Abstract:

The current generation of new physics searches at the LHC has come up empty. New tools and techniques are necessary to design the next generation to be even more sensitive to deviations from the Standard Model expectations. Two paths to that goal are described. The discrimination of quark-initiated jets from gluon-initiated jets, which could provide substantial background rejection for some new physics processes, is demonstrated for the first time using data to derive jet properties. First search results are also shown for an ATLAS search with event-level variables that may provide the other key to discovering or excluding supersymmetry at the LHC.