Abstract: A search is presented for production of dark-matter particles recoiling against a leptonically decaying Z boson in 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with large missing transverse momentum and two oppositely charged electrons or muons consistent with the decay of a Z boson are analyzed. No excess above the Standard Model prediction is observed. Limits are set on the mass scale of the contact interaction as a function of the dark-matter particle mass using an effective field theory description of the interaction of dark matter with quarks or with Z bosons. Limits are also set on the coupling and mediator mass of a model in which the interaction is mediated by a scalar particle.

Abstract: A measurement of event-plane correlations involving two or three event planes of different order is presented as a function of centrality for 7 μb(-1) Pb + Pb collision data at v root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV, recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Fourteen correlators are measured using a standard event-plane method and a scalar-product method, and the latter method is found to give a systematically larger correlation signal. Several different trends in the centrality dependence of these correlators are observed. These trends are not reproduced by predictions based on the Glauber model, which includes only the correlations from the collision geometry in the initial state. Calculations that include the final-state collective dynamics are able to describe qualitatively, and in some cases also quantitatively, the centrality dependence of the measured correlators. These observations suggest that both the fluctuations in the initial geometry and the nonlinear mixing between different harmonics in the final state are important for creating these correlations in momentum space.

Abstract: Results of a search for supersymmetry via direct production of third-generation squarks are reported, using 20.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at root s = 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2012. Two different analysis strategies based on monojetlike and c-tagged event selections are carried out to optimize the sensitivity for direct top squark-pair production in the decay channel to a charm quark and the lightest neutralino ((t) over tilde (1) -> c + (chi) over tilde (0)(1)) across the top squark-neutralino mass parameter space. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed. The results are interpreted in the context of direct pair production of top squarks and presented in terms of exclusion limits in the (m((t) over tilde1), m((chi) over tilde 10)) parameter space. A top squark of mass up to about 240 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for arbitrary neutralino masses, within the kinematic boundaries. Top squark masses up to 270 GeV are excluded for a neutralino mass of 200 GeV. In a scenario where the top squark and the lightest neutralino are nearly degenerate in mass, top squark masses up to 260 GeV are excluded. The results from the monojetlike analysis are also interpreted in terms of compressed scenarios for top squark-pair production in the decay channel (t) over tilde (1) -> b + ff' + (chi) over tilde (0)(1) and sbottom pair production with (b) over tilde -> b + (chi) over tilde (0)(1), leading to a similar exclusion for nearly mass-degenerate third-generation squarks and the lightest neutralino. The results in this paper significantly extend previous results at colliders.

Abstract: Measurements of normalized differential cross sections for top-quark pair production are presented as a function of the top-quark transverse momentum, and of the mass, transverse momentum, and rapidity of the t (t) over bar system, in proton proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 7 TeV. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb(-1), recorded in 2011 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in the lepton jets channel, requiring exactly one lepton and at least four jets with at least one of the jets tagged as originating from a b-quark. The measured spectra are corrected for detector efficiency and resolution effects and are compared to several Monte Carlo simulations and theory calculations. The results are in fair agreement with the predictions in a wide kinematic range. Nevertheless, data distributions are softer than predicted for higher values of the mass of the t (t) over bar system and of the top-quark transverse momentum. The measurements can also discriminate among different sets of parton distribution functions.

Abstract: The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is used to search for the lepton flavor violating process Z -> e μin pp collisions using 20.3 fb(-1) of data collected at root s = 8 TeV. An enhancement in the e μinvariant mass spectrum is searched for at the Z-boson mass. The number of Z bosons produced in the data sample is estimated using events of similar topology, Z -> ee and μmu, significantly reducing the systematic uncertainty in the measurement. There is no evidence of an enhancement at the Z-boson mass, resulting in an upper limit on the branching fraction, B(Z -> e mu) < 7.5 x 10(-7) at the 95% confidence level.