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ATLAS Collaboration

Publications and source records attributed to ATLAS Collaboration.

At least 883 records · Page 49Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Measurements of the production cross section of a $Z$ boson in association with jets in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of the production cross section of a $Z$ boson in association with jets in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV are presented, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.16 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider in 2015. Inclusive and differential cross sections are measured for events containing a $Z$ boson decaying to electrons or muons and produced in association with up to seven jets with $p_T > 30$ GeV and $|y| <2.5$. Predictions from different Monte Carlo generators based on leading-order and next-to-leading-order matrix elements for up to two additional partons interfaced with parton shower and fixed-order predictions at next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to-leading order are compared with the measured cross sections. Good agreement within the uncertainties is observed for most of the modelled quantities, in particular with the generators which use next-to-leading-order matrix elements and the more recent next-to-next-to-leading-order fixed-order predictions.

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arXiv2017

Precision measurement and interpretation of inclusive $W^+$, $W^-$ and $Z/γ^*$ production cross sections with the ATLAS detector

High-precision measurements by the ATLAS Collaboration are presented of inclusive $W^+\to\ell^+ν$, $W^-\to\ell^-\barν$ and $Z/γ^*\to\ell\ell$ ($\ell=e,μ$) 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 $|η_{\ell}| = 2.5$. Differential $Z/γ^*$ 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.

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arXiv2017

Performance of the ATLAS Trigger System in 2015

During 2015 the ATLAS experiment recorded 3.8 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The ATLAS trigger system is a crucial component of the experiment, responsible for selecting events of interest at a recording rate of approximately 1 kHz from up to 40 MHz of collisions. This paper presents a short overview of the changes to the trigger and data acquisition systems during the first long shutdown of the LHC and shows the performance of the trigger system and its components based on the 2015 proton--proton collision data.

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arXiv2017

Measurements of top-quark pair differential cross-sections in the $eμ$ channel in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV using the ATLAS detector

This article presents measurements of $t\bar{t}$ differential cross-sections in a fiducial phase-space region, using an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton data at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015. Differential cross-sections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum and absolute rapidity of the top quark, and of the transverse momentum, absolute rapidity and invariant mass of the $t\bar{t}$ system. The $t\bar{t}$ events are selected by requiring one electron and one muon of opposite electric charge, and at least two jets, one of which must be tagged as containing a $b$-hadron. The measured differential cross-sections are compared to predictions of next-to-leading order generators matched to parton showers and the measurements are found to be consistent with all models within the experimental uncertainties with the exception of the POWHEG-Box + HERWIG++ predictions, which differ significantly from the data in both the transverse momentum of the top quark and the mass of the $t\bar{t}$ system.

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arXiv2017

Measurement of charged-particle distributions sensitive to the underlying event in $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

We present charged-particle distributions sensitive to the underlying event, measured by the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, in low-luminosity Large Hadron Collider fills corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.6 nb$^{-1}$. The distributions were constructed using charged particles with absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.5 and with transverse momentum greater than 500 MeV, in events with at least one such charged particle with transverse momentum above 1 GeV. These distributions characterise the angular distribution of energy and particle flows with respect to the charged particle with highest transverse momentum, as a function of both that momentum and of charged-particle multiplicity. The results have been corrected for detector effects and are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generators, experimentally establishing the level of underlying-event activity at LHC Run 2 energies and providing inputs for the development of event generator modelling. The current models in use for UE modelling typically describe this data to 5% accuracy, compared with data uncertainties of less than 1%.

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arXiv2017

Performance of the ATLAS Transition Radiation Tracker in Run 1 of the LHC: tracker properties

The tracking performance parameters of the ATLAS Transition Radiation Tracker (TRT) as part of the ATLAS inner detector are described in this paper for different data-taking conditions in proton-proton, proton-lead and lead-lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The performance is studied using data collected during the first period of LHC operation (Run 1) and is compared with Monte Carlo simulations. The performance of the TRT, operating with two different gas mixtures (xenon-based and argon-based) and its dependence on the TRT occupancy is presented. These studies show that the tracking performance of the TRT is similar for the two gas mixtures and that a significant contribution to the particle momentum resolution is made by the TRT up to high particle densities.

