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.

Abstract: The rejection of forward jets originating from additional proton-proton interactions (pile-up) is crucial for a variety of physics analyses at the LHC, including Standard Model measurements and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. The identification of such jets is challenging due to the lack of track and vertex information in the pseudorapidity range vertical bar eta vertical bar > 2.5. This paper presents a novel strategy for forward pile-up jet tagging that exploits jet shapes and topological jet correlations in pile-up interactions. Measurements of the per-jet tagging efficiency are presented using a data set of 3.2 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector. The fraction of pile-up jets rejected in the range 2.5 < vertical bar eta vertical bar < 4.5 is estimated in simulated events with an average of 22 interactions per bunch-crossing. It increases with jet transverse momentum and, for jets with transverse momentum between 20 and 50 GeV, it ranges between 49% and 67% with an efficiency of 85% for selecting hard-scatter jets. A case study is performed in Higgs boson production via the vector-boson fusion process, showing that these techniques mitigate the background growth due to additional proton-proton interactions, thus enhancing the reach for such signatures.

Abstract: This paper reports a detailed study of techniques for identifying boosted, hadronically decaying W bosons using 20.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 8 TeV. A range of techniques for optimising the signal jet mass resolution are combined with various jet substructure variables. The results of these studies in Monte Carlo simulations show that a simple pairwise combination of groomed jet mass and one substructure variable can provide a 50 % efficiency for identifying W bosons with transverse momenta larger than 200 GeV while maintaining multijet background efficiencies of 2-4% for jets with the same transverse momentum. These signal and background efficiencies are confirmed in data for a selection of tagging techniques.

Abstract: The response of the ATLAS detector to large-radius jets is measured in situ using 36.2 fb(-1) of root s = 13 TeV proton-proton collisions provided by the LHC and recorded by the ATLAS experiment during 2015 and 2016. The jet energy scale is measured in events where the jet recoils against a reference object, which can be either a calibrated photon, a reconstructed Z boson, or a system of well-measured small-radius jets. The jet energy resolution and a calibration of forward jets are derived using dijet balance measurements. The jet mass response is measured with two methods: using mass peaks formed by W bosons and top quarks with large transverse momenta and by comparing the jet mass measured using the energy deposited in the calorimeter with that using the momenta of charged-particle tracks. The transverse momentum and mass responses in simulations are found to be about 2-3% higher than in data. This difference is adjusted for with a correction factor. The results of the different methods are combined to yield a calibration over a large range of transverse momenta (p(T)). The precision of the relative jet energy scale is 1-2% for 200 GeV < p(T) < TeV, while that of the mass scale is 2-10%. The ratio of the energy resolutions in data and simulation is measured to a precision of 10-15% over the same p(T) range.

Abstract: This paper describes the implementation and performance of a particle flow algorithm applied to 20.2 fb(-1) of ATLAS data from 8 TeV proton-proton collisions in Run 1 of the LHC. The algorithm removes calorimeter energy deposits due to charged hadrons from consideration during jet reconstruction, instead using measurements of their momenta from the inner tracker. This improves the accuracy of the charged-hadron measurement, while retaining the calorimeter measurements of neutral-particle energies. The paper places emphasis on how this is achieved, while minimising double-counting of charged-hadron signals between the inner tracker and calorimeter. The performance of particle flow jets, formed from the ensemble of signals from the calorimeter and the inner tracker, is compared to that of jets reconstructed from calorimeter energy deposits alone, demonstrating improvements in resolution and pile-up stability.