The standard model of particle physics (SM) describes the elementary particles and their interactions. Supersymmetry (SUSY), a symmetry beyond those included in the standard model could resolve some of the SM shortcomings. It can provide a candidate for Dark Matter and a solution to the hierarchy problem. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has the potential to produce the particles predicted by SUSY. I will show two searches for SUSY particles in proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment.
The first search described in this thesis looks for direct production of chargino and slepton pairs in a final state characterized by the presence of two leptons and missing transverse energy. The second search looks for production of chargino pairs via vector boson fusion (VBF) in a final state containing of two leptons, two jets and missing transverse energy. This is the first attempt in ATLAS to search for supersymmetric particles produced via VBF. A possible observation of such process would prove that the exchanged neutralino is a Majorana particle. These analyses are done using L=20.3 fb-1 proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV collected in 2012. No significant excess over background is observed. New exclusion limits at 95% confidence level on chargino, neutralino and slepton masses and cross section for chargino pair production via VBF are set.
