Abstract: This Letter presents a search for new resonances decaying to final states with a vector boson produced in association with a high transverse momentum photon, V gamma, with V = W(-> l nu) or Z(-> l(+)l(-)), where l = μor mu. The measurements use 20.3fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector. No deviations from the Standard Model expectations are found, and production cross section limits are set at 95% confidence level. Masses of the hypothetical a(T) and omega(T) states of a benchmark Low Scale Technicolor model are excluded in the ranges [275, 960] GeV and [200, 700]boolean OR[750, 890] GeV, respectively. Limits at 95% confidence level on the production cross section of a singlet scalar resonance decaying to Z gamma final states have also been obtained for masses below 1180 GeV.

Abstract: A search is reported for a neutral Higgs boson in the decay channel H -> Z gamma, Z -> l(+)l(-) (l = e, mu), using 4.5 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV and 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV, recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The observed distribution of the invariant mass of the three final-state particles, m(ll gamma), is consistent with the Standard Model hypothesis in the investigated mass range of 120-150 GeV. For a Higgs boson with a mass of 125.5 GeV, the observed upper limit at the 95% confidence level is 11 times the Standard Model expectation. Upper limits are set on the cross section times branching ratio of a neutral Higgs boson with mass in the range 120-150 GeV between 0.13 and 0.5 pb for root s = 8 TeV at 95% confidence level.

Abstract: This Letter presents a measurement of the inelastic proton-proton cross section using 60 μb(-1) of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy root s of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Inelastic interactions are selected using rings of plastic scintillators in the forward region (2.07 <vertical bar eta vertical bar < 3.86) of the detector. A cross section of 68.1 +/- 1.4 mb is measured in the fiducial region. xi = M-X(2) > s > 10(-6), where M-X is the larger invariant mass of the two hadronic systems separated by the largest rapidity gap in the event. In this xi range the scintillators are highly efficient. For diffractive events this corresponds to cases where at least one proton dissociates to a system with M-X > 13 GeV. The measured cross section is compared with a range of theoretical predictions. When extrapolated to the full phase space, a cross section of 78.1 +/- 2.9 mb is measured, consistent with the inelastic cross section increasing with center-of-mass energy.

Abstract: ATLAS has measured two-particle correlations as a function of the relative azimuthal angle, Delta phi, and pseudorapidity, Delta eta, in root s = 13 and 2.76 TeV pp collisions at the LHC using charged particles measured in the pseudorapidity interval vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.5. The correlation functions evaluated in different intervals of measured charged-particle multiplicity show a multiplicity-dependent enhancement at Delta phi similar to 0 that extends over a wide range of Delta eta, which has been referred to as the “ridge.” Per-trigger-particle yields, Y(Delta phi) are measured over 2 < vertical bar Delta eta vertical bar < 5. For both collision energies, the Y(Delta phi) distribution in all multiplicity intervals is found to be consistent with a linear combination of the per-trigger-particle yields measured in collisions with less than 2 phi reconstructed tracks, and a constant combinatoric contribution modulated by cos (2 Delta phi). The fitted Fourier coefficient, nu(2,2), exhibits factorization, suggesting that the ridge results from per-event cos (2 phi) modulation of the single-particle distribution with Fourier coefficients nu(2). The nu(2) values are presented as a function of multiplicity and transverse momentum. They are found to be approximately constant as a function of multiplicity and to have a p(T) dependence similar to that measured in p + Pb and Pb + Pb collisions. The nu(2) values in the 13 and 2.76 TeV data are consistent within uncertainties. These results suggest that the ridge in pp collisions arises from the same or similar underlying physics as observed in p + Pb collisions, and that the dynamics responsible for the ridge has no strong root s dependence.

Abstract: This Letter reports evidence of triple gauge boson production pp -> W(l nu)gamma gamma + X, which is accessible for the first time with the 8 TeV LHC data set. The fiducial cross section for this process is measured in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1), collected by the ATLAS detector in 2012. Events are selected using the W boson decay to e nu or μnu as well as requiring two isolated photons. The measured cross section is used to set limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings in the high diphoton mass region.