Eur.Phys.J.C

The multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of inclusive photons have been measured at forward rapidities ( $2.3 < \eta < 3.9$ ) in proton–proton collisions at three center-of-mass energies, $\sqrt{s}$   $=$ 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV using the ALICE detector. It is observed that the increase in the average photon multiplicity as a function of beam energy is compatible with both a logarithmic and a power-law dependence. The relative increase in average photon multiplicity produced in inelastic pp collisions at 2.76 and 7 TeV center-of-mass energies with respect to 0.9 TeV are 37.2 $\pm $ 0.3 % (stat) $\pm $ 8.8 % (sys) and 61.2 $\pm $ 0.3 % (stat) $\pm $ 7.6 % (sys), respectively. The photon multiplicity distributions for all center-of-mass energies are well described by negative binomial distributions. The multiplicity distributions are also presented in terms of KNO variables. The results are compared to model predictions, which are found in general to underestimate the data at large photon multiplicities, in particular at the highest center-of-mass energy. Limiting fragmentation behavior of photons has been explored with the data, but is not observed in the measured pseudorapidity range.

JINST

Detector-plane prototypes of the very forward calorimetry of a future detector at an e(+)e(−) collider have been built and their performance was measured in an electron beam. The detector plane comprises silicon or GaAs pad sensors, dedicated front-end and ADC ASICs, and an FPGA for data concentration. Measurements of the signal-to-noise ratio and the response as a function of the position of the sensor are presented. A deconvolution method is successfully applied, and a comparison of the measured shower shape as a function of the absorber depth with a Monte-Carlo simulation is given.

JHEP

A generic search for anomalous production of events with at least three charged leptons is presented. The data sample consists of pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=8 $ TeV collected in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{−1}$. Events are required to have at least three selected lepton candidates, at least two of which must be electrons or muons, while the third may be a hadronically decaying tau. Selected events are categorized based on their lepton flavour content and signal regions are constructed using several kinematic variables of interest. No significant deviations from Standard Model predictions are observed. Model-independent upper limits on contributions from beyond the Standard Model phenomena are provided for each signal region, along with prescription to re-interpret the limits for any model. Constraints are also placed on models predicting doubly charged Higgs bosons and excited leptons. For doubly charged Higgs bosons decaying to eτ or μτ, lower limits on the mass are set at 400 GeV at 95% confidence level. For excited leptons, constraints are provided as functions of both the mass of the excited state and the compositeness scale Λ, with the strongest mass constraints arising in regions where the mass equals Λ. In such scenarios, lower mass limits are set at 3.0 TeV for excited electrons and muons, 2.5 TeV for excited taus, and 1.6 TeV for every excited-neutrino flavour.

Phys.Rev.Lett.

We present a measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in the production of $B^{\pm}$ mesons, $A_{\rm FB}(B^{\pm})$, using $B^{\pm} \rightarrow J/\psi K^{\pm}$ decays in 10.4 ${\rm fb}^{-1}$ of $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV collected by the D0 experiment during Run II of the Tevatron collider. A nonzero asymmetry would indicate a preference for a particular flavor, i.e., $b$ quark or $\bar{b}$ antiquark, to be produced in the direction of the proton beam. We extract $A_{\rm FB}(B^{\pm})$ from a maximum likelihood fit to the difference between forward- and backward-produced $B^{\pm}$ mesons. We measure an asymmetry consistent with zero: $A_{\rm FB}(B^{\pm})$ = [$-$0.24 $\pm$ 0.41 (stat) $\pm$ 0.19 (syst)]%.

Phys. Rev. Lett.

Measurements of inclusive jet production are performed in pp and Pb+Pb collisions at sNN=2.76  TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 4.0 and 0.14  nb-1, respectively. The jets are identified with the anti-kt algorithm with R=0.4, and the spectra are measured over the kinematic range of jet transverse momentum 32<pT<500  GeV and absolute rapidity |y|<2.1 and as a function of collision centrality. The nuclear modification factor RAA is evaluated, and jets are found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of 2 in central collisions compared to pp collisions. The RAA shows a slight increase with pT and no significant variation with rapidity.

Nucl.Part.Phys.Proc.

Using the new limit on the neutrino anomalous magnetic moment recently obtained by GEMMA experiment we get an order-of-magnitude estimation for possible new direct upper bound on the neutrino electric millicharge |qν|∼1.5×10−12e0 ( e0 is the absolute value of the electron charge) by comparing the neutrino magnetic moment and millicharge contributions to the total cross section at the electron recoil energy threshold of the experiment. This estimation is confirmed by the performed analysis of the GEMMA data using established statistical procedures and a new direct bound on the neutrino millicharge absolute value |qν|<2.7×10−12e0 (90% CL ) is derived. This limit is more stringent than the previous one obtained from the TEXONO reactor experiment data that is included to the Review of Particle Properties 2012.

