This thesis will present results on the measurement of Z boson production in the electron channel associated with b-jets in proton-proton collision at 13 TeV, a measurement of fundamental interest in precision measurements and physics searches. This measurement represents important precision tests of perturbative QCD and provides information related to the b-quark inside of the proton. This measurement also represents one of the main sources of background in top quark production studies, Higgs precision measurements and the search for supersymmetric particles. The results on cross section measurements and kinematic distributions presented in this work have been unfolded to particle level and are compared to the four and five flavor schemes in Monte Carlo generators, showing that the predictions are consistent within the experimental uncertainties. In this thesis it will be also shown results of the development of the new event selection system proposed for high luminosity measurements. This system will be implemented during the second LHC long shutdown (2019-2020), which involves studies on the reconstruction of electrons using the concept of supercells, where the fine granularity of the cells of the ATLAS Liquid Argon detector is exploited to mitigate the problems to be found in high luminosity conditions. One of the problems is the increase of pile-up, caused by secondary collisions of protons in the same event, generating a large number of low pT jets that can be erroneously identified as electrons. The studies in this work introduce new discriminants based on the electromagnetic shower shape, showing that is possible to further reduce the rate of low pT jets maintaining a good performance on electron reconstruction. / Esta tese apresentará resultados da medida da produção de bósons Z no canal de elétrons associado com jatos b em colisões próton-próton a 13 TeV, uma medida de fundamental interesse em medidas de precisão e buscas por nova física. Essa medida representa importantes testes de precisão da QCD perturbativa e prove informações relacionadas ao quark b dentro do próton. Essa medida também representa uma das principais fontes de background na produção do quark top, medidas de precisão do Higgs e na busca de partículas supersimétricas. Os resultados na medida da seção de choque e distribuições cinemáticas apresentadas neste trabalho são comparados com os esquemas de quatro e cinco sabores nos geradores Monte Carlo, mostrando que as predições são consistentes dentro das incertezas experimentais. Nesta tese também serão apresentados estudos do desenvolvimento de um sistema de seleção de eventos proposto para medidas em alta luminosidade. Esse sistema será implementado durante o segundo LHC long shutdown (2019-2020), envolvendo estudos na reconstrução de elétrons usando o conceito de supercélulas, onde a fina granularidade das células do detector de Argônio Líquido do ATLAS será aproveitada para mitigar as dificuldades que se terão em condições de alta luminosidade. Um dos problemas é o aumento do empilhamento (pile-up), causado por colisões secundárias de prótons no mesmo evento, gerando uma grande quantidade de jatos de baixo pT que podem ser erroneamente identificados como elétrons. Os estudos neste trabalho apresentam novos discriminantes com base na forma da cascata eletromagnética, mostrando que é possível reduzir ainda mais a taxa de jatos de baixo pT mantendo uma boa reconstrução de elétrons.

This thesis will present results on the measurement of Z boson production in the electron channel associated with b-jets in proton-proton collision at 13 TeV, a measurement of fundamental interest in precision measurements and physics searches. This measurement represents important precision tests of perturbative QCD and provides information related to the b-quark inside of the proton. This measurement also represents one of the main sources of background in top quark production studies, Higgs precision measurements and the search for supersymmetric particles. The results on cross section measurements and kinematic distributions presented in this work have been unfolded to particle level and are compared to the four and five flavor schemes in Monte Carlo generators, showing that the predictions are consistent within the experimental uncertainties. In this thesis it will be also shown results of the development of the new event