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ATLAS Collaboration

Publications and source records attributed to ATLAS Collaboration.

At least 1,081 records · Page 60Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Observation and measurement of Higgs boson decays to $WW^{\ast}$ with the ATLAS detector

We report the observation of Higgs boson decays to $WW^{\ast}$ based on an excess over background of $6.1$ standard deviations in the dilepton final state, where the Standard Model expectation is $5.8$ standard deviations. Evidence for the vector-boson fusion (VBF) production process is obtained with a significance of 3.2 standard deviations. The results are obtained from a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $25\,\textrm{fb}^{-1}$ from $\sqrt{s}=7$ and 8 TeV $pp$ collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. For a Higgs boson mass of 125.36 GeV, the ratio of the measured value to the expected value of the total production cross section times branching fraction is $1.09^{+0.16}_{-0.15}\,\textrm{(stat)}^{+0.17}_{-0.14}\,\textrm{(syst)}$. The corresponding ratios for the gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion production mechanisms are $1.02\pm 0.19\,\textrm{(stat)}^{+0.22}_{-0.18}\,\textrm{(syst)}$ and $1.27^{+0.44}_{-0.40}\,\textrm{(stat)}^{+0.30}_{-0.21}\,\textrm{(syst)}$, respectively. At $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV, the total production cross sections are measured to be $σ(gg\to$ $H\rightarrow WW^\ast) = 4.6\pm0.9\,\textrm{(stat)}\,^{+0.8}_{-0.7}\,\textrm{(syst)}\textrm{pb}$ and $σ(\textrm{VBF}$ $H\rightarrow WW^\ast) = 0.51\,^{+0.17}_{-0.15}\,\textrm{(stat)}\,^{+0.13}_{-0.08}\,\textrm{(syst)}\textrm{pb}$. The fiducial cross section is determined for the gluon-fusion process in exclusive final states with zero or one associated jet.

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arXiv2015

Measurement of exclusive $γγ\rightarrow \ell^+\ell^-$ production in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

This Letter reports a measurement of the exclusive $γγ\rightarrow \ell^+\ell^- (\ell=e, μ)$ 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 $σ_{γγ\rightarrow e^+e^-}^{\mathrm{excl.}} = 0.428 \pm 0.035 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 0.018 (\mathrm{syst.})$ 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 $|η|<2.4$. For muon pairs with invariant mass greater than 20 GeV, muon transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}>10$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|η|<2.4$, the cross-section is determined to be $σ_{γγ\rightarrow μ^+μ^- }^{\mathrm{excl.}} = 0.628 \pm 0.032 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 0.021 (\mathrm{syst.})$ 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.

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arXiv2015

Search for heavy Majorana neutrinos with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV

A search for heavy Majorana neutrinos in events containing a pair of high-$p_{\mathrm{T}}$ leptons of the same charge and high-$p_{\mathrm{T}}$ jets is presented. The search uses $20.3 \mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider with a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV. The data are found to be consistent with the background-only hypothesis based on the Standard Model expectation. In the context of a Type-I seesaw mechanism, limits are set on the production cross-section times branching ratio for production of heavy Majorana neutrinos in the mass range between 100 and 500 GeV. The limits are subsequently interpreted as limits on the mixing between the heavy Majorana neutrinos and the Standard Model neutrinos. In the context of a left-right symmetric model, limits on the production cross-section times branching ratio are set with respect to the masses of heavy Majorana neutrinos and heavy gauge bosons $W_{\mathrm{R}}$ and $Z'$.

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arXiv2015

Search for lepton-flavour-violating $H\toμτ$ decays of the Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector

A direct search for lepton-flavour-violating (LFV) $H\toμτ$ decays of the recently discovered Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. The analysis is performed in the $H\toμτ_{\mathrm{had}}$ channel, where $τ_{\mathrm{had}}$ is a hadronically decaying $τ$-lepton. The search is based on the data sample of proton--proton collisions collected by the ATLAS experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV. No statistically significant excess of data over the predicted background is observed. The observed (expected) 95% confidence-level upper limit on the branching fraction, Br($H\toμτ$), is 1.85% (1.24%).

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arXiv2015

Search for heavy long-lived multi-charged particles in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=8 TeV using the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy long-lived multi-charged particles is performed using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Data collected in 2012 at $\sqrt{s}$=8 TeV from $pp$ collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $20.3$ fb$^{-1}$ are examined. Particles producing anomalously high ionisation, consistent with long-lived massive particles with electric charges from $|q|=2e$ to $|q|=6e$ are searched for. No signal candidate events are observed, and 95\% confidence level cross-section upper limits are interpreted as lower mass limits for a Drell--Yan production model. The mass limits range between 660 and 785 GeV.

