Abstract: A measurement of the total pp cross section at the LHC at root s = 7 TeV is presented. In a special run with high-beta* beam optics, an integrated luminosity of 80 μb(-1) was accumulated in order to measure the differential elastic cross section as a function of the Mandelstam momentum transfer variable t. The measurement is performed with the ALFA sub-detector of ATLAS. Using a fit to the differential elastic cross section in the vertical bar t vertical bar range from 0.01 GeV2 to 0.1 GeV2 to extrapolate to vertical bar t vertical bar --> 0, the total cross section, sigma(tot)(pp --> X), is measured via the optical theorem to be: sigma(tot)(pp --> X) = 95.35 +/- 0.38 (stat.) +/- 1.25 (exp.) +/- 0.37 (extr.) mb, where the first error is statistical, the second accounts for all experimental systematic uncertainties and the last is related to uncertainties in the extrapolation to vertical bar t vertical bar --> 0. In addition, the slope of the elastic cross section at small vertical bar t vertical bar is determined to be B = 19.73 +/- 0.14 (stat.) +/- 0.26 (syst.) GeV-2.

Abstract: Distributions of transverse momentum p(T)(ll) and the related angular variable phi(eta)*. of Drell-Yan lepton pairs are measured in 20.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Measurements in electron-pair and muon-pair final states are corrected for detector effects and combined. Compared to previous measurements in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV, these new measurements benefit from a larger data sample and improved control of systematic uncertainties. Measurements are performed in bins of lepton-pair mass above, around and below the Z-boson mass peak. The data are compared to predictions from perturbative and resummed QCD calculations. For values of phi(eta)*. < 1 the predictions from the Monte Carlo generator ResBos are generally consistent with the data within the theoretical uncertainties. However, at larger values of phi(eta)*. this is not the case. Monte Carlo generators based on the parton-shower approach are unable to describe the data over the full range of p(T)(ll) while the fixed-order prediction of Dynnlo falls below the data at high values of p(T)(ll). ResBos and the parton-shower Monte Carlo generators provide a much better description of the evolution of the phi(eta)*. and p(T)(ll) distributions as a function of lepton-pair mass and rapidity than the basic shape of the data.

Abstract: Distributions sensitive to the underlying event in QCD jet events have been measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, based on of proton-proton collision data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 . Charged-particle mean and densities of all-particle and charged-particle multiplicity and have been measured in regions azimuthally transverse to the hardest jet in each event. These are presented both as one-dimensional distributions and with their mean values as functions of the leading-jet transverse momentum from 20 to 800 . The correlation of charged-particle mean with charged-particle multiplicity is also studied, and the densities include the forward rapidity region; these features provide extra data constraints for Monte Carlo modelling of colour reconnection and beam-remnant effects respectively. For the first time, underlying event observables have been computed separately for inclusive jet and exclusive dijet event selections, allowing more detailed study of the interplay of multiple partonic scattering and QCD radiation contributions to the underlying event. Comparisons to the predictions of different Monte Carlo models show a need for further model tuning, but the standard approach is found to generally reproduce the features of the underlying event in both types of event selection.