Search for electroweak production of supersymmetric particles in final states with two τ-leptons in s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

Three searches for the direct production of τ-sleptons or charginos and neutralinos in final states with at least two hadronically decaying τ-leptons are presented. For chargino and neutralino production, decays via intermediate τ-sleptons or W and h bosons are considered. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb⁻¹, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant deviation from the expected Standard Model background is observed and supersymmetric particle mass limits at 95% confidence level are obtained in simplified models. For direct production of χ~₁⁺χ~₁⁻, chargino masses are excluded up to 970 GeV, while χ~₁^± and χ~₂⁰ masses up to 1160 GeV (330 GeV) are excluded for χ~₁^±χ~₂⁰/χ~₁⁺χ~₁⁻ production with subsequent decays via τ-sleptons (W and h bosons). Masses of τ-sleptons up to 500 GeV are excluded for mass degenerate τ~_L,R scenarios and up to 425 GeV for τ~_L-only scenarios. Sensitivity to τ~_R-only scenarios from the ATLAS experiment is presented here for the first time, with τ~_R masses excluded up to 350 GeV.