The results of a search for pair production of light top squarks are presented, using 4.7 fb^-1 of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV proton-proton collisions collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. This search targets top squarks with masses similar to, or lighter than, the top quark mass. Final states containing exclusively one or two leptons (e, mu), large missing transverse momentum, light-jets and b-jets are used to reconstruct the top squark pair system. Global mass scale variables are used to separate the signal from a large ttbar background. No excess over the Standard Model expectations is found. The results are interpreted in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, assuming the top squark decays exclusively to a chargino and a b-quark. Light top squarks with masses between 123-167 GeV are excluded for neutralino masses around 55 GeV.
This work presents a new inclusive search for supersymmetry (SUSY) by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV in final states with jets, missing transverse momentum and one or more isolated electrons and/or muons. The search is based on data from the full 2011 data-taking period, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 inverse fb. Single- and multi-lepton channels are treated together in one analysis. An increase in sensitivity is obtained by simultaneously fitting the number of events in statistically independent signal regions, and the shapes of distributions within those regions. A dedicated signal region is introduced to be sensitive to decay cascades of SUSY particles with small mass differences ("compressed SUSY"). Background uncertainties are constrained by fitting to the jet multiplicity distribution in background control regions. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations, and limits are set or extended on a number of SUSY models.
This Letter reports a search for a heavy particle that decays to WW using events produced in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. The data were recorded in 2011 by the ATLAS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb-1. WW to l nu l' nu'(l, l' = e or mu) final states are considered and the distribution of the transverse mass of the WW candidates is found to be consistent with Standard Model expectations. Upper limits on the production cross section times branching ratio into W boson pairs are set for Randall-Sundrum and bulk Randall-Sundrum gravitons, which result in observed 95% CL lower limits on the masses of the two particles of 1.23 TeV and 0.84 TeV, respectively.
A search for direct pair production of supersymmetric top squarks (stop_1) is presented, assuming the stop_1 decays into a top quark and the lightest supersymmetric particle, neutralino_1, and that both top quarks decay to purely hadronic final states. A total of 16 (4) events are observed compared to a predicted Standard Model background of 13.5+3.7-3.6 (4.4+1.7-1.3) events in two signal regions based on int(Ldt) = 4.7 fb^-1 of pp collision data taken at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. An exclusion region in the stop_1 versus neutralino_1 mass plane is evaluated: 370<m(stop_1)<465 GeV is excluded for m(neutralino_1)~0 GeV while m(stop_1)=445 GeV is excluded for m(neutralino_1)<=50 GeV.
A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb-1 of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV proton-proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results.
A search for supersymmetry (SUSY) in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least one hadronically decaying tau lepton, with zero or one additional light lepton (e/mu), has been performed using 4.7 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% confidence level visible cross-section upper limit for new phenomena is set. In the framework of gauge-mediated SUSY-breaking models, lower limits on the mass scale Lambda are set at 54 TeV in the regions where the stau is the next-to-lightest SUSY particle (tan(beta) > 20). These limits provide the most stringent tests to date of GMSB models in a large part of the parameter space considered.
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.
The ATLAS experiment has observed 1995 Z boson candidates in data corresponding to 0.15 inverse nb of integrated luminosity obtained in the 2011 LHC Pb+Pb run at sqrt(s_NN)=2.76 TeV. The Z bosons are reconstructed via di-electron and di-muon decay channels, with a background contamination of less than 3%. Results from the two channels are consistent and are combined. Within the statistical and systematic uncertainties, the per-event Z boson yield is proportional to the number of binary collisions estimated by the Glauber model. The elliptic anisotropy of the azimuthal distribution of the Z boson with respect to the event plane is found to be consistent with zero.
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.
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