The notion of a Fast Moving Object (FMO), i.e. an object that moves over a distance exceeding its size within the exposure time, is introduced. FMOs may, and typically do, rotate with high angular speed. FMOs are very common in sports videos, but are not rare elsewhere. In a single frame, such objects are often barely visible and appear as semitransparent streaks.A method for the detection and tracking of FMOs is proposed. The method consists of three distinct algorithms, which form an efficient localization pipeline that operates successfully in a broad range of conditions. We show that it is possible to recover the appearance of the object and its axis of rotation, despite its blurred appearance. The proposed method is evaluated on a new annotated dataset. The results show that existing trackers are inadequate for the problem of FMO localization and a new approach is required. Two applications of localization, temporal superresolution and highlighting, are presented.

A search for chargino–neutralino pair production in three-lepton final states with missing transverse momentum is presented. The study is based on a dataset of $$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ s = 13  TeV pp collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 $$\hbox {fb}^{-1}$$ fb - 1 . No significant excess relative to the Standard Model predictions is found in data. The results are interpreted in simplified models of supersymmetry, and statistically combined with results from a previous ATLAS search for compressed spectra in two-lepton final states. Various scenarios for the production and decay of charginos ($${\tilde{\chi }}^\pm _1$$ χ ~ 1 ± ) and neutralinos ($${\tilde{\chi }}^0_2$$ χ ~ 2 0 ) are considered. For pure higgsino $${\tilde{\chi }}^\pm _1{\tilde{\chi }}^0_2$$ χ ~ 1 ± χ ~ 2 0 pair-production scenarios, exclusion limits at 95% confidence level are set on $${\tilde{\chi }}^0_2$$ χ ~ 2 0 masses up to 210 GeV. Limits are also set for pure wino $${\tilde{\chi }}^\pm _1{\tilde{\chi }}^0_2$$ χ ~ 1 ± χ ~ 2 0 pair production, on $${\tilde{\chi }}^0_2$$ χ ~ 2 0 masses up to 640 GeV for decays via on-shell W and Z bosons, up to 300 GeV for decays via off-shell W and Z bosons, and up to 190 GeV for decays via W and Standard Model Higgs bosons.

The production of dark matter in association with Higgs bosons is predicted in several extensions of the Standard Model. An exploration of such scenarios is presented, considering final states with missing transverse momentum and b-tagged jets consistent with a Higgs boson. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC during Run 2, amounting to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. The analysis, when compared with previous searches, benefits from a larger dataset, but also has further improvements providing sensitivity to a wider spectrum of signal scenarios. These improvements include both an optimised event selection and advances in the object identification, such as the use of the likelihood-based significance of the missing transverse momentum and variable-radius track-jets. No significant deviation from Standard Model expectations is observed. Limits are set, at 95% confidence level, in two benchmark models with two Higgs doublets extended by either a heavy vector boson Z′ or a pseudoscalar singlet a and which both provide a dark matter candidate χ. In the case of the two-Higgs-doublet model with an additional vector boson Z′, the observed limits extend up to a Z′ mass of 3 TeV for a mass of 100 GeV for the dark matter candidate. The two-Higgs-doublet model with a dark matter particle mass of 10 GeV and an additional pseudoscalar a is excluded for masses of the a up to 520 GeV and 240 GeV for tan β = 1 and tan β = 10 respectively. Limits on the visible cross-sections are set and range from to 0.05 fb to 3.26 fb, depending on the missing transverse momentum and b-quark jet multiplicity requirements.

The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider has a broad physics programme ranging from precision measurements to direct searches for new particles and new interactions, requiring ever larger and ever more accurate datasets of simulated Monte Carlo events. Detector simulation with Geant4 is accurate but requires significant CPU resources. Over the past decade, ATLAS has developed and utilized tools that replace the most CPU-intensive component of the simulation—the calorimeter shower simulation—with faster simulation methods. Here, AtlFast3, the next generation of high-accuracy fast simulation in ATLAS, is introduced. AtlFast3 combines parameterized approaches with machine-learning techniques and is deployed to meet current and future computing challenges, and simulation needs of the ATLAS experiment. With highly accurate performance and significantly improved modelling of substructure within jets, AtlFast3 can simulate large numbers of events for a wide range of physics processes.

This paper presents an analysis at next-to-next-to-leading order in the theory of quantum chromodynamics for the determination of a new set of proton parton distribution functions using diverse measurements in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 7$$ s = 7 , 8 and 13 TeV, performed by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, together with deep inelastic scattering data from ep collisions at the HERA collider. The ATLAS data sets considered are differential cross-section measurements of inclusive $$W^{\pm }$$ W ± and $$Z/\gamma ^*$$ Z / γ ∗ boson production, $$W^{\pm }$$ W ± and Z boson production in association with jets, $$t\bar{t}$$ t t ¯ production, inclusive jet production and direct photon production. In the analysis, particular attention is paid to the correlation of systematic uncertainties within and between the various ATLAS data sets and to the impact of model, theoretical and parameterisation uncertainties. The resulting set of parton distribution functions is called ATLASpdf21.