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).

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb of  TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with  GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between  GeV and  GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presented.

Detailed measurements of the electron performance of the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported, using decays of the Z, W and J /ψ particles. Data collected in 2010 at √ s = 7 TeV are used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of almost 40 pb −1 . The inter-alignment of the inner detector and the electromagnetic calorimeter, the determination of the electron energy scale and resolution, and the performance in terms of response uniformity and linearity are discussed. The electron identification, reconstruction and trigger efficiencies, as well as the charge misidentification probability, are also presented.

The Tile Calorimeter is the hadron calorimeter covering the central region of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Approximately 10,000 photomultipliers collect light from scintillating tiles acting as the active material sandwiched between slabs of steel absorber. This paper gives an overview of the calorimeter’s performance during the years 2008–2012 using cosmic-ray muon events and proton–proton collision data at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV with a total integrated luminosity of nearly 30 fb . The signal reconstruction methods, calibration systems as well as the detector operation status are presented. The energy and time calibration methods performed excellently, resulting in good stability of the calorimeter response under varying conditions during the LHC Run 1. Finally, the Tile Calorimeter response to isolated muons and hadrons as well as to jets from proton–proton collisions is presented. The results demonstrate excellent performance in accord with specifications mentioned in the Technical Design Report.

A search for the decay of the Standard Model Higgs boson into a bb pair when produced in association with a W or Z boson is performed with the ATLAS detector. The analysed data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb −1 , were collected in proton-proton collisions in Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Final states containing zero, one and two charged leptons (electrons or muons) are considered, targeting the decays Z → νν, W → ν and Z → . For a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV, an excess of events over the expected background from other Standard Model processes is found with an observed significance of 3.5 standard deviations, compared to an expectation of 3.0 standard deviations. This excess provides evidence for the Higgs boson decay into b-quarks and for its production in association with a vector boson. The combination of this result with that of the Run 1 analysis yields a ratio of the measured signal events to the Standard Model expectation equal to 0. [7]. The properties of the discovered particle have been measured using the Run 1 dataset, collected at centre-of-mass energies of 7 TeV and 8 TeV, and were found to be compatible with those predicted by the Standard Model (SM) within uncertainties, typically of the order of ±20% [8-11]. The Run 2 dataset at an energy of 13 TeV provides an opportunity to increase the precision of such measurements, and to challenge theory predictions further. While analyses of Higgs bosons decaying into vector bosons are entering an era of detailed differential measurements, direct evidence for the coupling of the Higgs boson to fermions was established only via the observation of the decay into τ -leptons through the combination of ATLAS and CMS Run 1 results [11], and, more recently, through the combination of CMS Run 1 and Run 2 results [12]. Although the gluon-gluon fusion production mode provides indirect evidence for the coupling of the Higgs boson to top quarks, there is currently no direct observation of the coupling of the Higgs boson to quarks. The decay of the SM Higgs boson into pairs of b-quarks is expected to have a branching ratio of 58% for m H = 125 GeV [13], the largest among all decay modes. Accessing H → bb decays is therefore crucial for constraining, under fairly general assumptions [14,15], the overall Higgs boson decay width. At the LHC, the very large backgrounds arising from multi-jet production make an inclusive search extremely challenging. The most sensitive production modes for probing H → bb decays are those where the Higgs boson is produced in association with a W or Z boson [16]; their leptonic decay modes lead to clean signatures that can be efficiently triggered on, while rejecting most of the multi-jet backgrounds.Searches for a Higgs boson in the bb decay mode were conducted at the Tevatron by the CDF and D0 Collaborations. They reported an excess of events in V H associated production (where V is used to denote W or Z) in the mass range of 120 GeV to 135 GeV, with a global signifi...