Searches for electroweak production of wino-like chargino pairs, (chi) over tilde (+)(1)(chi) over tilde (-), 1, and of wino-like chargino and next-to-lightest neutralino, (chi) over tilde (+/-)(1)(chi) over tilde (0)(2), are presented. The models explored assume that the charginos decay into a W boson and the lightest neutralino, (chi) over tilde chi(+/-)(1) -> W-+/- (chi) over tilde (0)(1) The next-to-lightest neutralinos are degenerate in mass with the chargino and decay to (chi) over tilde (0)(1) and either a Z or a Higgs boson, (chi) over tilde (0)(2) -> Z (chi) over tildeX(1)(0) or h (chi) over tilde (0)(1). The searches exploit the presence of a single isolated lepton and missing transverse momentum from the W boson decay products and the lightest neutralinos, and the presence of jets from hadronically decaying Z or W bosons or from the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of b-quarks. The searches use 139 fb(-1) of root s = 13TeV proton-proton collisions data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018. No deviations from the Standard Model expectations are found, and 95% confidence level exclusion limits are set. Chargino masses ranging from 260 to 520 GeV are excluded for a massless (chi) over tilde (1)(0) in chargino pair production models. Degenerate chargino and next-to-lightest neutralino masses ranging from 260 to 420 GeV are excluded for a massless (chi) over tilde (1)(0) for (chi) over tilde (0)(2) -> Z (chi) over tilde (0)(1). For decays through an on-shell Higgs boson and for mass-splitting between (chi) over tilde (+/-)(1)/(chi) over tilde (0)(2) and (chi) over tilde (0)(1) as small as the Higgs boson mass, mass limits are improved by up to 40 GeV in the range of 200-260 GeV and 280-470 GeV compared to previous ATLAS constraints.

Peer reviewed