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ATLAS Collaboration

Publications and source records attributed to ATLAS Collaboration.

At least 955 records · Page 53Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Measurement of exclusive $γγ\rightarrow W^+W^-$ production and search for exclusive Higgs boson production in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV using the ATLAS detector

Searches for exclusively produced $W$ boson pairs in the process $pp(γγ) \rightarrow pW^+W^-p$ and exclusively produced Higgs boson in the process $pp(gg) \rightarrow pHp$ have been performed using $e^{\pm}μ^{\mp}$ final states. These measurements use 20.2 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions collected by the ATLAS experiment at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV at the LHC. Exclusive production of $W^+W^-$ consistent with the Standard Model prediction is found with 3.0$σ$ significance. The exclusive $W^+W^-$ production cross-section is determined to be $σ(γγ\rightarrow W^{+}W^{-}\rightarrow e^{\pm}μ^{\mp} X) = 6.9 \pm 2.2 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 1.4 (\mathrm{sys.})$ fb, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction. Limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings are set at 95\% confidence-level as $-1.7 \times 10^{-6} < a_0^W/Λ^2 < 1.7 \times 10^{-6}$ GeV$^{-2}$and $-6.4 \times 10^{-6} < a_C^W/Λ^2 < 6.3 \times 10^{-6}$ GeV$^{-2}$. A 95\% confidence-level upper limit on the total production cross-section for exclusive Higgs boson is set to 1.2 pb.

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arXiv2016

Measurement of the CP-violating phase $ϕ_s$ and the $B^0_s$ meson decay width difference with $B^0_s \to J/ψϕ$ decays in ATLAS

A measurement of the $B^0_s$ decay parameters in the $B^0_s \to J/ψϕ$ channel using an integrated luminosity of 14.3 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS detector from 8 TeV $pp$ collisions at the LHC is presented. The measured parameters include the $CP$-violating phase $ϕ_s$, the decay width $Γ_s$ and the width difference between the mass eigenstates $ΔΓ_s$. The values measured for the physical parameters are statistically combined with those from 4.9 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of 7 TeV data, leading to the following: \begin{eqnarray*} ϕ_s & = & -0.090 \pm 0.078\;\mathrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.041\;\mathrm{(syst.)\;rad} \\ ΔΓ_s & = & 0.085 \pm 0.011\;\mathrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.007\;\mathrm{(syst.)\;ps}^{-1} \\ Γ_s & = & 0.675 \pm 0.003\;\mathrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.003\;\mathrm{(syst.)\;ps}^{-1}. \end{eqnarray*} In the analysis the parameter $ΔΓ_s$ is constrained to be positive. Results for $ϕ_s$ and $ΔΓ_s$ are also presented as 68% and 95% likelihood contours in the $ϕ_s-ΔΓ_s$ plane. Also measured in this decay channel are the transversity amplitudes and corresponding strong phases. All measurements are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions.

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arXiv2016

Search for pair production of Higgs bosons in the $b\bar{b}b\bar{b}$ final state using proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for Higgs-boson pair production in the $b\bar{b}b\bar{b}$ final state is carried out with 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector. The data are consistent with the estimated background and are used to set upper limits on the production cross section of Higgs-boson pairs times branching ratio to $b\bar{b}b\bar{b}$ for both nonresonant and resonant production. In the case of resonant production of Kaluza--Klein gravitons within the Randall--Sundrum model, upper limits in the 24 to 91 fb range are obtained for masses between 600 and 3000 GeV, at the 95% confidence level. The production cross section times branching ratio for nonresonant Higgs-boson pairs is also constrained to be less than 1.22 pb, at the 95% confidence level.

