H. von der Schmitt 99 , J. von Loeben 99 , H. von Radziewski 48 , E. von Toerne 20 , V. Vorobel 126 , V. Vorwerk 11 , M. Vos 166 , R. Voss 29 , T.T. Voss 173 , J.H. Vossebeld 73 , N. Vranjes 12a , M. Vranjes Milosavljevic 12a , V. Vrba 125 , M. Vreeswijk 105 , T. Abstract The simulation software for the ATLAS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is being used for large-scale production of events on the LHC Computing Grid. This simulation requires many components, from the generators that simulate particle collisions, through packages simulating the response of the various detectors and triggers. All of these components come together under the ATLAS simulation infrastructure. In this paper, that infrastructure is discussed, including that supporting the detector description , interfacing the event generation, and combining the GEANT4 simulation of the response of the individual detectors. Also described are the tools allowing the software validation, performance testing, and the validation of the simulated output against known physics processes.

The four LEP collaborations, ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL, have searched for the neutral Higgs bosons which are predicted by the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The data of the four collaborations are statistically combined and examined for their consistency with the background hypothesis and with a possible Higgs boson signal. The combined LEP data show no significant excess of events which would indicate the production of Higgs bosons. The search results are used to set upper bounds on the cross-sections of various Higgs-like event topologies. The results are interpreted within the MSSM in a number of "benchmark" models, including CP-conserving and CP-violating scenarios. These interpretations lead in all cases to large exclusions in the MSSM parameter space. Absolute limits are set on the parameter tan β and, in some scenarios, on the masses of neutral Higgs bosons.

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Studies of the spin and parity quantum numbers of the Higgs boson are presented, based on proton–proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The Standard Model spin–parity JP=0+JP=0+ hypothesis is compared with alternative hypotheses using the Higgs boson decays H→γγH→γγ, H→ZZ⁎→4ℓH→ZZ⁎→4ℓ and H→WW⁎→ℓνℓνH→WW⁎→ℓνℓν, as well as the combination of these channels. The analysed dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.7 fb−1 collected at a centre-of-mass energy of √s=8TeV. For the H→ZZ⁎→4ℓH→ZZ⁎→4ℓ decay mode the dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb−1 collected at √s=7TeV is included. The data are compatible with the Standard Model JP=0+JP=0+ quantum numbers for the Higgs boson, whereas all alternative hypotheses studied in this Letter, namely some specific JP=0−,1+,1−,2+JP=0−,1+,1−,2+ models, are excluded at confidence levels above 97.8%. This exclusion holds independently of the assumptions on the coupling strengths to the Standard Model particles and in the case of the JP=2+JP=2+ model, of the relative fractions of gluon-fusion and quark–antiquark production of the spin-2 particle. The data thus provide evidence for the spin-0 nature of the Higgs boson, with positive parity being strongly preferre

A search for excited states of the Bc(±) meson is performed using 4.9  fb(-1) of 7 TeV and 19.2  fb(-1) of 8 TeV pp collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. A new state is observed through its hadronic transition to the ground state, with the latter detected in the decay Bc(±)→J/ψπ(±). The state appears in the m(Bc(±)π(+)π(-))-m(Bc(±))-2m(π(±)) mass difference distribution with a significance of 5.2 standard deviations. The mass of the observed state is 6842±4±5  MeV, where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. The mass and decay of this state are consistent with expectations for the second S-wave state of the Bc(±) meson, Bc(±)(2S).