Search for extra dimensions using diphoton events in 7 TeV proton–proton collisions with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

Using data recorded in 2011 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, a search for evidence of extra spatial dimensions has been performed through an analysis of the diphoton final state. The analysis uses data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.12 fb^-1 of √s = 7 TeV proton– proton collisions. The diphoton invariant mass (m_γγ) spectrum is observed to be in good agreement with the expected Standard Model background. In the large extra dimension scenario of Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos and Dvali, the results provide 95% CL lower limits on the fundamental Planck scale between 2.27 and 3.53 TeV, depending on the number of extra dimensions and the theoretical formalism used. The results also set 95% CL lower limits on the lightest Randall–Sundrum graviton mass of between 0.79 and 1.85 TeV, for values of the dimensionless coupling k/M_Pl varying from 0.01 to 0.1. Combining with previously published ATLAS results from the dielectron and dimuon final states, the 95% CL lower limit on the Randall–Sundrum graviton mass for k/M_Pl = 0.01 (0.1) is 0.80 (1.95) TeV.