TeV. The data used correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 collected by the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the LHC at CERN. The search is conducted by examining the reconstructed invariant or transverse mass distributions of Zh or Wh candidates for evidence of a localised excess in the mass range from 220 GeV to 5 TeV. No significant excess is observed and 95% confidence-level upper limits between 1.3 pb and 0.3 fb are placed on the production cross section times branching fraction of neutral and charged spin-1 resonances and CP-odd scalar bosons. These limits are converted into constraints on the parameter space of the Heavy Vector Triplet model and the two-Higgs-doublet model

Measurement of electroweak Z(νν) γjj production and limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings in pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The electroweak production of Z(νν¯¯¯)γ in association with two jets is studied in a regime with a photon of high transverse momentum above 150 GeV using proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis uses a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 collected by the ATLAS detector during the 2015–2018 LHC data-taking period. This process is an important probe of the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism in the Standard Model and is sensitive to quartic gauge boson couplings via vector-boson scattering. The fiducial Z(νν¯¯¯)γjj cross section for electroweak production is measured to be 0.77+0.34−0.30 fb and is consistent with the Standard Model prediction. Evidence of electroweak Z(νν¯¯¯)γjj production is found with an observed significance of 3.2σ for the background-only hypothesis, compared with an expected significance of 3.7σ. The combination of this result with the previously published ATLAS observation of electroweak Z(νν¯¯¯)γjj production yields an observed (expected) signal significance of 6.3σ (6.6σ). Limits on anomalous quartic gauge boson couplings are obtained in the framework of effective field theory with dimension-8 operators

Search for a new scalar resonance in flavour-changing neutral-current top-quark decays t → qX (q = u, c), with X → bb¯¯, in proton-proton collisions at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for flavour-changing neutral-current decays of a top quark into an up-type quark (either up or charm) and a light scalar particle X decaying into a bottom anti-bottom quark pair is presented. The search focuses on top-quark pair production where one top quark decays to qX, with X → bb¯¯, and the other top quark decays according to the Standard Model, with the W boson decaying leptonically. The final state is thus characterised by an isolated electron or muon and at least four jets. Events are categorised according to the multiplicity of jets and jets tagged as originating from b-quarks, and a neural network is used to discriminate between signal and background processes. The data analysed correspond to 139 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The 95% confidence-level upper limits between 0.019% and 0.062% are derived for the branching fraction B(t → uX) and between 0.018% and 0.078% for the branching fraction B(t → cX), for masses of the scalar particle X between 20 and 160 GeV

Measurement of the tt¯ production cross-section in pp collisions at s√ = 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive top-quark pair (tt¯) production cross-section σtt¯ is measured in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy s√ = 5.02 TeV, using 257 pb−1 of data collected in 2017 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The tt¯ cross-section is measured in both the dilepton and single-lepton final states of the tt¯ system and then combined. The combination of the two measurements yields σtt¯=67.5±0.9(stat.)±2.3(syst.)±1.1(lumi.)±0.2(beam)pb, where the four uncertainties reflect the limited size of the data sample, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, and imperfect knowledge of both the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total uncertainty of 3.9%. The result is in agreement with theoretical quantum chromodynamic calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant, including the resummation of next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic soft-gluon terms, and constrains the parton distribution functions of the proton at large Bjorken-x

Search for flavour-changing neutral current interactions of the top quark and the Higgs boson in events with a pair of τ-leptons in pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for flavour-changing neutral current (FCNC) tqH interactions involving a top quark, another up-type quark (q = u, c), and a Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson decaying into a τ-lepton pair (H → τ+τ−) is presented. The search is based on a dataset of pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV that corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Two processes are considered: single top quark FCNC production in association with a Higgs boson (pp → tH), and top quark pair production in which one of top quarks decays into Wb and the other decays into qH through the FCNC interactions. The search selects events with two hadronically decaying τ-lepton candidates (τhad) or at least one τhad with an additional lepton (e, μ), as well as multiple jets. Event kinematics is used to separate signal from the background through a multivariate discriminant. A slight excess of data is observed with a significance of 2.3σ above the expected SM background, and 95% CL upper limits on the t → qH branching ratios are derived. The observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits set on the t → cH and t → uH branching ratios are 9.4×10−4(4.8+2.2−1.4×10−4) and 6.9×10−4(3.5+1.5−1.0×10−4), respectively. The corresponding combined observed (expected) upper limits on the dimension-6 operator Wilson coefficients in the effective tqH couplings are Ccϕ < 1.35 (0.97) and Cuϕ < 1.16 (0.82)

Measurement of the Higgs boson mass in the H → ZZ⁎ → 4ℓ decay channel using 139 fb−1 of √s = 13 TeV pp collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The mass of the Higgs boson is measured in the H → Z Z∗ → 4 decay channel. The analysis uses proton– proton collision data from the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector between 2015 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. The measured value of the Higgs boson mass is 124.99 ± 0.18(stat.) ± 0.04(syst.) GeV. In final states with muons, this measurement benefits from an improved momentum-scale calibration relative to that adopted in previous publications. The measurement also employs an analytic model that takes into account the invariant-mass resolution of the four-lepton system on a per-event basis and the output of a deep neural network discriminating signal from background events. This measurement is combined with the corresponding measurement using 7 and 8 TeV pp collision data, resulting in a Higgs boson mass of 124.94 ± 0.17(stat.) ± 0.03(syst.) GeV

Search for a new Z′ gauge boson in 4μ events with the ATLAS experiment

This paper presents a search for a new Z′ vector gauge boson with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using pp collision data collected at s√ = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. The new gauge boson Z′ is predicted by Lμ − Lτ models to address observed phenomena that can not be explained by the Standard Model. The search examines the four-muon (4μ) final state, using a deep learning neural network classifier to separate the Z′ signal from the Standard Model background events. The di-muon invariant masses in the 4μ events are used to extract the Z′ resonance signature. No significant excess of events is observed over the predicted background. Upper limits at a 95% confidence level on the Z′ production cross-section times the decay branching fraction of pp → Z′μμ → 4μ are set from 0.31 to 4.3 fb for the Z′ mass ranging from 5 to 81 GeV. The corresponding common coupling strengths, gZ′, of the Z′ boson to the second and third generation leptons above 0.003 – 0.2 have been excluded