Abstract: A measurement of the correlations between the polar angles of leptons from the decay of pair-produced t and (t) over bar quarks in the helicity basis is reported, using proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb(-1) at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 7 TeV collected during 2011. Candidate events are selected in the dilepton topology with large missing transverse momentum and at least two jets. The angles theta(1) and theta(2) between the charged leptons and the direction of motion of the parent quarks in the t (t) over bar rest frame are sensitive to the spin information, and the distribution of cos theta(1).cos theta(2) is sensitive to the spin correlation between the t and (t) over bar quarks. The distribution is unfolded to parton level and compared to the next-to-leading order prediction. A good agreement is observed.

Abstract: This Letter describes a model-agnostic search for pairs of jets (dijets) produced by resonant and non-resonant phenomena beyond the Standard Model in 3.6 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The distribution of the invariant mass of the two leading jets is examined for local excesses above a data-derived estimate of the smoothly falling prediction of the Standard Model. The data are also compared to a Monte Carlo simulation of Standard Model angular distributions derived from the rapidity of the two jets. No evidence of anomalous phenomena is observed in the data, which are used to exclude, at 95% CL, quantum black holes with threshold masses below 8.3 TeV, 8.1 TeV, or 5.1 TeV in three different benchmark scenarios; resonance masses below 5.2 TeV for excited quarks, 2.6 TeV in a W' model, a range of masses starting from mZ' = 1.5 TeVand couplings from g(q) = 0.2 in a Z' model; and contact interactions with a compositeness scale below 12.0 TeV and 17.5 TeV respectively for destructive and constructive interference between the new interaction and QCD processes. These results significantly extend the ATLAS limits obtained from 8 TeV data. Gaussian-shaped contributions to the mass distribution are also excluded if the effective cross-section exceeds values ranging from approximately 50-300 fb for masses below 2 TeV to 2-20 fb for masses above 4 TeV.

Abstract: In the pp -> t (t) over bar process the angular distributions of top and anti-top quarks are expected to present a subtle difference, which could be enhanced by processes not included in the Standard Model. This Letter presents a measurement of the charge asymmetry in events where the top-quark pair is produced with a large invariant mass. The analysis is performed on 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collision data at root s=8 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, using reconstruction techniques specifically designed for the decay topology of highly boosted top quarks. The charge asymmetry in a fiducial region with large invariant mass of the top-quark pair (m(t (t) over bar) > 0.75 TeV) and an absolute rapidity difference of the top and anti-top quark candidates within -2 vertical bar y(t)vertical bar – vertical bar y(<(t) over bar)vertical bar < 2is measured to be 4.2 +/- 3.2%, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction at next-to-leading order. A differential measurement in three <(t)over bar> mass bins is also presented.

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: ATLAS has measured two-particle correlations as a function of the relative azimuthal angle, Delta phi, and pseudorapidity, Delta eta, in root s = 13 and 2.76 TeV pp collisions at the LHC using charged particles measured in the pseudorapidity interval vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.5. The correlation functions evaluated in different intervals of measured charged-particle multiplicity show a multiplicity-dependent enhancement at Delta phi similar to 0 that extends over a wide range of Delta eta, which has been referred to as the “ridge.” Per-trigger-particle yields, Y(Delta phi) are measured over 2 < vertical bar Delta eta vertical bar < 5. For both collision energies, the Y(Delta phi) distribution in all multiplicity intervals is found to be consistent with a linear combination of the per-trigger-particle yields measured in collisions with less than 2 phi reconstructed tracks, and a constant combinatoric contribution modulated by cos (2 Delta phi). The fitted Fourier coefficient, nu(2,2), exhibits factorization, suggesting that the ridge results from per-event cos (2 phi) modulation of the single-particle distribution with Fourier coefficients nu(2). The nu(2) values are presented as a function of multiplicity and transverse momentum. They are found to be approximately constant as a function of multiplicity and to have a p(T) dependence similar to that measured in p + Pb and Pb + Pb collisions. The nu(2) values in the 13 and 2.76 TeV data are consistent within uncertainties. These results suggest that the ridge in pp collisions arises from the same or similar underlying physics as observed in p + Pb collisions, and that the dynamics responsible for the ridge has no strong root s dependence.