A measurement of the $ZZ$ production in the $\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\ell^{\prime -}\ell^{\prime +}$ and $\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\nu\bar{\nu}$ channels $(\ell = e, \mu)$ in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2012 is presented. The fiducial cross sections for $ZZ\to\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\ell^{\prime -}\ell^{\prime +}$ and $ZZ\to \ell^{-}\ell^{+}\nu\bar{\nu}$ are measured in selected phase-space regions. The total cross section for $ZZ$ events produced with both $Z$ bosons in the mass range 66 to 116 GeV is measured from the combination of the two channels to be $7.3\pm0.4\textrm{(stat)}\pm0.3\textrm{(syst)}\pm0.2\textrm{(lumi)}$ pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of $6.6^{+0.7}_{-0.6}$ pb. The differential cross sections in bins of various kinematic variables are presented. The differential event yield as a function of the transverse momentum of the leading $Z$ boson is used to set limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge boson couplings in $ZZ$ production.
Inclusive jet production cross-sections are measured in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=$8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The total integrated luminosity of the analysed data set amounts to $20.2$ fb$^{-1}$. Double-differential cross-sections are measured for jets defined by the anti-$k_{t}$ jet clustering algorithm with radius parameters of $R=0.4$ and $R=0.6$ and are presented as a function of the jet transverse momentum, in the range between 70 GeV and 2.5 TeV and in six bins of the absolute jet rapidity, between 0 and 3.0. The measured cross-sections are compared to predictions of quantum chromodynamics, calculated at next-to-leading order in perturbation theory, and corrected for non-perturbative and electroweak effects. The level of agreement with predictions, using a selection of different parton distribution functions for the proton, is quantified. Tensions between the data and the theory predictions are observed.
The production of $W^{\pm}Z$ events in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The collected data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$. The $W^{\pm}Z$ candidates are reconstructed using leptonic decays of the gauge bosons into electrons or muons. The measured inclusive cross section in the detector fiducial region for leptonic decay modes is $\sigma_{W^\pm Z \rightarrow \ell^{'} \nu \ell \ell}^{\textrm{fid.}} = 63.2 \pm 3.2$ (stat.) $\pm 2.6$ (sys.) $\pm 1.5$ (lumi.) fb. In comparison, the next-to-leading-order Standard Model prediction is $53.4^{+3.6}_{-2.8}$ fb. The extrapolation of the measurement from the fiducial to the total phase space yields $\sigma_{W^{\pm}Z}^{\textrm{tot.}} = 50.6 \pm 2.6$ (stat.) $\pm 2.0$ (sys.) $\pm 0.9$ (th.) $\pm 1.2$ (lumi.) pb, in agreement with a recent next-to-next-to-leading-order calculation of $48.2^{+1.1}_{-1.0}$ pb. The cross section as a function of jet multiplicity is also measured, together with the charge-dependent $W^+Z$ and $W^-Z$ cross sections and their ratio.
High-precision measurements by the ATLAS Collaboration are presented of inclusive $W^+\to\ell^+\nu$, $W^-\to\ell^-\bar{\nu}$ and $Z/\gamma^*\to\ell\ell$ ($\ell=e,\mu$) Drell-Yan production cross sections at the LHC. The data were collected in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV with an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb$^{-1}$. Differential $W^+$ and $W^-$ cross sections are measured in a lepton pseudorapidity range $|\eta_{\ell}| = 2.5$. Differential $Z/\gamma^*$ cross sections are measured as a function of the absolute dilepton rapidity, for $|y_{\ell\ell}| < 3.6$, for three intervals of dilepton mass, $m_{\ell\ell}$, extending from 46 to 150 GeV. The integrated and differential electron- and muon-channel cross sections are combined and compared to theoretical predictions using recent sets of parton distribution functions. The data, together with the final inclusive $e^{\pm}p$ scattering cross-section data from H1 and ZEUS, are interpreted in a next-to-next-to-leading-order QCD analysis, and a new set of parton distribution functions, ATLAS-epWZ16, is obtained. The ratio of strange-to-light sea-quark densities in the proton is determined more accurately than in previous determinations based on collider data only, and is established to be close to unity in the sensitivity range of the data. A new measurement of the CKM matrix element $|V_{cs}|$ is also provided.
Measurements of differential cross sections of top quark pair production in association with jets by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC are presented. The measurements are performed as functions of the top quark transverse momentum, the transverse momentum of the top quark-antitop quark system and the out-of-plane transverse momentum using data from $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2015 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$. The top quark pair events are selected in the lepton (electron or muon) + jets channel. The measured cross sections, which are compared to several predictions, allow a detailed study of top quark production.
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.
Measurements of distributions of charged particles produced in proton-proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are presented. The data were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 151 $\mu$b$^{-1}$. The particles are required to have a transverse momentum greater than 100 MeV and an absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.5. The charged-particle multiplicity, its dependence on transverse momentum and pseudorapidity and the dependence of the mean transverse momentum on multiplicity are measured in events containing at least two charged particles satisfying the above kinematic criteria. The results are corrected for detector effects and compared to the predictions from several Monte Carlo event generators.
This paper presents a measurement of the double-differential cross section for the Drell-Yan $Z/\gamma^{*} \rightarrow \ell^{+} \ell^{-}$ and photon-induced $\gamma\gamma \rightarrow \ell^{+} \ell^{-}$ processes where $\ell$ is an electron or muon. The measurement is performed for invariant masses of the lepton pairs, $m_{\ell\ell}$, between 116 GeV and 1500 GeV, using a sample of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collisions data at centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2012. The data are presented double differentially in invariant mass and absolute dilepton rapidity as well as in invariant mass and absolute pseudorapidity separation of the lepton pair. The single-differential cross section as a function of $m_{\ell\ell}$ is also reported. The electron and muon channel measurements are combined and a total experimental precision of better than 1% is achieved at low $m_{\ell\ell}$. A comparison to next-to-next-to-leading order perturbative QCD predictions using several recent parton distribution functions and including next-to-leading order electroweak effects indicates the potential of the data to constrain parton distribution functions. In particular, a large impact of the data on the photon PDF is demonstrated.
The dijet production cross section for jets containing a $b$-hadron ($b$-jets) has been measured in proton-proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.2 fb$^{-1}$. The cross section is measured for events with two identified $b$-jets with a transverse momentum $p_T > 20$ GeV and a minimum separation in the $\eta$-$\phi$ plane of $\Delta R = 0.4$. At least one of the jets in the event is required to have $p_T > 270$ GeV. The cross section is measured differentially as a function of dijet invariant mass, dijet transverse momentum, boost of the dijet system, and the rapidity difference, azimuthal angle and angular distance between the $b$-jets. The results are compared to different predictions of leading order and next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamics matrix elements supplemented with models for parton-showers and hadronization.
This paper describes a measurement of the inclusive top quark pair production cross-section ($\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$) with a data sample of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV, collected in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This measurement uses events with an opposite-charge electron--muon pair in the final state. Jets containing $b$-quarks are tagged using an algorithm based on track impact parameters and reconstructed secondary vertices. The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two $b$-tagged jets are counted and used to determine simultaneously $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ and the efficiency to reconstruct and $b$-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section is measured to be: $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$= 818 $\pm$ 8 (stat) $\pm$ 27 (syst) $\pm$ 19 (lumi) $\pm$ 12 (beam) pb, where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total relative uncertainty of 4.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. A fiducial measurement corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons is also presented.