Measurement of the muon reconstruction performance of the ATLAS detector using 2011 and 2012 LHC proton–proton collision data

Abstract

This paper presents the performance of the ATLAS muon reconstruction during the LHC run with pp collisions at √s = 7–8 TeV in 2011–2012, focusing mainly on data collected in 2012. Measurements of the reconstruction efficiency and of the momentum scale and resolution, based on large reference samples of J/ψ → μμ, Z → μμ and ϒ → μμ decays, are presented and compared to Monte Carlo simulations. Corrections to the simulation, to be used in physics analysis, are provided. Over most of the covered phase space (muon |η| < 2.7 and 5 pT 100 GeV) the efficiency is above 99% and is measured with per-mille precision. The momentum resolution ranges from 1.7% at central rapidity and for transverse momentum pT 10 GeV, to 4% at large rapidity and pT 100 GeV. The momentum scale is known with an uncertainty of 0.05% to 0.2% depending on rapidity. A method for the recovery of final state radiation from the muons is also presented.