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arXiv2017

Measurement of jet activity produced in top-quark events with an electron, a muon and two $b$-tagged jets in the final state in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of jet activity in top-quark pair events produced in proton--proton collisions are presented, using 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are chosen by requiring an opposite-charge $eμ$ pair and two $b$-tagged jets in the final state. The normalised differential cross-sections of top-quark pair production are presented as functions of additional-jet multiplicity and transverse momentum, $p_{\mathrm T}$. The fraction of signal events that do not contain additional jet activity in a given rapidity region, the gap fraction, is measured as a function of the $p_{\mathrm T}$ threshold for additional jets, and is also presented for different invariant mass regions of the $eμb\bar{b}$ system. All measurements are corrected for detector effects and presented as particle-level distributions compared to predictions with different theoretical approaches for QCD radiation. While the kinematics of the jets from top-quark decays are described well, the generators show differing levels of agreement with the measurements of observables that depend on the production of additional jets.

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arXiv2017

Measurement of the inclusive cross-sections of single top-quark and top-antiquark $t$-channel production in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the $t$-channel single-top-quark and single-top-antiquark production cross-sections in the lepton+je ts channel is presented, using 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2015. Events are selected by requiring one charged lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse momentum, and two jets with high transverse momentum, exactly one of which is required to be $b$-tagged. Using a binned maximum-likelihood fit to the discriminant distribution of a neural network, the cross-sections are determined to be $σ(tq) = 156 \pm 5 \, (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 27 \, (\mathrm{syst.}) \pm 3\,(\mathrm{lumi.})$ pb for single top-quark production and $σ(\bar{t}q) = 91 \pm 4 \, (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 18 \, (\mathrm{syst.}) \pm 2\,(\mathrm{lumi.})$ pb for single top-antiquark production, assuming a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV. The cross-section ratio is measured to be $R_t = σ(tq)/σ(\bar{t}q) = 1.72 \pm 0.09 \, (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 0.18 \, (\mathrm{syst.})$.

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arXiv2017

High-$E_{\rm T}$ isolated-photon plus jets production in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt s=$ 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The dynamics of isolated-photon plus one-, two- and three-jet production in $pp$ collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a data set with an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb$^{-1}$. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jets cross sections are presented as functions of the photon and jet transverse momenta. The cross sections as functions of the azimuthal angle between the photon and the jets, the azimuthal angle between the jets, the photon-jet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photon-jet centre-of-mass system are presented. The pattern of QCD radiation around the photon and the leading jet is investigated by measuring jet production in an annular region centred on each object; enhancements are observed around the leading jet with respect to the photon in the directions towards the beams. The experimental measurements are compared to several different theoretical calculations, and overall a good description of the data is found.

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arXiv2017

Identification and rejection of pile-up jets at high pseudorapidity with the ATLAS detector

The rejection of forward jets originating from additional proton--proton interactions (pile-up) is crucial for a variety of physics analyses at the LHC, including Standard Model measurements and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. The identification of such jets is challenging due to the lack of track and vertex information in the pseudorapidity range $|η|>2.5$. This paper presents a novel strategy for forward pile-up jet tagging that exploits jet shapes and topological jet correlations in pile-up interactions. Measurements of the per-jet tagging efficiency are presented using a data set of 3.2 $fb^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector. The fraction of pile-up jets rejected in the range $2.5<|η|<4.5$ is estimated in simulated events with an average of 22 interactions per bunch-crossing. It increases with jet transverse momentum and, for jets with transverse momentum between 20 and 50 GeV, it ranges between 49% and 67% with an efficiency of 85% for selecting hard-scatter jets. A case study is performed in Higgs boson production via the vector-boson fusion process, showing that these techniques mitigate the background growth due to additional proton--proton interactions, thus enhancing the reach for such signatures.

