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Abstract

A search for pair-produced vector-like quarks using events with exactly one lepton (e or μ), at least four jets including at least one b-tagged jet, and large missing transverse momentum is presented. Data from proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s =13 TeV, recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC from 2015 to 2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1, are analysed. Vector-like partners T and B of the top and bottom quarks are considered, as is a vector-like X with charge +5/3, assuming their decay into a W, Z, or Higgs boson and a third-generation quark. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectation are observed. Upper limits on the production cross-section of T and B quark pairs as a function of their mass are derived for various decay branching ratio scenarios. The strongest lower limits on the masses are 1.59 TeV assuming mass-degenerate vector-like quarks and branching ratios corresponding to the weak-isospin doublet model, and 1.47 TeV (1.46 TeV) for exclusive T → Zt (B/X → Wt) decays. In addition, lower limits on the T and B quark masses are derived for all possible branching ratios.