Professor Claire Gwenlan

Abstract:

This Letter presents a search for tb resonances in 1.04fb-1 of LHC proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. Events with a lepton, missing transverse momentum, and two jets are selected and the invariant mass of the corresponding final state is reconstructed. The search exploits the shape of the tb invariant mass distribution compared to the expected standard model backgrounds. The model of a right-handed WR′ with standard model-like couplings is chosen as the benchmark model for this search. No statistically significant excess of events is observed in the data, and upper limits on the cross section times the branching ratio of WR′ resonances at 95% C.L. lie in the range of 6.1-1.0 pb for WR′ masses ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 TeV. These limits are translated into a lower bound on the allowed right-handed WR′ mass, giving m WR′>1.13TeV at 95% C.L. © 2012 CERN.

Abstract:

A search is reported for the pair production of a new quark b′ with at least one b′ decaying to a Z boson and a bottom quark. The data, corresponding to 2.0fb-1 of integrated luminosity, were collected from pp collisions at √s=7TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Using events with a b-tagged jet and a Z boson reconstructed from opposite-charge electrons, the mass distribution of large transverse momentum b′ candidates is tested for an enhancement. No evidence for a b′ signal is detected in the observed mass distribution, resulting in the exclusion at a 95% confidence level of b′ quarks with masses m b′<400GeV that decay entirely via b′→Z+b. In the case of a vectorlike singlet b′ mixing solely with the third standard model generation, masses mb′<358GeV are excluded. © 2012 CERN.

Abstract:

A search for production of supersymmetric particles in final states containing jets, missing transverse momentum, and at least one hadronically decaying τ lepton is presented. The data were recorded by the ATLAS experiment in s=7TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation was observed in 2.05fb-1 of data. The results are interpreted in the context of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking models with Mmess=250TeV, N5=3, μ>0, and Cgrav=1. The production of supersymmetric particles is excluded at 95% C.L. up to a supersymmetry breaking scale Λ=30TeV, independent of tanβ, and up to Λ=43TeV for large tanβ. © 2012.

Abstract:

The results of a search for charged Higgs bosons are presented. The analysis is based on 4.6 fb?1 of proton-proton collision data at √s = 7TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, using top quark pair events with a τ lepton in the final state. The data are consistent with the expected background from Standard Model processes. Assuming that the branching ratio of the charged Higgs boson to a τ lepton and a neutrino is 100%, this leads to upper limits on the branching ratio of top quark decays to a b quark and a charged Higgs boson between 5% and 1% for charged Higgs boson masses ranging from 90GeV to 160GeV, respectively. In the context of the mhmaxscenario of the MSSM, tan β above 12-26, as well as between 1 and 2-6, can be excluded for charged Higgs boson masses between 90GeV and 150GeV. Copyright CERN.