In the first phase of LHC data-taking ATLAS will measure the charged-particle density at the initial center-of-mass energy of 10 TeV and then at 14 TeV. This will allow us improve our knowledge of soft QCD models and pin-down cross-sections of different classes of inelastic collisions at LHC energies. In particular, the dominant non-diffractive interaction is a key process to understanding QCD backgrounds when we reach higher luminosities. We highlight two minimum-bias triggers, sensitive to particles in complementary ranges in pseudo-rapidity, one based on signals from the Inner Detector, the other explicitly designed to trigger on inelastic processes. Studies of their trigger efficiencies as well as possible trigger biases are presented.
We present recent work performed in ATLAS on techniques used to reconstruct the decays of SUSY particles at the LHC. We concentrate on strategies to be applied to the first fb-1 of LHC data.
Triggering on hadronic tau decays is essential for a wide variety of analyses of interesting physics processes at ATLAS. The ATLAS tau trigger combines information from the tracking detectors and calorimeters to identify the signature of hadronically decaying tau leptons. In Run 2 operation expected to start in 2015, the trigger strategies will become more important than ever before. In this paper, the tau trigger performance during Run 1 is summarized and also an overview of the developments of Run 2 tau trigger strategy is presented.
With the high bunch-crossing and interaction rates and potentially large event sizes the experiments at the LHC challenge data acquisition and trigger systems. Within the ATLAS experiment, a multi-level trigger system based on hardware and software is employed to cope with the task of event-rate reduction. This review article gives an overview of the trigger of the ATLAS experiment highlighting the design principles and the implementation of the system and provides references to more detailed information. In addition, first trigger- performance studies and an outlook on the ATLAS event-selecti…
The early physics program at the ATLAS experiment includes measuring the basic properties of proton proton collisions, such as charged particle multiplicities, in order to constrain phenomenological models of soft interactions in the LHC energy regime. An inclusive and well understood trigger is crucial to minimize any possible bias in the event selection. The ATLAS experiment uses two complementary types of minimum bias triggers. A scintillator trigger sensitive to the forward regions of 2.1<|eta|<3.8 has been proven to efficiently select proton proton collisions, while a trigger based on cou…
A sophisticated trigger system, capable of real-time track reconstruction, is used in the ATLAS experiment to select interesting events in the proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. A set of $b$-jet triggers was activated in ATLAS for the entire 2011 data-taking campaign and successfully selected events enriched in jets arising from heavy-flavour quarks. Such triggers were demonstrated to be crucial for the selection of events with no lepton signature and a large jet multiplicity. An overview of the track reconstruction and online $b$-jet selection with performance esti…
Proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV and heavy ion collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 2.76 TeV were produced by the LHC and recorded using the ATLAS experiment's trigger system in 2010. The LHC is designed with a maximum bunch crossing rate of 40 MHz and the ATLAS trigger system is designed to record approximately 200 of these per second. The trigger system selects events by rapidly identifying signatures of muon, electron, photon, tau lepton, jet, and B meson candidates, as well as using global event signatures, such as missing transverse energy. An overview of the ATLAS trigger system, the ev…
This paper describes latest results on lepton (electron, muon and tau) and photon particle identification at the ATLAS and CMS experiments, with emphasis on how the particle identification can be validated and its performance determined using early LHC data.
Charm physics has been established at the LHC based on several high-precision measurements. The future of charm physics at the LHC experiments is discussed in detail. The bulk of the charm physics programme will be performed by LHCb and the LHCb upgrade. In particular, the impact of the LHCb upgrade on mixing and \CP violation measurements is presented.
New measurements from ATLAS at the LHC are presented on the total cross section at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV from elastic scattering using the ALFA sub-detector and on the inelastic cross section at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV using the MBTS sub-detector.
The online event selection is crucial to reject most of the events containing uninteresting background collisions while preserving as much as possible the interesting physical signals. The b-jet selection is part of the trigger strategy of the ATLAS experiment and a set of dedicated triggers was contributing to the event selection for the 2011 running. The b-jets acceptance is increased and the background reduced by lowering jet transverse energy thresholds at the first trigger level and applying b-tagging techniques at the subsequent levels. Different physics channels, especially topologies c…
A brief review of the discovery potential of the ATLAS and CMS experiments to search for signals from extra dimensions in different luminosity scenarios is given.
