Search for Production of Resonant States in the Photon-Jet Mass Distribution Using pp Collisions at root s=7 TeV Collected by the ATLAS Detector

This Letter describes a model-independent search for the production of new resonant states in photon + jet events in 2.11 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV. We compare the photon + jet mass distribution to a background model derived from data and find consistency with the background-only hypothesis. Given the lack of evidence for a signal, we set 95% credibility level limits on generic Gaussian-shaped signals and on a benchmark excited-quark (q*) model, excluding 2 TeV Gaussian resonances with cross section times branching fraction times acceptance times efficiency near 5 fb and excluding q* masses below 2.46 TeV, respectively.