Abstract: The production of W boson pairs in proton-proton collisions at root s = 8TeV is studied using data corresponding to 20.3 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity collected by the ATLAS detector during 2012 at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The W bosons are reconstructed using their leptonic decays into electrons or muons and neutrinos. Events with reconstructed jets are not included in the candidate event sample. A total of 6636 W W candidate events are observed. Measurements are performed in fiducial regions closely approximating the detector acceptance. The integrated measurement is corrected for all acceptance effects and for the W branching fractions to leptons in order to obtain the total W W production cross section, which is found to be 71.1 +/- 1.1( stat) + (5.7) (5.0) (syst) +/- 1 : 4( lumi) pb. This agrees with the next-to-next-to-leading-order Standard Model prediction of 63.2(+1.6) (-1.4) (scale) +/- 1.2(PDF) pb. Fiducial differential cross sections are measured as a function of each of six kinematic variables. The distribution of the transverse momentum of the leading lepton is used to set limits on anomalous triple-gauge-boson couplings.

Abstract: The scalar sector of the minimal left-right model at TeV scale is revisited in light of the large quartic coupling needed for a heavy flavor-changing scalar. The stability and perturbativity of the effective potential is discussed and merged with constraints from low-energy processes. Thus, the perturbative level of the left-right scale is sharpened. Lower limits on the triplet scalars are also derived: The left-handed triplet is bounded by oblique parameters, while the doubly charged right-handed component is limited by the h -> gamma gamma, Z gamma decays. Current constraints disfavor their detection as long as W-R is within the reach of the LHC.

Abstract: Event-shape observables measured using charged particles in inclusive Z-boson events are presented, using the electron and muon decay modes of the Z bosons. The measurements are based on an integrated luminosity of 1.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 7 TeV. Charged-particle distributions, excluding the lepton-antilepton pair from the Z-boson decay, are measured in different ranges of transverse momentum of the Z boson. Distributions include multiplicity, scalar sum of transverse momenta, beam thrust, transverse thrust, spherocity, and F-parameter, which are in particular sensitive to properties of the underlying event at small values of the Z-boson transverse momentum. The measured observables are compared with predictions from PYTHIA 8, Sherpa, and HERWIG 7. Typically, all three Monte Carlo generators provide predictions that are in better agreement with the data at high Z-boson transverse momenta than at low Z-boson transverse momenta, and for the observables that are less sensitive to the number of charged particles in the event.

Abstract: The properties of the Lambda(1405) resonance are key ingredients for determining the antikaon-nucleon interaction in strangeness nuclear physics, and the novel internal structure of the Lambda(1405) is of great interest in hadron physics, as a prototype case of a baryon that does not fit into the simple three-quark picture. We show that a quantitative description of the antikaon-nucleon interaction with the Lambda(1405) is achieved in the framework of chiral SU(3) dynamics, with the help of recent experimental progress. Further constraints on the (K) over barN subthreshold interaction are provided by analyzing pi Sigma spectra in various processes, such as the K(-)d -> pi Sigma n reaction and the Lambda(c) -> pi pi Sigma decay. The structure of the Lambda(1405) is found to be dominated by an antikaon-nucleon molecular configuration, based on its wavefunction derived from a realistic (K) over barN potential and the compositeness criteria from a model-independent weak-binding relation.

Abstract: We point out that in the standard model there is meaningful quark mixing even in the extreme chiral (EC) limit, where only the third generation of quarks acquires mass. This mixing is in general expected to be of order 1 and the fact that |V-13|(2) + |V-23|(2) approximate to 1.6 x 10(-3) implies a novel fine-tuning problem in the SM which we point out for the first time. We propose a possible way of avoiding this fine-tuning by introducing a symmetry S which leads to V-CKM = 1, with only the third generation of quarks acquiring mass. We consider two scenarios for generating the mass of the first two quark generations and full quark mixing based on the assumption that the masses of the first two quark families are not generated by the standard Higgs. One consists of the introduction of a second Higgs doublet which is neutral under S. The second scenario consists of assuming new physics at a high energy scale, contributing to the masses of light quark generations, in an effective field theory approach. This last scenario leads to couplings of the Higgs particle to s (s) over bar and c (c) over tilde which are significantly enhanced with respect to those of the SM. In both schemes, one has scalar-mediated flavor-changing neutral currents which are naturally suppressed. Flavor-violating top decays are predicted in the second scenario at the level Br(t -> hc) >= 5 x 10(-5).