Vertex counting as a luminosity measure at ATLAS and determination of the electroweak Zjj production cross-section

This thesis presents two analyses of data recorded by the ATLAS detector during proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The first is the implementation of a vertex counting algorithm to measure the luminosity recorded by ATLAS during collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=$8 TeV in 2012. This comprises a Monte Carlo closure test for validation of the method and its corrections, the calibration of the method using the van der Meer scans performed in 2012 and the application of the method to physics runs. It also includes tests of the internal and external consistency of the algorithm and the potential to use this algorithm to measure the luminosity of data collected during proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$13 TeV. \par The second analysis is the measurement of the inclusive and purely electroweak production of dijets in association with a $Z$ boson, performed using the 3.2 $\text{fb}^{-1}$ of data collected during collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=$13 TeV in 2015. Cross-section measurements are presented for five fiducial regions, each of which has a different sensitivity to the electroweak component of the $Zjj$ production. Data and Monte Carlo predictions are compared and found to be in reasonable agreement for most cases. The electroweak $Zjj$ production cross-section is then extracted in a fiducial region where this contribution is enhanced. This measurement is also in good agreement with the Monte Carlo prediction. These first 13 TeV measurements will set the scene for studies of weak boson fusion, both within the Standard Model and in new phenomena searches, which will become even more important in Run 2 and the future of the LHC due to the electroweak sector not being as constrained yet, compared to the strong sector, and due to the larger enhancements as a result of a higher $\sqrt{s}$, where electroweak physics can be most easily extracted

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Measurement of the total cross section and ρ -parameter from elastic scattering in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

In a special run of the LHC with β⋆=2.5 km, proton–proton elastic-scattering events were recorded at s√=13 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 340 μb−1 using the ALFA subdetector of ATLAS in 2016. The elastic cross section was measured differentially in the Mandelstam t variable in the range from −t=2.5⋅10−4 GeV2 to −t=0.46 GeV2 using 6.9 million elastic-scattering candidates. This paper presents measurements of the total cross section σtot, parameters of the nuclear slope, and the ρ-parameter defined as the ratio of the real part to the imaginary part of the elastic-scattering amplitude in the limit t→0. These parameters are determined from a fit to the differential elastic cross section using the optical theorem and different parameterizations of the t-dependence. The results for σtot and ρ are σtot(pp→X)=104.7±1.1 mb ,ρ=0.098±0.011. The uncertainty in σtot is dominated by the luminosity measurement, and in ρ by imperfect knowledge of the detector alignment and by modelling of the nuclear amplitude.publishedVersio