Abstract: This Letter presents a measurement of W(+/-)Z production in 1.02 fb(-1) of pp collision data at root s = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2011. Doubly leptonic decay events are selected with electrons, muons and missing transverse momentum in the final state. In total 71 candidates are observed, with a background expectation of 12.1 +/- 1.4(stat.)(-2.0)(+4.1)(syst.) events. The total cross section for W(+/-)Z production for Z/gamma* masses within the range 66 GeV to 116 GeV is determined to be sigma(tot)(WZ) = 20.5(-2.8)(+3.1)(stat.)(-1.3)(+1.4)(syst)(-0.8)(+0.9)(lumi.) pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model expectation of 17.3(0.8)(+1.3) pb. Limits on anomalous triple gauge boson couplings are extracted.

Abstract: The ATLAS experiment at the LHC has measured the centrality dependence of charged particle pseudorapidity distributions over vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2 in lead-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV. In order to include particles with transverse momentum as low as 30 MeV, the data were recorded with the central solenoid magnet off. Charged particles were reconstructed with two algorithms (2-point “tracklets” and full tracks) using information from the pixel detector only. The lead-lead collision centrality was characterized by the total transverse energy in the forward calorimeter in the range 3.2 < vertical bar eta vertical bar< 4.9. Measurements are presented of the per-event charged particle pseudorapidity distribution, dN(ch)/d eta, and the average charged particle multiplicity in the pseudorapidity interval vertical bar eta vertical bar < 0.5 in several intervals of collision centrality. The results are compared to previous mid-rapidity measurements at the LHC and RHIC. The variation of the mid-rapidity charged particle yield per colliding nucleon pair with the number of participants is consistent with lower root s(NN) results. The shape of the dN(ch)/d eta distribution is found to be independent of centrality within the systematic uncertainties of the measurement.

Abstract: An inclusive search for anomalous production of two prompt, isolated muons with the same electric charge is presented. The search is performed in a data sample corresponding to 1.6 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity collected in 2011 at root s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Muon pairs are selected by requiring two isolated muons of the same electric charge with p(T) > 20 GeV and vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.5. Minimal requirements are placed on the rest of the event activity. The distribution of the invariant mass of the muon pair m(mu mu) is found to agree well with the background expectation. Upper limits on the cross section for anomalous production of two muons with the same electric charge are placed as a function of m(mu mu) within a fiducial region defined by the event selection. The fiducial cross-section limit constrains the like-sign top-quark pair-production cross section to be below 3.7 pb at 95% confidence level. The data are also analyzed to search for a narrow like-sign dimuon resonance as predicted for e. g. doubly charged Higgs bosons (H-+/-+/-). Assuming pair production of H-+/-+/- bosons and a branching ratio to muons of 100% (33%), this analysis excludes masses below 355 (244) GeV and 251 (209) GeV for H-+/-+/- bosons coupling to left-handed and right-handed fermions, respectively.