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arXiv2015

Measurement of the top pair production cross-section in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions using kinematic information in the lepton+jets final state with ATLAS

A measurement is presented of the $t\bar{t}$ inclusive production cross-section in $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV using data collected by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement was performed in the lepton+jets final state using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. The cross-section was obtained using a likelihood discriminant fit and $b$-jet identification was used to improve the signal-to-background ratio. The inclusive $t\bar{t}$ production cross-section was measured to be $260\pm 1{\textrm{(stat.)}} ^{+22}_{-23} {\textrm{(syst.)}}\pm 8{\textrm{(lumi.)}}\pm 4{\mathrm{(beam)}}$ pb assuming a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV, in good agreement with the theoretical prediction of $253^{+13}_{-15}$ pb. The $t\bar{t}\to (e,μ)+{\mathrm{jets}}$ production cross-section in the fiducial region determined by the detector acceptance is also reported.

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arXiv2015

Search for the Standard Model Higgs boson produced in association with top quarks and decaying into $b\bar{b}$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson produced in association with a pair of top quarks, $t\bar{t}H$, is presented. The analysis uses 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV, collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during 2012. The search is designed for the H to $b\bar{b}$ decay mode and uses events containing one or two electrons or muons. In order to improve the sensitivity of the search, events are categorised according to their jet and b-tagged jet multiplicities. A neural network is used to discriminate between signal and background events, the latter being dominated by $t\bar{t}$+jets production. In the single-lepton channel, variables calculated using a matrix element method are included as inputs to the neural network to improve discrimination of the irreducible $t\bar{t}$+$b\bar{b}$ background. No significant excess of events above the background expectation is found and an observed (expected) limit of 3.4 (2.2) times the Standard Model cross section is obtained at 95% confidence level. The ratio of the measured $t\bar{t}H$ signal cross section to the Standard Model expectation is found to be $μ$ = 1.5 $\pm$ 1.1 assuming a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV.

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arXiv2015

Search for invisible decays of the Higgs boson produced in association with a hadronically decaying vector boson in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for Higgs boson decays to invisible particles is performed using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The process considered is Higgs boson production in association with a vector boson ($V$ = $W$ or $Z$) that decays hadronically, resulting in events with two or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No excess of candidates is observed in the data over the background expectation. The results are used to constrain $VH$ production followed by $H$ decaying to invisible particles for the Higgs mass range $115<m_H<300$ GeV. The 95 % confidence-level observed upper limit on $σ_{VH} \times \text{BR}(H\rightarrow \text{inv.})$ varies from 1.6 pb at 115 GeV to 0.13 pb at 300 GeV. Assuming Standard Model production and including the $gg\rightarrow H$ contribution as signal, the results also lead to an observed upper limit of 78 % at 95 % confidence level on the branching ratio of Higgs bosons decays to invisible particles at a mass of 125 GeV.

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arXiv2015

Search for a new resonance decaying to a $W$ or $Z$ boson and a Higgs boson in the $\ell \ell/ \ell ν/ νν+ b \bar{b}$ final states with the ATLAS Detector

A search for a new resonance decaying to a $W$ or $Z$ boson and a Higgs boson in the $\ell \ell/ \ell ν/ νν+ b \bar{b}$ final states is performed using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data recorded at $\sqrt{s}=$ 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search is conducted by examining the $WH/ZH$ invariant mass distribution for a localized excess. No significant deviation from the Standard Model background prediction is observed. The results are interpreted in terms of constraints on the Minimal Walking Technicolor model and on a simplified approach based on a phenomenological Lagrangian of Heavy Vector Triplets.

