Status and startup for physics with the ATLAS experiment

The LHC accelerator is going to produce the first proton-proton collisions in one year from now. The ATLAS experiment at the LHC entered in a new phase, dedicated to the detector commissioning. This paper is focused on the ATLAS physics commissioning, which will proceed through four different stages. We describe here the strategy which will be followed to understand the detector and undertake the first physics measurements, from beam tests to cosmic run and from pre-collision to collision events

Special Supersymmetric features of large invariant mass unpolarized and polarized top-antitop production at LHC

We consider the top-antitop invariant mass distributions for production of unpolarized and polarized top quark pairs at LHC, in the theoretical framework of the MSSM. Assuming a "moderately" light SUSY scenario, we derive the leading logarithmic electroweak contributions at one loop in a region of large invariant mass, $M_{t\bar t}\simeq1$ TeV, for the unpolarized differential cross section $d\sigma/dM_{t\bar t}$ and for the differential longitudinal top polarization asymmetry $A_t(M_{t\bar t})$. We perform a realistic evaluation of the expected uncertainties of the two quantities, both from a theoretical and from an experimental point of view, and discuss the possibility of obtaining, from accurate measurements of the two mass distributions, stringent consistency tests of the model, in particular identifications of large $\tan\beta$ effects.Comment: 23 pages, 9 eps figure

Rare Decay of the Top t -> cgg in the Standard Model

We calculate the one-loop flavor changing neutral current top quark decay t -> cgg in the Standard Model. We demonstrate that the rate for t -> cgg exceeds the rate for a single gluon emission t -> cg by about two orders of magnitude, while the rate for t -> cq barq (q=u) is slightly smaller than for t -> cg.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures and 2 tables. Typo in Eq.2.1 corrected, text slightly modified, references added. Version to appear in Phys.Rev.

Top quark rare three-body decays in the littlest Higgs model with T-parity

In the littlest Higgs model with T-parity (LHT), the mirror quarks have flavor structures and will contribute to the top quark flavor changing neutral current. In this work, we perform an extensive investigation of the top quark rare three-body decays $t\to cVV (V=\gamma,Z,g)$ and $t\to cf\bar{f} (f=b,\tau,\mu,e)$ at one-loop level. Our results show that the branching ratios of $t\to cgg$ and $t\to cb\bar{b}$ could reach $\mathcal {O}(10^{-3})$ in the favorite parameter space of the littlest Higgs model with T-parity, which implies that these decays may be detectable at the LHC or ILC, while for the other decays, their rates are too small to be observable at the present or future colliders.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure

Kinematic top analyses at CDF

We present an update of the top quark analysis using kinematic techniques in {rho}{ovr string {rho}} collisions at {radical}s = 1.8 TeV with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). We reported before on a study which used 19.3 pb{sup -1} of data from the 1992-93 collider run, but now we use a larger data sample of 67 pb{sup -1}. First, we analyze the total transverse energy of the hard collision in W+{ge}3 jet events, showing the likely presence of a t{ovr string t} component in the event sample. Next, we compare in more detail the kinematic structure of W+{ge}3 jet events with expectations for top pair production and with background processes, predominantly direct W+ jet production. We again find W+{ge}3 jet events which cannot be explained in terms of background, but show kinematic features as expected from top. These events also show evidence for beauty quarks. The findings confirm the observation of top events made earlier in the data of the 1992-93 collider run

Running a typical ROOT HEP analysis on Hadoop MapReduce

We evaluate how a typical ROOT High Energy Physics (HEP) analysis can be executed on Hadoop MapReduce. We take into account several aspects and we propose a method to perform the analysis in a completely transparent way to ROOT, the data and the user: the goal is to let ROOT run without any modifications and to store the data in its original format. The solutions which has been found to solve the encountered problems can be easily ported to any HEP code, and in general to any code working on binary data relying on independent sub-problems like HEP particle collision events. We tested the method by running an analysis code for the top quark pair production cross section measurement with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in the CERN laboratory

Proceedings of the Workshop on Monte Carlo's, Physics and Simulations at the LHC PART II

These proceedings collect the presentations given at the first three meetings of the INFN "Workshop on Monte Carlo's, Physics and Simulations at the LHC", held at the Frascati National Laboratories in 2006. The first part of these proceedings contains pedagogical introductions to several basic topics of both theoretical and experimental high pT LHC physics. The second part collects more specialised presentations.Comment: 157 pages, 136 figures; contribution by M. Grazzini has been adde

Prototype ATLAS IBL Modules using the FE-I4A Front-End Readout Chip

The ATLAS Collaboration will upgrade its semiconductor pixel tracking detector with a new Insertable B-layer (IBL) between the existing pixel detector and the vacuum pipe of the Large Hadron Collider. The extreme operating conditions at this location have necessitated the development of new radiation hard pixel sensor technologies and a new front-end readout chip, called the FE-I4. Planar pixel sensors and 3D pixel sensors have been investigated to equip this new pixel layer, and prototype modules using the FE-I4A have been fabricated and characterized using 120 GeV pions at the CERN SPS and 4 GeV positrons at DESY, before and after module irradiation. Beam test results are presented, including charge collection efficiency, tracking efficiency and charge sharing.Comment: 45 pages, 30 figures, submitted to JINS