selection system proposed for high luminosity measurements. This system will be implemented during the second LHC long shutdown (2019-2020), which involves studies on the reconstruction of electrons using the concept of supercells, where the fine granularity of the cells of the ATLAS Liquid Argon detector is exploited to mitigate the problems to be found in high luminosity conditions. One of the problems is the increase of pile-up, caused by secondary collisions of protons in the same event, generating a large number of low pT jets that can be erroneously identified as electrons. The studies in this work introduce new discriminants based on the electromagnetic shower shape, showing that is possible to further reduce the rate of low pT jets maintaining a good performance on electron reconstruction. / Esta tese apresentará resultados da medida da produção de bósons Z no canal de elétrons associado com jatos b em colisões próton-próton a 13 TeV, uma medida de fundamental interesse em medidas de precisão e buscas por nova física. Essa medida representa importantes testes de precisão da QCD perturbativa e prove informações relacionadas ao quark b dentro do próton. Essa medida também representa uma das principais fontes de background na produção do quark top, medidas de precisão do Higgs e na busca de partículas supersimétricas. Os resultados na medida da seção de choque e distribuições cinemáticas apresentadas neste trabalho são comparados com os esquemas de quatro e cinco sabores nos geradores Monte Carlo, mostrando que as predições são consistentes dentro das incertezas experimentais. Nesta tese também serão apresentados estudos do desenvolvimento de um sistema de seleção de eventos proposto para medidas em alta luminosidade. Esse sistema será implementado durante o segundo LHC long shutdown (2019-2020), envolvendo estudos na reconstrução de elétrons usando o conceito de supercélulas, onde a fina granularidade das células do detector de Argônio Líquido do ATLAS será aproveitada para mitigar as dificuldades que se terão em condições de alta luminosidade. Um dos problemas é o aumento do empilhamento (pile-up), causado por colisões secundárias de prótons no mesmo evento, gerando uma grande quantidade de jatos de baixo pT que podem ser erroneamente identificados como elétrons. Os estudos neste trabalho apresentam novos discriminantes com base na forma da cascata eletromagnética, mostrando que é possível reduzir ainda mais a taxa de jatos de baixo pT mantendo uma boa reconstrução de elétrons.

Le Modèle Standard de la physique des particules prédit l'existence du boson de Higgs,dont le canal de désintégration privilégié à basse masse est la production de paires de quarks beaux. L'identification des jets issus de tels quarks dans le détecteur ATLAS, situé sur l'anneau du LHC, tient donc un rôle majeur dans la physique des particules moderne.Dans ce document, un aperçu des méthodes d'étiquetage de ces jets b utilisées dans ATLAS ainsi que l'optimisation d'un algorithme en particulier, JetProb, sont présentés. La préparation à la mesure de l’efficacité de ces algorithmes dans les données est également développée. Enfin, après la prise de données à 900 GeV au centre de masse puis à l'énergie record de 7 TeV en 2009-2010, les premiers résultats concernant l'étude des traces chargées et la mise en place de l'étiquetage des jets b dans les données ont été obtenus et sont rassemblés ici. La comparaison avec la simulation montre un bon accord et les premiers candidats jets b et événements top observés sont étudiés. / The Standard Model of particle physics predicts the existence of the Higgs boson,which preferentially decays to b quark pairs at low mass. The identification of jets stemming from such quarks in the ATLAS detector, placed at the LHC, is thus one of the keysto modern particle physics.In this document, an overview of the b-tagging methods used in ATLAS as well as the optimization of a specific algorithm, JetProb, are presented. The preparation to the measurement of these algorithms efficiency in data is also developed. Finally, after the first datataking at 900 GeV and then at the record energy of 7 TeV in 2009-2010, the first results on charged track studies and b-tagging commissioning were obtained and are gathered together here. Comparison with simulation shows a good agreement and the first b-jet and top events candidates are studied.