The B physics programme of the ATLAS experiment includes measurements of production cross sections, searches for rare B-decay signatures which are sensitive to new physics at the TeV energy scale and studies of CP violation effects in B-events, such as $B_{s}^{0}\rightarrow J/ψϕ$ and $B_{d}^{0}\rightarrow J/ψK_{s}^{0}$. The key to the detection of these B signals in ATLAS is to achieve a high trigger efficiency for low-$p_{T}$ di-muon events, whilst keeping an acceptable trigger rate. ATLAS developed two separate approaches for triggering on di-muon events from resonances such as $J/ψ$ and Ups…
Within the framework of Standard Model, the production mode of Higgs boson through the fusion of the vector bosons $W$ or $Z$ (Vector Boson Fusion) is one of the most important production mechanisms, providing a specific detection signature. A detailed study regarding this issue is being undergone for ATLAS detector in LHC and some general features of this analysis are being presented in this note emphasizing in the study of Central Jet Veto.
Recently the ATLAS experiment was complemented with a set of ultra-small-angle detectors located in ``Roman Pot'' inserts at 240m on either side of the interaction point, aiming at the absolute determination of the LHC luminosity by measuring the elastic scattering rate at the Coulomb Nuclear Interference region. Details of the proposed measurement the detector construction and the expected performance as well as the challenges involved are discussed here.
A set of three dedicated triggers designed to detect long-lived neutral particles decaying throughout the ATLAS detector to a pair of hadronic jets is described. The efficiencies of the triggers for selecting displaced decays as a function of the decay position are presented for simulated events. The effect of pile-up interactions on the trigger efficiencies and the dependence of the trigger rate on instantaneous luminosity during the 2012 data-taking period at the LHC are discussed.
Selected results of searches for neutral long-lived particles with displaced and delayed jets, trackless jets and emerging jets, as well as displaced muons, obtained with data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations during LHC's Run 2 are presented, as well as challenges and techniques.
During 2015 the ATLAS experiment recorded 3.8 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The ATLAS trigger system is a crucial component of the experiment, responsible for selecting events of interest at a recording rate of approximately 1 kHz from up to 40 MHz of collisions. This paper presents a short overview of the changes to the trigger and data acquisition systems during the first long shutdown of the LHC and shows the performance of the trigger system and its components based on the 2015 proton--proton collision data.
The search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in the four lepton (electron and muon) final state with the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. The analysis strategy and the efficiency for selecting the signal and rejecting the background are discussed, focusing on the performance of the lepton identification that can be achieved with the first data of LHC expected in 2008.
ATLAS has developed a new approach for vertex selection in VBF invisible events at HL-LHC conditions, exploiting its new forward tracking capabilities, integrating calorimeter and tracking information to mitigate the impact of pileup vertex merging, and introducing a new way to apply pile-up jet suppression methods for the selection of VBF jets. The new algorithm is insensitive to pileup density and improves the average vertex selection efficiency from 86% to 95% under tight VBF event selection cuts.
The ATLAS High Level Trigger (HLT) system provides software-based event selection after the initial LVL1 hardware trigger. It is composed of two stages, the LVL2 trigger and the Event Filter. The HLT is implemented as software tasks running on large processor farms. An essential part of the HLT is the supervision system, which is responsible for configuring, coordinating, controlling and monitoring the many hundreds of processes running in the HLT. A prototype implementation of the supervision system, using tools from the ATLAS Online Software system is presented. Results from scalability test…
An estimation of the sensitivity to measure Bs-Bsbar oscillations with the ATLAS detector is given for the detector geometry of initial layout. The delta ms reach is derived from unbinned maximum likelihood amplitude fits using Bs0 events generated with a simplified Monte Carlo method.
In January 2007 the CERN director general announced the plan for the staged upgrade of the LHC luminosity. The plan foresees a phase 1 upgrade reaching a peak luminosity of $3 \times 10^{34}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$ followed by phase reaching up to $ 10^{35}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$. We discuss the physics potential and the experimental challenges of an upgraded LHC running. The detector R&D needed to operate ATLAS and CMS in a very high radiation environment and the expected detector performance are also discussed.