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arXiv2015

Centrality and rapidity dependence of inclusive jet production in $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of the centrality and rapidity dependence of inclusive jet production in $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV proton--lead ($p$+Pb) collisions and the jet cross-section in $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV proton--proton collisions are presented. These quantities are measured in datasets corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 27.8 nb$^{-1}$ and 4.0 pb$^{-1}$, respectively, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2013. The $p$+Pb collision centrality was characterised using the total transverse energy measured in the pseudorapidity interval $-4.9 < η< -3.2$ in the direction of the lead beam. Results are presented for the double-differential per-collision yields as a function of jet rapidity and transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) for minimum-bias and centrality-selected $p$+Pb collisions, and are compared to the jet rate from the geometric expectation. The total jet yield in minimum-bias events is slightly enhanced above the expectation in a $p_\mathrm{T}$-dependent manner but is consistent with the expectation within uncertainties. The ratios of jet spectra from different centrality selections show a strong modification of jet production at all $p_\mathrm{T}$ at forward rapidities and for large $p_\mathrm{T}$ at mid-rapidity, which manifests as a suppression of the jet yield in central events and an enhancement in peripheral events. These effects imply that the factorisation between hard and soft processes is violated at an unexpected level in proton-nucleus collisions. Furthermore, the modifications at forward rapidities are found to be a function of the total jet energy only, implying that the violations may have a simple dependence on the hard parton-parton kinematics.

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arXiv2015

Search for a Charged Higgs Boson Produced in the Vector-boson Fusion Mode with Decay $H^\pm \to W^\pm Z$ using $pp$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS Experiment

A search for a charged Higgs boson, $H^\pm$, decaying to a $W^\pm$ boson and a $Z$ boson is presented. The search is based on 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The $H^\pm$ boson is assumed to be produced via vector-boson fusion and the decays $W^\pm \to q\bar{q^\prime}$ and $Z\rightarrow e^+e^-/μ^+μ^-$ are considered. The search is performed in a range of charged Higgs boson masses from 200 to 1000 GeV. No evidence for the production of an $H^\pm$ boson is observed. Upper limits of 31-1020 fb at 95% CL are placed on the cross section for vector-boson fusion production of an $H^\pm$ boson times its branching fraction to $W^\pm Z$. The limits are compared with predictions from the Georgi-Machacek Higgs Triplet Model.

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arXiv2015

Constraints on the off-shell Higgs boson signal strength in the high-mass $ZZ$ and $WW$ final states with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of the $ZZ$ and $WW$ final states in the mass range above the $2m_Z$ and $2m_W$ thresholds provide a unique opportunity to measure the off-shell coupling strength of the Higgs boson. This paper presents constraints on the off-shell Higgs boson event yields normalised to the Standard Model prediction (signal strength) in the $ZZ \to 4\ell$, $ZZ\to2\ell2ν$ and $WW\to eνμν$ final states. The result is based on $pp$ collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $20.3$ fb$^\text{-1}$ at a collision energy of $\sqrt{s}$=8 TeV. Using the $CL_s$ method, the observed 95% confidence level (CL) upper limit on the off-shell signal strength is in the range 5.1-8.6, with an expected range of 6.7-11.0. In each case the range is determined by varying the unknown $gg\to ZZ$ and $gg\to WW$ background K-factor from higher-order QCD corrections between half and twice the value of the known signal K-factor. Assuming the relevant Higgs boson couplings are independent of the energy scale of the Higgs production, a combination with the on-shell measurements yields an observed (expected) 95\% CL upper limit on $Γ_H/Γ_H^{\mathrm{SM}}$ in the range 4.5- -7.5 (6.5- -11.2) using the same variations of the background K-factor. Assuming that the unknown $gg\rightarrow VV$ background K-factor is equal to the signal K-factor,this translates into an observed (expected) 95% CL upper limit on the Higgs boson total width of 22.7 (33.0) MeV.

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arXiv2015

Search for low-scale gravity signatures in multi-jet final states with the ATLAS detector at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV

We search for evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model in the production of final states with multiple high transverse momentum jets, using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV. No excess of events beyond Standard Model expectations is observed, and upper limits on the visible cross-section for non-Standard Model production of multi-jet final states are set. Using a wide variety of models for black hole and string ball production and decay, the limit on the cross-section times acceptance is as low as 0.16 fb at the 95% CL for a minimum scalar sum of jet transverse momentum in the event of about 4.3 TeV. Using models for black hole and string ball production and decay, exclusion contours are determined as a function of the production mass threshold and the gravity scale. These limits can be interpreted in terms of lower-mass limits on black hole and string ball production that range from 4.6 to 6.2 TeV.

