Search for Singly Produced Top Partners in Trilepton Final State Using Data Collected by the ATLAS Detector from $pp$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV

This thesis presents the search for a heavy, up-type vector-like quark (VLQ), or Top Partner, with charge +2/3. Top Partners are predicted in well motivated models of new physics beyond the Standard Model. Having collected data with the ATLAS detector during 2015-2018 run of the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, I describe in this dissertation an analysis searching for Top Partners produced by the fusion of a $W$ boson and a bottom quark and decaying into a $Z$ boson and a top quark with a kinematic signature of three leptons. Since the search performed by analyzing the data collected in 2015-16 does not provide sufficient evidence in favor of VLQ discovery, we set limits on Top Partner mass as a function of its coupling constants. In order to extend this search for the entire dataset collected by ATLAS in Run 2 and facilitate a general interpretation and combination of all single VLQ searches in ATLAS, a generalized, semi-analytical framework for model-independent interpretation of the results of a generic search for the single production of VLQs in terms of the free parameters in the VLQ Lagrangian is presented. Additional studies are performed to facilitate computationally manageable signal generation for a fine grid of VLQ mass and couplings, probe interference between VLQ and standard model processes, and quantify contribution of sub-dominant diagrams. Finally, an updated analysis strategy to expand the previously mentioned search for the entire Run 2 dataset is described with initial results for kinematic distributions as well as expected limits on cross-sections, Top Partner masses, and couplings.