Angular distributions of jet pairs (dijets) produced in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of- mass energy √s = 7 TeV have been studied with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider using the full 2011 data set with an integrated luminosity of 4.8 fb−1, and reaching dijet masses up to 4.5 TeV. All angular distributions are consistent with QCD predictions. Analysis of the dijet angular distribution, using a novel technique simultaneously employing the dijet mass, is employed. This analysis is sensitive to both resonant new physics and phenomena with a slow-onset in mass. Using this technique, new exclusion limits have been set at 95% credibility level for several hypotheses of physics beyond the standard model including: quantum gravity scales, with 6 extra dimensions, below 4.11 TeV, quark contact interactions below a compositeness scale of 7.6 TeV, and excited quarks with a mass below 2.75 TeV. In a large and complex scientific experiment, such as ATLAS, the collection, management and usability of coherent data and metadata is a challenging operation. The availability of these data to physicists within the experiment is essential to all analysis efforts. A new web-based interface called “RunBrowser”, which makes ATLAS and LHC operations data available to the ATLAS Collaboration, is introduced.

Aiming at a systematic inclusion of pseudoscalar and vector mesons as active degrees of freedom in an effective Lagrangian, studies have been performed in this thesis concerning the foundations of such an effective Lagrangian as well as tree-level and beyond-tree-level calculations. Hereby, vector mesons are described by antisymmetric tensor fields. First, an existing power counting scheme for both pseudoscalar and vector mesons is extended to include the pseudoscalar-meson singlet in a systematic way. Based on this, tree-level calculations are carried out which are in good agreement with the available experimental data and several processes are predicted. In particular, the ω-π0 transition form factor is in better agreement with experimental data than the prediction done in the vector-meson-dominance model. Furthermore, a Lagrangian with vector mesons is used together with the leading contributions of chiral perturbation theory in order to calculate tree-level reactions in the sector of odd intrinsic parity. It turns out that both the Lagrangian with vector mesons and the Lagrangian of chiral perturbation theory are needed to describe experimental data. Additionally, a feasibility check for one-loop calculations with pseudoscalar and vector mesons in the loop is performed. Thereby, only a limited number of interaction terms in the Lagrangian with vector mesons is used. The results are used to both renormalise the low-energy constants of chiral perturbation theory up to chiral order Q4 and to determine the influence of loops with vector mesons on masses and decay constants of pseudoscalar mesons.

With the start of the Large Hadron Collider(LHC) at CERN, we will obtain a new understanding of the physics beyond our current limits. New discoveries will be made; but we will require a deeper understanding, which the LHC machine, being a hadron collider, will not be able to elucidate. Instead, we will need an e+e- collider to make precision measurements of the newly discovered phenomena. Electroweak symmetry breaking and the origin of fermion and boson masses are fundamental issues in our understanding of particle physics. The essential piece of electroweak symmetry breaking - the Higgs boson - will probably be discovered at the LHC. If there are one, or more, Higgs boson(s) precise measurements of all properties of the Higgs will be very important. In this thesis I present two measurements of Standard Model Higgs boson properties in the context of the International Linear Collider (ILC) at √s = 500 GeV, using the proposed International Linear Detector (ILD). First a performance study of ILD to measure the branching ratios of the Higgs boson with mH = 120 GeV, where the Higgs boson is produced with a Z-boson via the Higgsstralung process, and the Z decays into e+e- or μ+μ-. It will also be essential to study the Higgs Yukawa coupling. Therefore, in the second part of this thesis, I present a study of e+e- → tt¯H with the aim of making a direct measurement of the the top-Higgs coupling, using the semi-leptonic nal state and mH of 120 GeV. I show that the top-Higgs coupling can be measured with an accuracy of better than 28%.

