Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |$\eta$| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-$k_t$ algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," $R_{cp}$. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. $R_{cp}$ varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.
Results are presented of a search for new particles decaying to large numbers of jets in association with missing transverse momentum, using 4.7 fb^-1 of pp collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. The event selection requires missing transverse momentum, no isolated electrons or muons, and from >=6 to >=9 jets. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of a MSUGRA/CMSSM supersymmetric model, where, for large universal scalar mass m_0, gluino masses smaller than 840 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, extending previously published limits. Within a simplified model containing only a gluino octet and a neutralino, gluino masses smaller than 870 GeV are similarly excluded for neutralino masses below 100 GeV.
Distributions sensitive to the underlying event are studied in events containing one or more charged-particle jets produced in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These measurements reflect 800 inverse microbarns of data taken during 2010. Jets are reconstructed using the antikt algorithm with radius parameter R varying between 0.2 and 1.0. Distributions of the charged-particle multiplicity, the scalar sum of the transverse momentum of charged particles, and the average charged-particle pT are measured as functions of pT^JET in regions transverse to and opposite the leading jet for 4 GeV < pT^JET < 100 GeV. In addition, the R-dependence of the mean values of these observables is studied. In the transverse region, both the multiplicity and the scalar sum of the transverse momentum at fixed pT^JET vary significantly with R, while the average charged-particle transverse momentum has a minimal dependence on R. Predictions from several Monte Carlo tunes have been compared to the data; the predictions from Pythia 6, based on tunes that have been determined using LHC data, show reasonable agreement with the data, including the dependence on R. Comparisons with other generators indicate that additional tuning of soft-QCD parameters is necessary for these generators. The measurements presented here provide a testing ground for further development of the Monte Carlo models.
Measurements are presented of differential cross-sections for top quark pair production in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV relative to the total inclusive top quark pair production cross-section. A data sample of 2.05/fb recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is used. Relative differential cross-sections are derived as a function of the invariant mass, the transverse momentum and the rapidity of the top quark pair system. Events are selected in the lepton (electron or muon) + jets channel. The background-subtracted differential distributions are corrected for detector effects, normalized to the total inclusive top quark pair production cross-section and compared to theoretical predictions. The measurement uncertainties range typically between 10% and 20% and are generally dominated by systematic effects. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectations are observed.
Combined ATLAS and CMS measurements of the Higgs boson production and decay rates, as well as constraints on its couplings to vector bosons and fermions, are presented. The combination is based on the analysis of five production processes, namely gluon fusion, vector boson fusion, and associated production with a $W$ or a $Z$ boson or a pair of top quarks, and of the six decay modes $H \to ZZ, WW$, $\gamma\gamma, \tau\tau, bb$, and $\mu\mu$. All results are reported assuming a value of 125.09 GeV for the Higgs boson mass, the result of the combined measurement by the ATLAS and CMS experiments. The analysis uses the CERN LHC proton--proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS and CMS experiments in 2011 and 2012, corresponding to integrated luminosities per experiment of approximately 5 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and 20 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV. The Higgs boson production and decay rates measured by the two experiments are combined within the context of three generic parameterisations: two based on cross sections and branching fractions, and one on ratios of coupling modifiers. Several interpretations of the measurements with more model-dependent parameterisations are also given. The combined signal yield relative to the Standard Model prediction is measured to be 1.09 $\pm$ 0.11. The combined measurements lead to observed significances for the vector boson fusion production process and for the $H \to \tau\tau$ decay of $5.4$ and $5.5$ standard deviations, respectively. The data are consistent with the Standard Model predictions for all parameterisations considered.
A search for the exotic decay of the Higgs boson to a pair of light pseudoscalars, each of which subsequently decays into a pair of photons, is presented. The search uses data from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC that corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 132 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis probes pseudoscalar bosons with masses in the range 15-62 GeV, coming from the Higgs boson decay, which leads to four well-isolated photons in the final state. No significant deviation from the background-only hypothesis is observed. Upper limits are set on the product of the Higgs boson production cross section and branching fraction into four photons. The observed (expected) limits range from 0.80 (1.00) fb for a pseudoscalar boson mass of 15 GeV to 0.26 (0.24) fb for a mass of 62 GeV at 95% confidence level.
Measurements of inclusive jet and dijet production cross sections are presented. Data from LHC proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV, corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity, have been collected with the CMS detector. Jets are reconstructed up to rapidity 2.5, transverse momentum 2 TeV, and dijet invariant mass 5 TeV, using the anti-k$_t$ clustering algorithm with distance parameter R = 0.7. The measured cross sections are corrected for detector effects and compared to perturbative QCD predictions at next-to-leading order, using five sets of parton distribution functions.
The top-quark pair production cross section in 7 TeV center-of-mass energy proton–proton collisions is measured using data collected by the CMS detector at the LHC. The measurement uses events with one jet identified as a hadronically decaying τ lepton and at least four additional energetic jets, at least one of which is identified as coming from a b quark. The analyzed data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.9 fb(−1) recorded by a dedicated multijet plus hadronically decaying τ trigger. A neural network has been developed to separate the top-quark pairs from the W+jets and multijet backgrounds. The measured value of is consistent with the standard model predictions.
The polarizations of the Y(1S), Y(2S), and Y(3S) mesons are measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using a data sample of Y(nS) to oppositely charged muon pair decays collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 inverse femtobarns. The dimuon decay angular distributions are analyzed in three different polarization frames. The polarization parameters lambda[theta], lambda[phi], and lambda[theta,phi], as well as the frame-invariant quantity lambda-tilde, are presented as a function of the Y(nS) transverse momentum between 10 and 50 GeV, in the rapidity ranges abs(y) < 0.6 and 0.6 < abs(y) < 1.2. No evidence of large transverse or longitudinal polarizations has been seen in the explored kinematic region.
A measurement of the inclusive WW+WZ diboson production cross section in proton-proton collisions is reported, based on events containing a leptonically decaying W boson and exactly two jets. The data sample, collected at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 inverse femtobarns. The measured value of the sum of the inclusive WW and WZ cross sections is sigma(pp to WW+WZ) = 68.9 +/- 8.7 (stat.) +/- 9.7 (syst.) +/- 1.5 (lum.) pb, consistent with the standard model prediction of 65.6 +/- 2.2 pb. This is the first measurement of WW+WZ production in pp collisions using this signature. No evidence for anomalous triple gauge couplings is found and upper limits are set on their magnitudes.