Abstract: The rejection of forward jets originating from additional proton-proton interactions (pile-up) is crucial for a variety of physics analyses at the LHC, including Standard Model measurements and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. The identification of such jets is challenging due to the lack of track and vertex information in the pseudorapidity range vertical bar eta vertical bar > 2.5. This paper presents a novel strategy for forward pile-up jet tagging that exploits jet shapes and topological jet correlations in pile-up interactions. Measurements of the per-jet tagging efficiency are presented using a data set of 3.2 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector. The fraction of pile-up jets rejected in the range 2.5 < vertical bar eta vertical bar < 4.5 is estimated in simulated events with an average of 22 interactions per bunch-crossing. It increases with jet transverse momentum and, for jets with transverse momentum between 20 and 50 GeV, it ranges between 49% and 67% with an efficiency of 85% for selecting hard-scatter jets. A case study is performed in Higgs boson production via the vector-boson fusion process, showing that these techniques mitigate the background growth due to additional proton-proton interactions, thus enhancing the reach for such signatures.

Abstract: This paper presents a study of WW gamma and WZ gamma triboson production using events from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb(-1). The WW gamma production cross-section is determined using a final state containing an electron, a muon, a photon, and neutrinos (e upsilon μupsilon gamma). Upper limits on the production cross-section of the e upsilon μupsilon gamma final state and theWW gamma and WZ gamma final states containing an electron or a muon, two jets, a photon, and a neutrino (e upsilon j j gamma or μupsilon j j gamma) are also derived. The results are compared to the cross-sections predicted by the Standard Model at next-to-leading order in the strong-coupling constant. In addition, upper limits on the production cross-sections are derived in a fiducial region optimised for a search for newphysics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of anomalous quartic gauge couplings using an effective field theory. Confidence intervals at 95% confidence level are derived for the 14 coupling coefficients to which WW gamma and WZ gamma production are sensitive.

Abstract: High-precision measurements by the ATLAS Collaboration are presented of inclusive W+ -> l(+) nu, W- -> l(-) (nu) over bar and Z/gamma* -> ll (l = e, mu) Drell-Yan production cross sections at the LHC. The data were collected in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb(-1). Differential W+ and W- cross sections are measured in a lepton pseudorapidity range vertical bar eta(l)vertical bar < 2.5. Differential Z/gamma* cross sections are measured as a function of the absolute dilepton rapidity, for vertical bar y(ll)vertical bar < 3.6, for three intervals of dilepton mass, m(ll), extending from 46 to 150 GeV. The integrated and differential electron- and muon-channel cross sections are combined and compared to theoretical predictions using recent sets of parton distribution functions. The data, together with the final inclusive e(+/-) p scattering cross-section data from H1 and ZEUS, are interpreted in a next-to-next-to-leading-order QCD analysis, and a new set of parton distribution functions, ATLAS-epWZ16, is obtained. The ratio of strange-to-light sea-quark densities in the proton is determined more accurately than in previous determinations based on collider data only, and is established to be close to unity in the sensitivity range of the data. A new measurement of the CKM matrix element vertical bar V-cs vertical bar is also provided.