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arXiv2015

Summary of the searches for squarks and gluinos using $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC

A summary is presented of ATLAS searches for gluinos and first- and second-generation squarks in final states containing jets and missing transverse momentum, with or without leptons or b-jets, in the $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV data set collected at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012. This paper reports the results of new interpretations and statistical combinations of previously published analyses, as well as a new analysis. Since no significant excess of events over the Standard Model expectation is observed, the data are used to set limits in a variety of models. In all the considered simplified models that assume R-parity conservation, the limit on the gluino mass exceeds 1150 GeV at 95% confidence level, for an LSP mass smaller than 100 GeV. Furthermore, exclusion limits are set for left-handed squarks in a phenomenological MSSM model, a minimal Supergravity/Constrained MSSM model, R-parity-violation scenarios, a minimal gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking model, a natural gauge mediation model, a non-universal Higgs mass model with gaugino mediation and a minimal model of universal extra dimensions.

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arXiv2015

Identification and energy calibration of hadronically decaying tau leptons with the ATLAS experiment in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=8 TeV

This paper describes the trigger and offline reconstruction, identification and energy calibration algorithms for hadronic decays of tau leptons employed for the data collected from $pp$ collisions in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{\mathrm{s}} = 8$ TeV. The performance of these algorithms is measured in most cases with $Z$ decays to tau leptons using the full 2012 dataset, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. An uncertainty on the offline reconstructed tau energy scale of $2-4$%, depending on transverse energy and pseudorapidity, is achieved using two independent methods. The offline tau identification efficiency is measured with a precision of 2.5% for hadronically decaying tau leptons with one associated track, and of 4% for the case of three associated tracks, inclusive in pseudorapidity and for a visible transverse energy greater than $20$ GeV. For hadronic tau lepton decays selected by offline algorithms, the tau trigger identification efficiency is measured with a precision of $2-8$%, depending on the transverse energy. The performance of the tau algorithms, both offline and at the trigger level, is found to be stable with respect to the number of concurrent proton-proton interactions and has supported a variety of physics results using hadronically decaying tau leptons at ATLAS.

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arXiv2015

Differential top-antitop cross-section measurements as a function of observables constructed from final-state particles using pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV in the ATLAS detector

Various differential cross-sections are measured in top-quark pair ($t\bar{t}$) events produced in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV at the LHC with the ATLAS detector. These differential cross-sections are presented in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $4.6$ fb$^{-1}$. The differential cross-sections are presented in terms of kinematic variables, such as momentum, rapidity and invariant mass, of a top-quark proxyreferred to as the pseudo-top-quark as well as the pseudo-top-quark pair system. The dependence of the measurement on theoretical models is minimal. The measurements are performed on $t\bar{t}$ events in the lepton+jets channel, requiring exactly one charged lepton and at least four jets with at least two of them tagged as originating from a $b$-quark. The hadronic and leptonic pseudo-top-quarks are defined via the leptonic or hadronic decay mode of the $W$ boson produced by the top-quark decay in events with a single charged lepton. Differential cross-section measurements of the pseudo-top-quark variables are compared with several Monte Carlo models that implement next-to-leading order or leading-order multi-leg matrix-element calculations.

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arXiv2015

Measurement of the production of neighbouring jets in lead-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

This Letter presents measurements of correlated production of nearby jets in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 2.76$ TeV using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurement was performed using 0.14 ${\rm nb}^{-1}$ of data recorded in 2011. The production of correlated jet pairs was quantified using the rate, $R_{ΔR}$, of "neighbouring" jets that accompany "test" jets within a given range of angular distance, $ΔR$, in the pseudorapidity--azimuthal angle plane. The jets were measured in the ATLAS calorimeter and were reconstructed using the anti-$k_{t}$ algorithm with radius parameters $d = 0.2$, $0.3$, and $0.4$. $R_{ΔR}$ was measured in different Pb+Pb collision centrality bins, characterized by the total transverse energy measured in the forward calorimeters. A centrality dependence of $R_{ΔR}$ is observed for all three jet radii with $R_{ΔR}$ found to be lower in central collisions than in peripheral collisions. The ratios formed by the $R_{ΔR}$ values in different centrality bins and the values in the 40-80 % centrality bin are presented.

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arXiv2015

Search for New Phenomena in Dijet Angular Distributions in Proton-Proton Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV Measured with the ATLAS Detector

A search for new phenomena in LHC proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV was performed with the ATLAS detector using an integrated luminosity of 17.3 fb$^{-1}$. The angular distributions are studied in events with at least two jets; the highest dijet mass observed is 5.5 TeV. All angular distributions are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model. In a benchmark model of quark contact interactions, a compositeness scale below 8.1 TeV in a destructive interference scenario and 12.0 TeV in a constructive interference scenario is excluded at 95 % CL; median expected limits are 8.9 TeV for the destructive interference scenario and 14.1 TeV for the constructive interference scenario.

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