We report a study of final states containing a W boson and hadronic jets, produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The data were collected with the ATLAS detector at the CERN LHC and comprise the full 2010 data sample of 36 pb^-1. Cross sections are determined using both the electron and muon decay modes of the W boson and are presented as a function of inclusive jet multiplicity, N_jet, for up to five jets. At each multiplicity, cross sections are presented as a function of jet transverse momentum, the scalar sum of the transverse momenta of the charged lepton, missing transverse momentum, and all jets, the invariant mass spectra of jets, and the rapidity distributions of various combinations of leptons and final-state jets. The results, corrected for all detector effects and for all backgrounds such as diboson and top quark pair production, are compared with particle-level predictions from perturbative QCD. Leading-order multiparton event generators, normalized to the NNLO total cross section for inclusive W-boson production, describe the data reasonably well for all measured inclusive jet multiplicities. Next-to-leading-order calculations from MCFM, studied here for N_jet >= 2, and BlackHat-Sherpa, studied here for N_jet >= 4, are found to be mostly in good agreement with the 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.

The production cross sections of the inclusive Drell-Yan processes W to l nu and Z/gamma to ll (l=e,mu) are measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. The cross sections are reported integrated over a fiducial kinematic range, extrapolated to the full range and also evaluated differentially as a function of the W decay lepton pseudorapidity and the Z boson rapidity, respectively. Based on an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1 collected in 2010, the precision of these measurements reaches a few per cent. The integrated and the differential W+- and Z/gamma cross sections in the e and mu channels are combined, and compared with perturbative QCD calculations, based on a number of different parton distribution sets available at NNLO.

This paper describes a measurement of the W boson transverse momentum distribution using ATLAS pp collision data from the 2010 run of the LHC at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 31 pb^-1. Events from both W -> e nu and W -> mu nu are used, and the transverse momentum of the W candidates is measured through the energy deposition in the calorimeter from the recoil of the W. The resulting distributions are unfolded to obtain the normalized differential cross sections as a function of the W boson transverse momentum. We present results for pTW < 300 GeV in the electron and muon channels as well as for their combination, and compare the combined results to the predictions of perturbative QCD and a selection of event generators.

A measurement of splitting scales, as defined by the kT clustering algorithm, is presented for final states containing a W boson produced in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The measurement is based on the full 2010 data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb-1 which was collected using the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Cluster splitting scales are measured in events containing W bosons decaying to electrons or muons. The measurement comprises the four hardest splitting scales in a kT cluster sequence of the hadronic activity accompanying the W boson, and ratios of these splitting scales. Backgrounds such as multi-jet and top-quark-pair production are subtracted and the results are corrected for detector effects. Predictions from various Monte Carlo event generators at particle level are compared to the data. Overall, reasonable agreement is found with all generators, but larger deviations between the predictions and the data are evident in the soft regions of the splitting scales.

The production of W bosons in association with two jets in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$=7 TeV has been analysed for the presence of double-parton interactions using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36/pb, collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The fraction of events arising from double-parton interactions, $f_{DP}^{(D)}$ has been measured through the momentum balance between the two jets and amounts to $f_{DP}^{(D)} = 0.08 \pm 0.01 (stat.) \pm 0.02 (sys.)$ for jets with transverse momentum PT > 20 GeV and rapidity |y|<2.8. This corresponds to a measurement of the effective area parameter for hard double-parton interactions of $\sigma_{eff} = 15 \pm 3 (stat.)^{+5}_{-3}$ (sys.) mb.

The production of a W boson in association with a single charm quark is studied using 4.6 fb^-1 of pp collision data at sqrt(s)=7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. In events in which a W boson decays to an electron or muon, the charm quark is tagged either by its semileptonic decay to a muon or by the presence of a charmed meson. The integrated and differential cross sections as a function of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the W-boson decay are measured. Results are compared to the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD calculations obtained from various parton distribution function parameterisations. The ratio of the strange-to-down sea-quark distributions is determined to be 0.96 +0.26 -0.30 at Q^2=1.9 GeV^2, which supports the hypothesis of an SU(3)-symmetric composition of the light-quark sea. Additionally, the cross-section ratio sigma(W^+ + bar{c})/sigma(W^- + c) is compared to the predictions obtained using parton distribution function parameterisations with different assumptions about the s-bar{s} quark asymmetry.

