ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2016). Search for scalar leptoquarks in pp collisions at root s=13TeV with the ATLAS experiment. New J. Phys., 18, 093016–25pp.
Abstract: An inclusive search for a new-physics signature of lepton-jet resonances has been performed by the ATLAS experiment. Scalar leptoquarks, pair-produced in pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV at the large hadron collider, have been considered. An integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1), corresponding to the full 2015 dataset was used. First (second) generation leptoquarks were sought in events with two electrons (muons) and two or more jets. The observed event yield in each channel is consistent with Standard Model background expectations. The observed (expected) lower limits on the leptoquark mass at 95% confidence level are 1100 and 1050 GeV (1160 and 1040 GeV) for first and second generation leptoquarks, respectively, assuming a branching ratio into a charged lepton and a quark of 100%. Upper limits on the aforementioned branching ratio are also given as a function of leptoquark mass. Compared with the results of earlier ATLAS searches, the sensitivity is increased for leptoquark masses above 860 GeV, and the observed exclusion limits confirm and extend the published results.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2017). Evidence for light-by-light scattering in heavy-ion collisions with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Nat. Phys., 13(9), 852–858.
Abstract: Light-by-light scattering (gamma gamma -> gamma gamma) is a quantum-mechanical process that is forbidden in the classical theory of electrodynamics. This reaction is accessible at the Large Hadron Collider thanks to the large electromagnetic field strengths generated by ultra-relativistic colliding lead ions. Using 480 μb(-1) of lead-lead collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV by the ATLAS detector, here we report evidence for light-by-light scattering. A total of 13 candidate events were observed with an expected background of 2.6 +/- 0.7 events. After background subtraction and analysis corrections, the fiducial cross-section of the process Pb + Pb (gamma gamma) -> Pb-(center dot) + Pb-(center dot) gamma gamma, for photon transverse energy E-T > 3 GeV, photon absolute pseudorapidity vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.4, diphoton invariant mass greater than 6 GeV, diphoton transverse momentum lower than 2 GeV and diphoton acoplanarity below 0.01, is measured to be 70 +/- 24 (stat.) +/- 17 (syst.) nb, which is in agreement with the standard model predictions.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Fernandez Martinez, P., et al. (2015). Modelling Z -> ττ processes in ATLAS with τ-embedded Z -> μμ data. J. Instrum., 10, P09018–41pp.
Abstract: This paper describes the concept, technical realisation and validation of a largely data-driven method to model events with Z -> tau tau decays. In Z -> μμevents selected from proton-proton collision data recorded at root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2012, the Z decay muons are replaced by tau leptons from simulated Z -> tau tau decays at the level of reconstructed tracks and calorimeter cells. The tau lepton kinematics are derived from the kinematics of the original muons. Thus, only the well-understood decays of the Z boson and tau leptons as well as the detector response to the tau decay products are obtained from simulation. All other aspects of the event, such as the Z boson and jet kinematics as well as effects from multiple interactions, are given by the actual data. This so-called tau-embedding method is particularly relevant for Higgs boson searches and analyses in tau tau final states, where Z -> tau tau decays constitute a large irreducible background that cannot be obtained directly from data control samples. In this paper, the relevant concepts are discussed based on the implementation used in the ATLAS Standard Model H -> tau tau analysis of the full datataset recorded during 2011 and 2012.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Fernandez Martinez, P., et al. (2016). Performance of b-jet identification in the ATLAS experiment. J. Instrum., 11, P04008–126pp.
Abstract: The identification of jets containing b hadrons is important for the physics programme of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Several algorithms to identify jets containing b hadrons are described, ranging from those based on the reconstruction of an inclusive secondary vertex or the presence of tracks with large impact parameters to combined tagging algorithms making use of multi-variate discriminants. An independent b-tagging algorithm based on the reconstruction of muons inside jets as well as the b-tagging algorithm used in the online trigger are also presented. The b-jet tagging efficiency, the c-jet tagging efficiency and the mistag rate for light flavour jets in data have been measured with a number of complementary methods. The calibration results are presented as scale factors defined as the ratio of the efficiency (or mistag rate) in data to that in simulation. In the case of b jets, where more than one calibration method exists, the results from the various analyses have been combined taking into account the statistical correlation as well as the correlation of the sources of systematic uncertainty.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2016). Beam-induced and cosmic-ray backgrounds observed in the ATLAS detector during the LHC 2012 proton-proton running period. J. Instrum., 11, P05013–78pp.
Abstract: This paper discusses various observations on beam-induced and cosmic-ray backgrounds in the ATLAS detector during the LHC 2012 proton-proton run. Building on published results based on 2011 data, the correlations between background and residual pressure of the beam vacuum are revisited. Ghost charge evolution over 2012 and its role for backgrounds are evaluated. New methods to monitor ghost charge with beam-gas rates are presented and observations of LHC abort gap population by ghost charge are discussed in detail. Fake jets from colliding bunches and from ghost charge are analysed with improved methods, showing that ghost charge in individual radio-frequency buckets of the LHC can be resolved. Some results of two short periods of dedicated cosmic-ray background data-taking are shown; in particular cosmic-ray muon induced fake jet rates are compared to Monte Carlo simulations and to the fake jet rates from beam background. A thorough analysis of a particular LHC fill, where abnormally high background was observed, is presented. Correlations between backgrounds and beam intensity losses in special fills with very high beta* are studied.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2016). A measurement of material in the ATLAS tracker using secondary hadronic interactions in 7 TeV p p collisions. J. Instrum., 11, P11020–41pp.
