With 4.8~$\rm{fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s}=7~\rm{TeV}$ in 2011, and 5.9~$\rm{fb}^{-1}$ collected at $\sqrt{s}=8~\rm{TeV}$ in 2012 by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, an excess of 4.5 standard deviations from the background-only hypothesis is observed near 126.5~GeV in the diphoton invariant mass spectra. Along with the excesses observed in the $H \rightarrow ZZ^{(*)}\rightarrow \ell\ell\ell\ell$ and $H \rightarrow WW^{(*)}\rightarrow \ell\nu\ell\nu$ channels, the observation of a Higgs-like particle is established at 6.0 standard deviations level. With more data accumulated during LHC Run~1, the measurements of Higgs boson couplings and mass in the $H\to\gamma\gamma$ channel are conducted by the ATLAS experiment based on 4.5~$\rm{fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7~\rm{TeV}$ collected in 2011, and 20.3~$\rm{fb}^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}=8~\rm{TeV}$ collected in 2012. The combined signal strength, defined as number of observed Higgs boson decays to diphoton divided by the corresponding Standard Model prediction, is measured to be $1.17 \ ^{+0.28}_{-0.26}$ assuming the Higgs boson mass being 125.4~$\rm{GeV}$. The signal strengths for individual Higgs boson production processes are also measured, and are found to be in good consistency with the Standard Model. The mass of the Higgs boson is measured in $H\to\gamma\gamma$ channel by the ATLAS experiment to be $125.98 \pm 0.50$~\GeV. This measurement is combined with the ones from ATLAS $H \rightarrow ZZ^{(*)}\rightarrow \ell\ell\ell\ell$ as well as CMS $H\to\gamma\gamma$ and $H \rightarrow ZZ^{(*)}\rightarrow \ell\ell\ell\ell$. The Higgs boson mass measured from the combination is $125.09\pm0.24~\rm{GeV}$. With LHC center-of-mass energy increased to 13~TeV, a search for high mass Beyond the Standard Model scalar resonance is performed in the diphoton decay channel based on 15.4~$\rm{fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector during 2015 and 2016. While a notable wide excess was first observed in the diphoton invariant mass spectrum from the 2015 data (3.2~$\rm{fb}^{-1}$) with mass near 750~GeV, it is not confirmed by the 2016 data with much higher statistics (12.4~$\rm{fb}^{-1}$). Limits on the production cross section times branching ratio of such resonances are set.

The recent observation of the Higgs boson has been hailed as the scientific discovery of the century and led to the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics. This book describes the detailed science behind the decades-long search for this elusive particle at the Large Electron Positron Collider at CERN and at the Tevatron at Fermilab and its subsequent discovery and characterization at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Written by physicists who played leading roles in this epic search and discovery, this book is an authoritative and pedagogical exposition of the portrait of the Higgs boson that has emerged from a large number of experimental measurements. As the first of its kind, this book should be of interest to graduate students and researchers in particle physics.

This book provides a general description of the search for and discovery of the Higgs boson (particle) at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. The goal is to provide a relatively brief overview of the issues, instruments and techniques relevant for this search; written by a physicist who was directly involved. The Higgs boson mat be the one particle that was studied the most before its discovery and the story from postulation in 1964 to detection in 2012 is a fascinating one. The story is told here while detailing the fundamentals of particle physics.

This first open access volume of the handbook series contains articles on the standard model of particle physics, both from the theoretical and experimental perspective. It also covers related topics, such as heavy-ion physics, neutrino physics and searches for new physics beyond the standard model. 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

Volume 8.

The Standard Model of the particle physics predicts the existence of a massive scalar boson, usually referred to as Higgs boson in the literature, as resulting from the Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking mechanism, needed to generate the mass of the particles. The Higgs boson whose mass is theoretically undetermined, is experimentally looked for since half a century by various experiments. This is the case of the ATLAS experiment at LHC which started taking data from high energy collisions in 2010. One of the most important decay channel in the LHC environment is the diphoton channel, because the final state can be completely reconstructed with high precision. The photon energy response is a key point in this analysis, as the signal would appear as a narrow resonance over a large background. In this thesis, a detailed study of the photon energy response, using the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter has been performed. This study has provided a better understanding of the photon energy resolution and scale, thus enabling an improvement of the sensitivity of the diphoton analysis as well as a precise determination of the systematic uncertainties on the peak position. The diphoton decay channel had a prominent role in the discovery of a new particle compatible with the Standard Model Higgs boson by the ATLAS and CMS experiments, that occurred in July 2012. Using this channel as well as the better understanding of the photon energy response, a measurement of the mass of this particle is proposed in this thesis, with the data collected in 2011 and 2012 at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and 8 TeV. A mass of 126.8 +/- 0.2 (stat) +\- 0.7 (syst) GeV/c2 is found. The calibration of the photon energy measurement with the calorimeter is the source of the largest systematic uncertainty on this measurement. Strategies to reduce this systematic error are discussed.

A fascinating tour of particle physics from Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman. At the root of particle physics is an invincible sense of curiosity. Leon Lederman embraces this spirit of inquiry as he moves from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations to Einstein and beyond to chart this unique arm of scientific study. His survey concludes with the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God Particle, which scientists hypothesize will help unlock the last secrets of the subatomic universe, quarks and all--it's the dogged pursuit of this almost mystical entity that inspires Lederman's witty and accessible history.