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arXiv2017

Measurement of jet fragmentation in Pb+Pb and $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

The distributions of transverse momentum and longitudinal momentum fraction of charged particles in jets are measured in Pb+Pb and pp collisions with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The distributions are measured as a function of jet transverse momentum and rapidity. The analysis utilises an integrated luminosity of 0.14 nb$^{-1}$ of Pb+Pb data and 4.0 pb$^{-1}$ of pp data collected in 2011 and 2013, respectively, at the same centre-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per colliding nucleon pair. The distributions measured in pp collisions are used as a reference for those measured in Pb+Pb collisions in order to evaluate the impact on the internal structure of jets from the jet energy loss of fast partons propagating through the hot, dense medium created in heavy-ion collisions. Modest but significant centrality-dependent modifications of fragmentation functions in Pb+Pb collisions with respect to those in pp collisions are seen. No significant dependence of modifications on jet $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ and rapidity selections is observed except for the fragments with the highest transverse momenta for which some reduction of yields is observed for more forward jets.

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arXiv2017

Measurement of the $t\bar{t}$ production cross section in the $τ$ + jets final state in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV using the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the inclusive $pp\to t\bar{t}+X$ production cross section in the $τ+{\rm jets}$ final state using only the hadronic decays of the $τ$ lepton is presented. The measurement is performed using 20.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The cross section is measured via a counting experiment by imposing a set of selection criteria on the identification and kinematic variables of the reconstructed particles and jets, and on event kinematic variables and characteristics. The production cross section is measured to be $σ_{t\bar{t}}= 239 \pm 29$ pb, which is in agreement with the measurements in other final states and the theoretical predictions at this center-of-mass energy.

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arXiv2017

Performance of algorithms that reconstruct missing transverse momentum in $\sqrt{s}=$ 8 TeV proton-proton collisions in the ATLAS detector

The reconstruction and calibration algorithms used to calculate missing transverse momentum ($E_{\rm T}^{\rm miss}$) with the ATLAS detector exploit energy deposits in the calorimeter and tracks reconstructed in the inner detector as well as the muon spectrometer. Various strategies are used to suppress effects arising from additional proton-proton interactions, called pileup, concurrent with the hard-scatter processes. Tracking information is used to distinguish contributions from the pileup interactions using their vertex separation along the beam axis. The performance of the $E_{\rm T}^{\rm miss}$ reconstruction algorithms, especially with respect to the amount of pileup, is evaluated using data collected in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV during 2012, and results are shown for a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. The results of simulation modelling of $E_{\rm T}^{\rm miss}$ in events containing a $Z$ boson decaying to two charged leptons (electrons or muons) or a $W$ boson decaying to a charged lepton and a neutrino is compared to data. The acceptance for different event topologies, with and without high transverse momentum neutrinos, is shown for a range of threshold criteria for $E_{\rm T}^{\rm miss}$, and estimates of the systematic uncertainties in the $E_{\rm T}^{\rm miss}$ measurements are presented.

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arXiv2017

Measurements of top quark spin observables in $t\bar{t}$ events using dilepton final states in $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of top quark spin observables in $t\bar{t}$ events are presented based on 20.2 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The analysis is performed in the dilepton final state, characterised by the presence of two isolated leptons (electrons or muons). There are 15 observables, each sensitive to a different coefficient of the spin density matrix of $t\bar{t}$ production, which are measured independently. Ten of these observables are measured for the first time. All of them are corrected for detector resolution and acceptance effects back to the parton and stable-particle levels. The measured values of the observables at parton level are compared to Standard Model predictions at next-to-leading order in QCD. The corrected distributions at stable-particle level are presented and the means of the distributions are compared to Monte Carlo predictions. No significant deviation from the Standard Model is observed for any observable.

