This Letter presents a measurement of the inelastic proton-proton cross section using 60 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}$ of $13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Inelastic interactions are selected using rings of plastic scintillators in the forward region ($2.07<|\eta|<3.86$) of the detector. A cross section of $68.1\pm 1.4$ mb is measured in the fiducial region $\xi=M_X^2/s>10^{-6}$, where $M_X$ is the larger invariant mass of the two hadronic systems separated by the largest rapidity gap in the event. In this $\xi$ range the scintillators are highly efficient. For diffractive events this corresponds to cases where at least one proton dissociates to a system with $M_X>13$ GeV. The measured cross section is compared with a range of theoretical predictions. When extrapolated to the full phase space, a cross-section of $78.1 \pm 2.9$ mb is measured, consistent with the inelastic cross section increasing with center-of-mass energy.
The measured and extrapolated inelastic cross section. The statistical uncertainty is negligible and is therefore displayed as zero. The first systematic uncertainty is the experimental systematic uncertainty apart from the luminosity, the second is the luminosity uncertainty, and the third is the extrapolation uncertainty.
The results of a search for gluinos in final states with an isolated electron or muon, multiple jets and large missing transverse momentum using proton--proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV are presented. The dataset used was recorded in 2015 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$. Six signal selections are defined that best exploit the signal characteristics. The data agree with the Standard Model background expectation in all six signal selections, and the largest deviation is a 2.1 standard deviation excess. The results are interpreted in a simplified model where pair-produced gluinos decay via the lightest chargino to the lightest neutralino. In this model, gluinos are excluded up to masses of approximately 1.6 TeV depending on the mass spectrum of the simplified model, thus surpassing the limits of previous searches.
The distribution of the missing transverse momentum is shown in hard-lepton 6-jet ttbar control regions after normalising the ttbar and W+jets background processes in the simultaneous fit.
The distribution of the missing transverse momentum is shown in hard-lepton 6-jet W+jets control regions after normalising the ttbar and W+jets background processes in the simultaneous fit.
The distribution of the missing transverse momentum is shown in soft-lepton 2-jet ttbar control regions after normalising the ttbar and W+jets background processes in the simultaneous fit.
A search for heavy long-lived charged $R$-hadrons is reported using a data sample corresponding to 3.2$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The search is based on observables related to large ionisation losses and slow propagation velocities, which are signatures of heavy charged particles travelling significantly slower than the speed of light. No significant deviations from the expected background are observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are provided on the production cross section of long-lived $R$-hadrons in the mass range from 600 GeV to 2000 GeV and gluino, bottom and top squark masses are excluded up to 1580 GeV, 805 GeV and 890 GeV, respectively.
Distributions of beta for data and simulation after a Zmumu selection. The values given for the mean and width are taken from Gaussian functions matched to data and simulation.
Data (black dots) and background estimates (red solid line) for m_beta for the gluino R-hadron search (1000 GeV). The green shaded band illustrates the statistical uncertainty of the background estimate. The blue dashed lines illustrate the expected signal (on top of background) for the given R-hadron mass hypothesis. The black dashed vertical lines at 500 GeV show the mass selection and the last bin includes all entries/masses above.
Data (black dots) and background estimates (red solid line) for m_betagamma for the gluino R-hadron search (1000 GeV). The green shaded band illustrates the statistical uncertainty of the background estimate. The blue dashed lines illustrate the expected signal (on top of background) for the given R-hadron mass hypothesis. The black dashed vertical lines at 500 GeV show the mass selection and the last bin includes all entries/masses above.