This thesis presents the design qualification and construction of the Beam Scintillator Counter (BSC) for the CMS Collaboration at CERN in 2007 - 2008. The BSC detector is designed to aid in the commissioning of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) during the first 2 years of operation and provide technical triggering for beam halo and minimum-bias events. Using plastic scintillator tiles mounted at both ends of CMS, it will detect minimum ionizing particles through the low-to-mid luminosity phases of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) commissioning. During these early phases, the BSC will provide probably the most interesting and widely used data of any of the CMS sub-detectors and will be employed in the track based alignment procedure of the central tracker and commissioning of the Forward Hadron Calorimeter.

The efficient identification of photons is a crucial aspect in the search for the Higgs boson at ATLAS. With the high luminosity and collision energies provided by the Large Hadron Collider, rejection of backgrounds to photons is of key importance. It is often not feasible to fully simulate background processes that require large numbers of events, due to processing time and disk space constraints. The standard fast simulation program, ATLFAST-I, is able to simulate events ∼1000 times faster than the full simulation program but does not always provide enough detailed information to make accurate background estimates. To bridge the gap, a set of photon reconstruction efficiency parameterisations, for converted and unconverted photons, have been derived from full simulation events and subsequently applied to ATLFAST-I photons. Photon reconstruction efficiencies for isolated photons from fully simulated and ATLFAST-I, plus parameterisations, events are seen to agree within statistical error. A study into a newly proposed Two Higgs Doublet Model channel, gg → H → hh → γγγγ, where the light Higgs (h) boson is fermiophobic, has been investigated. The channel is of particular interest as it exploits the large production cross-section of a heavy Higgs (H) boson via gluon-fusion at the LHC in conjunction with the enhanced branching ratio of a light fermiophobic Higgs (h) boson to a pair of photons. This channel is characterised by a distinct signature of four high pT photons in the final state. Samples of signal events have been generated across the (mh,mH) parameter space along with the dominant backgrounds. An event selection has been developed with the search performed at generator-level. In addition, the search was also performed with simulated ATLFAST-I events utilising the above photon reconstruction efficiency parameterisations. For both analyses, the expected upper limit on the cross-section at 95% confidence level is determined and exclusion regions of the (mh,mH) parameter space are defined for integrated luminosities of 1 f b−1 and 10 f b−1 in seven fermiophobic model benchmarks.

The search potential of a Standard Model Higgs boson in the Vector Boson Fusion production mechanism with Higgs boson decaying to two leptons and two neutrinos via decay to two Z bosons with the ATLAS detector is investigated. The ATLAS detector is a general purpose detector in operation at CERN measuring proton-proton collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider. This channel has been shown to have high sensitivity at large Higgs mass, where large amounts of missing energy in the signal provide good discrimination over expected backgrounds. This work takes a first look at whether the sensitivity of this channel may be improved using the remnants of the vector boson fusion process to pro- vide extra discrimination, particularly at lower mass where sensitivity of the main analysis is reduced because of lower missing energy. Simulated data samples at centre of mass energy 7 Te V are used to derive signal significances over the mass range between 200-600 Ge V / c2. Because of varying signal properties with mass, a low and a high mass event selection were developed and optimized. A comparison between simulated and real data (collected in 2010) is made of variables used in the analysis and the effect of pileup levels corresponding to those in the 2010 data is investigated. Possible methods to estimate some of the main backgrounds to this search are described and discussed. The impact • of important theoretical and detector related systematics are taken into account. Final results are presented in the form of 95 % Confidence Level exclusion limits on the signal cross section relative to the SM prediction as a function of Higgs boson mass, based on an integrated luminosity of 33.4 pb -1 of data collected during 2010.

