Abstract: ATLAS measurements of the production of muons from heavy-flavor decays in root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV Pb+Pb collisions and root s = 2.76 TeV pp collisions at the LHC are presented. Integrated luminosities of 0.14 nb(-1) and 570 nb(-1) are used for the Pb+Pb and pp measurements, respectively, which are performed over the muon transverse momentum range 4 < pT < 14 GeV and for five Pb+Pb centrality intervals. Backgrounds arising from in-flight pion and kaon decays, hadronic showers, and misreconstructed muons are statistically removed using a template-fitting procedure. The heavy-flavor muon differential cross sections and per-event yields are measured in pp and Pb+Pb collisions, respectively. The nuclear modification factor R-AA obtained from these is observed to be independent of pT, within uncertainties, and to be less than unity, which indicates suppressed production of heavy-flavor muons in Pb+Pb collisions. For the 10% most central Pb+Pb events, the measured R-AA is approximately 0.35. The azimuthal modulation of the heavy-flavor muon yields is also measured and the associated Fourier coefficients v(n) for n = 2, 3, and 4 are given as a function of pT and centrality. They vary slowly with pT and show a systematic variation with centrality which is characteristic of other anisotropy measurements, such as that observed for inclusive hadrons. The measured R-AA and v(n) values are also compared with theoretical calculations.

Abstract: Studies of the fragmentation of jets into charged particles in heavy-ion collisions can provide information about the mechanism of jet quenching by the hot and dense QCD matter created in such collisions, the quark-gluon plasma. This paper presents a measurement of the angular distribution of charged particles around the jet axis in root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV Pb + Pb and pp collisions, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The Pb + Pb and pp data sets have integrated luminosities of 0.49 nb(-1) and 25 pb(-1), respectively. The measurement is performed for jets reconstructed with the anti-k(t) algorithm with radius parameter R = 0.4 and is extended to an angular distance of r = 0.8 from the jet axis. Results are presented as a function of Pb + Pb collision centrality and distance from the jet axis for charged particles with transverse momenta in the 1- to 63-GeV range, matched to jets with transverse momenta in the 126- to 316-GeV range and an absolute value of jet rapidity of less than 1.7. Modifications to the measured distributions are quantified by taking a ratio to the measurements in pp collisions. Yields of charged particles with transverse momenta below 4 GeV are observed to be increasingly enhanced as a function of angular distance from the jet axis, reaching a maximum at r = 0.6. Charged particles with transverse momenta above 4 GeV have an enhanced yield in Pb + Pb collisions in the jet core for angular distances up to r = 0.05 from the jet axis, with a suppression at larger distances.

Abstract: The momentum-weighted sum of the charges of tracks associated to a jet is sensitive to the charge of the initiating quark or gluon. This paper presents a measurement of the distribution of momentum-weighted sums, called jet charge, in dijet events using 20.3 fb(-1) of data recorded with the ATLAS detector at root s = 8 TeV in pp collisions at the LHC. The jet charge distribution is unfolded to remove distortions from detector effects and the resulting particle-level distribution is compared with several models. The p(T) dependence of the jet charge distribution average and standard deviation are compared to predictions obtained with several leading-order and next-to-leading-order parton distribution functions. The data are also compared to different Monte Carlo simulations of QCD dijet production using various settings of the free parameters within these models. The chosen value of the strong coupling constant used to calculate gluon radiation is found to have a significant impact on the predicted jet charge. There is evidence for a pT dependence of the jet charge distribution for a given jet flavor. In agreement with perturbative QCD predictions, the data show that the average jet charge of quark-initiated jets decreases in magnitude as the energy of the jet increases.

Abstract: This article reports on a search for dark matter pair production in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks, using data from 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 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 Standard Model backgrounds. Model-independent upper limits are placed on the visible cross sections for events with a Higgs boson decaying into b (b) over bar and large missing transverse momentum with thresholds ranging from 150 to 400 GeV. Results are interpreted using a simplified model with a Z' gauge boson decaying into different Higgs bosons predicted in a two-Higgs-doublet model, of which the heavy pseudoscalar Higgs decays into a pair of dark matter particles. Exclusion limits are also presented for the mass scales of various effective field theory operators that describe the interaction between dark matter particles and the Higgs boson.

Abstract: A search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a vector boson with the decay H -> tau tau is presented. The data correspond to 20.3 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity from proton-proton collisions at root s = 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC during 2012. The data agree with the background expectation, and 95% confidence-level upper limits are placed on the cross section of this process. The observed (expected) limit, expressed in terms of the signal strength mu= sigma/sigma(SM) for m(H) = 125 GeV, is μ< 5.6 (3.7). The measured value of the signal strength is μ= 2.3 +/- 1.6.