The production of $W$ boson pairs in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 8 TeV is studied using data corresponding to 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected by the ATLAS detector during 2012 at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The $W$ bosons are reconstructed using their leptonic decays into electrons or muons and neutrinos. Events with reconstructed jets are not included in the candidate event sample. A total of 6636 $WW$ candidate events are observed. Measurements are performed in fiducial regions closely approximating the detector acceptance. The integrated measurement is corrected for all acceptance effects and for the $W$ branching fractions to leptons in order to obtain the total $WW$ production cross section, which is found to be 71.1$\pm1.1$(stat)$^{+5.7}_{-5.0}$(syst)$\pm1.4$ pb. This agrees with the next-to-next-to-leading-order Standard Model prediction of 63.2$^{+1.6}_{-1.4}$(scale)$\pm1.2$(PDF) pb. Fiducial differential cross sections are measured as a function of each of six kinematic variables. The distribution of the transverse momentum of the leading lepton is used to set limits on anomalous triple-gauge-boson couplings.

Event-shape observables measured using charged particles in inclusive $Z$-boson events are presented, using the electron and muon decay modes of the $Z$ bosons. The measurements are based on an integrated luminosity of $1.1 {\rm fb}^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. Charged-particle distributions, excluding the lepton--antilepton pair from the $Z$-boson decay, are measured in different ranges of transverse momentum of the $Z$ boson. Distributions include multiplicity, scalar sum of transverse momenta, beam thrust, transverse thrust, spherocity, and $\mathcal{F}$-parameter, which are in particular sensitive to properties of the underlying event at small values of the $Z$-boson transverse momentum. The Sherpa event generator shows larger deviations from the measured observables than Pythia8 and Herwig7. Typically, all three Monte Carlo generators provide predictions that are in better agreement with the data at high $Z$-boson transverse momenta than at low $Z$-boson transverse momenta and for the observables that are less sensitive to the number of charged particles in the event.

A search for $W^\prime$ bosons in events with one lepton (electron or muon) and missing transverse momentum is presented. The search uses 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data collected at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015. The transverse mass distribution is examined and no significant excess of events above the level expected from Standard Model processes is observed. Upper limits on the $W^\prime$ boson cross-section times branching ratio to leptons are set as a function of the $W^\prime$ mass. Assuming a $W^\prime$ boson as predicted by the Sequential Standard Model, $W^\prime$ masses below 4.07 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level. This extends the limit set using LHC data at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV by around 800 GeV.

The inclusive cross section for top quark pair production is measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to 5.0 and 19.7 invers-femtobarns, respectively, with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The cross sections are measured in the electron-muon channel using a binned likelihood fit to multi-differential final state distributions related to identified b quark jets and other jets in the event. The measured cross section values are 173.6 +/- 2.1 (stat) +4.5-4.0 (syst) +/- 3.8 (lumi) pb at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, and 244.9 +/- 1.4 (stat) +6.3-5.5 (syst) +/- 6.4 (lumi) pb at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, in good agreement with QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading-order accuracy. The ratio of the cross sections measured at 7 and 8 TeV is determined, as well as cross sections in the fiducial regions defined by the acceptance requirements on the two charged leptons in the final state. The cross section results are used to determine the top quark pole mass via the dependence of the theoretically predicted cross section on the mass, giving a best result of 173.8 +1.7-1.8 GeV. The data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV are also used to set limits, for two neutralino mass values, on the pair production of supersymmetric top squarks with masses close to the top quark mass.

A search is described for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons, one of which has an internal conversion to a muon or an electron pair (ll gamma). The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The events selected have an opposite-sign muon or electron pair and a high transverse momentum photon. No excess above background has been found in the three-body invariant mass range 120 < m[ll gamma] < 150 GeV, and limits have been derived for the Higgs boson production cross section times branching fraction for the decay H to gamma* gamma to ll gamma, where the dilepton invariant mass is less than 20 GeV. For a Higgs boson with m[H] = 125 GeV, a 95% confidence level (CL) exclusion observed (expected) limit is 6.7 (5.9 +2.8/-1.8) times the standard model prediction. Additionally, an upper limit at 95% CL on the branching fraction of H to J/Psi gamma for the 125 GeV Higgs boson is set at 1.5E-3.

This paper presents a measurement of the double-differential cross section for the Drell-Yan $Z/\gamma^{*} \rightarrow \ell^{+} \ell^{-}$ and photon-induced $\gamma\gamma \rightarrow \ell^{+} \ell^{-}$ processes where $\ell$ is an electron or muon. The measurement is performed for invariant masses of the lepton pairs, $m_{\ell\ell}$, between 116 GeV and 1500 GeV, using a sample of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collisions data at centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2012. The data are presented double differentially in invariant mass and absolute dilepton rapidity as well as in invariant mass and absolute pseudorapidity separation of the lepton pair. The single-differential cross section as a function of $m_{\ell\ell}$ is also reported. The electron and muon channel measurements are combined and a total experimental precision of better than 1% is achieved at low $m_{\ell\ell}$. A comparison to next-to-next-to-leading order perturbative QCD predictions using several recent parton distribution functions and including next-to-leading order electroweak effects indicates the potential of the data to constrain parton distribution functions. In particular, a large impact of the data on the photon PDF is demonstrated.