En Juillet 2012, les expériences ATLAS et CMS annoncent la découverte d'une nouvelle particule de masse 125 GeV, compatible avec le boson de Higgs prédit par le Modèle Standard. Pour établir la nature de ce boson de Higgs et la comparer au Modèle Standard, il est nécessaire de mesurer le complage du boson de Higgs au fermions. En particulier le quark top possède le plus fort couplage de Yukawa avec le boson de Higgs. Ce couplage est accessible par le processus de production d'un boson de Higgs en association avec une paire de quarks tops (ttH). Cette thèse présente la recherche d'évènement ttH où le boson de Higgs se désintègre en deux quark b dans les données du Run 2 recueillies en 2015 et 2016 par le détecteur ATLAS. La composition du bruit de fond ainsi que la mesure du signal ttH dans les données sont obtenues à partir d'un ajustemement statistique des prédictions aux données. Le bruit de fond tt+jets étant la plus grande source d'incertitudes sur le signal, une attention particulière est portée à sa description.La détection des jets issus de quarks b, appelé b-tagging, est primordiale pour l'analyse ttH(H->bb) dont l'état final contient quatre quarks b. Afin d'améliorer la compréhension des performances des algorithmes de b-tagging pour le Run 2, la définition des jets de saveur b dans les simulations Monte Carlo est revisitée. Les algorithmes standards du b-tagging ne permettant pas la différenciation des jets contenant un ou deux quarks b, une methode spécifique à été développée et est présentée dans cette thèse. / In July 2012, the ATLAS and CMS experiments announced the discovery of a new particle, with a mass about 125 GeV, compatible with the Standard Model Higgs boson. In order to assess if the observed particle is the one predicted by the Standard Model, the couplings if this Higgs boson to fermions have to be measured. In particular, the top quark has the strongest Yukawa coupling to the Higgs boson. The associated production of a Higgs boson with a pair of top quarks (ttH) gives a direct access to this coupling. The ttH process is accessible for the first time in the Run 2 of the LHC thanks to an upgrade of the detector and the increase of the center of mass energy to 13 TeV. This thesis presents the search for ttH events with the Higgs boson decaying to a pair of b-quarks using data collected by the ATLAS detector in 2015 and 2016. The description of the background and the extraction of the ttH signal in data are obtained by a statistical matching on predictions to data. In particular the tt+jets background is the main limitation to signal sensitivity and is scrutinized.The identification of jets originating from b-quarks, called b-tagging, is a vital input to the search of ttH(H->bb) events because of the four b-quarks in the final state. For Run 2 the definition of b-flavoured-jets in Monte Carlo simulations is revisited to improve the understanding of b-tagging algorithms and their performance. Standard b-tagging algorithms do not separate jets originating from a single b-quark from those originating from two b-quarks. Thus a specific method has been developed and is reviewed in this thesis.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the most powerful and complex particle accelerator ever built. The ATLAS and the CMS are the two multipurpose particle detectors at the LHC, designed to cover a wide range of physics measurements. Three physics studies performed using data of proton-proton collisions collected with the ATLAS detector are presented. The identification of jets originating from b quarks, also known as b-tagging, is a crucial tool for many physics analyses at the LHC. This thesis presents a calibration of the b-tagging efficiency for high transverse momentum jets using a new calibration technique. This analysis is based on template fits and uses multi-jet events, which allows to perform the calibration for jets with transverse momenta up to 1200 GeV. This thesis also describes a completed and connected technical project on the development of the b-tagging ATLAS software. Dark Matter (DM) is a new phenomenon introduced to explain astrophysical observations. The nature of DM is one of the most important subjects of investigations in the modern physics, and many of these investigations are carried out at the LHC. A search for DM production in association with a pair of heavy flavour quarks has been recently performed in ATLAS at a centre-of-mass energy √s = 8 TeV under the Effective Field Theory approach. A re-interpretation of the results of this search under assumption of the simplified models is presented. A set of simplified models is considered with various DM masses, masses of the spin-0 exchange particle, that mediates the interaction between DM and the regular matter, and various values of couplings. Benchmark models are chosen to be used in the DM searches at √s = 13 TeV. The last part of the thesis presents a search for DM production in association with a pair of top quarks performed under assumption of the simplified models with spin-0 mediator, using the data collected at a centre-of-mass energy √s = 13 TeV. The observed data are shown to be in good agreement with the Standard Model predictions, and upper limits are set on a ratio between the observed DM production cross section and the value expected by the simplified model.

