A search for squarks and gluinos in final states containing jets, missing transverse momentum and no high-pT electrons or muons is presented. The data represent the complete sample recorded in 2011 by the ATLAS experiment in 7 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, with a total integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb^-1. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed. Gluino masses below 860 GeV and squark masses below 1320 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level in simplified models containing only squarks of the first two generations, a gluino octet and a massless neutralino, for squark or gluino masses below 2 TeV, respectively. Squarks and gluinos with equal masses below 1410 GeV are excluded. In MSUGRA/CMSSM models with tan beta = 10, A_0 = 0 and mu > 0, squarks and gluinos of equal mass are excluded for masses below 1360 GeV. Constraints are also placed on the parameter space of SUSY models with compressed spectra. These limits considerably extend the region of supersymmetric parameter space excluded by previous measurements with the ATLAS detector.
A measurement of event-plane correlations involving two or three event planes of different order is presented as a function of centrality for 7 ub-1 Pb+Pb collision data at sqrt(s_NN)=2.76 TeV, recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Fourteen correlators are measured using a standard event-plane method and a scalar-product method, and the latter method is found to give a systematically larger correlation signal. Several different trends in the centrality dependence of these correlators are observed. These trends are not reproduced by predictions based on the Glauber model, which includes only the correlations from the collision geometry in the initial state. Calculations that include the final-state collective dynamics are able to describe qualitatively, and in some cases also quantitatively, the centrality dependence of the measured correlators. These observations suggest that both the fluctuations in the initial geometry and non-linear mixing between different harmonics in the final state are important for creating these correlations in momentum space.
The ATLAS experiment at the LHC has measured the centrality dependence of charged particle pseudorapidity distributions over |eta| < 2 in lead-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s_NN) = 2.76 TeV. In order to include particles with transverse momentum as low as 30 MeV, the data were recorded with the central solenoid magnet off. Charged particles were reconstructed with two algorithms (2-point 'tracklets' and full tracks) using information from the pixel detector only. The lead-lead collision centrality was characterized by the total transverse energy in the forward calorimeter in the range 3.2 < |eta| < 4.9. Measurements are presented of the per-event charged particle density distribution, dN_ch/deta, and the average charged particle multiplicity in the pseudorapidity interval |eta|<0.5 in several intervals of collision centrality. The results are compared to previous mid-rapidity measurements at the LHC and RHIC. The variation of the mid-rapidity charged particle yield per colliding nucleon pair with the number of participants is consistent with the lower sqrt(s_NN) results. The shape of the dN_ch/deta distribution is found to be independent of centrality within the systematic uncertainties of the measurement.
The cross-section for the production of two jets in association with a leptonically decaying Z boson ($Zjj$) is measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$. The electroweak $Zjj$ cross-section is extracted in a fiducial region chosen to enhance the electroweak contribution relative to the dominant Drell-Yan $Zjj$ process, which is constrained using a data-driven approach. The measured fiducial electroweak cross-section is $\sigma^{Zjj}_{EW}= 119\pm 16 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 20 (\mathrm{syst.})\pm 2 (\mathrm{lumi.})$ for dijet invariant mass greater than 250 GeV, and $34.2\pm 5.8 (\mathrm{stat.})\pm 5.5 (\mathrm{syst.})\pm 0.7 (\mathrm{lumi.})$ for dijet invariant mass greater than 1 TeV. Standard Model predictions are in agreement with the measurements. The inclusive $Zjj$ cross-section is also measured in six different fiducial regions with varying contributions from electroweak and Drell-Yan $Zjj$ production.
A measurement of the associated production of a top-quark pair ($t\bar{t}$) with a vector boson ($W$, $Z$) in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is presented, using $36.1$ fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in channels with two same- or opposite-sign leptons (electrons or muons), three leptons or four leptons, and each channel is further divided into multiple regions to maximize the sensitivity of the measurement. The $t\bar{t}Z$ and $t\bar{t}W$ production cross sections are simultaneously measured using a combined fit to all regions. The best-fit values of the production cross sections are $\sigma_{t\bar{t}Z} = 0.95 \pm 0.08_{\mathrm{stat.}} \pm 0.10_{\mathrm{syst.}}$ pb and $\sigma_{t\bar{t}W} = 0.87 \pm 0.13_{\mathrm{stat.}} \pm 0.14_{\mathrm{syst.}}$ pb in agreement with the Standard Model predictions. The measurement of the $t\bar{t}Z$ cross section is used to set constraints on effective field theory operators which modify the $t\bar{t}Z$ vertex.
