The exclusive production of pion pairs in the process $pp\to pp\pi^+\pi^-$ has been measured at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, using 80 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ of low-luminosity data. The pion pairs were detected in the ATLAS central detector while outgoing protons were measured in the forward ATLAS ALFA detector system. This represents the first use of proton tagging to measure an exclusive hadronic final state at the LHC. A cross-section measurement is performed in two kinematic regions defined by the proton momenta, the pion rapidities and transverse momenta, and the pion-pion invariant mass. Cross section values of $4.8 \pm 1.0 \text{(stat.)} + {}^{+0.3}_{-0.2} \text{(syst.)}\mu$b and $9 \pm 6 \text{(stat.)} + {}^{+2}_{-2}\text{(syst.)}\mu$b are obtained in the two regions; they are compared with theoretical models and provide a demonstration of the feasibility of measurements of this type.

This paper presents studies of Bose-Einstein correlations (BEC) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, using data from the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Data were collected in a special low-luminosity configuration with a minimum-bias trigger and a high-multiplicity track trigger, accumulating integrated luminosities of 151 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ and 8.4 nb$^{-1}$ respectively. The BEC are measured for pairs of like-sign charged particles, each with $|\eta|$ < 2.5, for two kinematic ranges: the first with particle $p_T$ > 100 MeV and the second with particle $p_T$ > 500 MeV. The BEC parameters, characterizing the source radius and particle correlation strength, are investigated as functions of charged-particle multiplicity (up to 300) and average transverse momentum of the pair (up to 1.5 GeV). The double-differential dependence on charged-particle multiplicity and average transverse momentum of the pair is also studied. The BEC radius is found to be independent of the charged-particle multiplicity for high charged-particle multiplicity (above 100), confirming a previous observation at lower energy. This saturation occurs independent of the transverse momentum of the pair.

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.

The production of $D^{*\pm}$, $D^\pm$ and $D_s^\pm$ charmed mesons has been measured with the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV at the LHC, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $280\,$nb$^{-1}$. The charmed mesons have been reconstructed in the range of transverse momentum $3.5<p_{\rm T}(D)<100$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta(D)|<2.1$. The differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity were measured for $D^{*\pm}$ and $D^\pm$ production. The next-to-leading-order QCD predictions are consistent with the data in the visible kinematic region within the large theoretical uncertainties. Using the visible $D$ cross sections and an extrapolation to the full kinematic phase space, the strangeness-suppression factor in charm fragmentation, the fraction of charged non-strange $D$ mesons produced in a vector state, and the total cross section of charm production at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV were derived.

The paper presents studies of Bose-Einstein Correlations (BEC) for pairs of like-sign charged particles measured in the kinematic range $p_{\rm T}>$ 100 MeV and $|\eta|<$ 2.5 in proton--proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 0.9 and 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The integrated luminosities are approximately 7 $\mu$b$^{-1}$, 190 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ and 12.4 nb$^{-1}$ for 0.9 TeV, 7 TeV minimum-bias and 7 TeV high-multiplicity data samples, respectively. The multiplicity dependence of the BEC parameters characterizing the correlation strength and the correlation source size are investigated for charged-particle multiplicities of up to 240. A saturation effect in the multiplicity dependence of the correlation source size is observed using the high-multiplicity 7 TeV data sample. The dependence of the BEC parameters on the average transverse momentum of the particle pair is also investigated.

A measurement of the total $pp$ cross section at the LHC at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV is presented. In a special run with high-$\beta^{\star}$ beam optics, an integrated luminosity of 80 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ was accumulated in order to measure the differential elastic cross section as a function of the Mandelstam momentum transfer variable $t$. The measurement is performed with the ALFA sub-detector of ATLAS. Using a fit to the differential elastic cross section in the $|t|$ range from 0.01 GeV$^2$ to 0.1 GeV$^2$ to extrapolate to $|t|\rightarrow 0$, the total cross section, $\sigma_{\mathrm{tot}}(pp\rightarrow X)$, is measured via the optical theorem to be: $$\sigma_{\mathrm{tot}}(pp\rightarrow X) = 95.35 \; \pm 0.38 \; ({\mbox{stat.}}) \pm 1.25 \; ({\mbox{exp.}}) \pm 0.37 \; (\mbox{extr.}) \; \mbox{mb},$$ where the first error is statistical, the second accounts for all experimental systematic uncertainties and the last is related to uncertainties in the extrapolation to $|t|\rightarrow 0$. In addition, the slope of the elastic cross section at small $|t|$ is determined to be $B = 19.73 \pm 0.14 \; ({\mbox{stat.}}) \pm 0.26 \; ({\mbox{syst.}}) \; \mbox{GeV}^{-2}$.

