Abstract: A search for vector-like quarks and excited quarks in events containing a top quark and a W boson in the final state is reported here. The search is based on 20.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data taken at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector. Events with one or two leptons, and one, two or three jets are selected with the additional requirement that at least one jet contains a b-quark. Single-lepton events are also required to contain at least one large-radius jet from the hadronic decay of a high-PT W boson or a top quark. No significant excess over the expected background is observed and upper limits on the cross-section times branching ratio for different vector-like quark and excited-quark model masses are derived. For the excited-quark production and decay to Wt with unit couplings, quarks with masses below 1500 GeV are excluded and coupling-dependent limits are set.

Abstract: Ratios of top-quark pair to Z-boson cross sections measured from proton-proton-collisions at the LHC centre-of-mass energies of root S = 13 TeV, 8 TeV, and 7 TeV are presented by the ATLAS Collaboration. Single ratios, at a given root S for the two processes and at different root S , for each process, as well as double ratios of the two processes at different root S , are evaluated. The ratios are constructed using previously published ATLAS measurements of the t (t) over bar and Z-boson production cross sections, corrected to a common phase space where required, and a new analysis of Z -> l(+)l(-) where l = e, μat root S = 13 TeV performed with data collected in 2015 with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1). Correlations of systematic uncertainties are taken into account when evaluating the uncertainties in the ratios. The correlation model is also used to evaluate the combined cross section of the Z -> e (+) e (-) and the Z -> μ(+) μ(-) channels for each value. The results are compared to calculations performed at next-to-next-to-leading-order accuracy using recent sets of parton distribution functions. The data demonstrate significant power to constrain the gluon distribution function for the Bjorken-x values near 0.1 and the light-quark sea for x < 0.02.

Abstract: A search is performed for the production of high-mass resonances decaying into a photon and a jet in 3.2 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Selected events have an isolated photon and a jet, each with transverse momentum above 150 GeV. No significant deviation of the gamma+jet invariant mass distribution from the background-only hypothesis is found. Limits are set at 95% confidence level on the cross sections of generic Gaussian-shaped signals and of a few benchmark phenomena beyond the Standard Model: excited quarks with vector-like couplings to the Standard Model particles, and non-thermal quantum black holes in two models of extra spatial dimensions. The minimum excluded visible cross sections for Gaussian-shaped resonances with width-to-mass ratios of 2% decrease from about 6 fb for a mass of 1.5 TeV to about 0.8 fb for a mass of 5 TeV. The minimum excluded visible cross sections for Gaussian-shaped resonances with width-to-mass ratios of 15% decrease from about 50 fb for a mass of 1.5 TeV to about 1.0 fb for a mass of 5 TeV. Excited quarks are excluded below masses of 4.4 TeV, and non-thermal quantum black holes are excluded below masses of 3.8 (6.2) TeV for Randall-Sundrum (Arkani-Hamed-Dimopoulous-Dvali) models with one (six) extra dimensions.

Abstract: Charged Higgs bosons heavier than the top quark and decaying via H-+/- -> tb are searched for in proton-proton collisions measured with the ATLAS experiment at root s = 8 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1). The production of a charged Higgs boson in association with a top quark, gb -> tH(+/-), is explored in the mass range 200 to 600 GeV using multi-jet final states with one electron or muon. In order to separate the signal from the Standard Model background, analysis techniques combining several kinematic variables are employed. An excess of events above the background only hypothesis is observed across a wide mass range, amounting to up to 2.4 standard deviations. Upper limits are set on the gb -> tH(+/-) production cross section times the branching fraction BR(H-+/- -> tb). Additionally, the complementary s-channel production, qq' -> H-+/-, is investigated through a reinterpretation of W' -> tb searches in ATLAS. Final states with one electron or muon are relevant for H-+/- masses from 0.4 to 2.0 TeV, whereas the all-hadronic final state covers the range 1.5 to 3.0 TeV. In these search channels, no significant excesses from the predictions of the Standard Model are observed, and upper limits are placed on the qq' -> H-+/- production cross section times the branching fraction BR(H-+/- -> tb).

Abstract: We present charged-particle distributions sensitive to the underlying event, measured by the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, in low-luminosity Large Hadron Collider fills corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.6 nb-1. The distributions were constructed using charged particles with absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.5 and with transverse momentum greater than 500 MeV, in events with at least one such charged particle with transverse momentum above 1 GeV. These distributions characterise the angular distribution of energy and particle flows with respect to the charged particle with highest transverse momentum, as a function of both that momentum and of charged-particle multiplicity. The results have been corrected for detector effects and are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generators, experimentally establishing the level of underlying-event activity at LHC Run 2 energies and providing inputs for the development of event generator modelling. The current models in use for UE modelling typically describe this data to 5% accuracy, compared with data uncertainties of less than 1%.