This paper presents a search for massive charged long-lived particles produced in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV at the LHC using the ATLAS experiment. The dataset used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$. Many extensions of the Standard Model predict the existence of massive charged long-lived particles, such as $R$-hadrons. These massive particles are expected to be produced with a velocity significantly below the speed of light, and therefore to have a specific ionization higher than any Standard Model particle of unit charge at high momenta. The Pixel subsystem of the ATLAS detector is used to measure the ionization energy loss of reconstructed charged particles and to search for such highly ionizing particles. The search presented here has much greater sensitivity than a similar search performed using the ATLAS detector in the $\sqrt{s}=$ 8 TeV dataset, thanks to the increase in expected signal cross-section due to the higher center-of-mass energy of collisions, to an upgraded detector with a new silicon layer close to the interaction point, and to analysis improvements. No significant deviation from Standard Model background expectations is observed, and lifetime-dependent upper limits on $R$-hadron production cross-sections and masses are set. Gluino $R$-hadrons with lifetimes above 0.4 ns and decaying to $q\bar{q}$ plus a 100 GeV neutralino are excluded at the 95% confidence level, with lower mass limit ranging between 740 GeV and 1590 GeV. In the case of stable $R$-hadrons the lower mass limit at the 95% confidence level is 1570 GeV.
Mass distribution for data and expected background for stable particle searches. Also shown are two examples for signals as expected for gluino R-hadrons in the explored mass range. The uncertainty on the background estimation includes both the statistical and systematic uncertainties.
Mass distribution for data and expected background for metastable particle searches. Also shown are two examples for signals as expected for gluino R-hadrons in the explored mass range. The uncertainty on the background estimation includes both the statistical and systematic uncertainties.
Cross-section as a function of mass for gluino R-hadrons with lifetime tau=10 ns, decaying to qanti-q plus a light neutralino of mass=100 GeV. The central value of the observed and expected 95% upper limit on excluded cross-section is given. The 1 sigma band on the expected UL is given as an uncertainty.
The number of charged particles inside jets is a widely used discriminant for identifying the quark or gluon nature of the initiating parton and is sensitive to both the perturbative and non-perturbative components of fragmentation. This paper presents a measurement of the average number of charged particles with $p_\text{T}>500$ MeV inside high-momentum jets in dijet events using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data recorded with the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV collisions at the LHC. The jets considered have transverse momenta from 50 GeV up to and beyond 1.5 TeV. The reconstructed charged-particle track multiplicity distribution is unfolded to remove distortions from detector effects and the resulting charged-particle multiplicity is compared to several models. Furthermore, quark and gluon jet fractions are used to extract the average charged-particle multiplicity for quark and gluon jets separately.
The average charged particle multiplicity for the more forward jet and a charged particle threshold of 0.5 GeV as a function of the jet transverse momentum.
The average charged particle multiplicity for the more forward jet and a charged particle threshold of 2 GeV as a function of the jet transverse momentum.
The average charged particle multiplicity for the more forward jet and a charged particle threshold of 5 GeV as a function of the jet transverse momentum.
The momentum-weighted sum of the charges of tracks associated to a jet is sensitive to the charge of the initiating quark or gluon. This paper presents a measurement of the distribution of momentum-weighted sums, called jet charge, in dijet events using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data recorded with the ATLAS detector at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV in $pp$ collisions at the LHC. The jet charge distribution is unfolded to remove distortions from detector effects and the resulting particle-level distribution is compared with several models. The $p_T$-dependence of the jet charge distribution average and standard deviation are compared to predictions obtained with several LO and NLO parton distribution functions. The data are also compared to different Monte Carlo simulations of QCD dijet production using various settings of the free parameters within these models. The chosen value of the strong coupling constant used to calculate gluon radiation is found to have a significant impact on the predicted jet charge. There is evidence for a $p_{T}$-dependence of the jet charge distribution for a given jet flavor. In agreement with perturbative QCD predictions, the data show that the average jet charge of quark-initiated jets decreases in magnitude as the energy of the jet increases.
The jet charge mean for kappa = 0.3 and the more forward jet. Values are given in units of the positron charge, e.
The jet charge distribution standard deviation for kappa = 0.3 and the more forward jet. Values are given in units of the positron charge, e.
