Search for Second Generation Scalar Leptoquarks using the ATLAS Detector

Leptoquarks are hypothetical particles that attempt to explain the coincidental similarities between leptons and quarks included in SM. Their exact properties vary between different theoretical models, and there are no strong theoretical constraints on their possible mass values. They can possibly be produced from particle collisions, and there have already been searching efforts at previous collider experiments. Their presence have yet been observed, and this fact has been translated into lower bound exclusions on their possible mass values. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) being the most recently constructed particle collider with the highest collision energies ever achieved experimentally, provides a new platform to continue the search for Leptoquarks at even higher mass ranges. This thesis describes a search for pair-produced second-generation Leptoquarks using 20.3 fb$^{−1}$ of data recorded by the ATLAS detector of LHC at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV. Events with two oppositely charged muons and two or more jets in the final state were used. Candidate leptoquark events were selected with the help of four observables: the di-muon invariant mass ($M_{μμ}$), the sum of the pT of the two muons ($L_T$), the sum of the $p_T$ of the two leading jets ($H_T$) and the average Leptoquark mass ($M_{LQ}$). Monte Carlo simulations of SM background processes have shown to be in good agreement with data, both in the region constructed using selection requirements for candiate leptoquark events and in the designated control regions. Since no significant excess of events was observed in data, a exclusion limit was set as a function of the Leptoquark mass.