Abstract
This paper describes an algorithm for reconstructing and identifying a highly collimated hadronically decaying τ-lepton pair with low transverse momentum. When two τ-leptons are highly collimated, their visible decay products might overlap, degrading the reconstruction performance for each of the τ-leptons. This requires a dedicated treatment that attempts to tag it as a single object. The reconstruction algorithm is based on a large radius jet and its associated two leading subjets, and the identification uses a boosted decision tree to discriminate between signatures from τ+τ− systems and those arising from QCD jets. The efficiency of the identification algorithm is measured in Zγ events using proton-proton collision data at √s=13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. The resulting data-to-simulation scale factors are close to unity with uncertainties ranging from 26% to 37%.