Eur.Phys.J.C

Double-differential three-jet production cross-sections are measured in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 7\mathrm \,TeV{}$ using the ATLAS detector at the large hadron collider. The measurements are presented as a function of the three-jet mass $(m_{jjj})$ , in bins of the sum of the absolute rapidity separations between the three leading jets $(\left| Y^{*}\right| )$ . Invariant masses extending up to 5  TeV are reached for $8< \left| Y^{*}\right| < 10$ . These measurements use a sample of data recorded using the ATLAS detector in 2011, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of $4.51~\text{ fb }^{-1}$ . Jets are identified using the anti- $k_{t}$ algorithm with two different jet radius parameters, $R=0.4$ and $R=0.6$ . The dominant uncertainty in these measurements comes from the jet energy scale. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations corrected to account for non-perturbative effects are compared to the measurements. Good agreement is found between the data and the theoretical predictions based on most of the available sets of parton distribution functions, over the full kinematic range, covering almost seven orders of magnitude in the measured cross-section values.

Phys.Rev.D

Results of a search for new phenomena in events with an energetic photon and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC are reported. Data were collected in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3  fb-1. The observed data are well described by the expected Standard Model backgrounds. The expected (observed) upper limit on the fiducial cross section for the production of events with a photon and large missing transverse momentum is 6.1 (5.3) fb at 95% confidence level. Exclusion limits are presented on models of new phenomena with large extra spatial dimensions, supersymmetric quarks, and direct pair production of dark-matter candidates.

EPJ Web Conf.

One of the important objectives of the COMPASS experiment is the exploration of transverse spin structure of nucleon via spin (in)dependent azimuthal asymmetries in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) of polarized leptons (and soon also Drell-Yan (DY) reactions with $\pi^-$) off transversely polarized target. For this purpose a series of measurements were made in COMPASS, using 160 GeV/c longitudinally polarized muon beam and polarized $^6LiD$ and $NH_3$ targets and are foreseen with 190 GeV/c $\pi^-$ beam on polarized $NH_3$. The experimental results obtained by COMPASS for azimuthal effects in SIDIS play an important role in the general understanding of the three-dimensional nature of the nucleon and are widely used in theoretical analyses and global data fits. Future first ever polarized DY-data from COMPASS compared with SIDIS results will open a new chapter probing general principles of QCD TMD-formalism. In this review main focus will be given to the very recent COMPASS results obtained for SIDIS transverse spin asymmetries from four "Drell-Yan" $Q^2$-ranges.

JINST

The performance of missing transverse energy reconstruction algorithms is presented using √s=8 TeV proton-proton (pp) data collected with the CMS detector. Events with anomalous missing transverse energy are studied, and the performance of algorithms used to identify and remove these events is presented. The scale and resolution for missing transverse energy, including the effects of multiple pp interactions (pileup), are measured using events with an identified Z boson or isolated photon, and are found to be well described by the simulation. Novel missing transverse energy reconstruction algorithms developed specifically to mitigate the effects of large numbers of pileup interactions on the missing transverse energy resolution are presented. These algorithms significantly reduce the dependence of the missing transverse energy resolution on pileup interactions. Finally, an algorithm that provides an estimate of the significance of the missing transverse energy is presented, which is used to estimate the compatibility of the reconstructed missing transverse energy with a zero nominal value.

Phys.Atom.Nucl.

The mixing of octupole-vibrational bands in the$^{160}$Dy nucleus is analyzed within a phenomenological model that involves Coriolis coupling. The energies of levels in the bands, the reduced probabilities for E1 transitions from the octupole-vibrational bands to the ground-state and γ bands, and the ratios of the reduced probabilities for these transitions to the neighboring levels of the ground-state band are calculated. Satisfactory agreement with available experimental data is reached.

JHEP

The inclusive jet cross-section is measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.5 fb$^{−1}$ collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. Jets are identified using the anti-k$_{t}$ algorithm with radius parameter values of 0.4 and 0.6. The double-differential cross-sections are presented as a function of the jet transverse momentum and the jet rapidity, covering jet transverse momenta from 100 GeV to 2 TeV. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations corrected for non-perturbative effects and electroweak effects, as well as Monte Carlo simulations with next-to-leading-order matrix elements interfaced to parton showering, are compared to the measured cross-sections. A quantitative comparison of the measured cross-sections to the QCD calculations using several sets of parton distribution functions is performed.