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arXiv2017

Measurement of the $ZZ$ production cross section in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV using the $ZZ\to\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\ell^{\prime -}\ell^{\prime +}$ and $ZZ\to\ell^{-}\ell^{+}ν\barν$ channels with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the $ZZ$ production in the $\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\ell^{\prime -}\ell^{\prime +}$ and $\ell^{-}\ell^{+}ν\barν$ channels $(\ell = e, μ)$ in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2012 is presented. The fiducial cross sections for $ZZ\to\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\ell^{\prime -}\ell^{\prime +}$ and $ZZ\to \ell^{-}\ell^{+}ν\barν$ are measured in selected phase-space regions. The total cross section for $ZZ$ events produced with both $Z$ bosons in the mass range 66 to 116 GeV is measured from the combination of the two channels to be $7.3\pm0.4\textrm{(stat)}\pm0.3\textrm{(syst)}\pm0.2\textrm{(lumi)}$ pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of $6.6^{+0.7}_{-0.6}$ pb. The differential cross sections in bins of various kinematic variables are presented. The differential event yield as a function of the transverse momentum of the leading $Z$ boson is used to set limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge boson couplings in $ZZ$ production.

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arXiv2017

Electron efficiency measurements with the ATLAS detector using 2012 LHC proton-proton collision data

This paper describes the algorithms for the reconstruction and identification of electrons in the central region of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These algorithms were used for all ATLAS results with electrons in the final state that are based on the 2012 pp collision data produced by the LHC at $\sqrt{\mathrm{s}}$ = 8 TeV. The efficiency of these algorithms, together with the charge misidentification rate, is measured in data and evaluated in simulated samples using electrons from $Z\rightarrow ee$, $Z\rightarrow eeγ$ and $J/ψ\rightarrow ee$ decays. For these efficiency measurements, the full recorded data set, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$, is used. Based on a new reconstruction algorithm used in 2012, the electron reconstruction efficiency is 97% for electrons with $E_\mathrm{T}=15$ GeV and 99% at $E_\mathrm{T} = 50$ GeV. Combining this with the efficiency of additional selection criteria to reject electrons from background processes or misidentified hadrons, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify electrons at the ATLAS experiment varies from 65% to 95%, depending on the transverse momentum of the electron and background rejection.

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arXiv2017

Search for new phenomena in dijet events using 37 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data collected at $\sqrt{s}=$13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Dijet events are studied in the proton--proton collision dataset recorded at $\sqrt{s}=$13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 and 2016, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 3.5 fb$^{-1}$ and 33.5 fb$^{-1}$ respectively. Invariant mass and angular distributions are compared to background predictions and no significant deviation is observed. For resonance searches, a new method for fitting the background component of the invariant mass distribution is employed. The dataset is then used to set upper limits at a 95% confidence level on a range of new physics scenarios. Excited quarks with masses below 6.0 TeV are excluded, and limits are set on quantum black holes, heavy W' bosons, W* bosons, and a range of masses and couplings in a Z' dark matter mediator model. Model-independent limits on signals with a Gaussian shape are also set, using a new approach allowing factorization of physics and detector effects. From the angular distributions, a scale of new physics in contact interaction models is excluded for scenarios with either constructive or destructive interference. These results represent a substantial improvement over those obtained previously with lower integrated luminosity.

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arXiv2017

Search for new phenomena in events containing a same-flavour opposite-sign dilepton pair, jets, and large missing transverse momentum in $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two searches for new phenomena in final states containing a same-flavour opposite-lepton (electron or muon) pair, jets, and large missing transverse momentum are presented. These searches make use of proton--proton collision data, collected during 2015 and 2016 at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, which correspond to an integrated luminosity of 14.7 fb$^{-1}$. Both searches target the pair production of supersymmetric particles, squarks or gluinos, which decay to final states containing a same-flavour opposite-sign lepton pair via one of two mechanisms: a leptonically decaying Z boson in the final state, leading to a peak in the dilepton invariant-mass distribution around the Z boson mass; and decays of neutralinos (e.g. $\tildeχ_2^0 \rightarrow \ell^+\ell^- \tildeχ_1^0$), yielding a kinematic endpoint in the dilepton invariant-mass spectrum. The data are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectation. Results are interpreted in simplified models of gluino-pair (squark-pair) production, and provide sensitivity to gluinos (squarks) with masses as large as 1.70 TeV (980 GeV).

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