Alongshore variability in wave energy transfer to coastal cliffs

The alongshore distribution of wave energy is believed to be an important control on the spatial variability of coastal erosion. There is, however, a lack of field data quantifying the alongshore variability in wave energy on rock coasts, whereby the relative control of coastline geometry versus foreshore characteristics on wave energy delivery remains unclear. A number of studies have identified high-frequency cliff-top ground shaking to be generated by wave impacts at the cliff toe during high tides (HT). To capture the variability of wave-cliff impact energy along-coast, we installed an array of cliff-top seismometers along a 1 km stretch of coastline in North Yorkshire, UK. Our aim is to constrain how wave energy transfer to the cliff toe varies, and to examine the relative energy transfer around typical coastline features, including a bay and headlands. Whilst the greatest HT ground motion energy is recorded at a headland and the lowest at the centre of the bay (5% of that observed at the headland), we identify no systematic alongshore variation in the HT ground motion energy that can be related to coastline morphology. We also note considerable variation between features of similar form: the total HT ground motion energy at one headland is only 49% of the next headland 1 km alongshore. Between neighbouring sites within the bay, separated by only 100 m, we observe up to an order of magnitude difference in ground motion energy transfer. Our results demonstrate the importance of the foreshore in driving the variations in energy delivery that we observe. Local alterations in water depth and foreshore topography control the alongshore distribution of wave energy available to generate cliff HT ground motions. Importantly, this apparently local effect overrides the influence of macroscale coastal planform morphology, which has previously been assumed to be the dominant control. The results show that foreshore characteristics that hold influence over wave energy transfer vary significantly over short (~100 m) distances, and so we expect erosion controlled by wave impacts to vary over similar scales

Are microseismic ground displacements a significant geomorphic agent?

This paper considers the role that microseismic ground displacements may play in fracturing rock via cyclic loading and subcritical crack growth. Using a coastal rock cliff as a case study, we firstly undertake a literature review to define the spatial locations that may be prone to microseismic damage. It is suggested that microseismic weakening of rock can only occur in ‘damage accumulation zones’ of limited spatial extent. Stress concentrations resulting from cliff height, slope angle and surface morphology may nucleate and propagate a sufficiently dense population of microcracks that can then be exploited by microseismic cyclic loading. We subsequently examine a 32-day microseismic dataset obtained from a coastal cliff-top location at Staithes, UK. The dataset demonstrates that microseismic ground displacements display low peak amplitudes that are punctuated by periods of greater displacement during storm conditions. Microseismic displacements generally display limited preferential directivity, though we observe rarely occurring sustained ground motions with a cliff-normal component during storm events. High magnitude displacements and infrequently experienced ground motion directions may be more damaging than the more frequently occurring, reduced magnitude displacements characteristic of periods of relative quiescence. As high magnitude, low frequency events exceed and then increase the damage threshold, these extremes may also render intervening, reduced magnitude microseismic displacements ineffective in terms of damage accumulation as a result of crack tip blunting and the generation of residual compressive stresses that close microcracks. We contend that damage resulting from microseismic ground motion may be episodic, rather than being continuous and in (quasi-)proportional and cumulative response to environmental forcing. A conceptual model is proposed that describes when and where microseismic ground motions can operate effectively. We hypothesise that there are significant spatial and temporal limitations on effective microseismic damage accumulation, such that the net efficacy of microseismic ground motions in preparing rock for fracture, and hence in enhancing erosion, may be considerably lower than previously suggested in locations where high magnitude displacements punctuate ‘standard’ displacement conditions. Determining and measuring the exact effects of microseismic ground displacement on damage accumulation and as a trigger to macro-scale fracture in the field is not currently possible, though our model remains consistent with field observations and conceptual models of controls on rockfall activity

Combination of searches for Higgs boson pairs in pp collisions at \sqrts = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This letter presents a combination of searches for Higgs boson pair production using up to 36.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The combination is performed using six analyses searching for Higgs boson pairs decaying into the b (b) over barb (b) over bar, b (b) over barW(+)W(-), b (b) over bar tau(+)tau(-), W+W-W+W-, b (b) over bar gamma gamma and W+W-gamma gamma final states. Results are presented for non-resonant and resonant Higgs boson pair production modes. No statistically significant excess in data above the Standard Model predictions is found. The combined observed (expected) limit at 95% confidence level on the non-resonant Higgs boson pair production cross-section is 6.9 (10) times the predicted Standard Model cross-section. Limits are also set on the ratio (kappa(lambda)) of the Higgs boson self-coupling to its Standard Model value. This ratio is constrained at 95% confidence level in observation (expectation) to -5.0 &lt; kappa(lambda) &lt; 12.0 (-5.8 &lt; kappa(lambda) &lt; 12.0). In addition, limits are set on the production of narrow scalar resonances and spin-2 Kaluza-Klein Randall-Sundrum gravitons. Exclusion regions are also provided in the parameter space of the habemus Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and the Electroweak Singlet Model. For complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.135103</p

Searches for lepton-flavour-violating decays of the Higgs boson in s=13\sqrt{s}=13 TeV pp\mathit{pp} collisions with the ATLAS detector

