Abstract: This paper discusses various observations on beam-induced and cosmic-ray backgrounds in the ATLAS detector during the LHC 2012 proton-proton run. Building on published results based on 2011 data, the correlations between background and residual pressure of the beam vacuum are revisited. Ghost charge evolution over 2012 and its role for backgrounds are evaluated. New methods to monitor ghost charge with beam-gas rates are presented and observations of LHC abort gap population by ghost charge are discussed in detail. Fake jets from colliding bunches and from ghost charge are analysed with improved methods, showing that ghost charge in individual radio-frequency buckets of the LHC can be resolved. Some results of two short periods of dedicated cosmic-ray background data-taking are shown; in particular cosmic-ray muon induced fake jet rates are compared to Monte Carlo simulations and to the fake jet rates from beam background. A thorough analysis of a particular LHC fill, where abnormally high background was observed, is presented. Correlations between backgrounds and beam intensity losses in special fills with very high beta* are studied.

Abstract: We report the measurement of muon neutrino charged-current interactions on carbon without pions in the final state at the T2K beam energy using 5.734 x 10(20) protons on target. For the first time the measurement is reported as a flux-integrated, double-differential cross section in muon kinematic variables (cos theta(mu), p(mu)), without correcting for events where a pion is produced and then absorbed by final state interactions. Two analyses are performed with different selections, background evaluations and cross-section extraction methods to demonstrate the robustness of the results against biases due to model-dependent assumptions. The measurements compare favorably with recent models which include nucleon-nucleon correlations but, given the present precision, the measurement does not distinguish among the available models. The data also agree with Monte Carlo simulations which use effective parameters that are tuned to external data to describe the nuclear effects. The total cross section in the full phase space is sigma = (0.417 +/- 0.047(syst) +/- 0.005(stat)) x 10(-38) cm(2) nucleon(-1) and the cross section integrated in the region of phase space with largest efficiency and best signal-over-background ratio (cos theta(mu) > 0.6 and p(mu) > 200 MeV) is sigma = (0.202 +/- 0.036(syst) +/- 0.003(stat)) x 10(-38) cm(2) nucleon(-1).

Abstract: Charm meson oscillations are observed in a time-dependent analysis of the ratio of D-0 -> K+pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) to D-0 -> K-pi(+)pi(-)pi(+) decay rates, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1) recorded by the LHCb experiment. The measurements presented are sensitive to the phase-space averaged ratio of doubly Cabibbo-suppressed to Cabibbo-favored amplitudes r(D)(K3 pi) and the product of the coherence factor R-D(K3 pi) and a charm mixing parameter y'(K3 pi). The constraints measured are r(D)(K3 pi) = (5.67 +/- 0.12) x 10(-2), which is the most precise determination to date, and R-D(K3 pi) y'(K3 pi) = (0.3 +/- 1.8) x 10(-3), which provides useful input for determinations of the CP-violating phase gamma in B-+/- -> DK +/-, D -> K--/+pi(+/-)pi(-/+)pi(+/-) decays. The analysis also gives the most precise measurement of the D-0 -> K+pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) branching fraction, and the first observation of D-0-(D) over bar (0) oscillations in this decay mode, with a significance of 8.2 standard deviations.

Abstract: A search for the pair production of top squarks, each with R-parity-violating decays into two Standard Model quarks, is performed using 17.4 fb(-1) of root s = 8 TeV proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LITC. Each top squark is assumed to decay to a b- and an 8-quark, leading to four quarks in the final state. Background discrimination is achieved with the use of b-tagging and selections on the mass and substructure of large-radius jets, providing sensitivity to top squark masses as low as 100 GeV. No evidence of an excess beyond the Standard Model background prediction is observed and top squalls decaying to bs are excluded for top squark masses in the range 100 <= m((t) over tilde) <= 315 GeV at 95% confidence level.

Abstract: We analyze the Stern-Gerlach experiment in phase space with the help of the matrix Wigner function, which includes the spin degree of freedom. Such analysis allows for an intuitive visualization of the quantum dynamics of the device. We include the interaction with the environment, as described by the Caldeira-Leggett model. The diagonal terms of the matrix provide us with information about the two components of the state that arise from interaction with the magnetic field gradient. In particular, from the marginals of these components, we obtain an analytical formula for the position and momentum probability distributions in the presence of decoherence that shows a diffusive behavior for large values of the decoherence parameter. These features limit the dynamics of the present model. We also observe the decay of the nondiagonal terms with time and use this fact to quantify the amount of decoherence from the norm of those terms in phase space. From here, we can define a decoherence time scale, which differs from previous results that make use of the same model. We analyze a typical experiment and show that, for that setup, the decoherence time is much smaller than the characteristic time scale for the separation of the two beams, implying that they can be described as an incoherent mixture of atoms traveling in the up and down directions with opposite values of the spin projection. Therefore, entanglement is quickly destroyed in the setup we analyzed.