The jet charge mean for kappa = 0.3 and the more central jet. Values are given in units of the positron charge, e.
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.
Measured differential four-jet cross section for R=0.4 jets, in bins of pT1, along with the uncertainties in the measurement. The events are selected using the inclusive analysis cuts. All uncertainties are given in %. The first uncertainty quoted is due to the number of data events. DSYS:mcstat is the statistical uncertainty due to the number of MC simulation events. The other columns, denoted with DSYS, correspond to the experimental systematic uncertainties arising from JES, JER, unfolding and luminosity, respectively.
Measured differential four-jet cross section for R=0.4 jets, in bins of pT2, along with the uncertainties in the measurement. The events are selected using the inclusive analysis cuts. All other details are as for pT1.
Measured differential four-jet cross section for R=0.4 jets, in bins of pT3, along with the uncertainties in the measurement. The events are selected using the inclusive analysis cuts. All other details are as for pT1.
This article reports on a search for dark matter pair production in association with bottom or top quarks in 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions collected at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events with large missing transverse momentum are selected when produced in association with high-momentum jets of which one or more are identified as jets containing $b$-quarks. Final states with top quarks are selected by requiring a high jet multiplicity and in some cases a single lepton. The data are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectations and limits are set on the mass scale of effective field theories that describe scalar and tensor interactions between dark matter and Standard Model particles. Limits on the dark-matter--nucleon cross-section for spin-independent and spin-dependent interactions are also provided. These limits are particularly strong for low-mass dark matter. Using a simplified model, constraints are set on the mass of dark matter and of a coloured mediator suitable to explain a possible signal of annihilating dark matter.
Model dependent cross section upper limits for the b-FDM model from combined results of SR1 and SR2.
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 $\alpha_{\mathrm{s}}(m_Z) = 0.1173 \pm 0.0010 \mbox{ (exp.) }^{+0.0065}_{-0.0026} \mbox{ (theo.)}$.
Values of the transverse energy-energy correlation function (TEEC).
Values of the asymmetry on the transverse energy-energy correlation function (ATEEC).
Values of the non-perturbative correction factors for the TEEC function derived using Pythia 6 AUET2B.
A search for Higgs boson pair production $pp \to hh$ is performed with 19.5 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=$ 8 TeV, which were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012. The decay products of each Higgs boson are reconstructed as a high-momentum $b\bar{b}$ system with either a pair of small-radius jets or a single large-radius jet, the latter exploiting jet substructure techniques and associated $b$-tagged track-jets. No evidence for resonant or non-resonant Higgs boson pair production is observed. The data are interpreted in the context of the Randall--Sundrum model with a warped extra dimension as well as the two-Higgs-doublet model. An upper limit on the cross-section for $pp \to G^{*}_{\mathrm{KK}} \to hh \to b\bar{b} b\bar{b}$ of 3.2 (2.3) fb is set for a Kaluza--Klein graviton $G^{*}_{\mathrm{KK}}$ mass of 1.0 (1.5) TeV, at the 95\% confidence level. The search for non-resonant Standard Model $hh$ production sets an observed 95\% confidence level upper limit on the production cross-section $\sigma(pp \to hh \to b\bar{b}b\bar{b})$ of 202 fb, compared to a SM prediction of $\sigma(pp \to hh \to b\bar{b}b\bar{b}) = 3.6 \pm 0.5$ fb.
1D histogram of event yields as a function of reconstructed four-jet mass for the resolved analysis. The lower edge of the mass bin is given.
1D histogram of event yields as a function of reconstructed two-jet mass for the boosted analysis. The lower edge of the mass bin is given.
The observed 95\% C.L. limit for $pp\rightarrow G^{*}_{KK}\rightarrow hh\rightarrow b\bar{b}b\bar{b}$ in the bulk RS model with $k/\bar{M}_{Pl} = 1$, as a function of resonance mass.
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