Abstract: This paper describes the trigger and offline reconstruction, identification and energy calibration algorithms for hadronic decays of tau leptons employed for the data collected from pp collisions in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC center-of-mass energy root s = 8 TeV. The performance of these algorithms is measured in most cases with Z decays to tau leptons using the full 2012 dataset, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1). An uncertainty on the offline reconstructed tau energy scale of 2-4%, depending on transverse energy and pseudorapidity, is achieved using two independent methods. The offline tau identification efficiency is measured with a precision of 2.5% for hadronically decaying tau leptons with one associated track, and of 4% for the case of three associated tracks, inclusive in pseudorapidity and for a visible transverse energy greater than 20 GeV. For hadronic tau lepton decays selected by offline algorithms, the tau trigger identification efficiency is measured with a precision of 2-8%, depending on the transverse energy. The performance of the tau algorithms, both offline and at the trigger level, is found to be stable with respect to the number of concurrent proton-proton interactions and has supported a variety of physics results using hadronically decaying tau leptons at ATLAS.

Abstract: This paper presents studies of the performance of several jet-substructure techniques, which are used to identify hadronically decaying top quarks with high transverse momentum contained in large-radius jets. The efficiency of identifying top quarks is measured using a sample of top-quark pairs and the rate of wrongly identifying jets from other quarks or gluons as top quarks is measured using multijet events collected with the ATLAS experiment in 20.3 fb(-1) of 8TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. Predictions from Monte Carlo simulations are found to provide an accurate description of the performance. The techniques are compared in terms of signal efficiency and background rejection using simulations, covering a larger range in jet transverse momenta than accessible in the dataset. Additionally, a novel technique is developed that is optimized to reconstruct top quarks in events with many jets.

Abstract: The luminosity determination for the ATLAS detector at the LHC during pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV in 2012 is presented. The evaluation of the luminosity scale is performed using several luminometers, and comparisons between these luminosity detectors are made to assess the accuracy, consistency and long-term stability of the results. A luminosity uncertainty of delta L/L = +/- 1.9% is obtained for the 22.7 fb(-1) of pp collision data delivered to ATLAS at root s = 8 TeV in 2012.

Abstract: Charged-particle spectra obtained in Pb+Pb interactions at root s(NN) = 2.76TeV and pp interactions at root s(NN) = 2.76TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are presented, using data with integrated luminosities of 0.15 nb(-1) and 4.2 pb(-1), respectively, in a wide transverse momentum (0.5 < p(T) < 150 GeV) and pseudorapidity (vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2) range. For Pb+Pb collisions, the spectra are presented as a function of collision centrality, which is determined by the response of the forward calorimeters located on both sides of the interaction point. The nuclear modification factors R-AA and R-CP are presented in detail as a function of centrality, p(T) and eta. They show a distinct p(T)-dependence with a pronounced minimum at about 7 GeV. Above 60 GeV, R-AA is consistent with a plateau at a centrality-dependent value, within the uncertainties. The value is 0.55 +/- 0.01(stat.) +/- 0.04(syst.) in the most central collisions. The R-AA distribution is consistent with flat vertical bar eta vertical bar dependence over the whole transverse momentum range in all centrality classes.

Abstract: The production of D*(+/-), D-+/- and D-S(+/-) charmed mesons has been measured with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at,/7s = 7 TeV at the LHC, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 280 nb(-)1(.) The charmed mesons have been reconstructed in the range of transverse momentum 3.5 < p(T)(D) < 100 GeV and pseudorapidity vertical bar eta(D)vertical bar < 2.1. The differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity were measured for D*(+/-) and D-+/- production. The next-to-leading-order QCD predictions are consistent with the data in the visible kinematic region within the large theoretical uncertainties. Using the visible D cross sections and an extrapolation to the full kinematic phase space, the strangeness -suppression factor in charm fragmentation, the fraction of charged non -strange D mesons produced in a vector state, and the total cross section of charm production at root s = 7 TeV were derived.