Abstract: Combined ATLAS and CMS measurements of the Higgs boson production and decay rates, as well as constraints on its couplings to vector bosons and fermions, are presented. The combination is based on the analysis of five production processes, namely gluon fusion, vector boson fusion, and associated production with a W or a Z boson or a pair of top quarks, and of the six decay modes H -> ZZ, W W , gamma gamma, tau tau, bb, and μmu. All results are reported assuming a value of 125.09 GeV for the Higgs boson mass, the result of the combined measurement by the ATLAS and CMS experiments. The analysis uses the CERN LHC proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS and CMS experiments in 2011 and 2012, corresponding to integrated luminosities per experiment of approximately 5 fb(-1) at root s = 7 TeV and 20 fb(-1) at root s = 8 TeV. The Higgs boson production and decay rates measured by the two experiments are combined within the context of three generic parameterisations: two based on cross sections and branching fractions, and one on ratios of coupling modifiers. Several interpretations of the measurements with more model-dependent parameterisations are also given. The combined signal yield relative to the Standard Model prediction is measured to be 1.09 +/- 0.11. The combined measurements lead to observed significances for the vector boson fusion production process and for the H -> tau tau decay of 5.4 and 5.5 standard deviations, respectively. The data are consistent with the Standard Model predictions for all parameterisations considered.

Abstract: We investigate a gauge extension of the Standard Model in light of the observed hints of lepton universality violation in b -> clv and b -> sl(+) l(-) decays at BaBar, Belle and LHCb. The model consists of an extended gauge group SU(2)(1) x SU(2)(2) x U(l)(Y) which breaks spontaneously around the TeV scale to the electroweak gauge group. Fermion mixing effects with vector -like fermions give rise to potentially large new physics contributions in flavour transitions mediated by WI and Z' bosons. This model can ease tensions in B -physics data while satisfying stringent bounds from flavour physics, and electroweak precision data. Possible ways to test the proposed new physics scenario with upcoming experimental measurements are discussed. Among other predictions, the ratios RM =Gamma(B -> M mu(+)mu(-))/Gamma(B -> Me(+)e(-)), with M = K*, phi, are found to be reduced with respect to the Standard Model expectation R-M similar or equal to 1.

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.