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arXiv2016

Measurements of the charge asymmetry in top-quark pair production in the dilepton final state at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of the top--antitop quark pair production charge asymmetry in the dilepton channel, characterized by two high-${p}_{\rm{T}}$ leptons (electrons or muons), are presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $20.3$ $\textrm{fb}^{-1}$ from $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Inclusive and differential measurements as a function of the invariant mass, transverse momentum, and longitudinal boost of the $t\bar{t}$ system are performed both in the full phase space and in a fiducial phase space closely matching the detector acceptance. Two observables are studied: $A^{\ell\ell}_{\textrm{C}}$ based on the selected leptons and $A^{t\bar{t}}_{\textrm{C}}$ based on the reconstructed $t\bar{t}$ final state. The inclusive asymmetries are measured in the full phase space to be $A^{\ell\ell}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.008 \pm 0.006$ and $A^{t\bar{t}}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.021 \pm 0.016$, which are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions of $A^{\ell\ell}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.0064 \pm 0.0003 $ and $A^{t\bar{t}}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.0111 \pm 0.0004$.

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arXiv2016

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV using the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses proton--proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb${}^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV collected in 2015 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are required to have at least one jet with a transverse momentum above 250 GeV and no leptons. Several signal regions are considered with increasing missing-transverse-momentum requirements between $E_{\rm T}^{\rm miss} >250$ GeV and $E_{\rm T}^{\rm miss} > 700$ GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model predictions. The results are translated into exclusion limits in models with large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark-matter candidates, and the production of supersymmetric particles in several compressed scenarios.

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arXiv2016

Measurement of the total cross section from elastic scattering in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the total $pp$ cross section at the LHC at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV is presented. An integrated luminosity of $500$ $μ$b$^{-1}$ was accumulated in a special run with high-$β^{\star}$ beam optics 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 $0.014$ GeV$^2$ to $0.1$ GeV$^2$ to extrapolate $t\rightarrow 0$, the total cross section, $σ_{\mathrm{tot}}(pp\rightarrow X)$, is measured via the optical theorem to be: $σ_{\mathrm{tot}}(pp\rightarrow X) = {96.07} \; \pm 0.18 \; ({stat.}) \pm 0.85 \; ({exp.}) \pm 0.31 \; ({extr.}) \; {mb} \;,$ where the first error is statistical, the second accounts for all experimental systematic uncertainties and the last is related to uncertainties in the extrapolation $t\rightarrow 0$. In addition, the slope of the exponential function describing the elastic cross section at small $t$ is determined to be $B = 19.74 \pm 0.05 \; ({stat.}) \pm 0.23 \; ({syst.}) \; {GeV}^{-2}$.

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arXiv2016

Search for single production of a vector-like quark via a heavy gluon in the $4b$ final state with the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV

A search is performed for the process $pp \to G^* \to B_H\bar b/\bar B_H b \to H b \bar b \to b\bar bb\bar b$, predicted in composite Higgs scenarios, where $G^*$ is a heavy colour octet vector resonance and $B_H$ a vector-like quark of charge $-1/3$. The data were obtained from $pp$ collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 fb$^{-1}$, recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The largest background, multijet production, is estimated using a data-driven method. No significant excess of events with respect to Standard Model predictions is observed, and upper limits on the production cross section times branching ratio are set. Comparisons to the predictions from a specific benchmark model are made, resulting in lower mass limits in the two-dimensional mass plane of $m_{G^*}$ vs. $m_{B_H}$.

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arXiv2016

Charged-particle distributions in $pp$ interactions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV measured with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of distributions of charged particles which are produced in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. A special dataset recorded in 2012 with a small number of interactions per beam crossing (below 0.004) and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $160 \mathrm{μb^{-1}}$ was used. A minimum-bias trigger was utilised to select a data sample of more than 9 million collision events. The multiplicity, pseudorapidity, and transverse momentum distributions of charged particles are shown in different regions of kinematics and charged-particle multiplicity, including measurements of final states at high multiplicity. The results are corrected for detector effects and are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generator models which simulate the full hadronic final state.