Correlations between the elliptic or triangular flow coefficients $v_m$ ($m$=2 or 3) and other flow harmonics $v_n$ ($n$=2 to 5) are measured using $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV Pb+Pb collision data collected in 2010 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated lumonisity of 7 $\mu$b$^{-1}$. The $v_m$-$v_n$ correlations are measured in midrapidity as a function of centrality, and, for events within the same centrality interval, as a function of event ellipticity or triangularity defined in a forward rapidity region. For events within the same centrality interval, $v_3$ is found to be anticorrelated with $v_2$ and this anticorrelation is consistent with similar anticorrelations between the corresponding eccentricities $\epsilon_2$ and $\epsilon_3$. On the other hand, it is observed that $v_4$ increases strongly with $v_2$, and $v_5$ increases strongly with both $v_2$ and $v_3$. The trend and strength of the $v_m$-$v_n$ correlations for $n$=4 and 5 are found to disagree with $\epsilon_m$-$\epsilon_n$ correlations predicted by initial-geometry models. Instead, these correlations are found to be consistent with the combined effects of a linear contribution to $v_n$ and a nonlinear term that is a function of $v_2^2$ or of $v_2v_3$, as predicted by hydrodynamic models. A simple two-component fit is used to separate these two contributions. The extracted linear and nonlinear contributions to $v_4$ and $v_5$ are found to be consistent with previously measured event-plane correlations.
This Letter presents the first search for a heavy particle decaying into an e\mu final state in sqrt(s)=7 TeV pp collisions at the LHC. The data were recorded by the ATLAS detector during 2010 and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 35/pb. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed. Exclusions at 95% confidence level are placed on two representative models. In an R-parity violating supersymmetric model, tau sneutrinos with a mass below 0.75 TeV are excluded, assuming single coupling dominance and the couplings lambda'_{311}=0.11, lambda_{312}=0.07. In a lepton flavor violating model, a Z'-like vector boson with masses of 0.70 to 1.00 TeV and corresponding cross sections times branching ratios of 0.175 to 0.183 pb is excluded. These results extend to higher mass RPV sneutrinos and LFV Z's than previous constraints from the Tevatron.
Measurements of jet activity in top-quark pair events produced in proton--proton collisions are presented, using 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are chosen by requiring an opposite-charge $e\mu$ pair and two $b$-tagged jets in the final state. The normalised differential cross-sections of top-quark pair production are presented as functions of additional-jet multiplicity and transverse momentum, $p_{\mathrm T}$. The fraction of signal events that do not contain additional jet activity in a given rapidity region, the gap fraction, is measured as a function of the $p_{\mathrm T}$ threshold for additional jets, and is also presented for different invariant mass regions of the $e\mu b\bar{b}$ system. All measurements are corrected for detector effects and presented as particle-level distributions compared to predictions with different theoretical approaches for QCD radiation. While the kinematics of the jets from top-quark decays are described well, the generators show differing levels of agreement with the measurements of observables that depend on the production of additional jets.
This Letter reports a search for a heavy particle that decays to WW using events produced in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. The data were recorded in 2011 by the ATLAS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb-1. WW to l nu l' nu'(l, l' = e or mu) final states are considered and the distribution of the transverse mass of the WW candidates is found to be consistent with Standard Model expectations. Upper limits on the production cross section times branching ratio into W boson pairs are set for Randall-Sundrum and bulk Randall-Sundrum gravitons, which result in observed 95% CL lower limits on the masses of the two particles of 1.23 TeV and 0.84 TeV, respectively.
A search for pair-produced scalar particles decaying to a four-jet final state is presented. The analysis is performed using an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1 recorded by the ATLAS detector in 2010. No deviation from the Standard Model is observed. For a scalar mass of 100 GeV (190 GeV) the limit on the scalar gluon pair production cross section at 95% confidence level is 1 nb (0.28 nb). When these results are interpreted as mass limits, scalar-gluons (hyperpions) with masses of 100 to 185 GeV (100 to 155 GeV) are excluded at 95% confidence level with the exception of a mass window of width about 5 GeV (15 GeV) around 140 GeV.
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