Abstract: This paper presents a new method of reconstructing the individual charged and neutral hadrons in tau decays with the ATLAS detector. The reconstructed hadrons are used to classify the decay mode and to calculate the visible four-momentum of reconstructed tau candidates, significantly improving the resolution with respect to the calibration in the existing tau reconstruction. The performance of the reconstruction algorithm is optimised and evaluated using simulation and validated using samples of Z -> tau tau and Z(-> μmu)+jets events selected from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 fb(-1).

Abstract: Charged-particle distributions are measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, using a data sample of nearly 9 million events, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 170 μb(-1), recorded by the ATLAS detector during a special Large Hadron Collider fill. The charged-particle multiplicity, its dependence on transverse momentum and pseudorapidity and the dependence of the mean transverse momentum on the charged-particle multiplicity are presented. The measurements are performed with charged particles with transverse momentum greater than 500 MeV and absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.5, in events with at least one charged particle satisfying these kinematic requirements. Additional measurements in a reduced phase space with absolute pseudorapidity less than 0.8 are also presented, in order to compare with other experiments. The results are corrected for detector effects, presented as particle-level distributions and are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generators.

Abstract: This paper presents a search for massive charged long-lived particles produced in pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV at the LHC using the ATLAS experiment. The data set used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1). Many extensions of the Standard Model predict the existence of massive charged long-lived particles, such as R-hadrons. These massive particles are expected to be produced with a velocity significantly below the speed of light, and therefore to have a specific ionization higher than any Standard Model particle of unit charge at high momenta. The Pixel subsystem of the ATLAS detector is used to measure the ionization energy loss of reconstructed charged particles and to search for such highly ionizing particles. The search presented here has much greater sensitivity than a similar search performed using the ATLAS detector in the root s = 8 TeV data set, thanks to the increase in expected signal cross section due to the higher center-of-mass energy of collisions, to an upgraded detector with a new silicon layer close to the interaction point, and to analysis improvements. No significant deviation from Standard Model background expectations is observed, and lifetime-dependent upper limits on R-hadron production cross sections and masses are set. Gluino R-hadrons with lifetimes above 0.4 ns and decaying to q (q) over bar plus a 100 GeV neutralino are excluded at the 95% confidence level, with lower mass limit ranging between 740 and 1590 GeV. In the case of stable R-hadrons the lower mass limit at the 95% confidence level is 1570 GeV.

Abstract: This paper presents measurements of distributions of charged particles which are produced in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. A special dataset recorded in 2012 with a small number of interactions per beam crossing (below 0.004) and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 160 μb(-1) was used. A minimumbias trigger was utilised to select a data sample of more than 9 million collision events. The multiplicity, pseudorapidity, and transverse momentum distributions of charged particles are shown in different regions of kinematics and charged-particle multiplicity, including measurements of final states at high multiplicity. The results are corrected for detector effects and are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generator models which simulate the full hadronic final state.

Abstract: Event-shape observables measured using charged particles in inclusive Z-boson events are presented, using the electron and muon decay modes of the Z bosons. The measurements are based on an integrated luminosity of 1.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 7 TeV. Charged-particle distributions, excluding the lepton-antilepton pair from the Z-boson decay, are measured in different ranges of transverse momentum of the Z boson. Distributions include multiplicity, scalar sum of transverse momenta, beam thrust, transverse thrust, spherocity, and F-parameter, which are in particular sensitive to properties of the underlying event at small values of the Z-boson transverse momentum. The measured observables are compared with predictions from PYTHIA 8, Sherpa, and HERWIG 7. Typically, all three Monte Carlo generators provide predictions that are in better agreement with the data at high Z-boson transverse momenta than at low Z-boson transverse momenta, and for the observables that are less sensitive to the number of charged particles in the event.