Two measurements of the cosmic-ray positron fraction as a function of energy have been made using the High Energy Antimatter Telescope (HEAT) balloon-borne instrument. The first flight took place from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico in 1994, and yielded results above the geomagnetic cutoff energy of 4.5 GeV. The second flight from Lynn Lake, Manitoba in 1995 permitted measurements over a larger energy interval, from 1 GeV to 50 GeV. In this letter we present results on the positron fraction based on data from the Lynn Lake flight, and compare these with the previously published results from the Ft. Sumner flight. The results confirm that the positron fraction does not increase with energy above ≈ 10 GeV, although a small excess above purely secondary production cannot be ruled out. At low energies the positron fraction is slightly larger than that reported from measurements made in the 1960's. This effect could possibly be a consequence of charge dependence in the level of solar modulation.

Studies of the spin and parity quantum numbers of the Higgs boson are presented, based on proton–proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The Standard Model spin–parity JP=0+JP=0+ hypothesis is compared with alternative hypotheses using the Higgs boson decays H→γγH→γγ, H→ZZ⁎→4ℓH→ZZ⁎→4ℓ and H→WW⁎→ℓνℓνH→WW⁎→ℓνℓν, as well as the combination of these channels. The analysed dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.7 fb−1 collected at a centre-of-mass energy of √s=8TeV. For the H→ZZ⁎→4ℓH→ZZ⁎→4ℓ decay mode the dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb−1 collected at √s=7TeV is included. The data are compatible with the Standard Model JP=0+JP=0+ quantum numbers for the Higgs boson, whereas all alternative hypotheses studied in this Letter, namely some specific JP=0−,1+,1−,2+JP=0−,1+,1−,2+ models, are excluded at confidence levels above 97.8%. This exclusion holds independently of the assumptions on the coupling strengths to the Standard Model particles and in the case of the JP=2+JP=2+ model, of the relative fractions of gluon-fusion and quark–antiquark production of the spin-2 particle. The data thus provide evidence for the spin-0 nature of the Higgs boson, with positive parity being strongly preferre

Proton-proton collisions at √ s = 7 TeV and heavy ion collisions at √ s NN = 2.76 TeV were produced by the LHC and recorded using the ATLAS experiment's trigger system in 2010. The LHC is designed with a maximum bunch crossing rate of 40 MHz and the ATLAS trigger system is designed to record approximately 200 of these per second. The trigger system selects events by rapidly identifying signatures of muon, electron, photon, tau lepton, jet, and B meson candidates, as well as using global event signatures, such as missing transverse energy. An overview of the ATLAS trigger system, the evolution of the system during 2010 and the performance of the trigger system components and selections based on the 2010 collision data are shown. A brief outline of plans for the trigger system in 2011 is presented.

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