Abstract: This Letter reports evidence of triple gauge boson production pp -> W(l nu)gamma gamma + X, which is accessible for the first time with the 8 TeV LHC data set. The fiducial cross section for this process is measured in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1), collected by the ATLAS detector in 2012. Events are selected using the W boson decay to e nu or μnu as well as requiring two isolated photons. The measured cross section is used to set limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings in the high diphoton mass region.

Abstract: Exclusive dimuon production in ultraperipheral collisions (UPC), resulting from photon-photon interactions in the strong electromagnetic fields of colliding high-energy lead nuclei, PbPb(gamma gamma) -> mu(+) mu(-) (Pb-(*Pb-)(()*())), is studied using L-int = 0.48 nb(-1) of root S-NN = 5.02 TeV lead-lead collision data at the LHC with the ATLAS detector. Dimuon pairs are measured in the fiducial region p(T,mu) > 4 GeV, vertical bar eta(mu)vertical bar < 2.4, invariant m(mu mu) > 10 GeV, and p(T,mu mu) <2 GeV. The primary background from single-dissociative processes is extracted from the data using a template fitting technique. Differential cross sections are presented as a function of m(mu mu), absolute pair rapidity (vertical bar y(mu mu)vertical bar), scattering angle in the dimuon rest frame (vertical bar cos v*(mu mu)vertical bar), and the colliding photon energies. The total cross section of the UPC gamma gamma -> mu(+) mu(-) process in the fiducial volume is measured to be sigma(mu mu)(fid) = 34.1 +0.3(stat.)+0.7(syst.) μb. Generally good agreement is found with calculations from STARlight, which incorporate the leading-order Breit-Wheeler process with no final-state effects, albeit differences between the measurements and theoretical expectations are observed. In particular, the measured cross sections at larger vertical bar y(mu mu)vertical bar are found to be about 10-20% larger in data than in the calculations, suggesting the presence of larger fluxes of photons in the initial state. Modification of the dimuon cross sections in the presence of forward and/or backward neutron production is also studied and is found to be associated with a harder incoming photon spectrum, consistent with expectations.

Abstract: Bose-Einstein correlations between identified charged pions are measured for p+Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV using data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 28 nb(-1). Pions are identified using ionization energy loss measured in the pixel detector. Two-particle correlation functions and the extracted source radii are presented as a function of collision centrality as well as the average transverse momentum (k(T)) and rapidity (y*(pi pi)) of the pair. Pairs are selected with a rapidity -2 < y*(pi pi) < 1 and with an average transverse momentum 0.1 < k(T) < 0.8 GeV. The effect of jet fragmentation on the two-particle correlation function is studied, and a method using opposite-charge pair data to constrain its contributions to the measured correlations is described. The measured source sizes are substantially larger in more central collisions and are observed to decrease with increasing pair k(T). A correlation of the radii with the local charged-particle density is demonstrated. The scaling of the extracted radii with the mean number of participating nucleons is also used to compare a selection of initial-geometry models. The cross term R-ol is measured as a function of rapidity, and a nonzero value is observed with 5.1 sigma combined significance for -1 < y*pi pi < 1 in the most central events.

Abstract: Detailed measurements of t-channel single top-quark production are presented. They use 20.2 fb(-1) of data collected by the ATLAS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV at the LHC. Total, fiducial and differential cross-sections are measured for both top-quark and top-antiquark production. The fiducial cross-section is measured with a precision of 5.8% (top quark) and 7.8% (top antiquark), respectively. The total cross-sections are measured to be stot(tq) = 56.7(-3.8)(+4.3) pb for top-quark production and sigma(tot)((t) over barq) = 32.9(-2.7)(+3.0) pb for top-antiquark production, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction. In addition, the ratio of top-quark to top-antiquark production cross-sections is determined to be R-t = 1.72 +/- 0.09. The differential cross-sections as a function of the transverse momentum and rapidity of both the top quark and the top antiquark are measured at both the parton and particle levels. The transverse momentum and rapidity differential cross-sections of the accompanying jet from the t-channel scattering are measured at particle level. All measurements are compared to various Monte Carlo predictions as well as to fixed-order QCD calculations where available.

Abstract: Multi-particle azimuthal cumulants are measured as a function of centrality and transverse momentum using 470 μb(-1) of Pb+Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. These cumulants provide information on the event-by-event fluctuations of harmonic flow coefficients v(n) and correlated fluctuations between two harmonics v(n) and v(m). For the first time, a non-zero four-particle cumulant is observed for dipolar flow, v(1). The four-particle cumulants for elliptic flow, v(2), and triangular flow, v(3), exhibit a strong centrality dependence and change sign in ultra-central collisions. This sign change is consistent with significant non-Gaussian fluctuations in v(2) and v(3). The four-particle cumulant for quadrangular flow, v(4), is found to change sign in mid-central collisions. Correlations between two harmonics are studied with three- and four-particle mixed-harmonic cumulants, which indicate an anti-correlation between v(2) and v(3), and a positive correlation between v(2) and v(4). These correlations decrease in strength towards central collisions and either approach zero or change sign in ultra-central collisions. To investigate the possible flow fluctuations arising from intrinsic centrality or volume fluctuations, the results are compared between two different event classes used for centrality definitions. In peripheral and mid-central collisions where the cumulant signals are large, only small differences are observed. In ultra-central collisions, the differences are much larger and transverse momentum dependent. These results provide new information to disentangle flow fluctuations from the initial and final states, as well as new insights on the influence of centrality fluctuations.