At the LHC, muons are produced in many final states and used in a variety of analysis, such as Standard Model precision measurements and searches for new physics. The B-physics programme in ATLAS includes the measurement of CP violating effects in B meson decays, the search for rare b decay signatures, as well as the study of the production cross sections. The ATLAS detector can identify muons with high purity in a transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) range from a few GeV to several TeV. In order to achieve a high trigger efficiency for low $p_{T}$ di-muon events and at the same time keep an acceptab…
The latest search for massive long-lived hadronising particles with the ATLAS detector is presented. The search is conducted with the inner detector and an integrated luminosity corresponding to 2.06 fb-1 at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. For Split-SUSY scenarios gluino masses below 810 GeV have been excluded.
We summarize the analysis of high-pT jets in early pp collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector. Two searches for new physics are presented: One for dijet resonances, and one for quark contact interactions. The first search sets the most stringent current limit on the mass of a hypothetical excited quark.
Searches for high-mass resonances decaying to pairs of standard model bosons using ATLAS and CMS detectors are presented. The searches use 15 - 36 $\textrm{fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data collected at the centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the LHC. Many different final states have been considered and the results are interpreted in a range of theories beyond the standard model of particle physics, most common being heavy vector triplet and warped extra dimensions.
The performance of the jet trigger for the ATLAS detector at the LHC during the 2011 data taking period is described. During 2011 the LHC provided proton-proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and heavy ion collisions with a 2.76 TeV per nucleon-nucleon collision energy. The ATLAS trigger is a three level system designed to reduce the rate of events from the 40 MHz nominal maximum bunch crossing rate to the approximate 400 Hz which can be written to offline storage. The ATLAS jet trigger is the primary means for the online selection of events containing jets. Events are accept…
A search for the production of single-top-quarks in association with missing energy performed in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS experiment is presented. No deviation from the Standard Model prediction is observed, and upper limits are set on the production cross-section for resonant and non-resonant production of an invisible exotic state in association with a right-handed top quark.
A review of the searches for the SM Higgs boson produced in association with a pair of top quarks, ${t\bar{t}H}$, using up to 13.3 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. Searches in the diphoton, multilepton and $b\bar{b}$ decay channels are summarised. The combination of these searches yields a measured (expected) significance for the observation of the ${t\bar{t}H}$ production process of $2.8 σ$ ($1.8 σ$).
The ATLAS trigger has been used very successfully for the online event selection during the first part of the second LHC run (Run-2) in 2015/16 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The trigger system is composed of a hardware Level-1 trigger and a software-based high-level trigger; it reduces the event rate from the bunch-crossing rate of 40 MHz to an average recording rate of about 1 kHz. The excellent performance of the ATLAS trigger has been vital for the ATLAS physics program of Run-2, selecting interesting collision events for a wide variety of physics signatures with high efficiency. Th…
During LHC Run 2 (2015-2018) the ATLAS Level-1 topological trigger allowed efficient data-taking by the ATLAS experiment at luminosities up to 2.1x10$^{34}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$, which exceeds the design value by a factor of two. The system was installed in 2016 and operated in 2017 and 2018. It uses Field Programmable Gate Array processors to select interesting events by placing kinematic and angular requirements on electromagnetic clusters, jets, $τ$-leptons, muons and the total energy. It significantly improves the background event rejection and signal event acceptance, in particular for Higgs…
A review is presented of the most recent measurements of top quark strong and electroweak production performed by using data collected with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 and 8 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to about 4.7/fb and 20/fb, respectively.
The impact on the physics capabilities of the ATLAS detector of possible LHC upgrades is discussed. As a benchmark, an increase in the luminosity by a factor of ten is considered. For comparison, a doubling of the LHC energy is also explored. Both upgrades significantly enhance the physics capabilities of ATLAS. As measured in terms of the mass reach for new particles, the energy upgrade is more powerful. However, in cases where the effect of an upgrade is to increase the precision of measurements as a result of the larger data samples, the luminosity upgrade can be at least as powerful. The p…
The status of the commissioning of the ATLAS experiment as of May 2008 is presented. The sub-detector integration in recent milestone weeks is described. Cosmic commissioning in milestone week M6 included simultaneous data-taking and combined track analysis of the muon detector and inner detector, as well as combined analysis of muon detector and muon trigger. The calorimeters have achieved near-full operation, and are integrated with the calorimeter trigger. The high-level-trigger infrastructure is being installed and algorithms tested in technical runs.
Several methods for the determination of the mass of the top quark with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are presented. All dominant decay channels of the top quark can be explored. The measurements are in most cases dominated by systematic uncertainties. New methods have been developed to control those related to the detector. The results indicate that a total error on the top mass at the level of 1 GeV should be achievable.