Abstract: Knowledge of the material in the ATLAS inner tracking detector is crucial in under-standing the reconstruction of charged-particle tracks, the performance of algorithms that identify jets containing b-hadrons and is also essential to reduce background in searches for exotic particles that can decay within the inner detector volume. Interactions of primary hadrons produced in pp collisions with the material in the inner detector are used to map the location and amount of this material. The hadronic interactions of primary particles may result in secondary vertices, which in this analysis are reconstructed by an inclusive vertex-finding algorithm. Data were collected using minimum-bias triggers by the ATLAS detector operating at the LHC during 2010 at centre-of-mass energy root s = 7 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19 nb(-1). Kinematic properties of these secondary vertices are used to study the validity of the modelling of hadronic interactions in simulation. Secondary-vertex yields are compared between data and simulation over a volume of about 0.7m(3) around the interaction point, and agreement is found within overall uncertainties.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2017). Performance of the ATLAS Transition Radiation Tracker in Run 1 of the LHC: tracker properties. J. Instrum., 12, P05002–42pp.
Abstract: The tracking performance parameters of the ATLAS Transition Radiation Tracker (TRT) as part of the ATLAS inner detector are described in this paper for different data-taking conditions in proton-proton, proton-lead and lead-lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The performance is studied using data collected during the first period of LHC operation (Run 1) and is compared with Monte Carlo simulations. The performance of the TRT, operating with two different gas mixtures (xenon-based and argon-based) and its dependence on the TRT occupancy is presented. These studies show that the tracking performance of the TRT is similar for the two gas mixtures and that a significant contribution to the particle momentum resolution is made by the TRT up to high particle densities.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2017). Study of the material of the ATLAS inner detector for Run 2 of the LHC. J. Instrum., 12, P12009–59pp.
Abstract: The ATLAS inner detector comprises three different sub-detectors: the pixel detector, the silicon strip tracker, and the transition-radiation drift-tube tracker. The Insertable B-Layer, a new innermost pixel layer, was installed during the shutdown period in 2014, together with modifications to the layout of the cables and support structures of the existing pixel detector. The material in the inner detector is studied with several methods, using a low-luminosity root s = 13 TeV pp collision sample corresponding to around 2.0 nb(-1) collected in 2015 with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. In this paper, the material within the innermost barrel region is studied using reconstructed hadronic interaction and photon conversion vertices. For the forward rapidity region, the material is probed by a measurement of the efficiency with which single tracks reconstructed from pixel detector hits alone can be extended with hits on the track in the strip layers. The results of these studies have been taken into account in an improved description of the material in the ATLAS inner detector simulation, resulting in a reduction in the uncertainties associated with the charged-particle reconstruction efficiency determined from simulation.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Fernandez Martinez, P., Ferrer, A., et al. (2015). Search for the b(b)over-bar decay of the Standard Model Higgs boson in associated (W/Z)H production with the ATLAS detector. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 069–89pp.
Abstract: A search for the b (b) over bar decay of the Standard Model Higgs boson is performed with the ATLAS experiment using the full dataset recorded at the LHC in Run 1. The integrated luminosities used are 4.7 and 20.3 fb(-1) from pp collisions at root s = 7 and 8 TeV, respectively. The processes considered are associated (WIZ)H production, where W -> e nu/mu nu, Z -> ee/mu mu, and Z -> nu nu. The observed (expected) deviation from the backgroundonly hypothesis corresponds to a significance of 1.4 (2.6) standard deviations and the ratio of the measured signal yield to the Standard Model expectation is found to be μ= 0.52 +/- 0.32 (stat.) +/- 0.24 (syst.) for a Higgs boson mass of 125.36 GeV. The analysis procedure is validated by a measurement of the yield of (W/Z)Z production with Z -> b (b) over bar in the same final states as for the Higgs boson search, from which the ratio of the observed signal yield to the Standard Model expectation is found to be 0.74 +/- 0.09 (stat.) +/- 0.14 (syst.).
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Fernandez Martinez, P., Ferrer, A., et al. (2015). Search for charged Higgs bosons decaying via H-+/- -> tau(+/-)nu in fully hadronic final states using pp collision data at root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. J. High Energy Phys., 03(3), 088–45pp.
Abstract: The results of a search for charged Higgs bosons decaying to a T lepton and a neutrino. H-+/- -> T-+/-nu, are presented. The analysis is based on 19.5 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at root s = 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Charged Higgs bosons are searched for in events consistent with top-quark pair production or in associated production with a top quark, depending on the considered H-+/- mass. The final state is characterised by the presence of a hadronic T decay, missing transverse momentum, b-tagged jets, a hadronically decaying W boson, and the absence of any isolated electrons or unions with high transverse momenta. The data are consistent with the expected background from Standard Model processes. A statistical analysis leads to 95% confidence-level upper limits on the product of branching ratios B(t -> bH(+/-)) x B(H-+/- -> T-+/-nu), between 0.23% and 1.3% for charged Higgs boson masses in the range 80 160 GeV. lit also leads to 95% confidence-level upper limits on the production cross section times branching ratio, sigma(pp -> tH(+/-) + X) x B(H-+/--> T(+/-)v), between 0.76 pb and 4.5 fb, for charged Higgs boson masses ranging from 180 GeV to 1000 GeV. In the context of different scenarios of the Minimal Supersymnietric Standard Model, these results exclude nearly all values of tan beta above one for charged Higgs boson masses between 80 GeV and 160 GeV, and exclude a region of parameter space with high tan beta for H-+/- masses between 200 GeV and 250 GeV.
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