Abstract: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) presents the first spectroscopic data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This ninth data release (DR9) of the SDSS project includes 535,995 new galaxy spectra (median z similar to 0.52), 102,100 new quasar spectra (median z similar to 2.32), and 90,897 new stellar spectra, along with the data presented in previous data releases. These spectra were obtained with the new BOSS spectrograph and were taken between 2009 December and 2011 July. In addition, the stellar parameters pipeline, which determines radial velocities, surface temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities of stars, has been updated and refined with improvements in temperature estimates for stars with T-eff < 5000 K and in metallicity estimates for stars with [Fe/H] > -0.5. DR9 includes new stellar parameters for all stars presented in DR8, including stars from SDSS-I and II, as well as those observed as part of the SEGUE-2. The astrometry error introduced in the DR8 imaging catalogs has been corrected in the DR9 data products. The next data release for SDSS-III will be in Summer 2013, which will present the first data from the APOGEE along with another year of data from BOSS, followed by the final SDSS-III data release in 2014 December.

Abstract: A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson has been performed in the H -> WW -> lvjj channel using 4.7 fb(-1) of pp collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Higgs boson candidates produced in association with zero, one or two jets are included in the analysis to maximize the acceptance for both gluon fusion and weak boson fusion Higgs boson production processes. No significant excess of events is observed over the expected background and limits on the Higgs boson production cross section are derived for a Higgs boson mass in the range 300 GeV < m(H) < 600 GeV. The best sensitivity is reached for m(H) = 400 GeV, where the observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper bound on the cross section for H -> WW produced in association with zero or one jet is 2.2 pb (1.9 pb), corresponding to 1.9 (1.6) times the Standard Model prediction. In the Higgs boson plus two jets channel, which is more sensitive to the weak boson fusion process, the observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper bound on the cross section for H -> WW production with m(H) = 400 GeV is 0.7 pb (0.6 pb), corresponding to 7.9 (6.5) times the Standard Model prediction.

Abstract: This report presents a comprehensive collection of searches for new physics performed by the ATLAS Collaboration during the Run 2 period of data taking at the Large Hadron Collider, from 2015 to 2018, corresponding to about 140 fb(-1) of root s = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data. These searches cover a variety of beyond-the-standard model topics such as dark matter candidates, new vector bosons, hidden-sector particles, leptoquarks, or vector-like quarks, among others. Searches for supersymmetric particles or extended Higgs sectors are explicitly excluded as these are the subject of separate reports by the Collaboration. For each topic, the most relevant searches are described, focusing on their importance and sensitivity and, when appropriate, highlighting the experimental techniques employed. In addition to the description of each analysis, complementary searches are compared, and the overall sensitivity of the ATLAS experiment to each type of new physics is discussed. Summary plots and statistical combinations of multiple searches are included whenever possible. (c) 2024 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS Collaboration. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).