Abstract: This Letter reports on a first measurement of the inclusive W + jets cross section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC, with the ATLAS detector. Cross sections, in both the electron and muon decay modes of the W-boson, are presented as a function of jet multiplicity and of the transverse momentum of the leading and next-to-leading jets in the event. Measurements are also presented of the ratio of cross sections sigma (W + >= n)/sigma(W + >= n – 1) for inclusive jet multiplicities n = 1-4. The results, based on an integrated luminosity of 1.3 pb(-1), have been corrected for all known detector effects and are quoted in a limited and well-defined range of jet and lepton kinematics. The measured cross sections are compared to particle-level predictions based on perturbative QCD. Next-to-leading order calculations, studied here for n <= 2, are found in good agreement with the data. Leading-order multiparton event generators, normalized to the NNLO total cross section, describe the data well for all measured jet multiplicities.

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.

Abstract: A measurement of the production cross-section for Z bosons that decay to muons is presented. The data were recorded by the LHCb detector during pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1). The cross-section is measured for muons in the pseudorapidity range 2.0 < eta < 4.5 with transverse momenta p(T) >20 GeV/e. The dimuon mass is restricted to 60 < M mu+mu- < 120 GeV/c(2). The measured cross-section is sigma(Z ->mu+mu-) = (76.0 +/- 0.3 +/- 0.5 +/- 1.0 +/- 1.3) pb where the uncertainties are due to the sample size, systematic effects, the beam energy and the luminosity. This result is in good agreement with theoretical predictions at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. The cross-section is also measured differentially as a function of kinematic variables of the Z boson. Ratios of the production cross-sections of electroweak bosons are presented using updated LHCb measurements of W boson production. A precise test of the Standard Model is provided by the measurement of the ratio sigma(W+) -> mu(+) nu(mu) + sigma(W) -> mu(+) (nu) over bar (mu)/sigma(Z ->mu+mu-) = 0.09 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.05, where the uncertainty due to luminosity cancels.

Abstract: A measurement of the cross section for the inclusive production of isolated prompt photons in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity ranges vertical bar eta(gamma)vertical bar < 1.37 and 1.56 aecurrency sign vertical bar eta(gamma)vertical bar < 2.37 in the transverse energy range 25 < E-T(gamma) < 1500 GeV. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb(-1), recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Photon candidates are identified by combining information from the calorimeters and the inner tracker. The background is subtracted using a data-driven technique, based on the observed calorimeter shower-shape variables and the deposition of hadronic energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate. The measured cross sections are compared with leading-order and next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and are found to be in a good agreement over ten orders of magnitude.

Abstract: A search with the ATLAS detector is presented for the Standard Model Higgs boson produced by vector-boson fusion and decaying to a pair of bottom quarks, using 20.2 fb(-1) of LHC proton-proton collision data at root s – 8 TeV. The signal is searched for as a resonance in the invariant mass distribution of a pair of jets containing b-hadrons in vector-boson-fusion candidate events. The yield is measured to be -0.8 +/- 2.3 times the Standard Model cross-section for a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV. The upper limit on the cross-section times the branching ratio is found to be 4.4 times the Standard Model cross-section at the 95% confidence level, consistent with the expected limit value of 5.4 (5.7) in the background-only (Standard Model production) hypothesis.