Commissioning of the ATLAS Experiment

The ATLAS experiment based at the CERN Laboratory in Switzerland is expected to be one of the key experiments of its generation. Its results will help elucidate such fundamental questions of physics as the origin of mass and the existence of dark matter in the universe. After 15 years of design, fabrication, and installation, ATLAS is ready to collect first data from the high-energy proton collisions of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The commissioning of the ATLAS detector is a critical step in attaining these physics goals. Details are provided here on the status of the ATLAS experiment in September of 2008, just after having observed first beams in the LHC

Nuclear Polarization of Molecular Hydrogen Recombined on a Non-metallic Surface

The nuclear polarization of $\mathrm{H}_2$ molecules formed by recombination of nuclear polarized H atoms on the surface of a storage cell initially coated with a silicon-based polymer has been measured by using the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry in deep-inelastic positron-proton scattering. The molecules are found to have a substantial nuclear polarization, which is evidence that initially polarized atoms retain their nuclear polarization when absorbed on this type of surfac

Evidence for Quark-Hadron Duality in the Proton Spin Asymmetry A1A_1

Spin-dependent lepton-nucleon scattering data have been used to investigate the validity of the concept of quark-hadron duality for the spin asymmetry $A_1$. Longitudinally polarised positrons were scattered off a longitudinally polarised hydrogen target for values of $Q^2$ between 1.2 and 12 GeV$^2$ and values of $W^2$ between 1 and 4 GeV$^2$. The average double-spin asymmetry in the nucleon resonance region is found to agree with that measured in deep-inelastic scattering at the same values of the Bjorken scaling variable $x$. This finding implies that the description of $A_1$ in terms of quark degrees of freedom is valid also in the nucleon resonance region for values of $Q^2$ above 1.6 GeV$^2$.Comment: 5 pages, 1 eps figure, table added, new references added, in print in Phys. Rev. Let

The Q^2-Dependence of Nuclear Transparency for Exclusive ρ0\rho^0 Production

Exclusive coherent and incoherent electroproduction of the $\rho^0$ meson from $^1$H and $^{14}$N targets has been studied at the HERMES experiment as a function of coherence length ($l_c$), corresponding to the lifetime of hadronic fluctuations of the virtual photon, and squared four-momentum of the virtual photon ($-Q^2$). The ratio of $^{14}$N to $^1$H cross sections per nucleon, known as nuclear transparency, was found to increase (decrease) with increasing coherence length for coherent (incoherent) $\rho^0$ electroproduction. For fixed coherence length, a rise of nuclear transparency with $Q^2$ is observed for both coherent and incoherent $\rho^0$ production, which is in agreement with theoretical calculations of color transparency.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Single-spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering on a transversely polarized hydrogen target

Single-spin asymmetries for semi-inclusive electroproduction of charged pions in deep-inelastic scattering of positrons are measured for the first time with transverse target polarization. The asymmetry depends on the azimuthal angles of both the pion ($\phi$) and the target spin axis ($\phi_S$) about the virtual photon direction and relative to the lepton scattering plane. The extracted Fourier component \cmpi is a signal of the previously unmeasured quark transversity distribution, in conjunction with the so-called Collins fragmentation function, also unknown. The Fourier component \smpi of the asymmetry arises from a correlation between the transverse polarization of the target nucleon and the intrinsic transverse momentum of quarks, as represented by the previously unmeasured Sivers distribution function. Evidence for both signals is observed, but the Sivers asymmetry may be affected by exclusive vector meson productio

In situ commissioning of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter with cosmic muons

In 2006, ATLAS entered the {\it in situ} commissioning phase. The primary goal of this phase is to verify the detector operation and performance with cosmic muons. Using a dedicated cosmic muon trigger from the hadronic Tile calorimeter, a sample of approximately $120\,000$ events was collected in several modules of the barrel electromagnetic (EM) calorimeter between August 2006 and March 2007. As cosmic events are generally non-projective and arrive asynchronously with respect to the trigger clock, methods to improve the standard signal reconstruction for this situation are presented. Various selection criteria for projective muons and clustering algorithms have been tested, leading to preliminary results on calorimeter uniformity in $\eta$ and timing performance

The Flavor Asymmetry of the Light Quark Sea from Semi-inclusive Deep-inelastic Scattering

The flavor asymmetry of the light quark sea of the nucleon is determined in the kinematic range 0.02<x<0.3 and 1 GeV^2<Q^2<10 GeV^2, for the first time from semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering. The quantity (dbar(x)-ubar(x))/(u(x)-d(x)) is derived from a relationship between the yields of positive and negative pions from unpolarized hydrogen and deuterium targets. The flavor asymmetry dbar-ubar is found to be non-zero and x dependent, showing an excess of dbar over ubar quarks in the proton.Comment: 7 Pages, 2 figures, RevTeX format; slight revision in text, small change in extraction of dbar-ubar and comparison with a high q2 parameterizatio

Observation of a Single-Spin Azimuthal Asymmetry in Semi-Inclusive Pion Electro-Production

Single-spin asymmetries for semi-inclusive pion production in deep-inelastic scattering have been measured for the first time. A significant target-spin asymmetry of the distribution in the azimuthal angle phi of the pion relative to the lepton scattering plane was observed for pi+ electro-production on a longitudinally polarized hydrogen target. The corresponding analyzing power in the sin(phi) moment of the cross section is 0.022 +/- 0.005 +/- 0.003. This result can be interpreted as the effect of terms in the cross section involving chiral-odd spin distribution functions in combination with a time-reversal-odd fragmentation function that is sensitive to the transverse polarization of the fragmenting quark.Comment: 5 pages of RevTex, 3 ps figures, 2 table

Inclusive search for same-sign dilepton signatures in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

An inclusive search is presented for new physics in events with two isolated leptons (e or mu) having the same electric charge. The data are selected from events collected from p p collisions at root s = 7 TeV by the ATLAS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb(-1). The spectra in dilepton invariant mass, missing transverse momentum and jet multiplicity are presented and compared to Standard Model predictions. In this event sample, no evidence is found for contributions beyond those of the Standard Model. Limits are set on the cross-section in a fiducial region for new sources of same-sign high-mass dilepton events in the ee, e mu and mu mu channels. Four models predicting same-sign dilepton signals are constrained: two descriptions of Majorana neutrinos, a cascade topology similar to supersymmetry or universal extra dimensions, and fourth generation d-type quarks. Assuming a new physics scale of 1 TeV, Majorana neutrinos produced by an effective operator V with masses below 460 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level. A lower limit of 290 GeV is set at 95% confidence level on the mass of fourth generation d-type quarks

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde