Inclusive and differential cross-sections for the production of a top-quark pair in association with a photon are measured with proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$, collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2015 and 2016 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The measurements are performed in single-lepton and dilepton final states in a fiducial volume. Events with exactly one photon, one or two leptons, a channel-dependent minimum number of jets, and at least one $b$-jet are selected. Neural network algorithms are used to separate the signal from the backgrounds. The fiducial cross-sections are measured to be 521 $\pm$ 9(stat.) $\pm$ 41(sys.) fb and 69 $\pm$ 3(stat.) $\pm$ 4(sys.) fb for the single-lepton and dilepton channels, respectively. The differential cross-sections are measured as a function of photon transverse momentum, photon absolute pseudorapidity, and angular distance between the photon and its closest lepton in both channels, as well as azimuthal opening angle and absolute pseudorapidity difference between the two leptons in the dilepton channel. All measurements are in agreement with the theoretical predictions.
Charged-particle spectra obtained in 0.15 nb${}^{-1}$ of Pb+Pb interactions at $\sqrt{{s}_\mathsf{{NN}}}=2.76$TeV and 4.2 pb${}^{-1}$ of pp interactions at $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are presented in a wide transverse momentum ($0.5 < p_{\mathrm{T}} < 150$ GeV) and pseudorapidity ($|\eta|<2$) range. For Pb+Pb collisions, the spectra are presented as a function of collision centrality, which is determined by the response of the forward calorimeter located on both sides of the interaction point. The nuclear modification factors $R_{\mathrm{AA}}$ and $R_{\mathrm{CP}}$ are presented in detail as function of centrality, $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ and $\eta$. They show a distinct $p_{\mathrm{T}}$-dependence with a pronounced minimum at about 7 GeV. Above 60 GeV, $R_{\mathrm{AA}}$ is consistent with a plateau at a centrality-dependent value, within the uncertainties. The value is $0.55\pm0.01(stat.)\pm0.04(syst.)$ in the most central collisions. The $R_{\mathrm{AA}}$ distribution is consistent with flat $|\eta|$ dependence over the whole transverse momentum range in all centrality classes.
The fragmentation of high-energy gluons at small opening angles is largely unconstrained by present measurements. Gluon splitting to $b$-quark pairs is a unique probe into the properties of gluon fragmentation because identified $b$-tagged jets provide a proxy for the quark daughters of the initial gluon. In this study, key differential distributions related to the $g\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ process are measured using 33 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2016. Jets constructed from charged-particle tracks, clustered with the anti-$k_t$ jet algorithm with radius parameter $R = 0.2$, are used to probe angular scales below the $R=0.4$ jet radius. The observables are unfolded to particle level in order to facilitate direct comparisons with predictions from present and future simulations. Multiple significant differences are observed between the data and parton shower Monte Carlo predictions, providing input to improve these predictions of the main source of background events in analyses involving boosted Higgs bosons decaying into $b$-quarks.
This paper presents measurements from the ATLAS experiment of the forward-backward asymmetry in the reaction $pp\rightarrow Z/\gamma^{*}\rightarrow l^{+}l^{-}$, with $l$ being electrons or muons, and the extraction of the effective weak mixing angle. The results are based on the full set of data collected in 2011 in $pp$ collisions at the LHC at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 fb$^{-1}$. The measured asymmetry values are found to be in agreement with the corresponding Standard Model predictions. The combination of the muon and electron channels yields a value of the effective weak mixing angle of $0.2308 \pm 0.0005 \mathrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.0006 \mathrm{(syst.)} \pm 0.0009\mathrm{(PDF)}$, where the first uncertainty corresponds to data statistics,the second to systematic effects and the third to knowledge of the parton density functions. This result agrees with the current world average from the Particle Data Group fit.
The differential cross-section for pair production of top quarks with high transverse momentum is measured in 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The measurement is performed for $t\bar{t}$ events in the lepton+jets channel. The cross-section is reported as a function of the hadronically decaying top quark transverse momentum for values above 300 GeV. The hadronically decaying top quark is reconstructed as an anti-$k_t$ jet with radius parameter $R=1.0$ and identified with jet substructure techniques. The observed yield is corrected for detector effects to obtain a cross-section at particle level in a fiducial region close to the event selection. A parton-level cross-section extrapolated to the full phase space is also reported for top quarks with transverse momentum above 300 GeV. The predictions of a majority of next-to-leading-order and leading-order matrix-element Monte Carlo generators are found to agree with the measured cross-sections.
The four-lepton ($4\ell$, $\ell = e, \mu$) production cross section is measured in the mass range from 80 to 1000 GeV using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The $4\ell$ events are produced in the decays of resonant $Z$ and Higgs bosons and the non-resonant $ZZ$ continuum originating from $q\bar q$, $gg$, and $qg$ initial states. A total of 476 signal candidate events are observed with a background expectation of $26.2 \pm 3.6$ events, enabling the measurement of the integrated cross section and the differential cross section as a function of the invariant mass and transverse momentum of the four-lepton system. In the mass range above $180$ GeV, assuming the theoretical constraint on the $q\bar q$ production cross section calculated with perturbative NNLO QCD and NLO electroweak corrections, the signal strength of the gluon-fusion component relative to its leading-order prediction is determined to be $\mu_{gg}=2.4 \pm 1.0 (stat.) \pm 0.5 (syst.)\pm 0.8 (theory)$.
Differential cross sections for the production of at least four jets have been measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider using the ATLAS detector. Events are selected if the four anti-$k_{t}$ R=0.4 jets with the largest transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) within the rapidity range $|y|<2.8$ are well separated ($dR^{\rm min}_{4j}>0.65$), all have $p_{T}>64$ GeV, and include at least one jet with $p_{T} >100$ GeV. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 $fb^{-1}$. The cross sections, corrected for detector effects, are compared to leading-order and next-to-leading-order calculations as a function of the jet momenta, invariant masses, minimum and maximum opening angles and other kinematic variables.
Measurements of the total and differential cross sections of Higgs boson production are performed using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Cross sections are obtained from measured $H \rightarrow \gamma \gamma$ and $H \rightarrow ZZ ^{*}\rightarrow 4\ell$ event yields, which are combined accounting for detector efficiencies, fiducial acceptances and branching fractions. Differential cross sections are reported as a function of Higgs boson transverse momentum, Higgs boson rapidity, number of jets in the event, and transverse momentum of the leading jet. The total production cross section is determined to be $\sigma_{pp \to H} = 33.0 \pm 5.3 \, ({\rm stat}) \pm 1.6 \, ({\rm sys}) \mathrm{pb}$. The measurements are compared to state-of-the-art predictions.
The production of ${\rm\Xi}^-$ and ${\rm\Omega}^-$ baryons and their anti-particles in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV has been measured using the ALICE detector. The transverse momentum spectra at mid-rapidity ($|y| < 0.5$) for charged $\rm\Xi$ and $\rm\Omega$ hyperons have been studied in the range $0.6 < p_{\rm T} < 8.0$ GeV/$c$ and $1.2 < p_{\rm T} < 7.0$ GeV/$c$, respectively, and in several centrality intervals (from the most central 0-10% to the most peripheral 60-80% collisions). These spectra have been compared with the predictions of recent hydrodynamic models. In particular, the Krak${\'o}$w and EPOS models give a satisfactory description of the data, with the latter covering a wider $p_{\rm T}$ range. Mid-rapidity yields, integrated over $p_{\rm T}$, have been determined. The hyperon-to-pion ratios are similar to those at RHIC: they rise smoothly with centrality up to $\langle N_{\rm part}\rangle$~150 and saturate thereafter. The enhancements (yields per participant nucleon relative to pp collisions) increase both with the strangeness content of the baryon and with centrality, but are less pronounced than at lower energies.
High transverse momentum jets produced in pp collisions at a centre of mass energy of 7 TeV are used to measure the transverse energy-energy correlation function and its associated azimuthal asymmetry. The data were recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in the year 2011 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 158 $\mathrm{pb}^{-1}$. The selection criteria demand the average transverse momentum of the two leading jets in an event to be larger than 250 GeV. The data at detector level are well described by Monte Carlo event generators. They are unfolded to the particle level and compared with theoretical calculations at next-to-leading-order accuracy. The agreement between data and theory is good and provides a precision test of perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics at large momentum transfers. From this comparison, the strong coupling constant given at the $Z$ boson mass is determined to be $\alpha_{\mathrm{s}}(m_Z) = 0.1173 \pm 0.0010 \mbox{ (exp.) }^{+0.0065}_{-0.0026} \mbox{ (theo.)}$.