Professor Claire Gwenlan

Abstract:

The production of the excited charm mesons D 1(2420) and D2*(2460) in ep collisions has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 373pb -1. The masses of the neutral and charged states, the widths of the neutral states, and the helicity parameter of D 1(2420) 0 were determined and compared with other measurements and with theoretical expectations. The measured helicity parameter of the D10 allows for some mixing of S- and D-waves in its decay to D *±π Π. The result is also consistent with a pure D-wave decay. Ratios of branching fractions of the two decay modes of the D2*(2460)0 and D2*(2460)± states were measured and compared with previous measurements. The fractions of charm quarks hadronising into D 1 and D2* were measured and are consistent with those obtained in e +e - annihilations. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Abstract:

Measurements are presented of differential crosss√ ections for top quark pair production in pp collisions at s = 7 TeV relative to the total inclusive top quark pair production cross-section. A data sample of 2.05 fb−1 recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is used. Relative differential cross-sections are derived as a function of the invariant mass, the transverse momentum and the rapidity of the top quark pair system. Events are selected in the lepton (electron or muon) + jets channel. The backgroundsubtracted differential distributions are corrected for detector effects, normalized to the total inclusive top quark pair production cross-section and compared to theoretical predictions. The measurement uncertainties range typically between 10 % and 20 % and are generally dominated by systematic effects. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectations are observed.

Abstract:

A search for pair-produced massive coloured scalar particles decaying to a four-jet final state is performed by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV. The analysed data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb−1. No deviation from the Standard Model is observed in the invariant mass spectrum of the two-jet pairs. A limit on the scalar gluon pair production cross section of 70 pb (10 pb) is obtained at the 95 % confidence level for a scalar gluon mass of 150 GeV (350 GeV). Interpreting these results as mass limits on scalar gluons, masses ranging from 150 GeV to 287 GeV are excluded at the 95 % confidence level.

Abstract:

A search for nonresonant new phenomena, originating from either contact interactions or large extra spatial dimensions, has been carried out using events with two isolated electrons or muons. These events, produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at √s=7 TeV, were recorded by the ATLAS detector. The data sample, collected throughout 2011, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 and 5.0 fb-1 in the e+e - and μ+μ- channels, respectively. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectation are observed. Using a Bayesian approach, 95% confidence level lower limits ranging from 9.0 to 13.9 TeV are placed on the energy scale of ℓℓqq contact interactions in the left-left isoscalar model. Lower limits ranging from 2.4 to 3.9 TeV are also set on the string scale in large extra dimension models. After combining these limits with results from a similar search in the diphoton channel, slightly more stringent limits are obtained.

Abstract:

The ATLAS experiment has observed 1995 Z boson candidates in data corresponding to 0:15 nb-1 of integrated luminosity obtained in the 2011 LHC Pb + Pb run at √SNN = 2.76 TeV. The Z bosons are reconstructed via dielectron and dimuon decay channels, with a background contamination of less than 3%. Results from the two channels are consistent and are combined. Within the statistical and systematic uncertainties, the per-event Z boson yield is proportional to the number of binary collisions estimated by the Glauber model. The elliptic anisotropy of the azimuthal distribution of the Z boson with respect to the event plane is found to be consistent with zero.