A measurement of the ZZ production cross section in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. In a data sample ...corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb-1 collected in 2011, events are selected that are consistent either with two Z bosons decaying to electrons or muons or with one Z boson decaying to electrons or muons and a second Z boson decaying to neutrinos. The ZZ*->llll and ZZ->llnunu cross sections are measured in restricted phase-space regions. These results are then used to derive the total cross section for ZZ events produced with both Z bosons in the mass range 66 to 116 GeV, sigmaZZtot = 6.7 +-0.7 +0.4-0.3 +-0.3 pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of 5.89+0.22-0.18 pb calculated at next-to-leading order in QCD. The normalized differential cross sections in bins of various kinematic variables are presented. Finally, 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.
A search is presented for new particles decaying to large numbers (7 to greater or equal to 10) of jets, missing transverse momentum and no isolated electrons or muons. This analysis uses 20.3/fb of ...pp collision data at sqrt(s)=8 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The sensitivity of the search is enhanced by considering the number of b-tagged jets and the scalar sum of masses of large-radius jets in an event. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of various simplified supersymmetry-inspired models where gluinos are pair produced, as well as a mSUGRA/CMSSM model.
A measurement of splitting scales, as defined by the kT clustering algorithm, is presented for final states containing a W boson produced in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 ...TeV. The measurement is based on the full 2010 data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb-1 which was collected using the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Cluster splitting scales are measured in events containing W bosons decaying to electrons or muons. The measurement comprises the four hardest splitting scales in a kT cluster sequence of the hadronic activity accompanying the W boson, and ratios of these splitting scales. Backgrounds such as multi-jet and top-quark-pair production are subtracted and the results are corrected for detector effects. Predictions from various Monte Carlo event generators at particle level are compared to the data. Overall, reasonable agreement is found with all generators, but larger deviations between the predictions and the data are evident in the soft regions of the splitting scales.
A measurement of the top quark pair production cross section in the final state with a hadronically decaying tau lepton and jets is presented. The analysis is based on proton-proton collision data ...recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, with a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.67 inverse femtobarns. The cross section is measured to be 194 +/- 18 (stat.) +/- 46 (syst.) pb and is in agreement with other measurements and with the Standard Model prediction.
The production of W bosons in association with two jets in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=7 TeV has been analysed for the presence of double-parton interactions using ...data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36/pb, collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The fraction of events arising from double-parton interactions, fDP(D) has been measured through the momentum balance between the two jets and amounts to fDP(D) = 0.08 +- 0.01 (stat.) +- 0.02 (sys) for jets with transverse momentum PT > 20 GeV and rapidity |y|<2.8. This corresponds to a measurement of the effective area parameter for hard double-parton interactions of \sigma_eff = 15 +- 3 (stat.) +5 -3 (sys.) mb.
Results are presented of a search for new particles decaying to large numbers of jets in association with missing transverse momentum, using 4.7 fb^-1 of pp collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV ...collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. The event selection requires missing transverse momentum, no isolated electrons or muons, and from >=6 to >=9 jets. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of a MSUGRA/CMSSM supersymmetric model, where, for large universal scalar mass m_0, gluino masses smaller than 840 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, extending previously published limits. Within a simplified model containing only a gluino octet and a neutralino, gluino masses smaller than 870 GeV are similarly excluded for neutralino masses below 100 GeV.
A search is reported for the pair production of a new quark, b', with at least one b' decaying to a Z boson and a bottom quark. The data, corresponding to 2.0 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity, were ...collected from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Using events with a b-tagged jet and a Z boson reconstructed from opposite-charge electrons, the mass distribution of large transverse momentum b' candidates is tested for an enhancement. No evidence for a b' signal is detected in the observed mass distribution, resulting in the exclusion at 95% confidence level of b' quarks with masses m_{b'} < 400 GeV that decay entirely via b' to Z+b. In the case of a vector-like singlet b' mixing solely with the third Standard Model generation, masses m_{b'} < 358 GeV are excluded.
A search for the Higgs boson has been performed in the H->WW->lvlv channel (l=e/mu) with an integrated luminosity of 2.05/fb of pp collisions at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at ...the Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess of events over the expected background is observed and limits on the Higgs boson production cross section are derived for a Higgs boson mass in the range 110
This Letter presents a search for pair production of heavy down-type quarks decaying via b'->Wt in the lepton + jets channel, as b'b'->WtWt->bbWWWW->lvbbqqqqqq. In addition to requiring exactly one ...lepton, large missing transverse momentum and at least six jets, the invariant mass of nearby jet pairs is used to identify high transverse momentum W bosons. In data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.04 fb^-1 from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector, a heavy down-type quark with mass less than 480 GeV is excluded at the 95% confidence level.