Professor Amanda Cooper-Sarkar

Abstract:

This Letter presents measurements of the polarization of the top quark in top-antitop quark pair events, using 4:7 fb–1of proton-proton collision data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at √s = 7 TeV. Final states containing one or two isolated leptons (electrons or muons) and jets are considered. Two measurements of αℓP, the product of the leptonic spin-analyzing power and the top quark polarization, are performed assuming that the polarization is introduced by either a CP conserving or a maximally CP violating production process. The measurements obtained, αℓPCPC=–0.035 ± 0.014(stat) ± 0:037(syst) and αℓPCPV= 0.020 ± 0:016(stat)+0.013–0.017(syst), are in good agreement with the standard model prediction of negligible top quark polarization.

Abstract:

The integrated and differential fiducial cross sections for the production of a W or Z boson in association with a high-energy photon are measured using pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV. The analyses use a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb-1 collected by the ATLAS detector during the 2011 LHC data-taking period. Events are selected using leptonic decays of the W and Z bosons (W(ev,μv) and Z(e+e-, μ+μ-, vv-)) with the requirement of an associated isolated photon. The data are used to test the electroweak sector of the Standard Model and search for evidence for new phenomena. The measurements are used to probe the anomalous WWγ, ZZγ and Zγγ triple-gauge-boson couplings and to search for the production of vector resonances decaying to Zγ and Wγ. No deviations from Standard Model predictions are observed and limits are placed on anomalous triple-gauge-boson couplings and on the production of new vector meson resonances. © Copyright owned by the author(s).

Abstract:

The dynamics of isolated-photon plus jet production in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using an integrated luminosity of 37 pb-1. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jet bin-averaged cross sections are presented as functions of photon transverse energy, jet transverse momentum and jet rapidity. In addition, the bin-averaged cross sections as functions of the difference between the azimuthal angles of the photon and the jet, the photon-jet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photon-jet centre-of-mass frame have been measured. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations are compared to the measurements and provide a good description of the data, except for the case of the azimuthal opening angle. © 2013 CERN.

Abstract:

The dynamics of isolated-photon plus jet production in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using an integrated luminosity of 37 pb-1. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jet bin-averaged cross sections are presented as functions of photon transverse energy, jet transverse momentum and jet rapidity. In addition, the bin-averaged cross sections as functions of the difference between the azimuthal angles of the photon and the jet, the photon-jet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photon-jet centre-of-mass frame have been measured. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations are compared to the measurements and provide a good description of the data, except for the case of the azimuthal opening angle. © 2013 CERN.