The $t\bar{t}$ production cross-section dependence on jet multiplicity and jet transverse momentum is reported for proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV in the single-lepton channel. The data were collected with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and comprise the full 2011 data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb$^{-1}$. Differential cross-sections are presented as a function of the jet multiplicity for up to eight jets using jet transverse momentum thresholds of 25, 40, 60, and 80 GeV, and as a function of jet transverse momentum up to the fifth jet. The results are shown after background subtraction and corrections for all detector effects, within a kinematic range closely matched to the experimental acceptance. Several QCD-based Monte Carlo models are compared with the results. Sensitivity to the parton shower modelling is found at the higher jet multiplicities, at high transverse momentum of the leading jet and in the transverse momentum spectrum of the fifth leading jet. The MC@NLO+HERWIG MC is found to predict too few events at higher jet multiplicities.
Measurements of charged particle distributions, sensitive to the underlying event, have been performed with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are based on data collected using a minimum-bias trigger to select proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 900 GeV and 7 TeV. The 'underlying event' is defined as those aspects of a hadronic interaction attributed not to the hard scattering process, but rather to the accompanying interactions of the rest of the proton. Three regions are defined in azimuthal angle with respect to the highest-pt charged particle in the event, such that the region transverse to the dominant momentum-flow is most sensitive to the underlying event. In each of these regions, distributions of the charged particle multiplicity, pt density, and average pt are measured. The data show a higher underlying event activity than that predicted by Monte Carlo models tuned to pre-LHC data.
This Letter reports on a first measurement of the inclusive W+jets cross section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC, with the ATLAS detector. Cross sections, in both the electron and muon decay modes of the W boson, are presented as a function of jet multiplicity and of the transverse momentum of the leading and next-to-leading jets in the event. Measurements are also presented of the ratio of cross sections sigma(W+ \ge n) / sigma(W+ \ge n-1) for inclusive jet multiplicities n=1-4. The results, based on an integrated luminosity of 1.3 pb-1, have been corrected for all known detector effects and are quoted in a limited and well-defined range of jet and lepton kinematics. The measured cross sections are compared to particle-level predictions based on perturbative QCD. Next-to-leading order calculations, studied here for n \le 2, are found in good agreement with the data. Leading-order multiparton event generators, normalized to the NNLO total cross section, describe the data well for all measured jet multiplicities.
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.
A measurement of the Z/gamma* transverse momentum (p_T^Z)) distribution in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV is presented using Z/gamma*->e+e- and Z/gamma*->mu+mu- decays collected with the ATLAS detector in data sets with integrated luminosities of 35 pb^-1 and 40 pb^-1, respectively. The normalized differential cross sections are measured separately for electron and muon decay channels as well as for their combination up to p_T^Z of 350 GeV for invariant dilepton masses 66 GeV<m_ll<116 GeV. The measurement is compared to predictions of perturbative QCD and various event generators. The prediction of resummed QCD combined with fixed order perturbative QCD is found to be in good agreement with the data.
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.
The measurement of charged-particle event shape variables is presented in inclusive inelastic pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The observables studied are the transverse thrust, thrust minor and transverse sphericity, each defined using the final-state charged particles' momentum components perpendicular to the beam direction. Events with at least six charged particles are selected by a minimum-bias trigger. In addition to the differential distributions, the evolution of each event shape variable as a function of the leading charged particle transverse momentum, charged particle multiplicity and summed transverse momentum is presented. Predictions from several Monte Carlo models show significant deviations from data.
Azimuthal decorrelations between the two central jets with the largest transverse momenta are sensitive to the dynamics of events with multiple jets. We present a measurement of the normalized differential cross section based on the full dataset (L=36/pb) acquired by the ATLAS detector during the 2010 sqrt(s)=7 TeV proton-proton run of the LHC. The measured distributions include jets with transverse momenta up to 1.3 TeV, probing perturbative QCD in a high energy regime.
Pseudorapidity gap distributions in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV are studied using a minimum bias data sample with an integrated luminosity of 7.1 inverse microbarns. Cross sections are measured differentially in terms of Delta eta F, the larger of the pseudorapidity regions extending to the limits of the ATLAS sensitivity, at eta = +/- 4.9, in which no final state particles are produced above a transverse momentum threshold p_T Cut. The measurements span the region 0 < Delta eta F < 8 for 200 < p_T Cut < 800 MeV. At small Delta eta F, the data test the reliability of hadronisation models in describing rapidity and transverse momentum fluctuations in final state particle production. The measurements at larger gap sizes are dominated by contributions from the single diffractive dissociation process (pp -> Xp), enhanced by double dissociation (pp -> XY) where the invariant mass of the lighter of the two dissociation systems satisfies M_Y <~ 7 GeV. The resulting cross section is d sigma / d Delta eta F ~ 1 mb for Delta eta F >~ 3. The large rapidity gap data are used to constrain the value of the pomeron intercept appropriate to triple Regge models of soft diffraction. The cross section integrated over all gap sizes is compared with other LHC inelastic cross section measurements.
Measurements are presented of the properties of high transverse momentum jets, produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb^-1 and were collected with the ATLAS detector in 2010. Jet mass, width, eccentricity, planar flow and angularity are measured for jets reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R = 0.6 and 1.0, with transverse momentum pT > 300 GeV and pseudorapidity |eta| < 2. The measurements are compared to the expectations of Monte Carlo generators that match leading-logarithmic parton showers to leading-order, or next-to-leading-order, matrix elements. The generators describe the general features of the jets, although discrepancies are observed in some distributions.