First measurements of the W -> lnu and Z/gamma* -> ll (l = e, mu) production cross sections in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV are presented using data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The results are based on 2250 W -> lnu and 179 Z/gamma* -> ll candidate events selected from a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 320 nb-1. The measured total W and Z/gamma*-boson production cross sections times the respective leptonic branching ratios for the combined electron and muon channels are $\stotW$ * BR(W -> lnu) = 9.96 +- 0.23(stat) +- 0.50(syst) +- 1.10(lumi) nb and $\stotZg$ * BR(Z/gamma* -> ll) = 0.82 +- 0.06(stat) +- 0.05(syst) +- 0.09(lumi) nb (within the invariant mass window 66 < m_ll < 116 GeV). The W/Z cross-section ratio is measured to be 11.7 +- 0.9(stat) +- 0.4(syst). In addition, measurements of the W+ and W- production cross sections and of the lepton charge asymmetry are reported. Theoretical predictions based on NNLO QCD calculations are found to agree with the measurements.

A measurement of the production processes of the recently discovered Higgs boson is performed in the two-photon final state using 5.4 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions data at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The number of observed Higgs boson decays to diphotons divided by the corresponding Standard Model prediction, called the signal strength, is found to be $\mu = 1.17 \pm 0.27$ at the value of the Higgs boson mass measured by ATLAS, $m_{H}$ = 125.4 GeV. The analysis is optimized to measure the signal strengths for individual Higgs boson production processes at this value of $m_{H}$. They are found to be $\mu_{\mathrm{ggF}} = 1.32 \pm 0.38$, $\mu_{\mathrm{VBF}} = 0.8 \pm 0.7$, $\mu_{{WH}} = 1.0 \pm 1.6 $, $\mu_{{ZH}} = 0.1 ^{+3.7}_{-0.1} $, $\mu_{{t\bar{t}H}} = 1.6 ^{+2.7}_{-1.8} $, for Higgs boson production through gluon fusion, vector-boson fusion, and in association with a $W$ or $Z$ boson or a top-quark pair, respectively. Compared with the previously published ATLAS analysis, the results reported here also benefit from a new energy calibration procedure for photons and the subsequent reduction of the systematic uncertainty on the diphoton mass resolution. No significant deviations from the predictions of the Standard Model are found.

This Letter reports a measurement of the exclusive $\gamma\gamma\rightarrow \ell^+\ell^- (\ell=e, \mu)$ cross-section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, based on an integrated luminosity of $4.6$ fb$^{-1}$. For the electron or muon pairs satisfying exclusive selection criteria, a fit to the dilepton acoplanarity distribution is used to extract the fiducial cross-sections. The cross-section in the electron channel is determined to be $\sigma_{\gamma\gamma\rightarrow e^+e^-}^{\mathrm{excl.}} = 0.428 \pm 0.035 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 0.018 (\mathrm{syst.})$ pb for a phase-space region with invariant mass of the electron pairs greater than 24 GeV, in which both electrons have transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}>12$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta|<2.4$. For muon pairs with invariant mass greater than 20 GeV, muon transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}>10$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta|<2.4$, the cross-section is determined to be $\sigma_{\gamma\gamma\rightarrow \mu^+\mu^- }^{\mathrm{excl.}} = 0.628 \pm 0.032 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 0.021 (\mathrm{syst.})$ pb. When proton absorptive effects due to the finite size of the proton are taken into account in the theory calculation, the measured cross-sections are found to be consistent with the theory prediction.

The prompt and non-prompt production cross-sections for $\psi(2S)$ mesons are measured using 2.1 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The measurement exploits the $\psi(2S)\to J/\psi(\to\mu^+\mu^-)\pi^+\pi^-$ decay mode, and probes $\psi(2S)$ mesons with transverse momenta in the range $10\leq p_T<100$ GeV and rapidity $|y|<2.0$. The results are compared to other measurements of $\psi(2S)$ production at the LHC and to various theoretical models for prompt and non-prompt quarkonium production.