The first measurements made by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC are presented. The charged particle multiplicity, its dependence on transverse momentum and pseudorapidity, and the relationship between mean transverse momentum and pseudorapidity are measured for events with at least one charged particle in the kinematic range [small Greek letter eta] 2.5 and pT 500 MeV. The charged particle multiplicity distributions are measured at the three centre of mass energies at which protons have been collided in the LHC: 900 GeV, 2.36 TeV and 7 TeV. The results are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo models of proton-proton collisions. All models predicted a multiplicity at least 10\% lower than was measured. They also failed to predict a sufficient increase in the multiplicity when the centre of mass energy increased from 900 GeV to 7 TeV. Updated models have already been produced using these data, which provide a significantly better description of the properties of proton-proton collisions at LHC energies.

The first measurements made by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC are presented. The charged particle multiplicity, its dependence on transverse momentum and pseudorapidity, and the relationship between mean transverse momentum and pseudorapidity are measured for events with at least one charged particle in the kinematic range [small Greek letter eta] 2.5 and pT 500 MeV. The charged particle multiplicity distributions are measured at the three centre of mass energies at which protons have been collided in the LHC: 900 GeV, 2.36 TeV and 7 TeV. The results are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo models of proton-proton collisions. All models predicted a multiplicity at least 10\% lower than was measured. They also failed to predict a sufficient increase in the multiplicity when the centre of mass energy increased from 900 GeV to 7 TeV. Updated models have already been produced using these data, which provide a significantly better description of the properties of proton-proton collisions at LHC energies.

The ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has collected a substantial amount of data to understand the Standard Model of particle physics at higher than previous center of mass energy available and to explore new physics beyond the Standard Model. This dissertation describes observations of charged particle multiplicity distributions in 7 TeV and 900 GeV data as well as searches for new physics with a signature of high energy jets and missing transverse energy using the first few months of data available at the LHC. Multiplicity distributions of charged particle tracks, one of the first observables in high energy collisions were made for a center of mass energy, sqrt (s) = 900 GeV as well as 7 TeV proton-proton collision data. Such distributions help to understand multi-particle production processes. One of the predicted features of multiplicity distribution and its moments is KNO scaling which implies that the shape and moments of the scaled multiplicity distribution is independent of the center-of-mass energy. Although a clear violation of KNO scaling is not observed within the error limits, an indication of such violation is noted. Different models of hadro-production to describe multiplicity distributions are also studied. The Negative Binomial Distribution (NBD) is an often used distribution modeling multiplicity distributions. It has been observed that NBD is satisfied in different types of collisions and over wide range of energies and it was observed that not only the full-phase-space multiplicity distribution can be successfully fitted by the NBD but also the distribution within central pseudo-rapidity intervals. Based on these findings, the model of cluster (or clan) cascading type has been proposed. Although, a good NBD fit can be obtained, it is observed for hadronic interactions that the presence of two weighted NBD or Double NBD (DNBD) components, one corresponding to soft production and the other to semi-hard one (mini-jets) seems to fit the data better for broad pseudo-rapidity ranges. It was found that the soft component follows KNO scaling while the semi-hard component does not. The proton-proton collision data at LHC has been analyzed to test the NBD and DNBD parametrization and test the energy dependence of the fitted parameters. It is well understood that the Standard model of Particle physics in incomplete. Our knowledge of cosmology also leaves several crucial questions unanswered, one of them being the composition of the dark matter that has been indirectly observed through astronomical observations. The primary objectives for constructing the Large Hadron Collider has been to solve these problems through the discovery of the Higgs particle and to find new physics processes that predict the production of massive non-interacting stable particles. Searches of such new physics producing heavy stable particles in its final state has been performed. Finding such signals would provide direct observation of a dark matter candidate particle. The exclusive event topology of two high energy jets and missing transverse energy has been explored to perform the above search, using ATLAS detector data. A summary of results of these preliminary searches in comparison with theoretical predictions has been presented. In order to understand and discriminate any new physics, a clear and coherent understanding of the detector response is crucial. Moreover, a detailed knowledge of the behavior of known standard model phenomena is required. A detailed description of the ATLAS detector and several important calibration techniques is discussed and their results summarized. Estimates of Standard Model physics, contributing to irreducible backgrounds to dark matter searches is presented in detail. One such physics process constituting an irreducible background is the production of the Z boson decaying into two neutrinos ([nu]) with associated jets. The observation of these events directly from data is an impossible task due to the non-interacting nature of the neutrinos. An estimate of the production cross section of these process is estimated using observations of photon ([gamma]) plus jet events and theoretical predictions. Estimated numbers for the [gamma] plus 2,3,4 and more associated jets production with uncertainties has been summarized.

This book addresses one of the most intriguing mysteries of our universe: the nature of dark matter. The results presented here mark a significant and substantial contribution to the search for new physics, in particular for new particles that couple to dark matter. The first analysis presented is a search for heavy new particles that decay into pairs of hadronic jets (dijets). This pioneering analysis explores unprecedented dijet invariant masses, reaching nearly 7 TeV, and sets constraints on several important new physics models. The two subsequent analyses focus on the difficult low dijet mass region, down to 200 GeV, and employ a novel technique to efficiently gather low-mass dijet events. The results of these analyses transcend the long-standing constraints on dark matter mediator particles set by several existing experiments.

Charged particle multiplicities in hadronic collision have been measured for all energies up to .sqrt.s = 540 GeV in the center of mass. Similar measurements in ee− annihilation cover the much smaller range - up to .sqrt.s = 40 GeV. Data are also available from deep inelastic neutrino scattering up to .sqrt.s approx. 10 GeV. The experiments measure the mean charged multiplicity , the rapidity density at y = O, and the distributions in prong number. The mean number of photons associated with the events can be used to measure the .pi.° and eta° multiplicities. Some information is also available on the charged pion, kaon, and nucleon fractions as well as the K° and .lambda.° rates and for the higher energy data, the identically equal fraction. We review this data and consider the implications of extrapolations to SSC energies. 13 references.

This second open access volume of the handbook series deals with detectors, large experimental facilities and data handling, both for accelerator and non-accelerator based experiments. It also covers applications in medicine and life sciences. A joint CERN-Springer initiative, the "Particle Physics Reference Library" provides revised and updated contributions based on previously published material in the well-known Landolt-Boernstein series on particle physics, accelerators and detectors (volumes 21A, B1,B2,C), which took stock of the field approximately one decade ago. Central to this new initiative is publication under full open access