Abstract: This paper presents the performance of the ATLAS muon reconstruction during the LHC run with pp collisions at root s = 7-8 TeV in 2011-2012, focusing mainly on data collected in 2012. Measurements of the reconstruction efficiency and of the momentum scale and resolution, based on large reference samples of J/psi -> μmu, Z -> μμand gamma -> μμdecays, are presented and compared to Monte Carlo simulations. Corrections to the simulation, to be used in physics analysis, are provided. Over most of the covered phase space (muon |eta| < 2.7 and 5 less than or similar to p(T) less than or similar to 100 GeV) the efficiency is above 99% and is measured with per-mille precision. The momentum resolution ranges from 1.7% at central rapidity and for transverse momentum p(T) similar or equal to 10 GeV, to 4% at large rapidity and p(T) similar or equal to 100 GeV. The momentum scale is known with an uncertainty of 0.05% to 0.2% depending on rapidity. A method for the recovery of final state radiation from the muons is also presented.

Abstract: We propose a mechanism for baryogenesis from particle decays or annihilations that can work at the TeV scale. Some heavy particles annihilate or decay into a heavy sterile neutrino N (with M greater than or similar to 0.5 TeV) and a “light” one nu (with m << 100 GeV), generating an asymmetry among the two helicity degrees of freedom of nu. This asymmetry is partially transferred to Standard Model leptons via fast Yukawa interactions and reprocessed into a baryon asymmetry by the electroweak sphalerons. We illustrate this mechanism in a WIMPy baryogenesis model where the helicity asymmetry is generated in the annihilation of dark matter. This model connects the baryon asymmetry, dark matter, and neutrino masses. Moreover it also complements previous studies on general requirements for baryogenesis from dark matter annihilation. Finally we discuss other possible realizations of this helicitogenesis mechanism.

Abstract: We report on a search in e(+)e(-) annihilations for new pi(0)-like particles produced in association with a tau-lepton pair. These objects, with a similar mass and similar decay modes to pi(0) mesons, could provide an explanation for the non-asymptotic behavior of the pion-photon transition form factor observed by the BABAR Collaboration. No significant signal is observed, and limits on the production cross section at the level of 73 fb or 370 fb, depending on the model parameters, are determined at 90% confidence level. These upper limits lie below the cross section values needed to explain the BABAR form factor data.

Abstract: The analysis of hadronic interactions with effective field theory techniques is complicated by the appearance of a large number of low-energy constants, which are usually fitted to data. On the other hand, the large-N-c limit helps to impose natural short-distance constraints on these low-energy constants, providing a parameter reduction. A Bayesian interpretation of the expected 1/N-c accuracy allows for an easy and efficient implementation of these constraints, using an augmented chi(2). We apply this approach to the analysis of meson-meson scattering, in conjunction with chiral perturbation theory to one loop and coupled-channel unitarity, and show that it helps to largely reduce the many existing ambiguities and simultaneously provide an acceptable description of the available phase shifts.

Abstract: The results of a search for top squark (stop) pair production in final states with one isolated lepton, jets, and missing transverse momentum are reported. The analysis is performed with proton-proton collision data at root s = 8 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2012 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb(-1). The lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) is taken to be the lightest neutralino which only interacts weakly and is assumed to be stable. The stop decay modes considered are those to a top quark and the LSP as well as to a bottom quark and the lightest chargino, where the chargino decays to the LSP by emitting a W boson. A wide range of scenarios with different mass splittings between the stop, the lightest neutralino and the lightest chargino are considered, including cases where the W bosons or the top quarks are off-shell. Decay modes involving the heavier charginos and neutralinos are addressed using a set of phenomenological models of supersymmetry. No significant excess over the Standard Model prediction is observed. A stop with a mass between 210 and 640 GeV decaying directly to a top quark and a massless LSP is excluded at 95% confidence level, and in models where the mass of the lightest chargino is twice that of the LSP, stops are excluded at 95% confidence level up to a mass of 500 GeV for an LSP mass in the range of 100 to 150 GeV. Stringent exclusion limits are also derived for all other stop decay modes considered, and model-independent upper limits are set on the visible cross-section for processes beyond the Standard Model.