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arXiv2016

Search for single production of vector-like quarks decaying into $Wb$ in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for singly produced vector-like $Q$ quarks, where $Q$ can be either a $T$ quark with charge $+2/3$ or a $Y$ quark with charge $-4/3$, is performed in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ and was produced with a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV. This analysis targets $Q \to Wb$ decays where the $W$ boson decays leptonically. A veto on massive large-radius jets is used to reject the dominant $t\bar{t}$ background. The reconstructed $Q$-candidate mass, ranging from 0.4 to 1.2 TeV, is used in the search to discriminate signal from background processes. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation is observed, and limits are set on the $Q \to Wb$ cross-section times branching ratio. The results are also interpreted as limits on the $QWb$ coupling and the mixing with the Standard Model sector for a singlet $T$ quark or a $Y$ quark from a doublet. $T$ quarks with masses below 0.95 TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level, assuming a unit coupling and a BR$(T\rightarrow Wb) = 0.5$, whereas the expected limit is 1.10 TeV.

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arXiv2016

Measurement of event-shape observables in $Z \to \ell^{+} \ell^{-}$ events in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

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.

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arXiv2016

Dark matter interpretations of ATLAS searches for the electroweak production of supersymmetric particles in $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV proton-proton collisions

A selection of searches by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC for the electroweak production of SUSY particles are used to study their impact on the constraints on dark matter candidates. The searches use $20\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV. A likelihood-driven scan of a five-dimensional effective model focusing on the gaugino--higgsino and Higgs sector of the phenomenological minimal supersymmetric Standard Model is performed. This scan uses data from direct dark matter detection experiments, the relic dark matter density and precision flavour physics results. Further constraints from the ATLAS Higgs mass measurement and SUSY searches at LEP are also applied. A subset of models selected from this scan are used to assess the impact of the selected ATLAS searches in this five-dimensional parameter space. These ATLAS searches substantially impact those models for which the mass $m(\tildeχ^0_1)$ of the lightest neutralino is less than 65 GeV, excluding 86% of such models. The searches have limited impact on models with larger $m(\tildeχ^0_1)$ due to either heavy electroweakinos or compressed mass spectra where the mass splittings between the produced particles and the lightest supersymmetric particle is small.

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arXiv2016

Search for heavy long-lived charged $R$-hadrons with the ATLAS detector in 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collision data at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV

A search for heavy long-lived charged $R$-hadrons is reported using a data sample corresponding to 3.2$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The search is based on observables related to large ionisation losses and slow propagation velocities, which are signatures of heavy charged particles travelling significantly slower than the speed of light. No significant deviations from the expected background are observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are provided on the production cross section of long-lived $R$-hadrons in the mass range from 600 GeV to 2000 GeV and gluino, bottom and top squark masses are excluded up to 1580 GeV, 805 GeV and 890 GeV, respectively.

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arXiv2016

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with hadronically decaying tau leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least one hadronically decaying tau lepton has been performed using 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015. Two exclusive final states are considered, with either exactly one or at least two tau leptons. No excess over the Standard Model prediction is observed in the data. Results are interpreted in the context of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking and a simplified model of gluino pair production with tau-rich cascade decays, substantially improving on previous limits. In the GMSB model considered, supersymmetry-breaking scale ($Λ$) values below 92 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, corresponding to gluino masses below 2000 GeV. For large values of $\tanβ$, values of $Λ$ up to 107 TeV and gluino masses up to 2300 GeV are excluded. In the simplified model, gluino masses are excluded up to 1570 GeV for neutralino masses around 100 GeV. Neutralino masses up to 700 GeV are excluded for all gluino masses between 800 GeV and 1500 GeV, while the strongest exclusion of 750 GeV is achieved for gluino masses around 1400 GeV.

