Abstract: Measurements of the ZZ and WW final states in the mass range above the 2m(Z) and 2m(W) thresholds provide a unique opportunity to measure the off-shell coupling strength of the Higgs boson. This paper presents constraints on the off-shell Higgs boson event yields normalised to the Standard Model prediction (signal strength) in the ZZ -> 4l, ZZ -> 2l2 nu and WW -> e nu μnu final states. The result is based on pp collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) at a collision energy of root s = 8 TeV. Using the CLs method, the observed 95 % confidence level (CL) upper limit on the off-shell signal strength is in the range 5.1-8.6, with an expected range of 6.7-11.0. In each case the range is determined by varying the unknown gg -> ZZ and gg -> WW background K-factor from higher-order quantum chromodynamics corrections between half and twice the value of the known signal K-factor. Assuming the relevant Higgs boson couplings are independent of the energy scale of the Higgs boson production, a combination with the on-shell measurements yields an observed (expected) 95 % CL upper limit on Gamma(H)/Gamma(SM)(H) in the range 4.5-7.5 (6.5-11.2) using the same variations of the background K-factor. Assuming that the unknown gg -> VV background K-factor is equal to the signal K-factor, this translates into an observed (expected) 95 % CL upper limit on the Higgs boson total width of 22.7 (33.0) MeV.

Abstract: This article presents measurements of the t-channel single top-quark ((t) over bart) and top-antiquark ( t) total production cross sections sdtq and sd tq, their ratio Rt sdtq= sd tq, and a measurement of the inclusive production cross section sdtq tq in proton-proton collisions at ffiffiffi ps = 7 TeV at the LHC. Differential cross sections for the tq and tq processes are measured as a function of the transverse momentum and the absolute value of the rapidity of t and t, respectively. The analyzed data set was recorded with the ATLAS detector and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.59 fb-1. Selected events contain one charged lepton, large missing transverse momentum, and two or three jets. The cross sections are measured by performing a binned maximum-likelihood fit to the output distributions of neural networks. The resulting measurements are sdtq 46 = 1dstat = 6dsyst pb, sd tq = 23 +/- 1dstat = 3dsyst pb, Rt = 2.04 0.13dstat +/-=0.12dsyst, and sdtq tq = 68 +/-= 2dstat = 8dsyst pb, consistent with the Standard Model expectation. The uncertainty on the measured cross sections is dominated by systematic uncertainties, while the uncertainty on Rt is mainly statistical. Using the ratio of sdtq tq_ to its theoretical prediction, and assuming that the top-quark-related CKM matrix elements obey the relation jVtbj = jVtsj; jVtdj, we determine jVtbj = 1.02 = 0.07.

Abstract: Measurements of the centrality and rapidity dependence of inclusive jet production in root(NN)-N-S = 5.02 TeV proton-lead (p + Pb) collisions and the jet cross-section in root s = 2.76 TeV proton-proton collisions are presented. These quantities are measured in datasets corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 27.8 nb(-1) and 4.0 pb(-1), respectively, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2013. The p + Pb collision centrality was characterised using the total transverse energy measured in the pseudorapidity interval -4.9 < eta < -3.2 in the direction of the lead beam. Results are presented for the double-differential per-collision yields as a function of jet rapidity and transverse momentum (p(T)) for minimum-bias and centrality-selected p + Pb collisions, and are compared to the jet rate from the geometric expectation. The total jet yield in minimum-bias events is slightly enhanced above the expectation in a p(T)-dependent manner but is consistent with the expectation within uncertainties. The ratios of jet spectra from different centrality selections show a strong modification of jet production at all p(T) at forward rapidities and for large pT at mid-rapidity, which manifests as a suppression of the jet yield in central events and an enhancement in peripheral events. These effects imply that the factorisation between hard and soft processes is violated at an unexpected level in proton-nucleus collisions. Furthermore, the modifications at forward rapidities are found to be a function of the total jet energy only, implying that the violations may have a simple dependence on the hard parton-parton kinematics.

Abstract: This paper reviews and extends searches for the direct pair production of the scalar supersymmetric partners of the top and bottom quarks in proton-proton collisions collected by the ATLAS collaboration during the LHC Run 1. Most of the analyses use 20 fb(-1) of collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV, although in some case an additional 4.7 fb(-1) of collision data at root s = 7 TeV are used. New analyses are introduced to improve the sensitivity to specific regions of the model parameter space. Since no evidence of third-generation squarks is found, exclusion limits are derived by combining several analyses and are presented in both a simplified model framework, assuming simple decay chains, as well as within the context of more elaborate phenomenological supersymmetric models.

Abstract: A search for new particles that decay into top quark pairs is reported. The search is performed with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC using an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8TeV. The lepton-plus-jets final state is used, where the top pair decays to W (+) bW(-)(b) over bar, with one W boson decaying leptonically and the other hadronically. The invariant mass spectrum of top quark pairs is examined for local excesses or deficits that are inconsistent with the Standard Model predictions. No evidence for a top quark pair resonance is found, and 95% confidence-level limits on the production rate are determined for massive states in benchmark models. The upper limits on the cross-section times branching ratio of a narrow Z' boson decaying to top pairs range from 4.2 pb to 0.03 pb for resonance masses from 0.4 TeV to 3.0 TeV. A narrow leptophobic topcolour Z' boson with mass below 1.8 TeV is excluded. Upper limits are set on the cross-section times branching ratio for a broad colour-octet resonance with Gamma/m = 15% decaying to tt. These range from 4.8 pb to 0.03 pb for masses from 0.4 TeV to 3.0 TeV. A Kaluza-Klein excitation of the gluon in a Randall-Sundrum model is excluded for masses below 2.2 TeV.