Search for direct top squark pair production in events with a Z boson, b-jets and missing transverse momentum in √s=8 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for direct top squark pair production using events with at least two leptons including a same-flavour opposite-sign pair with invariant mass consistent with the Z boson mass, jets tagged as originating from b-quarks and missing transverse momentum. The analysis is performed with proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2012 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb^−1. No excess beyond the Standard Model expectation is observed. Interpretations of the results are provided in models based on the direct pair production of the heavier top squark state (˜t2) followed by the decay to the lighter top squark state (˜t1) via ˜t2 → Z ˜t1, and for ˜t1 pair production in natural gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking scenarios where the neutralino(χ˜01 ) is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle and decays producing a Z boson and a gravitino (G˜ ) via the χ˜01 → ZG˜ process.