Abstract: The ATLAS liquid argon calorimeter has been operating continuously since August 2006. At this time, only part of the calorimeter was readout, but since the beginning of 2008, all calorimeter cells have been connected to the ATLAS readout system in preparation for LHC collisions. This paper gives an overview of the liquid argon calorimeter performance measured in situ with random triggers, calibration data, cosmic muons, and LHC beam splash events. Results on the detector operation, timing performance, electronics noise, and gain stability are presented. High energy deposits from radiative cosmic muons and beam splash events allow to check the intrinsic constant term of the energy resolution. The uniformity of the electromagnetic barrel calorimeter response along eta (averaged over phi) is measured at the percent level using minimum ionizing cosmic muons. Finally, studies of electromagnetic showers from radiative muons have been used to cross-check the Monte Carlo simulation. The performance results obtained using the ATLAS readout, data acquisition, and reconstruction software indicate that the liquid argon calorimeter is well-prepared for collisions at the dawn of the LHC era.

Abstract: A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs (t (t) over bar) in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron e or muon mu) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton (ee, μμor e mu) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb(-1), 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-t (t) over bar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be 12.2 +/- 3.9 events and 2.5 +/- 0.6 events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM t (t) over bar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be sigma(t (t) over bar) = 145 +/- 31 (stat.)(-27)(+42) (syst.) pb. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.

Abstract: The inclusive J/psi production cross-section and fraction of J/psi mesons produced in B-hadron decays are measured in proton proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, as a function of the transverse momentum and rapidity of the J/psi, using 2.3 pb(-1) of integrated luminosity. The cross-section is measured from a minimum P(T) of 1 GeV to a maximum of 70 GeV and for rapidities within vertical bar y vertical bar < 2.4 giving the widest reach of any measurement of J/psi production to date. The differential production cross-sections of prompt and non-prompt J/psi are separately determined and are compared to Colour Singlet NNLO*, Colour Evaporation Model, and FONLL predictions.

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.

Abstract: Results of three searches are presented for the production of supersymmetric particles decaying into final states with missing transverse momentum and exactly two isolated leptons, e or mu. The analysis uses a data sample collected during the first half of 2011 that corresponds to a total integrated luminosity of 1 fb(-1) of root s = 7 TeV proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Opposite-sign and same-sign dilepton events are separately studied, with no deviations from the Standard Model expectation observed. Additionally, in opposite-sign events, a search is made for an excess of same-flavour over different-flavour lepton pairs. Effective production cross sections in excess of 9.9 fb for opposite-sign events containing supersymmetric particles with missing transverse momentum greater than 250 GeV are excluded at 95% CL For same-sign events containing supersymmetric particles with missing transverse momentum greater than 100 GeV, effective production cross sections in excess of 14.8 fb are excluded at 95% CL The latter limit is interpreted in a simplified electroweak gaugino production model excluding chargino masses up to 200 GeV, under the assumption that slepton decay is dominant.