This paper presents a measurement of the W^+W^- production cross section in pp collisions at sqrt{s}=7 TeV. The leptonic decay channels are analyzed using data corresponding to an integrated 4.6 fb-1 collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The W^+W^- production cross section sigma(pp -> W^+W^-+X) is measured to be 51.9 +- 2.0 (stat) +- 3.9 (syst) +- 2.0 (lumi) pb, compatible with the Standard Model prediction of 44.7 +2.1 -1.9 pb. A measurement of the normalized fiducial cross section as a function of the leading lepton transverse momentum is also presented. The reconstructed transverse momentum distribution of the leading lepton is used to extract limits on anomalous WWZ and WWgamma couplings.

This paper describes a measurement of fiducial and differential cross sections of gluon-fusion Higgs boson production in the $H{\rightarrow\,}WW^{\ast}{\rightarrow\,}e\nu\mu\nu$ channel, using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data. The data were produced at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and recorded by the ATLAS detector in 2012. Cross sections are measured from the observed $H{\rightarrow\,}WW^{\ast}{\rightarrow\,}e\nu\mu\nu$ signal yield in categories distinguished by the number of associated jets. The total cross section is measured in a fiducial region defined by the kinematic properties of the charged leptons and neutrinos. Differential cross sections are reported as a function of the number of jets, the Higgs boson transverse momentum, the dilepton rapidity, and the transverse momentum of the leading jet. The jet-veto efficiency, or fraction of events with no jets above a given transverse momentum threshold, is also reported. All measurements are compared to QCD predictions from Monte Carlo generators and fixed-order calculations, and are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions.

This paper presents measurements of $W^\pm Z$ production in $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The gauge bosons are reconstructed using their leptonic decay modes into electrons and muons. The data were collected in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. The measured inclusive cross section in the detector fiducial region is $\sigma_{W^\pm Z \rightarrow \ell^{'} \nu\ \ell \ell} = 35.1 \pm$ 0.9 (stat.) $\pm 0.8$ (sys.) $\pm 0.8$ (lumi.) fb, for one leptonic decay channel. In comparison, the next-to-leading-order Standard Model expectation is 30.0 $\pm$ 2.1 fb. Cross sections for $W^+Z$ and $W^-Z$ production and their ratio are presented as well as differential cross sections for several kinematic observables. Limits on anomalous triple gauge boson couplings are derived from the transverse mass spectrum of the $W^\pm Z$ system. From the analysis of events with a $W$ and a $Z$ boson associated with two or more forward jets an upper limit at 95% confidence level on the $W^\pm Z$ scattering cross section of 0.63 fb, for each leptonic decay channel, is established, while the Standard Model prediction at next-to-leading order is 0.13 fb. Limits on anomalous quartic gauge boson couplings are also extracted.

Measurements of the electroweak production of a $W$ boson in association with two jets at high dijet invariant mass are performed using $\sqrt{s} = 7$ and $8$ TeV proton-proton collision data produced by the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding respectively to 4.7 and 20.2 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected by the ATLAS detector. The measurements are sensitive to the production of a $W$ boson via a triple-gauge-boson vertex and include both the fiducial and differential cross sections of the electroweak process.

This Letter presents the first study of $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}jj$, same-electric-charge diboson production in association with two jets, using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with two reconstructed same-charge leptons ($e^\pm e^\pm$, $e^\pm \mu^\pm$, and $\mu^\pm \mu^\pm$) and two or more jets are analyzed. Production cross sections are measured in two fiducial regions, with different sensitivities to the electroweak and strong production mechanisms. First evidence for $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}jj$ production and electroweak-only $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}jj$ production is observed with a significance of $4.5$ and $3.6$ standard deviations respectively. The measured production cross sections are in agreement with Standard Model predictions. Limits at 95% confidence level are set on anomalous quartic gauge couplings.

This Letter presents a measurement of WZ production in 1.02 fb^-1 of pp collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2011. Doubly leptonic decay events are selected with electrons, muons and missing transverse momentum in the final state. In total 71 candidates are observed, with a background expectation of 12.1 +/- 1.4(stat.) +4.1/-2.0(syst) events. The total cross section for WZ production for Z gamma^* masses within the range 66 GeV to 116 GeV is determined to be sigma_WZ^tot = 20.5 +3.1/-2.8(stat.) +1.4/-1.3(syst.) +0.9/-0.8(lumi.)pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model expectation of 17.3 +1.3/-0.8 pb. Limits on anomalous triple gauge boson couplings are extracted.

