Abstract: A search for dark matter pair production in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks is presented, using 3.2 fb(-1) of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The decay of the Higgs boson is reconstructed as a high-momentum b (b) over bar system with either a pair of small-radius jets, or a single large-radius jet with substructure. The observed data are found to be consistent with the expected backgrounds. Results are interpreted using a simplified model with a gauge boson mediating the interaction between dark matter and the Standard Model as well as a two-Higgs-doublet model containing an additional Z' boson which decays to a Standard Model Higgs boson and a new pseudoscalar Higgs boson, the latter decaying into a pair of dark matter particles.

Abstract: Knowledge of the material in the ATLAS inner tracking detector is crucial in under-standing the reconstruction of charged-particle tracks, the performance of algorithms that identify jets containing b-hadrons and is also essential to reduce background in searches for exotic particles that can decay within the inner detector volume. Interactions of primary hadrons produced in pp collisions with the material in the inner detector are used to map the location and amount of this material. The hadronic interactions of primary particles may result in secondary vertices, which in this analysis are reconstructed by an inclusive vertex-finding algorithm. Data were collected using minimum-bias triggers by the ATLAS detector operating at the LHC during 2010 at centre-of-mass energy root s = 7 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19 nb(-1). Kinematic properties of these secondary vertices are used to study the validity of the modelling of hadronic interactions in simulation. Secondary-vertex yields are compared between data and simulation over a volume of about 0.7m(3) around the interaction point, and agreement is found within overall uncertainties.

Abstract: Inclusive four-jet events produced in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of mass energy of root s = 7 TeV are analysed for the presence of hard double-parton scattering using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 37.3 pb(-1), collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The contribution of hard double-parton scattering to the production of four -jet events is extracted using an artificial neural network, assuming that hard double-parton scattering can be approximated by an uncorrelated overlaying of dijet events. For events containing at least four jets with transverse momentum PT >= 20 GeV and pseudorapidity vertical bar eta vertical bar <= 4.4, and at least one having pT >= 42.5 GeV, the contribution of hard double-parton scattering is estimated to be fDps = 0.092(-0.011)(+0.0005) (stat.) (+0.03337)(-0.011) (syst.). After combining this measurement with those of the inclusive dijet and four -jet cross -sections in the appropriate phase space regions, the effective cross-section, sigma(eff,) was determined to be sigma(eff) = 14.9(-1.0)(+1.2) (stat.) (+5.1)(-3.8) (syst.) mb. This result is consistent within the quoted uncertainties with previous measurements of sigma(eff), performed at centre-of-mass energies between 63 GeV and 8 TeV using various final states, and it corresponds to 21(-6%)(+7) of the total inelastic cross-section measured at root s = 7 TeV. The distributions of the observables sensitive to the contribution of hard double-parton scattering, corrected for detector effects, are also provided.

Abstract: A search for neutral Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) and for a heavneutral Z' boson is performed using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1) from proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The heavy resonance is assumed to decay to a tau(+)tau(-) pair with at least one tau lepton decaying to final states with hadrons and a neutrino. The search is performed in the mass range of 0.2-1.2 TeV for the MSSM neutral Higgs bosons and 0.5-2.5 TeV for the heavy neutral Z' boson. The data are in good agreement with the background predicted by the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in MSSMand Z' benchmark scenarios. The most stringent constraints on the MSSM m(A)-tan beta space exclude at 95% confidence level (CL) tan beta > 7.6 for m(A) = 200 GeV in the m(h)(mod+) MSSM scenario. For the Sequential Standard Model, a Z(SSM)' mass up to 1.90 TeV is excluded at 95% CL and masses up to 1.82-2.17 TeV are excluded for a Z(SFM)' of the strong flavour model.

Abstract: A measurement of the t-channel single-top-quark and single-top-antiquark production cross-sections in the lepton+jets channel is presented, using 3.2 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2015. Events are selected by requiring one charged lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse momentum, and two jets with high transverse momentum, exactly one of which is required to be b-tagged. Using a binned maximum-likelihood fit to the discriminant distribution of a neural network, the cross-sections are determined to be sigma(tq) = 156 +/- 5 (stat.) +/- 27 (syst.) +/- 3 (lumi.) pb for single top-quark production and sigma((t) over barq) = 91 +/- 4 (stat.) +/- 18 (syst.) +/- 2 (lumi.) pb for single top-antiquark production, assuming a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV. The cross-section ratio is measured to be R-t = sigma(tq) / sigma((t) over barq) = 1.72 +/- 0.09 (stat.) +/- 0.18 (syst.). All results are in agreement with Standard Model predictions.