Search for pair production of a new b' quark that decays into a Z boson and a bottom quark with the ATLAS detector.
A search is reported for the pair production of a new quark b' with at least one b' decaying to a Z boson and a bottom quark. The data, corresponding to 2.0 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity, were collected from pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Using events with a b-tagged jet and a Z boson reconstructed from opposite-charge electrons, the mass distribution of large transverse momentum b' candidates is tested for an enhancement. No evidence for a b' signal is detected in the observed mass distribution, resulting in the exclusion at a 95% confidence level of b' quarks with masses m (b') < 400 GeV that decay entirely via b' → Z+b. In the case of a vectorlike singlet b' mixing solely with the third standard model generation, masses m(b') < 358 GeV are excluded.

title: Search for quark contact interactions in dijet angular distributions in pp collisions at s=7 TeV measured with the ATLAS detector
abstract: Dijet angular distributions from the first LHC pp collisions at center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV have been measured with the ATLAS detector. The dataset used for this analysis represents an integrated luminosity of 3.1 pb-1. Dijet $\chi$ distributions and centrality ratios have been measured up to dijet masses of 2.8 TeV, and found to be in good agreement with Standard Model predictions. Analysis of the $\chi$ distributions excludes quark contact interactions with a compositeness scale $\Lambda$ below 3.4 TeV, at 95% confidence level, significantly exceeding previous limits.

title: The ATLAS High Level Trigger Steering
abstract: The High Level Trigger (HLT) of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider receives events which pass the LVL1 trigger at ~75 kHz and has to reduce the rate to ~200 Hz while retaining the most interesting physics. It is a software trigger and performs the reduction in two stages: the LVL2 trigger and the Event Filter (EF). At the heart of the HLT is the Steering software. To minimise processing time and data transfers it implements the novel event selection strategies of seeded, step-wise reconstruction and early rejection. The HLT is seeded by regions of interest identified at LVL1. These and the static configuration determine which algorithms are run to reconstruct event data and test the validity of trigger signatures. The decision to reject the event or continue is based on the valid signatures, taking into account pre-scale and pass-through. After the EF, event classification tags are assigned for streaming purposes. Several powerful new features for commissioning and operation have been added: comprehensive monitoring is now built in to the framework; for validation and debugging, reconstructed data can be written out; the steering is integrated with the new configuration (presented separately), and topological and global triggers have been added. This paper will present details of the final design and its implementation, the principles behind it, and the requirements and constraints it is subject to. The experience gained from technical runs with realistic trigger menus will be described.

title: Measurement of $\cos_{2beta}$ in $B^0 \to D^{(*)}$ 0 h0 decays with a time-dependent Dalitz plot analysis of $D^0 \to K^0_{s} \pi^{+} \pi^{-}$
abstract: We report a preliminary measurement of $\cos2\beta$ in $B^0\to D^{(*)0}h^0$ decays with a time-dependent Dalitz plot analysis of $D^0\to K_S\pi^+\pi^-$, where $h^0$ is a light neutral meson such as $\pi^0$, $\eta$, $\eta'$ or $\omega$. The strong phase variation on the Dalitz plot allows the access to the angle $\beta$ with only a two-fold ambiguity ($\beta+\pi$). Using $311\times 10^{6}$ $B\bar{B}$ pairs collected at the Babar detector, we obtain $\cos2\beta = 0.54 \pm 0.54 \pm 0.08 \pm 0.18$, $\sin2\beta = 0.45 \pm 0.36 \pm 0.05 \pm 0.07$, and $|\lambda| = 0.975^{+0.093}_{-0.085} \pm 0.012 \pm 0.002 $, where the first errors are statistical, the second are experimental systematic uncertainties, and the third are the signal Dalitz model uncertainties. This measurement favors the solution of $\beta= 22^\circ$ over $68^\circ$ at an 87% confidence level.

title: Evidence for the $B^0 \to \rho^0 \rho^0$ decay and implications for the CKM angle $\alpha$
abstract: We search for the decays B0->rho0rho0, B0->rho0f0, and B0->f0f0 in a sample of about 348 million Upsilon(4S)->BBbar decays collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at SLAC. We find evidence for B0->rho0rho0 with 3.0 sigma significance and measure the branching fraction B = (1.16 +0.37-0.36 +-0.27) 10^{-6} and longitudinal polarization fraction f_L = 0.86 +0.11-0.13 +-0.05. As a consequence, the uncertainty on the CKM unitarity angle alpha due to penguin contributions in B->rhorho decays is estimated to be 18 degrees at 1 sigma level. We also set upper limits on the B0->rho0f0 and B0->f0f0 decay rates. All results are preliminary.

title: Measurement of moments of the hadronic-mass and energy spectrum in inclusive semileptonic anti-B ---> X(c) l- anti-nu decays

title: Multiple Coulomb scattering in thin silicon
abstract: We present a measurement of multiple Coulomb scattering of 1 to 6 GeV/c electrons in thin (50–140 μm) silicon targets. The data were obtained with the EUDET telescope Aconite at DESY and are compared to parametrisations as used in the Geant4 software package. We find good agreement between data and simulation in the scattering distribution width but large deviations in the shape of the distribution. In order to achieve a better description of the shape, a new scattering model based on a Student's t distribution is developed and compared to the data.

title: Partial Wave Analysis using Graphics Cards
abstract: Partial wave analysis is a key technique in hadron spectroscopy. The use of unbinned likelihood fits on large statistics data samples and ever more complex physics models makes this analysis technique computationally very expensive. Parallel computing techniques, in particular the use of graphics processing units, are a powerful means to speed up analyses; in the contexts of the BES III, Compass and GlueX experiments, parallel analysis frameworks have been created. They provide both fits that are faster by more than two orders of magnitude than legacy code and environments to quickly program and run an analysis. This in turn allows the physicists to focus on the many difficult open problems pertaining to partial wave analysis.

title: Partial wave analysis using graphics processing units
abstract: Partial wave analysis is an important tool for determining resonance properties in hadron spectroscopy. For large data samples however, the un-binned likelihood fits employed are computationally very expensive. At the Beijing Spectrometer (BES) III experiment, an increase in statistics compared to earlier experiments of up to two orders of magnitude is expected. In order to allow for a timely analysis of these datasets, additional computing power with short turnover times has to be made available. It turns out that graphics processing units (GPUs) originally developed for 3D computer games have an architecture of massively parallel single instruction multiple data floating point units that is almost ideally suited for the algorithms employed in partial wave analysis. We have implemented a framework for tensor manipulation and partial wave fits called GPUPWA. The user writes a program in pure C++ whilst the GPUPWA classes handle computations on the GPU, memory transfers, caching and other technical details. In conjunction with a recent graphics processor, the framework provides a speed-up of the partial wave fit by more than two orders of magnitude compared to legacy FORTRAN code.

title: Prospects for R measurement at BABAR using radiative return
abstract: A precise measurement of the ratio of hadron to muon production in e{sup +}e{sup -} collisions, denoted by R(s), is a necessary input for the interpretation of current precision electroweak measurements. We describe a method for measuring R(s) with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II B-factory using initial-state radiation events.