Measurements of the $W^{\pm} \rightarrow \ell^{\pm} \nu$ and $Z \rightarrow \ell^+ \ell^-$ production cross sections (where $\ell^{\pm}=e^{\pm},\mu^{\pm}$) in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV are presented using data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 81 pb$^{-1}$ The total inclusive $W^{\pm}$-boson production cross sections times the single-lepton-flavour branching ratios are $\sigma_{W^+}^{tot}= 11.83 \pm 0.02 (stat) \pm 0.32 (sys) \pm 0.25 (lumi)$ nb and $\sigma_{W^-}^{tot} = 8.79 \pm 0.02 (stat) \pm 0.24 (sys) \pm 0.18 (lumi)$ nb for $W^+$ and $W^-$, respectively. The total inclusive $Z$-boson production cross section times leptonic branching ratio, within the invariant mass window $66 < m_{\ell\ell} < 116$ GeV, is $\sigma_{Z}^{tot} = 1.981 \pm 0.007 (stat) \pm 0.038 (sys) \pm 0.042 (lumi)$ nb. The $W^+$, $W^-$, and $Z$-boson production cross sections and cross-section ratios within a fiducial region defined by the detector acceptance are also measured. The cross-section ratios benefit from significant cancellation of experimental uncertainties, resulting in $\sigma_{W^+}^{fid}/\sigma_{W^-}^{fid} = 1.295 \pm 0.003 (stat) \pm 0.010 (sys)$ and $\sigma_{W^{\pm}}^{fid}/\sigma_{Z}^{fid} = 10.31 \pm 0.04 (stat) \pm 0.20 (sys)$. Theoretical predictions, based on calculations accurate to next-to-next-to-leading order for quantum chromodynamics and to next-to-leading order for electroweak processes and which employ different parton distribution function sets, are compared to these measurements.

The production of the $\eta_c (1S)$ state in proton-proton collisions is probed via its decay to the $p \bar{p}$ final state with the LHCb detector, in the rapidity range $2.0 < y < 4.5$ and in the meson transverse-momentum range $p_T > 6.5$ GeV/c. The cross-section for prompt production of $\eta_c (1S)$ mesons relative to the prompt $J/\psi$ cross-section is measured, for the first time, to be $\sigma_{\eta_c (1S)}/\sigma_{J/\psi} = 1.74 \pm 0.29 \pm 0.28 \pm 0.18 _{B}$ at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.7 fb$^{-1}$, and $\sigma_{\eta_c (1S)}/\sigma_{J/\psi} = 1.60 \pm 0.29 \pm 0.25 \pm 0.17 _{B}$ at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV using 2.0 fb$^{-1}$. The uncertainties quoted are, in order, statistical, systematic, and that on the ratio of branching fractions of the $\eta_c (1S)$ and $J/\psi$ decays to the $p \bar{p}$ final state. In addition, the inclusive branching fraction of $b$-hadron decays into $\eta_c (1S)$ mesons is measured, for the first time, to be $B ( b \rightarrow \eta_c X ) = (4.88 \pm 0.64 \pm 0.29 \pm 0.67 _{B}) \times 10^{-3}$, where the third uncertainty includes also the uncertainty on the $J/\psi$ inclusive branching fraction from $b$-hadron decays. The difference between the $J/\psi$ and $\eta_c (1S)$ meson masses is determined to be $114.7 \pm 1.5 \pm 0.1$ MeV/c$^2$.

We report on measurements of dielectron ($e^+e^-$) production in Au$+$Au collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV per nucleon-nucleon pair using the STAR detector at RHIC. Systematic measurements of the dielectron yield as a function of transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) and collision centrality show an enhancement compared to a cocktail simulation of hadronic sources in the low invariant-mass region ($M_{ee}<$ 1 GeV/$c^2$). This enhancement cannot be reproduced by the $\rho$-meson vacuum spectral function. In minimum-bias collisions, in the invariant-mass range of 0.30 $-$ 0.76 GeV/$c^2$, integrated over the full $p_{\rm T}$ acceptance, the enhancement factor is 1.76 $\pm$ 0.06 (stat.) $\pm$ 0.26 (sys.) $\pm$ 0.29 (cocktail). The enhancement factor exhibits weak centrality and $p_{\rm T}$ dependence in STAR's accessible kinematic regions, while the excess yield in this invariant-mass region as a function of the number of participating nucleons follows a power-law shape with a power of 1.44 $\pm$ 0.10. Models that assume an in-medium broadening of the $\rho$ meson spectral function consistently describe the observed excess in these measurements. Additionally, we report on measurements of $\omega$ and $\phi$-meson production through their $e^+e^-$ decay channel. These measurements show good agreement with Tsallis Blast-Wave model predictions as well as, in the case of the $\phi$-meson, results through its $K^+K^-$ decay channel. In the intermediate invariant-mass region (1.1$<M_{ee}<$ 3 GeV/$c^2$), we investigate the spectral shapes from different collision centralities. Physics implications for possible in-medium modification of charmed hadron production and other physics sources are discussed.

We present measurements from the PHENIX experiment of large parity-violating single spin asymmetries of high transverse momentum electrons and positrons from $W^\pm/Z$ decays, produced in longitudinally polarized $p$$+$$p$ collisions at center of mass energies of $\sqrt{s}$=500 and 510~GeV. These asymmetries allow direct access to the anti-quark polarized parton distribution functions due to the parity-violating nature of the $W$-boson coupling to quarks and anti-quarks. The results presented are based on data collected in 2011, 2012, and 2013 with an integrated luminosity of 240 pb$^{-1}$, which exceeds previous PHENIX published results by a factor of more than 27. These high $Q^2$ data provide an important addition to our understanding of anti-quark parton helicity distribution functions.