Explore the vast range of titles available.

A bstract A search for pair production of vector-like quarks, both up-type ( T ) and down-type ( B ), as well as for four-top-quark production, is presented. The search is based on pp collisions at s = 8 TeV recorded in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb −1 . Data are analysed in the lepton-plus-jets final state, characterised by an isolated electron or muon with high transverse momentum, large missing transverse momentum and multiple jets. Dedicated analyses are performed targeting three cases: a T quark with significant branching ratio to a W boson and a b -quark T T ¯ → Wb + X , and both a T quark and a B quark with significant branching ratio to a Higgs boson and a third-generation quark ( T T ¯ → H t + X and B B ¯ → H b + X respectively). No significant excess of events above the Standard Model expectation is observed, and 95% CL lower limits are derived on the masses of the vector-like T and B quarks under several branching ratio hypotheses assuming contributions from T → Wb , Zt , Ht and B → Wt , Zb , Hb decays. The 95% CL observed lower limits on the T quark mass range between 715 GeV and 950 GeV for all possible values of the branching ratios into the three decay modes, and are the most stringent constraints to date. Additionally, the most restrictive upper bounds on four-top-quark production are set in a number of new physics scenarios.

A bstract This paper presents measurements from the ATLAS experiment of the forward-backward asymmetry in the reaction pp → Z/γ * → l + l − , with l being electrons or muons, and the extraction of the effective weak mixing angle. The results are based on the full set of data collected in 2011 in pp collisions at the LHC at s = 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 fb −1 . The measured asymmetry values are found to be in agreement with the corresponding Standard Model predictions. The combination of the muon and electron channels yields a value of the effective weak mixing angle of sin 2 θ eff lept  = 0.2308 ± 0.0005(stat.) ± 0.0006(syst.) ± 0.0009(PDF), where the first uncertainty corresponds to data statistics, the second to systematic effects and the third to knowledge of the parton density functions. This result agrees with the current world average from the Particle Data Group fit.

A bstract The elastic scattering of an atomic nucleus plays a central role in dark matter direct detection experiments. In those experiments, it is usually assumed that the atomic electrons around the nucleus of the target material immediately follow the motion of the recoil nucleus. In reality, however, it takes some time for the electrons to catch up, which results in ionization and excitation of the atoms. In previous studies, those effects are taken into account by using the so-called Migdal’s approach, in which the final state ionization/excitation are treated separately from the nuclear recoil. In this paper, we reformulate the Migdal’s approach so that the “atomic recoil” cross section is obtained coherently, where we make transparent the energy-momentum conservation and the probability conservation. We show that the final state ionization/excitation can enhance the detectability of rather light dark matter in the GeV mass range via the nuclear scattering. We also discuss the coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering, where the same effects are expected.

A bstract A search for evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model in final states with multiple high-transverse-momentum jets is performed using 20.3 fb −1 of proton-proton collision data at s = 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. No significant excess of events beyond Standard Model expectations is observed, and upper limits on the visible cross sections for non-Standard Model production of multi-jet final states are set. A wide variety of models for black hole and string ball production and decay are considered, and the upper limit on the cross section times acceptance is as low as 0.16 fb at the 95% confidence level. For these models, excluded regions are also given as function of the main model parameters.

Searches for new physics in the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering require a precise knowledge of the neutrino flux and energy spectrum. In this paper we investigate the feasibility and the performance of an experiment based on a \\[^{51}\\]Cr source, whose neutrino spectrum is known and whose activity can be heat-monitored at few permil level. With a 5 MCi source placed at \\[\\sim 25\\] cm from the detector, under an exposure of two \\[^{51}\\]Cr half-lives (55.4 days), we evaluate 3900 (900) counts on a 2000 cm\\[^3\\] target of germanium (sapphire) featuring an energy threshold of 8 (20) eV. To further increase the exposure, multiple activations of the same source could be possible.

A bstract This paper describes a measurement of the Z / γ * boson transverse momentum spectrum using ATLAS proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of s = 7 TeV at the LHC. The measurement is performed in the Z / γ * → e + e − and Z / γ * → μ + μ − channels, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb −1 . Normalized differential cross sections as a function of the Z / γ * boson transverse momentum are measured for transverse momenta up to 800 GeV. The measurement is performed inclusively for Z / γ * rapidities up to 2.4, as well as in three rapidity bins. The channel results are combined, compared to perturbative and resummed QCD calculations and used to constrain the parton shower parameters of Monte Carlo generators.

A bstract Traditional direct searches for dark matter, looking for nuclear recoils in deep underground detectors, are challenged by an almost complete loss of sensitivity for light dark matter particles. Consequently, there is a significant effort in the community to devise new methods and experiments to overcome these difficulties, constantly pushing the limits of the lowest dark matter mass that can be probed this way. From a model-building perspective, the scattering of sub-GeV dark matter on nucleons essentially must proceed via new light mediator particles, given that collider searches place extremely stringent bounds on contact-type interactions. Here we present an updated compilation of relevant limits for the case of a scalar mediator, including a new estimate of the near-future sensitivity of the NA62 experiment as well as a detailed evaluation of the model-specific limits from Big Bang nucleosynthesis. We also derive updated and more general limits on DM particles upscattered by cosmic rays, applicable to arbitrary energy- and momentum dependences of the scattering cross section. Finally we stress that dark matter self-interactions, when evaluated beyond the common s -wave approximation, place stringent limits independently of the dark matter production mechanism. These are, for the relevant parameter space, generically comparable to those that apply in the commonly studied freeze-out case. We conclude that the combination of existing (or expected) constraints from accelerators and astrophysics, combined with cosmological requirements, puts robust limits on the maximally possible nuclear scattering rate. In most regions of parameter space these are at least competitive with the best projected limits from currently planned direct detection experiments.