Le Modèle Standard de la physique des particules décrit les particules elementaires et leurs interactions avec une grande précision. Il décrit trois des quatre interactions fondamentales connues entre les particules elementaires : les interactions faibles, fortes et électromagnétiques. Le Modèle standard fournit aussi une description précise des interactions électrofaibles jusqu’à des échelles d’énergie qui ont été étudies dans les expériences de physique de haute énergie. Les interactions ainsi que les désintégrations d'un grand nombre de particules découvert et observe tout au long des expériences différentes dans les 50 dernières années sont également décrites. En dépit de son succès, le Modèle Standard est loin d’être une théorie complète des interactions fondamentales car il n’intègre pas la théorie complète de la gravitation telle que décrite par la relativité générale, ni la prédiction de l’accélération de l'expansion de l'univers (qui pourrait être décrite par l’énergie noire). La théorie ne contient aucune particule de matière noire viable qui possède toutes les propriétés déduites de la cosmologie observationnelle. Également, elle ne prend pas en compte les oscillations de neutrinos (et leurs masses non nulles). On pense que la nouvelle physique doit exister conduisant a de nouvelles particules et phénomènes. L’échelle a laquelle cette nouvelle physique devrait apparaıtre n'est pas bien connue, cependant plusieurs arguments soulignent l’échelle du TeV et nécessitent une très haute énergie et des puissants collisionneurs de hadrons. Le Large Hadron Collider (LHC) est le plus grand accélérateur et collisionneur de particules existant. / The Standard Model of particle physics is very successful in describing elementary particles and their interactions with a great precision. It describes three of the four known fundamental interactions between elementary particles : the weak, the strong and the electromagnetic interactions. The Standard Model also provides an accurate description of the electroweak interactions up to energy scales that have been explored in high energy physics experiments. The interaction and decay of a large number of particles discovered and observed throughout different experiments in the last 50 years are also described. Despite its great success, the Standard Model falls short of being a complete theory of fundamental interactions because it does not incorporate the full theory of gravitation as described by general relativity, or predict the accelerating expansion of the universe (as possibly described by dark energy). The theory does not contain any viable dark matter particle that possesses all of the required properties deduced from observational cosmology. It also does not account for neutrino oscillations (and their non-zero masses). It is thought that new physics should exist leading to new particles and phenomena. The scale at which this new physics should appear is not well known, though several arguments point to the TeV scale and require a very high energy and powerful hadron collider. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the biggest existing particle accelerator and collider. It is designed to provide proton-proton collisions with an unprecedented center-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, with instantaneous luminosities up to 10^{34} cm−2s−1.

No description available.

Cette thèse présente une étude détaillée de l'état final avec un boson Z se désintégrant en deux leptons, produit dans le détecteur CMS au LHC. Pour identifier cette topologie, des algorithmes sophistiqués d'étiquetage des jets b ont été utilisés, et la calibration de l'un d'entre eux, Jet Probability, est exposée. Une étude de la dégradation de cet algorithme à hautes énergies a été menée et une amélioration des performances a pu être notée. Cette étude est suivie par une recherche du boson de Higgs du modèle standard (MS) se désintégrant en deux quarks b, et produit en association avec un boson Z (canal ZH), à l'aide de la Méthode des Éléments de Matrice (MEM) et deux algorithmes d'étiquetage des jets b: JP et Combined Secondary Vertex (CSV). La MEM est un outil perfectionné qui produit une variable discriminante par événement, appelée poids. Pour l'appliquer, plusieurs lots de fonctions de transfert ont été produits. Le résultat final renvoie une limite observée sur le taux de production de ZH avec le rapport d'embranchement H → bb de 5.46xσMS en utilisant CSV et de 4.89xσMS en faisant usage de JP : un léger excès de données est observé seulement pour CSV. Enfin, à partir de l'analyse précédente, une recherche de nouvelle physique modèle-indépendante a été faite. Le but était de discriminer entre eux les processus du MS afin de catégoriser l'espace de phase Zbb, à l'aide d'une méthode récursive basée sur les poids de la MEM. Des paramètres libres ont été ajustés pour obtenir la meilleure limite d'exclusion pour le signal ZH. En utilisant la meilleure configuration trouvée, la limite calculée est de 3.58xσMS, proche de celle obtenue avec l'analyse précédente. / This thesis presents a detailed study of the final state with the Z boson decaying into two leptons, produced in the CMS detector at the LHC. In order to tag this topology, sophisticated b jet tagging algorithms have been used, and the calibration of one of them, the Jet Probability (JP) tagger is exposed. A study of the tagger degradation at high energy has been done and led to a small gain of performance. This investigation is followed by the search for the associated production of the standard model (SM) Higgs boson with a Z boson and decaying into two b quarks (ZH channel), using the Matrix Element Method (MEM) and two b-taggers: JP and Combined Secondary Vertex (CSV). The MEM is an advanced tool that produces an event-by-event discriminating variable, called weight. To apply it, several sets of transfer function have been produced. The final results give an observed limit on the ZH production cross section with the H → bb branching ratio of 5.46xσSM when using the CSV tagger and 4.89xσSM when using the JP algorithm: a small excess of data is observed only for CSV. Finally, based on the previous analysis, a model-independent search of new physics has been performed. The goal was to discriminate all the SM processes to categorize the Zbb phase space, with a recursive approach using the MEM weights. Free parameters had to be tuned in order to find the best exclusion limit on the ZH signal strength. For the best configuration, the computed limit was 3.58xσSM, close to the one obtained with the dedicated search.

