The integrated and differential cross sections for the production of pairs of isolated photons is measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. A data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns is analysed. A next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculation is compared to the measurements. A discrepancy is observed for regions of the phase space where the two photons have an azimuthal angle difference, $\Delta(\phi)$, less than approximately 2.8.
A measurement of event-shape variables in proton$-$proton collisions at large momentum transfer is presented using data collected at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Six event-shape variables calculated using hadronic jets are studied in inclusive multijet events using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. Measurements are performed in bins of jet multiplicity and in different ranges of the scalar sum of the transverse momenta of the two leading jets, reaching scales beyond 2 TeV. These measurements are compared with predictions from Monte Carlo event generators containing leading-order or next-to-leading order matrix elements matched to parton showers simulated to leading-logarithm accuracy. At low jet multiplicities, shape discrepancies between the measurements and the Monte Carlo predictions are observed. At high jet multiplicities, the shapes are better described but discrepancies in the normalisation are observed.
In models of anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking (AMSB), the lightest chargino is predicted to have a lifetime long enough to be detected in collider experiments. This letter explores AMSB scenarios in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV by attempting to identify decaying charginos which result in tracks that appear to have few associated hits in the outer region of the tracking system. The search was based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.02 fb^-1 collected with the ATLAS detector in 2011. The pT spectrum of candidate tracks is found to be consistent with the expectation from Standard Model background processes and constraints on the lifetime and the production cross section were obtained. In the minimal AMSB framework with m_3/2 < 32 TeV, m_0 < 1.5 TeV, tan(beta) = 5 and mu > 0, a chargino having mass below 92 GeV and a lifetime between 0.5 ns and 2 ns is excluded at 95% confidence level.
A search for long-lived charged particles reaching the muon spectrometer is performed using a data sample of 37 pb^-1 from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. No excess is observed above the estimated background. Stable stau's are excluded at 95% CL up to a mass of 136 GeV, in GMSB models with N5 = 3, messenger = 250 TeV, sign(mu) = 1 and tan beta = 5. Electroweak production of sleptons is excluded up to a mass of 110 GeV. Gluino R-hadrons in a generic interaction model are excluded up to masses of 530 GeV to 544 GeV depending on the fraction of R-hadrons produced as gluino-balls
The results of a search for supersymmetry in events with large missing transverse momentum and heavy flavour jets using an integrated luminosity corresponding to 2.05 fb^-1 of pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. No significant excess is observed with respect to the prediction for Standard Model processes. Results are interpreted in a variety of R-parity conserving models in which scalar bottoms and tops are the only scalar quarks to appear in the gluino decay cascade, and in an SO(10) model framework. Gluino masses up to 600-900 GeV are excluded, depending on the model considered.
We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.
A search for events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least two tau leptons has been performed using 2 fb^-1 of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed and a 95% CL visible cross section upper limit for new phenomena is set. A 95% CL lower limit of 32 TeV is set on the GMSB breaking scale Lambda independent of tan(beta). These limits provide the most stringent tests to date in a large part of the considered parameter space.
The results of a search for direct pair production of heavy top-quark partners in 4.7 fb-1 of integrated luminosity from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. Heavy top-quark partners decaying into a top quark and a neutral non-interacting particle are searched for in events with two leptons in the final state. No excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are placed on the mass of a supersymmetric scalar top and of a spin-1/2 top-quark partner. A spin-1/2 top-quark partner with a mass between 300 GeV and 480 GeV, decaying to a top quark and a neutral non-interacting particle lighter than 100 GeV, is excluded at 95% confidence level.
A search for diphoton events with large missing transverse momentum has been performed using proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 fb^-1. No excess of events was observed above the Standard Model prediction and model-dependent 95% confidence level exclusion limits are set. In the context of a generalised model of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking with a bino-like lightest neutralino of mass above 50 GeV, gluinos (squarks) below 1.07 TeV (0.87 TeV) are excluded, while a breaking scale Lambda below 196 TeV is excluded for a minimal model of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. For a specific model with one universal extra dimension, compactification scales 1/R < 1.40 TeV are excluded. These limits provide the most stringent tests of these models to date.
This Letter reports the observation of a high transverse momentum $Z\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ signal in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV and the measurement of its production cross section. The data analysed were collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 fb$^{-1}$. The $Z\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ decay is reconstructed from a pair of b-tagged jets, clustered with the anti-$k_t$ jet algorithm with $R = 0.4$, that have low angular separation and form a dijet with $p_T > 200$ GeV. The signal yield is extracted from a fit to the dijet invariant mass distribution, with the dominant, multi-jet background mass shape estimated by employing a fully data-driven technique that reduces the dependence of the analysis on simulation. The fiducial cross section is determined to be \[ \sigma^\mathrm{fid}_{Z\rightarrow b\bar{b}} = 2.02 \pm 0.20 ({\rm stat.}) \pm0.25 ({\rm syst.)}\pm 0.06 ({\rm lumi.}){\rm\,pb} = 2.02 \pm{0.33}{\rm\,pb}, \] in good agreement with next-to-leading-order theoretical predictions.