Richard Nickerson

Abstract:

This paper presents the application of a variety of techniques to study jet substructure. The performance of various modified jet algorithms, or jet grooming techniques, for several jet types and event topologies is investigated for jets with transverse momentum larger than 300 GeV. Properties of jets subjected to the mass-drop filtering, trimming, and pruning algorithms are found to have a reduced sensitivity to multiple proton-proton interactions, are more stable at high luminosity and improve the physics potential of searches for heavy boosted objects. Studies of the expected discrimination power of jet mass and jet substructure observables in searches for new physics are also presented. Event samples enriched in boosted W and Z bosons and top-quark pairs are used to study both the individual jet invariant mass scales and the efficacy of algorithms to tag boosted hadronic objects. The analyses presented use the full 2011 ATLAS dataset, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 ± 0.1 fb-1 from proton-proton collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s=7 TeV. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2013 Cern for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration.

Abstract:

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is used to search for excited electrons and excited muons in the channel pp → ℓℓ* → ℓℓγ, assuming that excited leptons are produced via contact interactions. The analysis is based on 13 fb-1 of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. No evidence for excited leptons is found, and a limit is set at the 95% credibility level on the cross section times branching ratio as a function of the excited-lepton mass mℓ*. For mℓ* 0.8 TeV, the respective upper limits on σB(ℓ* → ℓγ) are 0.75 and 0.90 fb for the e* and μ* searches. Limits on σB are converted into lower bounds on the compositeness scale Λ. In the special case where Λ = m ℓ*, excited-electron and excited-muon masses below 2.2 TeV are excluded. © CERN 2013.

Abstract:

Studies of the spin and parity quantum numbers of the Higgs boson are presented, based on proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The Standard Model spin-parity JP=0+ hypothesis is compared with alternative hypotheses using the Higgs boson decays H→γγ, H→ZZ*→4ℓ and H→WW*→ℓνℓν, as well as the combination of these channels. The analysed dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.7 fb-1 collected at a centre-of-mass energy of s=8TeV. For the H→ZZ*→4ℓ decay mode the dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb-1 collected at s=7TeV is included. The data are compatible with the Standard Model JP=0+ quantum numbers for the Higgs boson, whereas all alternative hypotheses studied in this Letter, namely some specific JP=0-, 1+, 1-, 2+ models, are excluded at confidence levels above 97.8%. This exclusion holds independently of the assumptions on the coupling strengths to the Standard Model particles and in the case of the JP=2+ model, of the relative fractions of gluon-fusion and quark-antiquark production of the spin-2 particle. The data thus provide evidence for the spin-0 nature of the Higgs boson, with positive parity being strongly preferred. © 2013 CERN.

Abstract:

The luminosity calibration for the ATLAS detector at the LHC during pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV in 2010 and 2011 is presented. Evaluation of the luminosity scale is performed using several luminosity-sensitive detectors, and comparisons are made of the long-term stability and accuracy of this calibration applied to the pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV. A luminosity uncertainty of δL/L= ± 3.5 % is obtained for the 47 pb^-1 of data delivered to ATLAS in 2010, and an uncertainty of δL/L= ± 1.8 % is obtained for the 5.5 fb^-1 delivered in 2011.

Abstract:

In order to study further the long-range correlations ("ridge") observed recently in p + Pb collisions at √sNN= 5.02 TeV, the second-order azimuthal anisotropy parameter of charged particles, v2, has been measured with the cumulant method using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. In a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 1 μb-1, the parameter v2has been obtained using two- and four-particle cumulants over the pseudorapidity range |η|<2.5. The results are presented as a function of transverse momentum and the event activity, defined in terms of the transverse energy summed over 3.1 < η <4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. They show features characteristic of collective anisotropic flow, similar to that observed in Pb + Pb collisions. A comparison is made to results obtained using two-particle correlation methods, and to predictions from hydrodynamic models of p +Pb collisions. Despite the small transverse spatial extent of the p + Pb collision system, the large magnitude of v2and its similarity to hydrodynamic predictions provide additional evidence for the importance of final-state effects in p + Pb reactions. © 2013 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V.