München, Univ., Diss., 2001. / Computerdatei im Fernzugriff.

München, Univ., Diss., 2001. / Computerdatei im Fernzugriff.

Wuppertal, Universiẗat, Diss., 2000.

A measurement of the W+ and W− cross section in the electron channel is presented. The measurement is performed using data collected with the ATLAS experiment in 2011, amounting to an integrated luminosity of 4.58 fb⁻¹. The centre of mass energy is √s = 7 TeV. The measurement is performed differentially in the electron pseudorapidity. The W charge asymmetry is also presented. The results are compared to theoretical predictions calculated at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD using various Parton Distribution Functions.

Berlin, Humboldt-University, Diss., 2001.

A first measurement of Electroweak W + 2 jets production at high dijet mass is performed using sqrt(s) = 7 TeV pp collision data from the Atlas experiment corresponding to 4.6 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The background only hypothesis is excluded with a significance of 4.89-σ. A cross section of σ = 325 ± 6 (lumi) ±32 (stat) +63−70(syst) ±86 (theo) fb is extracted in the fiducial region.

The first measurement of the production cross section for a single top quark in association with a W boson with the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. The analysed data is from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 fb-1. The analysis focuses on the leptonic final states of the process and implements a cut-based method. The final state consists of two leptons, two neutrinos and a jet from the fragmentation of a b-quark. The primary source of background events arises from tt(overbar) production, followed by Z/gamma* processes. The observed signal has a significance of 3:5sigma and corresponds to a cross section measurement of 14:9+5:0 -5:1 (stat + syst) pb, in agreement with the Standard Model expectations.

This thesis presents the measurement of the production cross section of a W boson with a single charm quark in 7 TeV proton-proton collisions using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data analysed correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb 1 and were collected during 2011. This is the first time that ATLAS data has been used for this particular measurement. This cross section is of particular interest as a probe of the strange quark density of the proton. Typically, the strange quark density is considered to be suppressed relative to that of the other light-quarks in the proton sea. However, some analyses suggest a more symmetric composition of light-quarks in the proton sea. The results of this study aim to improve the precision of the determination of the strange quark density. The analysis uses events where the W boson decays to a muon and a neutrino. In such events, the charm quark is identified by its semileptonic decay to a soft muon within a hadronic jet. The charge correlation between the W boson and the soft muon is exploited to reduce the backgrounds substantially. The analysis results are combined with those obtained using additional decay channels. The measured cross section provides further constraint for the determination of the strange quark density, advancing the knowledge of the fundamental structure of the proton. The results are compared with predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD calculations obtained using various parton distribution function parameterisations. Additionally, the ratio of the strange-to-down sea-quark distributions is determined to be 0.96+0.26 0.30 at Q2 = 1.9 GeV2. This supports the hypothesis of a symmetric composition of light-quarks in the proton sea. The cross section ratio (W+ + c)= (W + c) is also determined and compared with different predictions for the asymmetry of the strange and anti-strange quark distribution functions.

This thesis presents studies of the single top t-channel in the electron plus jets mode. In order to understand this channel, an account of the present theoretical models is given. This work relies on collisions data from the ATLAS detector and its components are presented here. A summary of the work involving the SCT, part of the tracking system in ATLAS, is also explained here. Studies were performed to optimize the measurement of the Lorentz Angle of the holes in the Silicon for the initial data taking period. The data studied was acquired by ATLAS during 2011, with a total integrated luminosity of 4.7 pb−1 at a √s = 7 TeV. Monte Carlo simulation of signal and background events was also used throughout. Background studies were performed to correctly determine the expected amount of QCD via the Jet Electron data-driven method and of light or heavy flavour jets produced in association with a W boson, which is one of the dominant backgrounds for the t-channel. A cut based analysis was then applied to the data and simulation in order to better discriminate the t-channel signal. A binned likelihood fit to the invariant mass of the reconstructed top quark was performed and the cross section value for the t-channel process was calculated: σt−channel = 62.2±8.0(stat)+8.6 −8.8(syst) pb which is in good agreement with the theoretically predicted value. Finally, the response (preco T /ptrue T ) of light quark or gluon initiated jets is evaluated for both the t-channel and the Wt associated production, in order to determine the flavour composition uncertainty, as part of the framework that provides the jet energy scale uncertainties in a multiple jets environment. Other sources of system- atics are also reviewed.

Photoproduction has been used at colliders for decades in order to study hadronic properties of matter. The energy and luminosity of recent and future colliders allow probing also the electroweak sector through photon-photon and photon-proton interactions. At the HERA electron-proton collider, studies of the W boson production provide a stringent test of the Standard Model. At the LHC, photoproduction has to be separated from the overwhelming background of partonic interactions. A powerful ‘tagging’ technique can be introduced by adding special detectors placed far from the interaction point to detect forward scattered protons, usually present in photon-mediated processes. The HECTOR software package was written in order to provide accurate simulation of forward protons trajectories in the LHC beam-lines. These tools have been used in order to study the photoproduction of top quarks via flavor-changing neutral currents. This process is practically absent in the Standard Model, while it appears in some of its extensions. Detection of such a process would thus be an evidence for the existence of physics beyond the Standard Model.