The luminosity determination for the ATLAS detector at the LHC during pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV in 2012 is presented. The evaluation of the luminosity scale is performed using several luminometers, and comparisons between these luminosity detectors are made to assess the accuracy, consistency and long-term stability of the results. A luminosity uncertainty of dL/L = +/- 1.9% is obtained for the 22.7 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collision data delivered to ATLAS at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV in 2012.
A search for new heavy particles manifested as resonances in two-jet final states is presented. The data were produced in root(s) = 7 TeV proton-proton collisions by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 315 nb^-1 collected by the ATLAS detector. No resonances were observed. Upper limits were set on the product of cross section and signal acceptance for excited-quark (q*) production as a function of q* mass. These exclude at the 95% CL the q* mass interval 0.30 < m(q*) < 1.26 TeV, extending the reach of previous experiments.
The high cross section for the J/ψ production and the wide transverse momentum spectrum accessible to ATLAS give to these events a central role in the calibration of the ATLAS detector. The data collected during the first months of the 2010 run at {\sqroot}s = 7 TeV p-p collisions (integrated Luminosity up to 290 nb-1) show a clear signal with two muons in the final state. The reconstructed invariant mass agrees with the PDG value and the peak width is compatible with Monte Carlo expectations. The doubly differential cross section is measured with respect to the transverse momentum and rapidit…
Measurements of the top quark production cross section in proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are presented. The measurements require no, one or two electrons or muons in the final state (single lepton, dilepton, hadronic channel). In addition, the decay modes with tau leptons are tested (channels with tau leptons). The main focus is on measurements of differential spectra of $t\bar{t}$ final states, in particular, measurements that are able to constrain the modelling of additional parton radiation like the jet multiplicity distribution.
The presence of tau leptons in the final state is an important signature in searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. Hadronically decaying tau leptons can be reconstructed over a wide kinematic range at ATLAS. The reconstruction algorithm for hadronically decaying tau leptons and the performance of tau lepton identification is described. A review of physics processes with tau lepton final states is given, ranging from Standard Model processes in early data, such as W and Z boson production, to searches for new phenomena beyond the Standard Model.
Given the extremely high output rate foreseen at LHC and the general-purpose nature of ATLAS experiment, an efficient and flexible way to select events in the High Level Trigger is needed. An extremely flexible solution is proposed that allows for early rejection of unwanted events and an easily configurable way to choose algorithms and to specify the criteria for trigger decisions. It is implemented in the standard ATLAS object-oriented software framework, Athena. The early rejection is achieved by breaking the decision process down into sequential steps. The configuration of each step define…
We present a search for new high mass phenomena using the latest data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The search is conducted for both resonant and non-resonant new phenomena in dimuon final states. The dimuon invariant mass spectrum is the discriminating variable used in the search. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectation are observed. Lower limits are set on the signal parameters of interest at 95% credibility level, using a Bayesian interpretation. In particular, a Sequential Standard Model Z' resonanc…
We report preliminary results on a search for new phenomena in an event sample with monojets and large missing transverse momentum in the final state. The analysis uses 1.00 fb-1 of data collected in 2011 with the ATLAS detector. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and the Standard Model predictions. The results are translated into improved limits on a model with Large Extra Dimensions.
Detailed measurements of the electron performance of the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported, using decays of the Z, W and J/psi particles. Data collected in 2010 at sqrt(s)=7 TeV are used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of almost 40 pb^-1. The inter-alignment of the inner detector and the electromagnetic calorimeter, the determination of the electron energy scale and resolution, and the performance in terms of response uniformity and linearity are discussed. The electron identification, reconstruction and trigger efficiencies, as well as the charge misidentification probability,…
R-hadrons are predicted in a range of supersymmetric scenarios including split-supersymmetry and gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. In this paper, the discovery potential of the ATLAS experiment for gluino and stop-based R-hadrons is outlined. A range of final state observables such as high transverse momentum muon-like objects and information on ionization energy loss is used. It is shown that ATLAS would be able to discover such particles at comparatively modest amounts of luminosity (1fb-1) for masses up to 1 TeV.
