Measurement of the bb dijet cross section in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Funded by SCOAP3The dijet production cross section for jets containing a b-hadron (b-jets) has been measured in proton–proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.2 fb−1. The cross section is measured for events with two identified b-jets with a transverse momentum pT > 20 GeV and a minimum separation in the η–φ plane of R = 0.4. At least one of the jets in the event is required to have pT > 270 GeV. The cross section is measured differentially as a function of dijet invariant mass, dijet transverse momentum, boost of the dijet system, and the rapidity difference, azimuthal angle and angular distance between the b-jets. The results are compared to different predictions of leading order and next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamics matrix elements supplemented with models for parton-showers and hadronization

Perceptions of Assistant Principals’ and Principals’ of Bahrain Government Schools about the Impact of the Bahrain Teachers College Educational Leadership Program on Their Performance

This article examines the perceptions of school assistant principals and principals who completed the Bahrain Teachers College higher diploma of education leadership program about its impact on their performance. The study sample consisted of 141 program graduates from 9- cohorts. A multilevel concept in measuring the impact of the educational leadership program on the graduates’ performance was employed. The framework consisted of 4 levels: self-learning, changing others, embedding changes in school practices and sustainability of change and scaling up the school performance. The study questionnaire was designed on the basis of this framework. Results show that the Educational Leadership program positively affected its graduates’ performance in the 4 levels. The majority of the program graduates agreed that the program positively affected their personal qualities, leadership styles and practices to support school development, school staff, students’ performance and school ranking. The majority of the program graduates also agreed that the program positively affected their skills in dealing with curriculum innovations, professional development, research, strategic planning, staff appraisal, communication with community, using ICT, improving students’ learning and applying educational ethics.     Keywords: Education Leadership, School Principals’ Performance, Leadership Styles, School Practices, Leadership Skill

Correlation transfer in stochastically driven oscillators over long and short time scales

In the absence of synaptic coupling, two or more neural oscillators may become synchronized by virtue of the statistical correlations in their noisy input streams. Recent work has shown that the degree of correlation transfer from input currents to output spikes depends not only on intrinsic oscillator dynamics, but also depends on the length of the observation window over which the correlation is calculated. In this paper we use stochastic phase reduction and regular perturbations to derive the correlation of the total phase elapsed over long time scales, a quantity which provides a convenient proxy for the spike count correlation. Over short time scales, we derive the spike count correlation directly using straightforward probabilistic reasoning applied to the density of the phase difference. Our approximations show that output correlation scales with the autocorrelation of the phase resetting curve over long time scales. We also find a concise expression for the influence of the shape of the phase resetting curve on the initial slope of the output correlation over short time scales. These analytic results together with numerical simulations provide new intuitions for the recent counterintuitive finding that type I oscillators transfer correlations more faithfully than do type II over long time scales, while the reverse holds true for the better understood case of short time scales.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Search for heavy lepton resonances decaying to a Z boson and a lepton in pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy leptons decaying to a Z boson and an electron or a muon is presented. The search is based on pp collision data taken at √s = 8 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb⁻¹. Three high-transverse-momentum electrons or muons are selected, with two of them required to be consistent with originating from a Z boson decay. No significant excess above Standard Model background predictions is observed, and 95% confidence level limits on the production cross section of high-mass trilepton resonances are derived. The results are interpreted in the context of vector-like lepton and type-III seesaw models. For the vector-like lepton model, most heavy lepton mass values in the range 114–176 GeV are excluded. For the type-III seesaw model, most mass values in the range 100–468 GeV are excluded.G. Aad ... P. Jackson ... L. Lee ... A. Petridis ... N. Soni ... M.J. White ... et al. (ATLAS Collaboration

Measurement of the charge asymmetry in top-quark pair production in the lepton-plus-jets final state in pp collision data at root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Published online: 19 February 2016This paper reports inclusive and differential measurements of the tt¯ charge asymmetry AC in 20.3 fb−1 of s√=8 TeVpp collisions recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Three differential measurements are performed as a function of the invariant mass, transverse momentum and longitudinal boost of the tt¯ system. The tt¯ pairs are selected in the single-lepton channels (e or μ) with at least four jets, and a likelihood fit is used to reconstruct the tt¯ event kinematics. A Bayesian unfolding procedure is performed to infer the asymmetry at parton level from the observed data distribution. The inclusive tt¯ charge asymmetry is measured to be AC=0.009±0.005 (stat. + syst.). The inclusive and differential measurements are compatible with the values predicted by the Standard Model.G. Aad … P. Jackson … L. Lee ... A. Petridis... N. Soni … M. J. White … et al. (ATLAS collaboration