This paper reports a search for triboson $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}W^{\mp}$ production in two decay channels ($W^{\pm}W^{\pm}W^{\mp}\rightarrow \ell^{\pm}\nu\ell^{\pm}\nu\ell^{\mp}\nu$ and $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}W^{\mp}\rightarrow \ell^{\pm}\nu\ell^{\pm}\nu{}jj$ with $\ell=e, \mu$) in proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with exactly three charged leptons, or two leptons with the same electric charge in association with two jets, are selected. The total number of events observed in data is consistent with the Standard Model (SM) predictions. The observed 95 % confidence level upper limit on the SM $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}W^{\mp}$ production cross section is found to be 730 fb with an expected limit of 560 fb in the absence of SM $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}W^{\mp}$ production. Limits are also set on $WWWW$ anomalous quartic gauge couplings.

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.

This paper reports a measurement of the W+b-jets production cross-section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC. These results are based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb-1, collected with the ATLAS detector. Cross-sections are presented as a function of jet multiplicity and of the transverse momentum of the leading b-jet for both the muon and electron decay modes of the W boson. The W+b-jets cross-section, corrected for all known detector effects, is quoted in a limited kinematic range, using jets reconstructed with the anti-k_t clustering algorithm with transverse momentum above 25 GeV and rapidity within +/- 2.1. Combining the muon and electron channels, the fiducial cross-section for W+b-jets is measured to be 7.1 +/- 0.5 (stat) +/- 1.4 (syst) pb, consistent with next-to-leading order QCD calculations within 1.5 standard deviations.

This paper presents a measurement of the $W$ boson production cross section and the $W^{+}/W^{-}$ cross-section ratio, both in association with jets, in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is performed in final states containing one electron and missing transverse momentum using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb$^{-1}$. Differential cross sections for events with one or two jets are presented for a range of observables, including jet transverse momenta and rapidities, the scalar sum of transverse momenta of the visible particles and the missing transverse momentum in the event, and the transverse momentum of the $W$ boson. For a subset of the observables, the differential cross sections of positively and negatively charged $W$ bosons are measured separately. In the cross-section ratio of $W^{+}/W^{-}$ the dominant systematic uncertainties cancel out, improving the measurement precision by up to a factor of nine. The observables and ratios selected for this paper provide valuable input for the up quark, down quark, and gluon parton distribution functions of the proton.

The production of a $W$ boson in association with a single charm quark is studied using 140 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s} = 13\,\mathrm{TeV}$ proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The charm quark is tagged by a charmed hadron, reconstructed with a secondary-vertex fit. The $W$ boson is reconstructed from an electron/muon decay and the missing transverse momentum. The mesons reconstructed are $D^{\pm} \to K^\mp \pi^\pm \pi^\pm$ and $D^{*\pm} \to D^{0} \pi^\pm \to (K^\mp \pi^\pm) \pi^\pm$, where $p_{\text{T}}(e, \mu) > 30\,\mathrm{GeV}$, $|\eta(e, \mu)| < 2.5$, $p_{\text{T}}(D) > 8\,\mathrm{GeV}$, and $|\eta(D)| < 2.2$. The integrated and normalized differential cross-sections as a function of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the $W$ boson decay, and of the transverse momentum of the meson, are extracted from the data using a profile likelihood fit. The measured fiducial cross-sections are $\sigma^{\mathrm{OS-SS}}_{\mathrm{fid}}(W^{-}{+}D^{+}) = 50.2\pm0.2\,\mathrm{(stat.)}\,^{+2.4}_{-2.3}\,\mathrm{(syst.)}\,\mathrm{pb}$, $\sigma^{\mathrm{OS-SS}}_{\mathrm{fid}}(W^{+}{+}D^{-}) = 48.5\pm0.2\,\mathrm{(stat.)}\,^{+2.3}_{-2.2}\,\mathrm{(syst.)}\,\mathrm{pb}$, $\sigma^{\mathrm{OS-SS}}_{\mathrm{fid}}(W^{-}{+}D^{*+}) = 51.1\pm0.4\,\mathrm{(stat.)}\,^{+1.9}_{-1.8}\,\mathrm{(syst.)}\,\mathrm{pb}$, and $\sigma^{\mathrm{OS-SS}}_{\mathrm{fid}}(W^{+}{+}D^{*-}) = 50.0\pm0.4\,\mathrm{(stat.)}\,^{+1.9}_{-1.8}\,\mathrm{(syst.)}\,\mathrm{pb}$. Results are compared with the predictions of next-to-leading-order quantum chromodynamics calculations performed using state-of-the-art parton distribution functions. The ratio of charm to anti-charm production cross-sections is studied to probe the $s$-$\bar{s}$ quark asymmetry and is found to be $R_c^\pm = 0.971\pm0.006\,\mathrm{(stat.)}\pm0.011\,\mathrm{(syst.)}$.