Search for scalar leptoquarks with the ATLAS detector. Recent results and prospects

Similarities between leptons and quarks in the SM suggest the existence of symmetries beyond the EW symmetry breaking scale. Leptoquarks (LQ) are hypothetical charged particles which carry both quark and lepton flavour quantum numbers. They appear naturally in many BSM theories and there have already been searches at previous collider experiments. A model independent search of pair-produced LQs with the ATLAS detector, based on a effective theory, will be reported, together with the prospects for LQ searches at the Large Hadron Collider.