ATLAS Run 1 searches for direct pair production of third-generation squarks at the Large Hadron Collider

CERN-LHC. This paper reviews and extends searches for the direct pair production of the scalar supersymmetric partners of the top and bottom quarks in proton--proton collisions collected by the ATLAS collaboration during the LHC Run 1. Most of the analyses use 20 fb−1 of collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s=8 TeV, although in some case an additional 4.7 fb−1 of collision data at √s=7 TeV are used. New analyses are introduced to improve the sensitivity to specific regions of the model parameter space. Since no evidence of third-generation squarks is found, exclusion limits are derived by combining several analyses and are presented in both a simplified model framework, assuming simple decay chains, as well as within the context of more elaborate phenomenological supersymmetric models.