This paper presents a measurement of the ordering of charged hadrons in the azimuthal angle relative to the beam axis in high-energy proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A spectral analysis of correlations between longitudinal and transverse components of the momentum of the charged hadrons, driven by the search for phenomena related to the structure of the QCD field, is performed. Data were recorded with the ATLAS detector at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. The correlations measured in a phase space region dominated by low-pT particles are not well described by conventional models of hadron production. The measured spectra show features consistent with the fragmentation of a QCD string represented by a helix-like ordered gluon chain.
A measurement of the jet activity in ttbar events produced in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented, using 2.05 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The ttbar events are selected in the dilepton decay channel with two identified b-jets from the top quark decays. Events are vetoed if they contain an additional jet with transverse momentum above a threshold in a central rapidity interval. The fraction of events surviving the jet veto is presented as a function of this threshold for four different central rapidity interval definitions. An alternate measurement is also performed, in which events are vetoed if the scalar transverse momentum sum of the additional jets in each rapidity interval is above a threshold. In both measurements, the data are corrected for detector effects and compared to the theoretical models implemented in MC@NLO, POWHEG, ALPGEN and SHERPA. The experimental uncertainties are often smaller than the spread of theoretical predictions, allowing deviations between data and theory to be observed in some regions of phase space.
Distributions sensitive to the underlying event are studied in events containing one or more charged-particle jets produced in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These measurements reflect 800 inverse microbarns of data taken during 2010. Jets are reconstructed using the antikt algorithm with radius parameter R varying between 0.2 and 1.0. Distributions of the charged-particle multiplicity, the scalar sum of the transverse momentum of charged particles, and the average charged-particle pT are measured as functions of pT^JET in regions transverse to and opposite the leading jet for 4 GeV < pT^JET < 100 GeV. In addition, the R-dependence of the mean values of these observables is studied. In the transverse region, both the multiplicity and the scalar sum of the transverse momentum at fixed pT^JET vary significantly with R, while the average charged-particle transverse momentum has a minimal dependence on R. Predictions from several Monte Carlo tunes have been compared to the data; the predictions from Pythia 6, based on tunes that have been determined using LHC data, show reasonable agreement with the data, including the dependence on R. Comparisons with other generators indicate that additional tuning of soft-QCD parameters is necessary for these generators. The measurements presented here provide a testing ground for further development of the Monte Carlo models.
Using inelastic proton-proton interactions at sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV, recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC, measurements have been made of the correlations between forward and backward charged-particle multiplicities and, for the first time, between forward and backward charged-particle summed transverse momentum. In addition, jet-like structure in the events is studied by means of azimuthal distributions of charged particles relative to the charged particle with highest transverse momentum in a selected kinematic region of the event. The results are compared with predictions from tunes of the PYTHIA and HERWIG++ Monte Carlo generators, which in most cases are found to provide a reasonable description of the data.
Results are presented of a search for supersymmetric particles in events with large missing transverse momentum and at least one heavy flavour jet candidate in sqrt{s} = 7 TeV proton-proton collisions. In a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1 recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, no significant excess is observed with respect to the prediction for Standard Model processes. For R-parity conserving models in which sbottoms (stops) are the only squarks to appear in the gluino decay cascade, gluino masses below 590 GeV (520 GeV) are excluded at the 95% C.L. The results are also interpreted in an MSUGRA/CMSSM supersymmetry breaking scenario with tan(beta)=40 and in an SO(10) model framework.
We present first measurements of charged and neutral particle-flow correlations in pp collisions using the ATLAS calorimeters. Data were collected in 2009 and 2010 at centre-of-mass energies of 900 GeV and 7 TeV. Events were selected using a minimum-bias trigger which required a charged particle in scintillation counters on either side of the interaction point. Particle flows, sensitive to the underlying event, are measured using clusters of energy in the ATLAS calorimeters, taking advantage of their fine granularity. No Monte Carlo generator used in this analysis can accurately describe the measurements. The results are independent of those based on charged particles measured by the ATLAS tracking systems and can be used to constrain the parameters of Monte Carlo generators.
The results of a search for pair production of the scalar partners of bottom quarks in 2.05 fb^-1 of pp collisions at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV using the ATLAS experiment are reported. Scalar bottoms are searched for in events with large missing transverse momentum and two jets in the final state, where both jets are identified as originating from a b-quark. In an R-parity conserving minimal supersymmetric scenario, assuming that the scalar bottom decays exclusively into a bottom quark and a neutralino, 95% confidence-level upper limits are obtained in the tilde{b}_1 - tilde{chi}^0_1 mass plane such that for neutralino masses below 60 GeV scalar bottom masses up to 390 GeV are excluded.
This Letter presents a measurement of WZ production in 1.02 fb^-1 of pp collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2011. Doubly leptonic decay events are selected with electrons, muons and missing transverse momentum in the final state. In total 71 candidates are observed, with a background expectation of 12.1 +/- 1.4(stat.) +4.1/-2.0(syst) events. The total cross section for WZ production for Z gamma^* masses within the range 66 GeV to 116 GeV is determined to be sigma_WZ^tot = 20.5 +3.1/-2.8(stat.) +1.4/-1.3(syst.) +0.9/-0.8(lumi.)pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model expectation of 17.3 +1.3/-0.8 pb. Limits on anomalous triple gauge boson couplings are extracted.
This letter presents measurements of the differential cross-sections for inclusive electron and muon production in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The muon cross-section is measured as a function of pT in the range 4 < pT < 100 GeV and within pseudorapidity |eta| < 2.5. In addition the electron and muon cross-sections are measured in the range 7 < pT < 26 GeV and within |eta| <2.0, excluding 1.37<|eta|<1.52. Integrated luminosities of 1.3 pb-1 and 1.4 pb-1 are used for the electron and muon measurements, respectively. After subtraction of the W/Z/gamma* contribution, the differential cross-sections are found to be in good agreement with theoretical predictions for heavy-flavour production obtained from Fixed Order NLO calculations with NLL high-pT resummation, and to be sensitive to the effects of NLL resummation.
Results are presented of a search for new particles decaying to large numbers of jets in association with missing transverse momentum, using 4.7 fb^-1 of pp collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. The event selection requires missing transverse momentum, no isolated electrons or muons, and from >=6 to >=9 jets. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of a MSUGRA/CMSSM supersymmetric model, where, for large universal scalar mass m_0, gluino masses smaller than 840 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, extending previously published limits. Within a simplified model containing only a gluino octet and a neutralino, gluino masses smaller than 870 GeV are similarly excluded for neutralino masses below 100 GeV.
Forum