Abstract: The liquid argon calorimeter is a key component of the ATLAS detector installed at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The primary purpose of this calorimeter is the measurement of electron and photon kinematic properties. It also provides a crucial input for measuring jets and missing transverse momentum. An advanced data monitoring procedure was designed to quickly identify issues that would affect detector performance and ensure that only the best quality data are used for physics analysis. This article presents the validation procedure developed during the 2011 and 2012 LHC data-taking periods, in which more than 98% of the proton-proton luminosity recorded by ATLAS at a centre-of-mass energy of 7-8 TeV had calorimeter data quality suitable for physics analysis.

Abstract: The large difference between the Planck scale and the electroweak scale, known as the hierarchy problem, is addressed in certain models through the postulate of extra spatial dimensions. A search for evidence of extra spatial dimensions in the diphoton channel has been performed using the full set of proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV recorded in 2011 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. This dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 fb(-1). The diphoton invariant mass spectrum is observed to be in good agreement with the Standard Model expectation. In the context of the model proposed by Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos and Dvali, 95% confidence level lower limits of between 2.52 and 3.92 TeV are set on the ultraviolet cutoff scale MS depending on the number of extra dimensions and the theoretical formalism used. In the context of the Randall-Sundrum model, a lower limit of 2.06 (1.00) TeV at 95% confidence level is set on the mass of the lightest graviton for couplings of k/(M) over bar (Pl) = 0.1(0.01). Combining with the ATLAS dilepton searches based on the 2011 data, the 95% confidence level lower limit on the Randall-Sundrum graviton mass is further tightened to 2.23 (1.03) TeV for k/(M) over bar (Pl) = 0.1(0.01).

Abstract: The integrated elliptic flow of charged particles produced in Pb+Pb collisions at root S-NN = 2.76 TeV has been measured with the ATLAS detector using data collected at the Large Hadron Collider. The anisotropy parameter, upsilon(2), was measured in the pseudorapidity range |eta| <= 2.5 with the event-plane method. In order to include tracks with very low transverse momentum p(T), thus reducing the uncertainty in upsilon(2) integrated over p(T), a 1 μb(-1) data sample recorded without a magnetic field in the tracking detectors is used. The centrality dependence of the integrated upsilon(2) is compared to other measurements obtained with higher PT thresholds. The integrated elliptic flow is weakly decreasing with |eta|. The integrated upsilon 2 transformed to the rest frame of one of the colliding nuclei is compared to the lower-energy RHIC data.

Abstract: The inclusive top quark pair (t (t) over tilde) production cross-section sigma(t (t) over bar) has been measured in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV and root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, using t (t) over bar events with an opposite-charge e μpair in the final state. The measurement was performed with the 2011 7 TeV dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb(-1) and the 2012 8 TeV dataset of 20.3 fb(-1). The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two b-tagged jets were counted and used to simultaneously determine sigma(t (t) over bar) and the efficiency to reconstruct and b-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section was measured to be: sigma(t (t) over bar) = 182.9 +/- 3.1 +/- 4.2 +/- 3.6 +/- 3.3 pb (root s = 7 TeV) and sigma(t (t) over bar) = 242.4 +/- 1.7 +/- 5.5 +/- 7.5 +/- 4.2 pb (root s = 8 TeV), where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, knowledge of the integrated luminosity and of the LHC beam energy. The results are consistent with recent theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. Fiducial measurements corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons are also reported, together with the ratio of cross-sections measured at the two centre-of-mass energies. The inclusive cross-section results were used to determine the top quark pole mass via the dependence of the theoretically predicted cross-section on m(t)(pole) giving a result of m(t)(pole) = 172.9(-2.6)(+2.5) GeV. By looking for an excess of t (t) over bar production with respect to the QCD prediction, the results were also used to place limits on the pair-production of supersymmetric top squarks (t) over tilde (1) with masses close to the top quarkmass, decaying via (t) over tilde (1) -> t (chi) over tilde (0)(1) 1 to predominantly right-handed top quarks and a light neutralino (chi) over tilde (0)(1) 1, the lightest supersymmetric particle. Top squarks with masses between the top quark mass and 177 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level.

Abstract: The inclusive jet cross-section has been measured in proton-proton collisions at root s = 2.76 TeV in a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.20 pb(-1) collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. Jets are identified using the anti-k(t) algorithm with two radius parameters of 0.4 and 0.6. The inclusive jet double-differential cross-section is presented as a function of the jet transverse momentum p(T) and jet rapidity y, covering a range of 20 <= p(T) < 430 GeV and vertical bar y vertical bar < 4.4. The ratio of the cross-section to the inclusive jet cross-section measurement at root s = 7 TeV, published by the ATLAS Collaboration, is calculated as a function of both transverse momentum and the dimensionless quantity x(T) = 2p(T)/root s, in bins of jet rapidity. The systematic uncertainties on the ratios are significantly reduced due to the cancellation of correlated uncertainties in the two measurements. Results are compared to the prediction from next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations corrected for non-perturbative effects, and next-to-leading order Monte Carlo simulation. Furthermore, the ATLAS jet cross-section measurements at root s = 2.76 TeV and root s = 7 TeV are analysed within a framework of next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations to determine parton distribution functions of the proton, taking into account the correlations between the measurements.