Abstract: A search for Higgs boson pair production pp -> hh is performed with 19.5 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at root s = 8TeV, which were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012. The decay products of each Higgs boson are reconstructed as a high-momentum b (b) over bar system with either a pair of small-radius jets or a single large-radius jet, the latter exploiting jet substructure techniques and associated b-tagged track-jets. No evidence for resonant or non-resonant Higgs boson pair production is observed. The data are interpreted in the context of the Randall-Sundrum model with a warped extra dimension as well as the two-Higgs-doublet model. An upper limit on the cross-section for pp -> G(KK)* -> hh -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar of 3.2 (2.3) fb is set for a Kaluza-Klein graviton G(KK)* mass of 1.0 (1.5) TeV, at the 95 % confidence level. The search for non-resonant Standard Model hh production sets an observed 95 % confidence level upper limit on the production cross-section sigma(pp -> hh -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) of 202 fb, compared to a Standard Model prediction of s(pp -> hh -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) = 3.6 +/- 0.5fb.

Abstract: A search for pair production of vector-like quarks, both up-type (T) and down-type (B), as well as for four-top-quark production, is presented. The search is based on pp collisions at TeV recorded in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1). Data are analysed in the lepton-plus-jets final state, characterised by an isolated electron or muon with high transverse momentum, large missing transverse momentum and multiple jets. Dedicated analyses are performed targeting three cases: a T quark with significant branching ratio to a W boson and a b-quark , and both a T quark and a B quark with significant branching ratio to a Higgs boson and a third-generation quark ( respectively). No significant excess of events above the Standard Model expectation is observed, and 95% CL lower limits are derived on the masses of the vector-like T and B quarks under several branching ratio hypotheses assuming contributions from T -> Wb, Zt, Ht and B -> Wt, Zb, Hb decays. The 95% CL observed lower limits on the T quark mass range between 715 GeV and 950 GeV for all possible values of the branching ratios into the three decay modes, and are the most stringent constraints to date. Additionally, the most restrictive upper bounds on four-top-quark production are set in a number of new physics scenarios.

Abstract: A search for Higgs boson production in association with a W or Z boson, in the H -> WW* decay channel, is performed with a data sample collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies root s = 7 TeV and 8TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 4.5 fb(-1) and 20.3 fb(-1), respectively. The W H production mode is studied in two-lepton and three-lepton final states, while twolepton and four-lepton final states are used to search for the ZH production mode. The observed significance, for the combined WH and ZH production, is 2.5 standard deviations while a significance of 0.9 standard deviations is expected in the Standard Model Higgs boson hypothesis. The ratio of the combined W H and Z H signal yield to the Standard Model expectation, mu(VH), is found to be mu(VH) = 3.0(-1.1)(+1.3)(stat.)(-0.7)(+1.0) (sys.) for the Higgs boson mass of 125.36 GeV. The WH and ZH production modes are also combined with the gluon fusion and vector boson fusion production modes studied in the H -> WW* -> l nu l nu decay channel, resulting in an overall observed significance of 6.5 standard deviations and μF-gg+VBF+VH = 1.16(-0.15)(+0.16)(stat.)(-0.15)(+0.18)(sys.). The results are interpreted in terms of scaling factors of the Higgs boson couplings to vector bosons (kappa(V)) and fermions (kappa(F)); the combined results are: vertical bar kappa(V)vertical bar = 1.06(-0.10)(+0.10), vertical bar kappa(F)vertical bar = 0.85(-0.20)(+0.26)

Abstract: An analysis is presented of events containing jets including at least one b tagged jet, sizeable missing transverse momentum, and at least two leptons including a pair of the same electric charge, with the scalar sum of the jet and lepton transverse momenta being large. A data sample with an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) of p p collisions at p root s = 8TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is used. Standard Model processes rarely produce these final states, but there are several models of physics beyond the Standard Model that predict an enhanced rate of production of such events; the ones considered here are production of vector-like quarks, enhanced fourtop- quark production, pair production of chiral b'-quarks, and production of two positively charged top quarks. Eleven signal regions are defined; subsets of these regions are combined when searching for each class of models. In the three signal regions primarily sensitive to positively charged top quark pair production, the data yield is consistent with the background expectation. There are more data events than expected from background in the set of eight signal regions defined for searching for vector-like quarks and chiral b'-quarks, but the significance of the discrepancy is less than two standard deviations. The discrepancy reaches 2.5 standard deviations in the set of five signal regions defined for searching for four-top-quark production. The results are used to set 95% CL limits on various models.

Abstract: The ATLAS Collaboration measures the inclusive production of Z bosons via their decays into electron and muon pairs in p + Pb collisions at root S-NN = 5.02 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are made using data corresponding to integrated luminosities of 29.4 and 28.1 nb(-1) for Z -> ee and Z -> μmu, respectively. The results from the two channels are consistent and combined to obtain a cross section times the Z -> ll branching ratio, integrated over the rapidity region vertical bar y(Z)*vertical bar < 3.5, of 139.8 +/- 4.8 (statistical) +/- 6.2 (systematic) +/- 3.8 (luminosity) nb. Differential cross sections are presented as functions of the Z boson rapidity and transverse momentum and compared with models based on parton distributions both with and without nuclear corrections. The centrality dependence of Z boson production in p + Pb collisions is measured and analyzed within the framework of a standard Glauber model and the model's extension for fluctuations of the underlying nucleon-nucleon scattering cross section.