The Grid has been recognised as the next-generation distributed computing paradigm by seamlessly integrating heterogeneous resources across administrative domains as a single virtual system. There are an increasing number of scientific and business projects that employ Grid computing technologies for large-scale resource sharing and collaborations. Early adoptions of Grid computing technologies have custom middleware implemented to bridge gaps between heterogeneous computing backbones. These custom solutions form the basis to the emerging Open Grid Service Architecture (OGSA), which aims at addressing common concerns of Grid systems by defining a set of interoperable and reusable Grid services. One of common concerns as defined in OGSA is the Grid accounting service. The main objective of the Grid accounting service is to ensure resources to be shared within a Grid environment in an accountable manner by metering and logging accurate resource usage information. This thesis discusses the origins and fundamentals of Grid computing and accounting service in the context of OGSA profile. A prototype was developed and evaluated based on OGSA accounting-related standards enabling sharing accounting data in a multi-Grid environment, the World-wide Large Hadron Collider Grid (WLCG). Based on this prototype and lessons learned, a generic middleware solution was also implemented as a toolkit that eases migration of existing accounting system to be standard compatible.

LHCb is an experiment designed to make precision measurements of Charge- Parity violation in the B meson system. We report a measurement of the B± crosssection and production asymmetry, using B± → J/u K± decays collected at the LHCb detector in 2010 and 2011. Using 27.6 pb-1 of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy 7 TeV, we obtain a B± cross-section of [41.6 ± 0.6 (stat.) ± 3.0 (sys.) ± 4.2 (lumi.)] μb in the rapidity region 2 to 4.5. Using 371.1 pb-1 of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy 7 TeV, we obtain a B± production asymmetry of [-2.09 ± 1.20 ± 0.8 (CP) ]% in the same rapidity region. The Ring Imaging Cherenkov system of LHCb uses Hybrid photon detectors (HPDs) for single photon detection. This thesis summarises the use of ion feedback measurements as indicators of HPD vacuum quality.

The Large Hadron Collider started operation this year, 2008. LHCb is a precision heavy-flavour experiment at this collider. The precision of LHCb is greatly aided by the LHCb Ring Imaging Cherenkov system for the separation and identification of charged hadrons. This system uses pixel Hybrid Photon Detectors, an innovative new technology for single photon imaging. The simulation and testing of these photon detectors are reported and discussed. The photodetectors were measured to have reached or exceeded the specifications in key areas. In particular, the detector quantum efficiencies far exceed expectations, by a relative 27 %. The precision of LHCb will be used to examine CP-violation and rare decays of B-mesons. A key part of the physics programme will be a measurement of the CP-violating flavour specific asymmetry in neutral B-meson mixing. This asymmetry is expected to be very small in the Standard Model, of order 10-4, however it is very sensitive to new physics, which can increase the asymmetry dramatically. We present an improved event selection and a novel method to control systematics. This will enable us to make a world-leading measurement of this parameter in one nominal year of data taking (2 fb-1).

Searches for the supersymmetric partner of the top quark (stop) are motivated by natural supersymmetry, where the stop has to be light to cancel the large radiative corrections to the Higgs boson mass. This thesis presents three different searches for the stop at √s = 8 TeV and √s = 13 TeV using data from the ATLAS experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. The thesis also includes a study of the primary vertex reconstruction performance in data and simulation at √s = 7 TeV using tt and Z events. All stop searches presented are carried out in final states with a single lepton, four or more jets and large missing transverse energy. A search for direct stop pair production is conducted with 20.3 fb−1 of data at a center-of-mass energy of √s = 8 TeV. Several stop decay scenarios are considered, including those to a top quark and the lightest neutralino and to a bottom quark and the lightest chargino. The sensitivity of the analysis is also studied in the context of various phenomenological MSSM models in which more complex decay scenarios can be present. Two different analyses are carried out at √s = 13 TeV. The first one is a search for both gluino-mediated and direct stop pair production with 3.2 fb−1 of data while the second one is a search for direct stop pair production with 13.2 fb−1 of data in the decay scenario to a bottom quark and the lightest chargino. The results of the analyses show no significant excess over the Standard Model predictions in the observed data. Consequently, exclusion limits are set at 95% CL on the masses of the stop and the lightest neutralino.