Search for contact interactions and large extra dimensions in dilepton events from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for nonresonant new phenomena, originating from either contact interactions or large extra spatial dimensions, has been carried out using events with two isolated electrons or muons. These events, produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7  TeV, were recorded by the ATLAS detector. The data sample, collected throughout 2011, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 and 5.0  fb-1 in the e+e- and μ+μ- channels, respectively. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectation are observed. Using a Bayesian approach, 95% confidence level lower limits ranging from 9.0 to 13.9 TeV are placed on the energy scale of ℓℓqq contact interactions in the left-left isoscalar model. Lower limits ranging from 2.4 to 3.9 TeV are also set on the string scale in large extra dimension models. After combining these limits with results from a similar search in the diphoton channel, slightly more stringent limits are obtained.