Search for new phenomena in dijet angular distributions in proton-proton collisions at root s =8 TeV measured with the ATLAS detector

A search for new phenomena in LHC proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt[s]=8 TeV was performed with the ATLAS detector using an integrated luminosity of 17.3 fb^{-1}. The angular distributions are studied in events with at least two jets; the highest dijet mass observed is 5.5 TeV. All angular distributions are consistent with the predictions of the standard model. In a benchmark model of quark contact interactions, a compositeness scale below 8.1 TeV in a destructive interference scenario and 12.0 TeV in a constructive interference scenario is excluded at 95% C.L.; median expected limits are 8.9 TeV for the destructive interference scenario and 14.1 TeV for the constructive interference scenario.G. Aad … P. Jackson … L. Lee … A. Petridis … N. Soni ... M. White ... et al. (The ATLAS Collaboration

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/Rc = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛRc) of approximately 30.G. Aad … P. Jackson … L. Lee … A. Petridis … N. Soni ... M. White ... et al. (The ATLAS Collaboration

Search for the standard model higgs boson produced in association with top quarks and decaying into bb in pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson produced in association with a top-quark pair, t ¯tH, is presented. The analysis uses 20.3 fb−1 √ of pp collision data at s = 8 TeV, collected with theATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during 2012. The search is designed for the H → b¯b decay mode and uses events containing one or two electrons or muons. In order to improve the sensitivity of the search, events are categorised according to their jet and b-tagged jet multiplicities. A neural network is used to discriminate between signal and background events, the latter being dominated by t ¯t+jets production. In the single-lepton channel, variables calculated using a matrix element method are included as inputs to the neural network to improve discrimination of the irreducible t ¯t+b¯b background. No significant excess of events above the background expectation is found and an observed (expected) limit of 3.4 (2.2) times the StandardModel cross section is obtained at 95% confidence level. The ratio of the measured t ¯tH signal cross section to the StandardModel expectation is found to be μ = 1.5±1.1 assuming a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV .G. Aad ... P. Jackson ... L. Lee ... A. Petridis ... N. Soni ... M.J. White ... et al. (ATLAS Collaboration

Measurements of the nuclear modification factor for jets in Pb+Pb collisions at root sNN =2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of inclusive jet production are performed in pp and Pb+Pb collisions at √(s)NN=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-k(t) algorithm with R=0.4, and the spectra are measured over the kinematic range of jet transverse momentum 32<p(T)<500  GeV and absolute rapidity |y|<2.1 and as a function of collision centrality. The nuclear modification factor R(AA) is evaluated, and jets are found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of 2 in central collisions compared to pp collisions. The R(AA) shows a slight increase with p(T) and no significant variation with rapidity.G. Aad … P. Jackson … L. Lee … A. Petridis … N. Soni ... M. White ... et al. (The ATLAS Collaboration

Search for scalar charm quark pair production in pp collisions at root s =8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a dedicated search for pair production of scalar partners of charm quarks are reported. The search is based on an integrated luminosity of 20.3  fb^{-1} of pp collisions at sqrt[s]=8  TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The search is performed using events with large missing transverse momentum and at least two jets, where the two leading jets are each tagged as originating from c quarks. Events containing isolated electrons or muons are vetoed. In an R-parity-conserving minimal supersymmetric scenario in which a single scalar-charm state is kinematically accessible, and where it decays exclusively into a charm quark and a neutralino, 95% confidence-level upper limits are obtained in the scalar-charm-neutralino mass plane such that, for neutralino masses below 200 GeV, scalar-charm masses up to 490 GeV are excluded.G. Aad … P. Jackson … L. Lee … A. Petridis … N. Soni ... M. White ... et al. (The ATLAS Collaboration