A measurement of the correlations between the polar angles of leptons from the decay of pair-produced $t$ and $\bar{t}$ quarks in the helicity basis is reported, using proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.6fb$^{-1}$ at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=7$TeV collected during 2011. Candidate events are selected in the dilepton topology with large missing transverse momentum and at least two jets. The angles $\theta_1$ and $\theta_2$ between the charged leptons and the direction of motion of the parent quarks in the $t\bar{t}$ rest frame are sensitive to the spin information, and the distribution of {\mbox{$\cos\theta_1\cdot\cos\theta_2$}} is sensitive to the spin correlation between the $t$ and $\bar{t}$ quarks. The distribution is unfolded to parton level and compared to the next-to-leading order prediction. A good agreement is observed.
Measurements of differential cross-sections for $J/\psi$ production in p+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV at the LHC with the ATLAS detector are presented. The data set used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 28.1 nb$^{-1}$. The $J/\psi$ mesons are reconstructed in the dimuon decay channel over the transverse momentum range $8<p_{\mathrm{T}}<30$ GeV and over the center-of-mass rapidity range $-2.87<y^{*}<1.94$. Prompt $J/\psi$ are separated from $J/\psi$ resulting from $b$-hadron decays through an analysis of the distance between the $J/\psi$ decay vertex and the event primary vertex. The differential cross-section for production of nonprompt $J/\psi$ is compared to a FONLL calculation that does not include nuclear effects. Forward-backward production ratios are presented and compared to theoretical predictions. These results constrain the kinematic dependence of nuclear modifications of charmonium and $b$-quark production in p+Pb collisions.
Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections of Higgs boson production in the ${H \rightarrow ZZ ^{*}\rightarrow 4\ell}$ decay channel are presented. The cross sections are determined within a fiducial phase space and corrected for detection efficiency and resolution effects. They are based on 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data, produced at $\sqrt{s}$=8 TeV centre-of-mass energy at the LHC and recorded by the ATLAS detector. The differential measurements are performed in bins of transverse momentum and rapidity of the four-lepton system, the invariant mass of the subleading lepton pair and the decay angle of the leading lepton pair with respect to the beam line in the four-lepton rest frame, as well as the number of jets and the transverse momentum of the leading jet. The measured cross sections are compared to selected theoretical calculations of the Standard Model expectations. No significant deviation from any of the tested predictions is found.
The production of $D^{*\pm}$, $D^\pm$ and $D_s^\pm$ charmed mesons has been measured with the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV at the LHC, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $280\,$nb$^{-1}$. The charmed mesons have been reconstructed in the range of transverse momentum $3.5<p_{\rm T}(D)<100$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta(D)|<2.1$. The differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity were measured for $D^{*\pm}$ and $D^\pm$ production. The next-to-leading-order QCD predictions are consistent with the data in the visible kinematic region within the large theoretical uncertainties. Using the visible $D$ cross sections and an extrapolation to the full kinematic phase space, the strangeness-suppression factor in charm fragmentation, the fraction of charged non-strange $D$ mesons produced in a vector state, and the total cross section of charm production at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV were derived.
A search for $W'$-boson production in the $W' \rightarrow t\bar{b} \rightarrow q\bar{q}' b\bar{b}$ decay channel is presented using 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ of 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 and 2016. The search is interpreted in terms of both a left-handed and a right-handed chiral $W'$ boson within the mass range 1-5 TeV. Identification of the hadronically decaying top quark is performed using jet substructure tagging techniques based on a shower deconstruction algorithm. No significant deviation from the Standard Model prediction is observed and the results are expressed as upper limits on the $W' \rightarrow t\bar{b}$ production cross-section times branching ratio as a function of the $W'$-boson mass. These limits exclude $W'$ bosons with right-handed couplings with masses below 3.0 TeV and $W'$ bosons with left-handed couplings with masses below 2.9 TeV, at the 95% confidence level.
This paper reports a measurement of the W+b-jets production cross-section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC. These results are based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb-1, collected with the ATLAS detector. Cross-sections are presented as a function of jet multiplicity and of the transverse momentum of the leading b-jet for both the muon and electron decay modes of the W boson. The W+b-jets cross-section, corrected for all known detector effects, is quoted in a limited kinematic range, using jets reconstructed with the anti-k_t clustering algorithm with transverse momentum above 25 GeV and rapidity within +/- 2.1. Combining the muon and electron channels, the fiducial cross-section for W+b-jets is measured to be 7.1 +/- 0.5 (stat) +/- 1.4 (syst) pb, consistent with next-to-leading order QCD calculations within 1.5 standard deviations.
A search is presented for new particles decaying to large numbers (7 to greater or equal to 10) of jets, missing transverse momentum and no isolated electrons or muons. This analysis uses 20.3/fb of pp collision data at sqrt(s)=8 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The sensitivity of the search is enhanced by considering the number of b-tagged jets and the scalar sum of masses of large-radius jets in an event. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of various simplified supersymmetry-inspired models where gluinos are pair produced, as well as a mSUGRA/CMSSM model.
A search is presented for direct top squark pair production using events with at least two leptons including a same-flavour opposite-sign pair with invariant mass consistent with the $Z$ boson mass, jets tagged as originating from $b$-quarks and missing transverse momentum. The analysis is performed with proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2012 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. No excess beyond the Standard Model expectation is observed. Interpretations of the results are provided in models based on the direct pair production of the heavier top squark state ($\tilde{t}_2$) followed by the decay to the lighter top squark state ($\tilde{t}_1$) via $\tilde{t}_2 \to Z\tilde{t}_1$, and for $\tilde{t}_1$ pair production in natural gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking scenarios where the neutralino ($\tilde{\chi}^0_1$) is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle and decays producing a $Z$ boson and a gravitino ($\tilde{G}$) via the $\tilde{\chi}^0_1 \to Z\tilde{G}$ process.
Measurements of charged-particle fragmentation functions of jets produced in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions can provide insight into the modification of parton showers in the hot, dense medium created in the collisions. ATLAS has measured jets in $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76$ TeV Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC using a data set recorded in 2011 with an integrated luminosity of 0.14 nb$^{-1}$. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-$k_{t}$ algorithm with distance parameter values $R$ = 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4. Distributions of charged-particle transverse momentum and longitudinal momentum fraction are reported for seven bins in collision centrality for $R=0.4$ jets with $p_{{T}}^{\mathrm{jet}}> 100$ GeV. Commensurate minimum $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ values are used for the other radii. Ratios of fragment distributions in each centrality bin to those measured in the most peripheral bin are presented. These ratios show a reduction of fragment yield in central collisions relative to peripheral collisions at intermediate $z$ values, $0.04 \lesssim z \lesssim 0.2$ and an enhancement in fragment yield for $z \lesssim 0.04$. A smaller, less significant enhancement is observed at large $z$ and large $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ in central collisions.
A measurement of jet substructure variables is presented using data collected in 2016 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC with proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV. Large-radius jets groomed with the trimming and soft-drop algorithms are studied. Dedicated event selections are used to study jets produced by light quarks or gluons, and hadronically decaying top quarks and $W$ bosons. The variables measured are sensitive to pronged substructure, and therefore are typically used for tagging jets from boosted massive particles. These include the energy correlation functions and the $N$-subjettiness variables. The number of subjets and the Les Houches angularity are also considered. The distributions of the substructure variables, corrected for detector effects, are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generators. They are also compared between the large-radius jets originating from light quarks or gluons, and hadronically decaying top quarks and $W$ bosons.
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