Abstract: A direct search for lepton-flavour-violating H -> μtau decays of the recently discovered Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. The analysis is performed in the H -> μtau(had) channel, where tau(had) is a hadronically decaying tau-lepton. The search is based on the data sample of proton-proton collisions collected by the ATLAS experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8TeV. No statistically significant excess of data over the predicted background is observed. The observed (expected) 95% confidence-level upper limit on the branching fraction, Br(H -> μtau), is 1.85% (1.24%).

Abstract: A search for the flavour-changing neutral-current decay is presented. Data collected by the ATLAS detector during 2012 from proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1), are analysed. Top-quark pair-production events with one top quark decaying through the t -> qZ (q = u,c) channel and the other through the dominant Standard Model mode t -> bW are considered as signal. Only the decays of the Z boson to charged leptons and leptonic W boson decays are used. No evidence for a signal is found and an observed (expected) upper limit on the t -> qZ branching ratio of 7 x 10(-4) (8 x 10(-4)) is set at the 95 % confidence level.

Abstract: Fiducial cross-sections for t (t) over bar production with one or two additional b-jets are reported, using an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider, collected with the ATLAS detector. The cross-section times branching ratio for t (t) over bar events with at least one additional b-jet is measured to be 950 +/- 70 (stat.)(-190)(+240) (syst.) fb in the lepton-plus-jets channel and 50 +/- 10 (stat.)(-10)(+15) (syst.) fb in the e μchannel. The cross-section times branching ratio for events with at least two additional b-jets is measured to be 19.3 +/- 3.5 (stat.) +/- 5.7 (syst.) fb in the dilepton channel (e mu, μmu, and ee) using a method based on tight selection criteria, and 13.5 +/- 3.3 (stat.) +/- 3.6 (syst.) fb using a looser selection that allows the background normalisation to be extracted from data. The latter method also measures a value of 1.30 +/- 0.33 (stat.) +/- 0.28 (syst.)% for the ratio of t (t) over bar production with two additional b-jets to t (t) over bar production with any two additional jets. All measurements are in good agreement with recent theory predictions.

Abstract: A search for single top-quark production via flavour-changing neutral current processes from gluon plus up- or charm-quark initial states in proton-proton collisions at the LHC is presented. Data collected with the ATLAS detector in 2012 at a centre-of-mass energy of 8TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) are used. Candidate events for a top quark decaying into a lepton, a neutrino and a jet are selected and classified into signal- and background-like candidates using a neural network. No signal is observed and an upper limit on the production cross-section multiplied by the t -> Wb branching fraction is set. The observed 95% CL limit is sigma(qg -> t) x B(t -> Wb) < 3.4 pb and the expected 95% CL limit is sigma(qg -> t) x B(t -> Wb) < 2.9 pb. The observed limit can be interpreted as upper limits on the coupling constants of the flavour-changing neutral current interactions divided by the scale of new physics kappa(ugt)/Lambda < 5.8 x 10(-3) TeV-1 and kappa(cgt)/Lambda < 13x10(-3) TeV and on the branching fractions B(t -> ug) < 4.0 x 10(-5) and B(t -> cg) < 20 x 10(-5).

Abstract: The ATLAS experiment at the LHC has measured the Higgs boson couplings and mass, and searched for invisible Higgs boson decays, using multiple production and decay channels with up to 4.7 fb(-1) of pp collision data at root S = 7 TeV and 20.3 fb(-1) at root s = 8 TeV. In the current study, the measured production and decay rates of the observed Higgs boson in the gamma gamma, ZZ, WW, Z gamma, bb, tau tau, and μμdecay channels, along with results from the associated production of a Higgs boson with a top-quark pair, are used to probe the scaling of the couplings with mass. Limits are set on parameters in extensions of the Standard Model including a composite Higgs boson, an additional electroweak singlet, and two-Higgs-doublet models. Together with the measured mass of the scalar Higgs boson in the gamma gamma and ZZ decay modes, a lower limit is set on the pseudoscalar Higgs boson mass of m(A) > 370 GeV in the “hMSSM” simplified Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Results from direct searches for heavy Higgs bosons are also interpreted in the hMSSM. Direct searches for invisible Higgs boson decays in the vector-boson fusion and associated production of a Higgs boson with W/Z (Z -> ll, W/Z -> jj) modes are statistically combined to set an upper limit on the Higgs boson invisible branching ratio of 0.25. The use of the measured visible decay rates in a more general coupling fit improves the upper limit to 0.23, constraining a Higgs portal model of dark matter.