Abstract: We report the observation of Higgs boson decays to WW* based on an excess over background of 6.1 standard deviations in the dilepton final state, where the Standard Model expectation is 5.8 standard deviations. Evidence for the vector-boson fusion (VBF) production process is obtained with a significance of 3.2 standard deviations. The results are obtained from a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 25 fb(-1) from root s = 7 and 8 TeV pp collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. For a Higgs boson mass of 125.36 GeV, the ratio of the measured value to the expected value of the total production cross section times branching fraction is 1.09(-0.15)(+0.16)(stat)(-0.14)(+0.17)(syst). The corresponding ratios for the gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion production mechanisms are 1.02 +/- 0.19(stat)(-0.18)(+0.22)(syst) and 1.27(-0.40)(+0.44)(stat)(-0.21)(+0.30)(syst), respectively. At root s = 8 TeV, the total production cross sections are measured to be sigma(gg -> H -> WW*) = 4.6 +/- 0.9(stat)(-0.7)(+0.8)(syst) pb and sigma(VBF H -> WW*) = 0.51(-0.15)(+0.17)(stat)(-0.08)(+0.13)(syst) pb. The fiducial cross section is determined for the gluon-fusion process in exclusive final states with zero or one associated jet.

Abstract: A search for the pair production of heavy leptons (N-0, L-+/-) predicted by the type-III seesaw theory formulated to explain the origin of small neutrino masses is presented. The decay channels N-0 -> W(+/-)l(+/-) (l = e, mu, tau) and L-+/- -> W(+/-)v (v = v(e), v(mu), v(tau)) are considered. The analysis is performed using the final state that contains two leptons (electrons or muons), two jets from a hadronically decaying W boson and large missing transverse momentum. The data used in the measurement correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. No evidence of heavy lepton pair production is observed. Heavy leptons with masses below 325-540 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, depending on the theoretical scenario considered.

Abstract: Measurements of the total and differential cross sections of Higgs boson production are performed using 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Cross sections are obtained from measured H -> gamma gamma and H -> ZZ*. 4l event yields, which are combined accounting for detector efficiencies, fiducial acceptances, and branching fractions. Differential cross sections are reported as a function of Higgs boson transverse momentum, Higgs boson rapidity, number of jets in the event, and transverse momentum of the leading jet. The total production cross section is determined to be sigma(pp -> H) = 33.0 +/- 5.3 (stat) +/- 1.6 (syst) pb. The measurements are compared to state-of-the-art predictions.

Abstract: A search for the decay to a pair of new particles of either the 125 GeV Higgs boson (h) or a second charge parity (CP)-even Higgs boson (H) is presented. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2012. The search was done in the context of the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model, in which the new particles are the lightest neutral pseudoscalar Higgs bosons (a). One of the two a bosons is required to decay to two muons while the other is required to decay to two tau leptons. No significant excess is observed above the expected backgrounds in the dimuon invariant mass range from 3.7 to 50 GeV. Upper limits are placed on the production of h -> aa relative to the standard model gg -> h production, assuming no coupling of the a boson to quarks. The most stringent limit is placed at 3.5% for m(a) = 3.75 GeV. Upper limits are also placed on the production cross section of H -> aa from 2.33 to 0.72 pb, for fixed m(a) = GeV with m(H) ranging from 100 to 500 GeV.

Abstract: Correlations between the elliptic or triangular flow coefficients v(m) (m = 2 or 3) and other flow harmonics v(n) (n = 2 to 5) are measured using root S-NN = 2.76 TeV Pb + Pb collision data collected in 2010 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 7 μb(-1). The v(m)-v(n) correlations aremeasured in midrapidity as a function of centrality, and, for events within the same centrality interval, as a function of event ellipticity or triangularity defined in a forward rapidity region. For events within the same centrality interval, v(3) is found to be anticorrelated with v(2) and this anticorrelation is consistent with similar anticorrelations between the corresponding eccentricities, epsilon(2) and epsilon(3). However, it is observed that v(4) increases strongly with v(2), and v(5) increases strongly with both v(2) and v(3). The trend and strength of the v(m) -v(n) correlations for n = 4 and 5 are found to disagree with epsilon(m)-epsilon(n) correlations predicted by initial-geometry models. Instead, these correlations are found to be consistent with the combined effects of a linear contribution to v(n) and a nonlinear term that is a function of v(2)(2) or of v(2)v(3), as predicted by hydrodynamic models. A simple two-component fit is used to separate these two contributions. The extracted linear and nonlinear contributions to v(4) and v(5) are found to be consistent with previously measured event-plane correlations.