Results of dedicated Monte Carlo simulations of beam-induced background (BIB) in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are presented and compared with data recorded in 2012. During normal physics operation this background arises mainly from scattering of the 4 TeV protons on residual gas in the beam pipe. Methods of reconstructing the BIB signals in the ATLAS detector, developed and implemented in the simulation chain based on the FLUKA Monte Carlo simulation package, are described. The interaction rates are determined from the residual gas pressure distribution in the LHC ri…
This document presents a search for a $W'$ boson, decaying to a top quark and a $b$ quark in an effective coupling approach, using a multivariate method based on boosted decision trees. It reports exclusion limits on the $W'\rightarrow tb$ cross-section times branching ratio and effective couplings as a function of the $W'$-boson mass. The search covers $W'$-boson masses between 0.5 and 3.0 TeV, for right-handed or left-handed $W'$-boson, with 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data produced by the LHC in 2012, at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV and collected by the ATLAS detector.
The most recent results of the top-quark mass measurements with the ATLAS detector using data collected from proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider are presented. Although several decay modes of the top-quark pairs have been used in ATLAS for top-quark mass measurements, only the latest results are presented (single lepton and dilepton channels). The top-quark pole mass from the $t\overline{t}$ cross-section measurement in the dilepton channel and the top-antitop mass difference measurement in the single-lepton channel are also shown. The systematic uncertainties associated to t…
A search is made for massive long-lived highly ionising particles with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, using 3.1 pb-1 of pp collision data taken at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The signature of energy loss in the ATLAS inner detector and electromagnetic calorimeter is used. No such particles are found and limits on the production cross section for electric charges 6e <= |q| <= 17e and masses 200 GeV <= m <= 1000 GeV are set in the range 1-12 pb for different hypotheses on the production mechanism.
In hadron collider experiments, triggering the detector to store interesting events for offline analysis is a challenge due to the high rates and multiplicities of particles produced. Maintaining high trigger efficiency for the physics we are most interested in while at the same time suppressing high rate physics from inclusive QCD processes is a difficult but important problem. It is essential that the trigger system be flexible and robust, with sufficient redundancy and operating margin. Providing high quality track reconstruction over the full ATLAS detector by the start of processing at LV…
The tracking performance parameters of the ATLAS Transition Radiation Tracker (TRT) as part of the ATLAS inner detector are described in this paper for different data-taking conditions in proton-proton, proton-lead and lead-lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The performance is studied using data collected during the first period of LHC operation (Run 1) and is compared with Monte Carlo simulations. The performance of the TRT, operating with two different gas mixtures (xenon-based and argon-based) and its dependence on the TRT occupancy is presented. These studies show that the…
The luminosity calibration for the ATLAS detector at the LHC during pp collisions at sqrt(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 sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. A luminosity uncertainty of Delta L/L = +/- 3.5% is obtained for the 47 pb-1 of data delivered to ATLAS in 2010, and an uncertainty of Delta L/L = +/- 1.8% is obtained for the 5.5 fb-1 delivered in 2011.
After many years of searches, the Higgs boson was observed by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations in July 2012. Since then, its properties have been measured using primarily the bosonic decay channels: $H \to γγ$, $H \to Z Z$, $H \to W^+ W^-$. In order to probe the predictions of the Standard Model and the nature of the Higgs boson, it is also fundamental to measure its couplings to fermions and, in particular, to quarks. In this paper we present the ATLAS results in the search for the Higgs boson decaying to b-quark pairs using two different production channels: associated production with a vect…
The performance of the ATLAS muon trigger system is evaluated with proton-proton collision data collected in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. It is primarily evaluated using events containing a pair of muons from the decay of $Z$ bosons. The efficiency of the single-muon trigger is measured for muons with transverse momentum 25 < $p_T$ < 100 GeV, with a statistical uncertainty of less than 0.01% and a systematic uncertainty of 0.6%. The $p_T$ range for efficiency determination is extended by using muons from decays of $J/ψ$ mesons, $W$ bosons, and top quar…
We report on the potential for the discovery of a Standard Model Higgs boson with the vector boson fusion mechanism in the mass range $115<M_H<500 \gev/$c$^2$ with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Feasibility studies at hadron level followed by a fast detector simulation have been performed for $H\to W^{(*)}W^{(*)}\to l^+l^-\sla{p_T}$, $H\toγγ$ and $H\to ZZ\to l^+l^-q\bar{q}$. The preliminary results obtained here show a large discovery potential in the range $115<M_H<300 \gev/$c$^2$. Results obtained with multivariate techniques are reported for a number of channels.