Cette thèse a pour sujet la mesure de la section efficace de production de paires de quarks top-antitop dans l’expérience CMS auprès du LHC. L’état final considéré est le canal semi-leptonique ”tau+jets”. Un boson W issu de la désintégration du quark top se désintègre en un tau hadronique et neutrino tandis que le second boson W se désintègre en une paire quark-antiquark. La conduite de cette analyse a nécessité le développement d’un nouveau mode de déclenchement des données (trigger) incluant la présence de quatre jets dont un identifié en tant que tau hadronique. La configuration de ce trigger ainsi que son efficacité ont été étudiés dans cette thèse. Un échantillon de données correspondant à 3.9 fb−1 a été enregistré avec ce trigger et analysé. Les leptons taus ont été reconstruits grâce à un algorithme identifiant leurs résonances intermédiaires tandis que les jets de quarks beaux issus de la désintégration des quarks tops ont été identifiés grâce à l’algorithme ”probabilité par jet”. Cet algorithme pour lequel j’ai mis en oeuvre une procédure de calibration depuis 2009 utilise le paramètre d’impact des traces de particules chargées pour calculer leur probabilité de venir du vertex primaire. Des études de performance de cet algorithme sont également présentées dans cette thèse. Afin de séparer le signal de l’important bruit de fond majoritairement constitué des processus multijets QCD et W+jets un réseau de neurones utilisant des variables dites d’environnement (aplanarité, HT, M(τ,jets), énergie transverse manquante...) a été développé. La section efficace a été extraite à l’aide d’un ajustement par méthode du maximum de vraisemblance de la sortie du réseau de neurones. Les incertitudes systématiques ont fait l’objet d’une étude détaillée. La valeur de la section efficace mesurée, σ(top-antitop) = 156 ± 12 (stat.) ± 33 (syst.) ± 3 (lumi) pb, est en accord avec la section efficace prédite par le modèle standard. / In this thesis we present the first measurement in the CMS experiment of the top-antitop production cross section in the tau+jets final state. To perform this measurement we designed a specific trigger requiring the presence of four jets, one of them being identified as an hadronic tau. The performance of this trigger has been studied in this thesis. A dataset of 3.9 fb-1 was collected with this trigger and analyzed. At offline level we needed to apply a sophisticated tau identification technique to identify the tau jets, based on the reconstruction of the intermediate resonances of the hadronic tau decay modes. Another crucial point was the b-jet identification, both to identify the b-jets in the final state and to modelize the background using a data driven technique. The studies done on the b-tag algorithms along the PhD period are also presented with particular attention to the ”Jet Probability” algorithm. It is the algorithm for which I performed the calibration since 2009 as well as the one used to tag the b-jets from the top decays. A neural network has been developed to separate the top-antitop events from the W+jets and multijet backgrounds. A binned likelihood fit to the neural network output distribution is done in order to extract the signal contribution from the background. A detailed estimation of the systematic uncertainties on the cross section measurement is also presented. The result for the cross section measurement, σ(tt) = 156 ± 12 (stat.) ± 33 (syst.) ± 3 (lumi) pb, is in perfect agreement with the standard model expectation.