ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amoros, G., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Ferrer, A., et al. (2012). Search for events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least two tau leptons in 7 TeV proton-proton collision data with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Lett. B, 714(2-5), 180–196.
Abstract: A search for events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least two tau leptons has been performed using 2 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at root s = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed and a 95% CL upper limit on the visible cross section for new phenomena is set, where the visible cross section is defined by the product of cross section, branching fraction, detector acceptance and event selection efficiency. A 95% CL lower limit of 32 TeV is set on the gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) scale Lambda independent of tan beta. These limits provide the most stringent tests to date in a large part of the considered parameter space.
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Reid, B. A. et al, & de Putter, R. (2012). The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurements of the growth of structure and expansion rate at z=0.57 from anisotropic clustering. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 426(4), 2719–2737.
Abstract: We analyse the anisotropic clustering of massive galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Data Release 9 (DR9) sample, which consists of 264-283 galaxies in the redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7 spanning 3275 deg(2). Both peculiar velocities and errors in the assumed redshiftdistance relation (AlcockPaczynski effect) generate correlations between clustering amplitude and orientation with respect to the line of sight. Together with the sharp baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) standard ruler, our measurements of the broad-band shape of the monopole and quadrupole correlation functions simultaneously constrain the comoving angular diameter distance (2190 +/- 61 Mpc) to z = 0.57, the Hubble expansion rate at z = 0.57 (92.4 +/- 4.5 km s(-1) Mpc(-1)) and the growth rate of structure at that same redshift (d(sigma 8)/d ln a = 0.43 +/- 0.069). Our analysis provides the best current direct determination of both DA and H in galaxy clustering data using this technique. If we further assume a cold dark matter expansion history, our growth constraint tightens to d(sigma 8)/d ln a = 0.415 +/- 0.034. In combination with the cosmic microwave background, our measurements of D-A,H and d(sigma 8)/d ln a all separately require dark energy at z > 0.57, and when combined imply Omega(A) = 0.74 +/- 0.016, independent of the Universe's evolution at z < 0.57. All of these constraints assume scale-independent linear growth, and assume general relativity to compute both O(10 per cent) non-linear model corrections and our errors. In our companion paper, Samushia et al., we explore further cosmological implications of these observations.
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Aparici, A., Herrero-Garcia, J., Rius, N., & Santamaria, A. (2012). On the nature of the fourth generation neutrino and its implications. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 030–31pp.
Abstract: We consider the neutrino sector of a Standard Model with four generations. While the three light neutrinos can obtain their masses from a variety of mechanisms with or without new neutral fermions, fourth-generation neutrinos need at least one new relatively light right-handed neutrino. If lepton number is not conserved this neutrino must have a Majorana mass term whose size depends on the underlying mechanism for lepton number violation. Majorana masses for the fourth-generation neutrinos induce relative large two-loop contributions to the light neutrino masses which could be even larger than the cosmological bounds. This sets strong limits on the mass parameters and mixings of the fourth-generation neutrinos.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amoros, G., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Ferrer, A., et al. (2012). Search for Pair Production of a New b ' Quark that Decays into a Z Boson and a Bottom Quark with the ATLAS Detector. Phys. Rev. Lett., 109(7), 071801–19pp.
Abstract: A search is reported for the pair production of a new quark b' with at least one b' decaying to a Z boson and a bottom quark. The data, corresponding to 2.0 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity, were collected from pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Using events with a b-tagged jet and a Z boson reconstructed from opposite-charge electrons, the mass distribution of large transverse momentum b' candidates is tested for an enhancement. No evidence for a b' signal is detected in the observed mass distribution, resulting in the exclusion at a 95% confidence level of b' quarks with masses m(b)' < 400 GeV that decay entirely via b' -> Z + b. In the case of a vectorlike singlet b' mixing solely with the third standard model generation, masses m(b)' < 358 GeV are excluded.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amoros, G., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Ferrer, A., et al. (2012). Search for resonant WZ production in the WZ -> lvl ' l ' channel in root(s)=7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 85(11), 112012–21pp.
Abstract: A generic search is presented for a heavy particle decaying to WZ -> lvl'l' (l, l' = e, mu) final states. The data were recorded by the ATLAS detector in root s = 7 TeV pp collisions at the Large Hadron Collider and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.02 fb(-1). The transverse mass distribution of the selected WZ candidates is found to be consistent with the standard model expectation. Upper limits on the production cross section times branching ratio are derived using two benchmark models predicting a heavy particle decaying to a WZ pair.
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