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arXiv2016

Search for new resonances decaying to a $W$ or $Z$ boson and a Higgs boson in the $\ell^+ \ell^- b\bar b$, $\ell νb\bar b$, and $ν\barν b\bar b$ channels with $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt s = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for new resonances decaying to a $W$ or $Z$ boson and a Higgs boson in the $\ell^+ \ell^- b\bar b$, $\ellνb\bar b$, and $ν\barν b\bar b$ channels in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt s = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider using a total integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$. The search is conducted by looking for a localized excess in the $WH$/$ZH$ invariant or transverse mass distribution. No significant excess is observed, and the results are interpreted in terms of constraints on a simplified model based on a phenomenological Lagrangian of heavy vector triplets.

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arXiv2016

Measurement of $W^{\pm}$ and $Z$-boson production cross sections in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of the $W^{\pm} \rightarrow \ell^{\pm} ν$ and $Z \rightarrow \ell^+ \ell^-$ production cross sections (where $\ell^{\pm}=e^{\pm},μ^{\pm}$) 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 $σ_{W^+}^{tot}= 11.83 \pm 0.02 (stat) \pm 0.32 (sys) \pm 0.25 (lumi)$ nb and $σ_{W^-}^{tot} = 8.79 \pm 0.02 (stat) \pm 0.24 (sys) \pm 0.18 (lumi)$ 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 $σ_{Z}^{tot} = 1.981 \pm 0.007 (stat) \pm 0.038 (sys) \pm 0.042 (lumi)$ 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 $σ_{W^+}^{fid}/σ_{W^-}^{fid} = 1.295 \pm 0.003 (stat) \pm 0.010 (sys)$ and $σ_{W^{\pm}}^{fid}/σ_{Z}^{fid} = 10.31 \pm 0.04 (stat) \pm 0.20 (sys)$. 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.

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arXiv2016

Measurement of the charged-particle multiplicity inside jets from $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector

The number of charged particles inside jets is a widely used discriminant for identifying the quark or gluon nature of the initiating parton and is sensitive to both the perturbative and non-perturbative components of fragmentation. This paper presents a measurement of the average number of charged particles with $p_\text{T}>500$ MeV inside high-momentum jets in dijet events using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data recorded with the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV collisions at the LHC. The jets considered have transverse momenta from 50 GeV up to and beyond 1.5 TeV. The reconstructed charged-particle track multiplicity distribution is unfolded to remove distortions from detector effects and the resulting charged-particle multiplicity is compared to several models. Furthermore, quark and gluon jet fractions are used to extract the average charged-particle multiplicity for quark and gluon jets separately.

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arXiv2016

Identification of high transverse momentum top quarks in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents studies of the performance of several jet-substructure techniques, which are used to identify hadronically decaying top quarks with high transverse momentum contained in large-radius jets. The efficiency of identifying top quarks is measured using a sample of top-quark pairs and the rate of wrongly identifying jets from other quarks or gluons as top quarks is measured using multijet events collected with the ATLAS experiment in 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of 8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. Predictions from Monte Carlo simulations are found to provide an accurate description of the performance. The techniques are compared in terms of signal efficiency and background rejection using simulations, covering a larger range in jet transverse momenta than accessible in the dataset. Additionally, a novel technique is developed that is optimized to reconstruct top quarks in events with many jets.

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arXiv2016

Search for supersymmetry in a final state containing two photons and missing transverse momentum in $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV $pp$ collisions at the LHC using the ATLAS detector

A search has been made for supersymmetry in a final state containing two photons and missing transverse momentum using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search makes use of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2015. Using a combination of data-driven and Monte-Carlo-based approaches, the Standard Model background is estimated to be $0.27^{+0.22}_{-0.10}$ events. No events are observed in the signal region; considering the expected background and its uncertainty, this observation implies a model-independent 95% CL upper limit of 0.93 fb (3.0 events) on the visible cross section due to physics beyond the Standard Model. In the context of a generalized model of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking with a bino-like next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle, this leads to a lower limit of 1650 GeV on the mass of a degenerate octet of gluino states, independent of the mass of the lighter bino-like neutralino.

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