We report the measurement of a new observable of jet quenching in central Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV, based on the semi-inclusive rate of charged jets recoiling from a high transverse momentum (high-$p_{\rm T}$) charged hadron trigger. Jets are measured using collinear-safe jet reconstruction with infrared cutoff for jet constituents of 0.15 GeV/$c$, for jet resolution parameters $R = 0.2$, 0.4 and 0.5. Underlying event background is corrected at the event-ensemble level, without imposing bias on the jet population. Recoil jet spectra are reported in the range $20<p_\mathrm{T,jet}^\mathrm{ch}<100$ GeV/$c$. Reference distributions for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV are calculated using Monte Carlo and NLO pQCD methods, which are validated by comparing with measurements in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV. The recoil jet yield in central Pb-Pb collisions is found to be suppressed relative to that in pp collisions. No significant medium-induced broadening of the intra-jet energy profile is observed within 0.5 radians relative to the recoil jet axis. The angular distribution of the recoil jet yield relative to the trigger axis is found to be similar in central Pb-Pb and pp collisions, with no significant medium-induced acoplanarity observed. Large-angle jet deflection, which may provide a direct probe of the nature of the quasi-particles in hot QCD matter, is explored.
Differential cross sections for the production of at least four jets have been measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider using the ATLAS detector. Events are selected if the four anti-$k_{t}$ R=0.4 jets with the largest transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) within the rapidity range $|y|<2.8$ are well separated ($dR^{\rm min}_{4j}>0.65$), all have $p_{T}>64$ GeV, and include at least one jet with $p_{T} >100$ GeV. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 $fb^{-1}$. The cross sections, corrected for detector effects, are compared to leading-order and next-to-leading-order calculations as a function of the jet momenta, invariant masses, minimum and maximum opening angles and other kinematic variables.
Measurements of charged particle distributions, sensitive to the underlying event, have been performed with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are based on data collected using a minimum-bias trigger to select proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 900 GeV and 7 TeV. The 'underlying event' is defined as those aspects of a hadronic interaction attributed not to the hard scattering process, but rather to the accompanying interactions of the rest of the proton. Three regions are defined in azimuthal angle with respect to the highest-pt charged particle in the event, such that the region transverse to the dominant momentum-flow is most sensitive to the underlying event. In each of these regions, distributions of the charged particle multiplicity, pt density, and average pt are measured. The data show a higher underlying event activity than that predicted by Monte Carlo models tuned to pre-LHC data.
We present first measurements of charged and neutral particle-flow correlations in pp collisions using the ATLAS calorimeters. Data were collected in 2009 and 2010 at centre-of-mass energies of 900 GeV and 7 TeV. Events were selected using a minimum-bias trigger which required a charged particle in scintillation counters on either side of the interaction point. Particle flows, sensitive to the underlying event, are measured using clusters of energy in the ATLAS calorimeters, taking advantage of their fine granularity. No Monte Carlo generator used in this analysis can accurately describe the measurements. The results are independent of those based on charged particles measured by the ATLAS tracking systems and can be used to constrain the parameters of Monte Carlo generators.
Azimuthal decorrelations between the two central jets with the largest transverse momenta are sensitive to the dynamics of events with multiple jets. We present a measurement of the normalized differential cross section based on the full dataset (L=36/pb) acquired by the ATLAS detector during the 2010 sqrt(s)=7 TeV proton-proton run of the LHC. The measured distributions include jets with transverse momenta up to 1.3 TeV, probing perturbative QCD in a high energy regime.
Results are presented on the production of jets of particles in association with a Z/gamma* boson, in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. The analysis includes the full 2010 data set, collected with a low rate of multiple proton-proton collisions in the accelerator, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb^-1. Inclusive jet cross sections in Z/gamma* events, with Z/gamma* decaying into electron or muon pairs, are measured for jets with transverse momentum pT > 30 GeV and jet rapidity |y| < 4.4. The measurements are compared to next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations, and to predictions from different Monte Carlo generators implementing leading-order matrix elements supplemented by parton showers.
The ATLAS experiment has measured the production cross-section of events with two isolated photons in the final state, in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. The full data set acquired in 2010 is used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 37 pb^-1. The background, consisting of hadronic jets and isolated electrons, is estimated with fully data-driven techniques and subtracted. The differential cross-sections, as functions of the di-photon mass, total transverse momentum and azimuthal separation, are presented and compared to the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD.
The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.
Using the ATLAS detector, observations have been made of a centrality-dependent dijet asymmetry in the collisions of lead ions at the Large Hadron Collider. In a sample of lead-lead events with a per-nucleon center of mass energy of 2.76 TeV, selected with a minimum bias trigger, jets are reconstructed in fine-grained, longitudinally-segmented electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters. The underlying event is measured and subtracted event-by-event, giving estimates of jet transverse energy above the ambient background. The transverse energies of dijets in opposite hemispheres is observed to become systematically more unbalanced with increasing event centrality leading to a large number of events which contain highly asymmetric dijets. This is the first observation of an enhancement of events with such large dijet asymmetries, not observed in proton-proton collisions, and which may point to an interpretation in terms of strong jet energy loss in a hot, dense medium.
A measurement of the ZZ production cross section in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. In a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb-1 collected in 2011, events are selected that are consistent either with two Z bosons decaying to electrons or muons or with one Z boson decaying to electrons or muons and a second Z boson decaying to neutrinos. The ZZ*->llll and ZZ->llnunu cross sections are measured in restricted phase-space regions. These results are then used to derive the total cross section for ZZ events produced with both Z bosons in the mass range 66 to 116 GeV, sigmaZZtot = 6.7 +-0.7 +0.4-0.3 +-0.3 pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of 5.89+0.22-0.18 pb calculated at next-to-leading order in QCD. The normalized differential cross sections in bins of various kinematic variables are presented. Finally, the differential event yield as a function of the transverse momentum of the leading Z boson is used to set limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge boson couplings in ZZ production.