This Letter presents direct searches for lepton flavour violation in Higgs boson decays, H → eτ and H → μτ , performed with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The searches are based on a data sample of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy √s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1. No significant excess is observed above the expected background from Standard Model processes. The observed (median expected) 95% confidence-level upper limits on the leptonflavour-violating branching ratios are 0.47% (0.34+0.13−0.10%) and 0.28% (0.37+0.14−0.10%) for H → eτ and H → μτ , respectively.publishedVersio

Search for flavour-changing neutral currents in processes with one top quark and a photon using 81 fb⁻¹ of pp collisions at \sqrts = 13 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

A search for flavour-changing neutral current (FCNC) events via the coupling of a top quark, a photon, and an up or charm quark is presented using 81 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data taken at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events with a photon, an electron or muon, a b-tagged jet, and missing transverse momentum are selected. A neural network based on kinematic variables differentiates between events from signal and background processes. The data are consistent with the background-only hypothesis, and limits are set on the strength of the tqγ coupling in an effective field theory. These are also interpreted as 95% CL upper limits on the cross section for FCNC tγ production via a left-handed (right-handed) tuγ coupling of 36 fb (78 fb) and on the branching ratio for t→γu of 2.8×10−5 (6.1×10−5). In addition, they are interpreted as 95% CL upper limits on the cross section for FCNC tγ production via a left-handed (right-handed) tcγ coupling of 40 fb (33 fb) and on the branching ratio for t→γc of 22×10−5 (18×10−5). © 2019 The Author(s

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

A search for the production of three massive vector bosons in proton-proton collisions is performed using data at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ 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 $\ell$ (electrons or muons) and at least two reconstructed jets are selected to search for $WWW \to \ell \nu \ell \nu qq$. Events with three leptons without any same-flavour opposite-sign lepton pairs are used to search for $WWW \to \ell \nu \ell\nu \ell \nu$, 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 $WWZ \to \ell \nu qq \ell \ell$. Finally, events with four leptons are analysed to search for $WWZ \to \ell \nu \ell \nu \ell \ell$ and $WZZ \to qq \ell \ell \ell \ell$. 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.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 6 figures, 5 tables, matching published paper in Phys. Lett. B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-2

Search for long-lived neutral particles in pp collisions at s√=13 TeV that decay into displaced hadronic jets in the ATLAS calorimeter

This paper describes a search for pairs of neutral, long-lived particles decaying in the ATLAS calorimeter. Long-lived particles occur in many extensions to the Standard Model and may elude searches for new promptly decaying particles. The analysis considers neutral, long-lived scalars with masses between 5 and 400 GeV, produced from decays of heavy bosons with masses between 125 and 1000 GeV, where the long-lived scalars decay into Standard Model fermions. The analysis uses either 10.8 fb−1 or 33.0 fb−1 of data (depending on the trigger) recorded in 2016 at the LHC with the ATLAS detector in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant excess is observed, and limits are reported on the production cross section times branching ratio as a function of the proper decay length of the long-lived particles

Measurement of the top-quark mass using a leptonic invariant mass in pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the top-quark mass (mt) in the tt¯ → lepton + jets channel is presented, with an experimental technique which exploits semileptonic decays of b-hadrons produced in the top-quark decay chain. The distribution of the invariant mass mℓμ of the lepton, ℓ (with ℓ = e, μ), from the W-boson decay and the muon, μ, originating from the b-hadron decay is reconstructed, and a binned-template profile likelihood fit is performed to extract mt. The measurement is based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1 of s√ = 13 TeV pp collisions provided by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded by the ATLAS detector. The measured value of the top-quark mass is mt = 174.41 ± 0.39 (stat.) ± 0.66 (syst.) ± 0.25 (recoil) GeV, where the third uncertainty arises from changing the PYTHIA8 parton shower gluon-recoil scheme, used in top-quark decays, to a recently developed setup

Search for resonances decaying into photon pairs in 139 fb−1 of pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Searches for new resonances in the diphoton final state, with spin 0 as predicted by theories with an extended Higgs sector and with spin 2 using a warped extra-dimension benchmark model, are presented using 139 fb−1 of √s = 13 TeV pp collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. No significant deviation from the Standard Model is observed and upper limits are placed on the production cross-section times branching ratio to two photons as a function of the resonance mass

What controls the geometry of rocky coasts at the local scale?

There is a need to understand the controls on rocky coastal form in order to predict the likely response to climate changes and sea-level rise. Spatial variations in coastal geometry result from inheritance and contemporary processes, notably erosive wave intensity and rock resistance. We studied a 4.2 km long section of coastline (Staithes, North Yorkshire, UK) using LiDAR point cloud data and ortho-photographs. We represented the coast as a series of densely-spaced (25 m) and resampled (0.2 m) 2D cross-sections. GIS-based statistical analysis allowed us to identify relationships between coastal morphology, geology (lithology and rock structure) and wave intensity. We found the following statistically-significant relationships: 1) more intensive waves and weaker rocks are associated with steeper shore platforms, 2) higher platforms and cliff toes are associated with weaker and more variable rocks, and 3) surface roughness increases with greater wave intensity, decreased density of discontinuities and decreased variability of intact rock hardness. However, these relationships are weak, which suggests the potential role of coastal inheritance and/or the need to better represent rock resistance in coastal models