Person:

Lazovich, Tomo

The production rates of prompt and non-prompt J/ψ and ψ(2S) mesons are measured using 2.1 fb−1 and 11.4 fb−1 of data collected with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at s√=7 and 8 TeV respectively. Production cross-sections for both prompt and non-prompt production sources, ratios of ψ(2S) to J/ψ production, and fractions of non-prompt to inclusive production for J/ψ and ψ(2S) are measured double-differentially as a function of meson pT and rapidity. These measurements are made in a restricted fiducial volume and also corrected for geometrical acceptance after which they are compared to a variety of theoretical predictions.

This paper describes the algorithms for the reconstruction and identification of electrons in the central region of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These algorithms were used for all ATLAS results with electrons in the final state that are based on the 2012 pp collision data produced by the LHC at s√ = 8 TeV. The efficiency of these algorithms, together with the charge misidentification rate, is measured in data and evaluated in simulated samples using electrons from Z→ee, Z→eeγ and J/ψ→ee decays. For these efficiency measurements, the full recorded data set, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1, is used. Based on a new reconstruction algorithm used in 2012, the electron reconstruction efficiency is 97% for electrons with ET=15 GeV and 99% at ET=50 GeV. Combining this with the efficiency of additional selection criteria to reject electrons from background processes or misidentified hadrons, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify electrons at the ATLAS experiment varies from 65% to 95%, depending on the transverse momentum of the electron and background rejection.

The tracking performance parameters of the ATLAS Transition Radiation Tracker (TRT) as part of the ATLAS inner detector are described in this paper for different data-taking conditions in proton-proton, proton-lead and lead-lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The performance is studied using data collected during the first period of LHC operation (Run 1) and is compared with Monte Carlo simulations. The performance of the TRT, operating with two different gas mixtures (xenon-based and argon-based) and its dependence on the TRT occupancy is presented. These studies show that the tracking performance of the TRT is similar for the two gas mixtures and that a significant contribution to the particle momentum resolution is made by the TRT up to high particle densities.

We present charged-particle distributions sensitive to the underlying event, measured by the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, in low-luminosity Large Hadron Collider fills corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.6 nb−1. The distributions were constructed using charged particles with absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.5 and with transverse momentum greater than 500 MeV, in events with at least one such charged particle with transverse momentum above 1 GeV. These distributions characterise the angular distribution of energy and particle flows with respect to the charged particle with highest transverse momentum, as a function of both that momentum and of charged-particle multiplicity. The results have been corrected for detector effects and are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generators, experimentally establishing the level of underlying-event activity at LHC Run 2 energies and providing inputs for the development of event generator modelling. The current models in use for UE modelling typically describe this data to 5% accuracy, compared with data uncertainties of less than 1%.

Same- and opposite-sign charge asymmetries are measured in lepton+jets tt¯ events in which a b-hadron decays semileptonically to a soft muon, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1 from proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=8 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The charge asymmetries are based on the charge of the lepton from the top-quark decay and the charge of the soft muon from the semileptonic decay of a b-hadron and are measured in a fiducial region corresponding to the experimental acceptance. Four CP asymmetries (one mixing and three direct) are measured and are found to be compatible with zero and consistent with the Standard Model.

Measurements of jet activity in top-quark pair events produced in proton--proton collisions are presented, using 3.2 fb−1 of pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are chosen by requiring an opposite-charge eμ pair and two b-tagged jets in the final state. The normalised differential cross-sections of top-quark pair production are presented as functions of additional-jet multiplicity and transverse momentum, pT. The fraction of signal events that do not contain additional jet activity in a given rapidity region, the gap fraction, is measured as a function of the pT threshold for additional jets, and is also presented for different invariant mass regions of the eμbb¯ system. All measurements are corrected for detector effects and presented as particle-level distributions compared to predictions with different theoretical approaches for QCD radiation. While the kinematics of the jets from top-quark decays are described well, the generators show differing levels of agreement with the measurements of observables that depend on the production of additional jets.

A measurement of the correlations between the polar angles of leptons from the decay of pair-produced t and t¯ quarks in the helicity basis is reported, using proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.6fb−1 at a center-of-mass energy of s√=7TeV collected during 2011. Candidate events are selected in the dilepton topology with large missing transverse momentum and at least two jets. The angles θ1 and θ2 between the charged leptons and the direction of motion of the parent quarks in the tt¯ rest frame are sensitive to the spin information, and the distribution of {\mbox{cosθ1⋅cosθ2}} is sensitive to the spin correlation between the t and t¯ quarks. The distribution is unfolded to parton level and compared to the next-to-leading order prediction. A good agreement is observed.

The production of D∗±, D± and D±s charmed mesons has been measured with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV at the LHC, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 280nb−1. The charmed mesons have been reconstructed in the range of transverse momentum 3.5<pT(D)<100 GeV and pseudorapidity |η(D)|<2.1. The differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity were measured for D∗± and D± production. The next-to-leading-order QCD predictions are consistent with the data in the visible kinematic region within the large theoretical uncertainties. Using the visible D cross sections and an extrapolation to the full kinematic phase space, the strangeness-suppression factor in charm fragmentation, the fraction of charged non-strange D mesons produced in a vector state, and the total cross section of charm production at s√=7 TeV were derived.

This article reports on a search for dark matter pair production in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks, using data from 20.3fb−1 of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The decay of the Higgs boson is reconstructed as a high-momentum bb¯ system with either a pair of small-radius jets, or a single large-radius jet with substructure. The observed data are found to be consistent with the expected Standard Model backgrounds. Model-independent upper limits are placed on the visible cross-sections for events with a Higgs boson decaying into bb¯ and large missing transverse momentum with thresholds ranging from 150 GeV to 400 GeV. Results are interpreted using a simplified model with a Z′ gauge boson decaying into different Higgs bosons predicted in a two-Higgs-doublet model, of which the heavy pseudoscalar Higgs decays into a pair of dark matter particles. Exclusion limits are also presented for the mass scales of various effective field theory operators that describe the interaction between dark matter particles and the Higgs boson.

The decays B+c→J/ψD+s and B+c→J/ψD∗+s are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset corresponding to integrated luminosities of 4.9 and 20.6 fb−1 of pp collisions collected at centre-of-mass energies √s=7 TeV and 8 TeV, respectively. Signal candidates are identified through J/ψ→μ+μ− and D(∗)+s→ϕπ+(γ/π0) decays. With a two-dimensional likelihood fit involving the B+c reconstructed invariant mass and an angle between the μ+ and D+s candidate momenta in the muon pair rest frame, the yields of B+c→J/ψD+s and B+c→J/ψD∗+s, and the transverse polarisation fraction in B+c→J/ψD∗+s decay are measured. The transverse polarisation fraction is determined to be Γ±±(B+c→J/ψD∗+s)/Γ(B+c→J/ψD∗+s)=0.38±0.23±0.07, and the derived ratio of the branching fractions of the two modes is BB+c→J/ψD∗+s/BB+c→J/ψD+s=2.8+1.2−0.8±0.3, where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. Finally, a sample of B+c→J/ψπ+ decays is used to derive the ratios of branching fractions BB+c→J/ψD+s/BB+c→J/ψπ+=3.8±1.1±0.4±0.2 and BB+c→J/ψD∗+s/BB+c→J/ψπ+=10.4±3.1±1.5±0.6, where the third error corresponds to the uncertainty of the branching fraction of D+s→ϕ(K+K−)π+ decay. The available theoretical predictions are generally consistent with the measurement.