Abstract: Inclusive four-jet events produced in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of mass energy of root s = 7 TeV are analysed for the presence of hard double-parton scattering using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 37.3 pb(-1), collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The contribution of hard double-parton scattering to the production of four -jet events is extracted using an artificial neural network, assuming that hard double-parton scattering can be approximated by an uncorrelated overlaying of dijet events. For events containing at least four jets with transverse momentum PT >= 20 GeV and pseudorapidity vertical bar eta vertical bar <= 4.4, and at least one having pT >= 42.5 GeV, the contribution of hard double-parton scattering is estimated to be fDps = 0.092(-0.011)(+0.0005) (stat.) (+0.03337)(-0.011) (syst.). After combining this measurement with those of the inclusive dijet and four -jet cross -sections in the appropriate phase space regions, the effective cross-section, sigma(eff,) was determined to be sigma(eff) = 14.9(-1.0)(+1.2) (stat.) (+5.1)(-3.8) (syst.) mb. This result is consistent within the quoted uncertainties with previous measurements of sigma(eff), performed at centre-of-mass energies between 63 GeV and 8 TeV using various final states, and it corresponds to 21(-6%)(+7) of the total inelastic cross-section measured at root s = 7 TeV. The distributions of the observables sensitive to the contribution of hard double-parton scattering, corrected for detector effects, are also provided.

Abstract: The electroweak production and subsequent decay of single top quarks is determined by the properties of the Wtb vertex. This vertex can be described by the complex parameters of an effective Lagrangian. An analysis of angular distributions of the decay products of single top quarks produced in the t-channel constrains these parameters simultaneously. The analysis described in this paper uses 4.6 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at root s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Two parameters are measured simultaneously in this analysis. The fraction f(1) of decays containing transversely polarised W bosons is measured to be 0.37 +/- 0.07 (stat. circle plus syst.). The phase delta_ between amplitudes for transversely and longitudinally polarised W bosons recoiling against lefthanded b-quarks is measured to be -0.014 pi +/- 0.036 pi (stat. circle plus syst.). The correlation in the measurement of these parameters is 0.15. These values result in two-dimensional limits at the 95% confidence level on the ratio of the complex coupling parameters g(R) and V-L, yielding R-e[g(R)/V-L] is an element of [-0.36; 0.10] and Im[g(R)/V-L] is an element of [-0.17; 0.23] with a correlation of 0.11. The results are in good agreement with the predictions of the Standard Model.

Abstract: We implement our past investigations of quark-antiquark interaction through a non-perturbative running coupling defined in terms of a gluon mass function, similar to that used in some Schwinger-Dyson approaches. This coupling leads to a quark-antiquark potential, which satisfies not only asymptotic freedom but also describes linear confinement correctly. From this potential, we calculate the bottomonium and charmonium spectra below the first open flavor meson-meson thresholds and show that for a small range of values of the free parameter determining the gluon mass function an excellent agreement with data is attained.