The ATLAS Tau Trigger Performance during LHC Run 1 and Prospects for Run 2

The ATLAS tau trigger is designed to select the hadronic decays of tau leptons. Tau leptons play an important role in Standard Model (SM) physics, such as in Higgs boson decays. Tau leptons are also important in searches for beyond the SM (BSM) scenarios, such as supersymmetry, where they are often produced preferentially. During the 2010-2012 LHC run (Run 1), tau triggers were implemented and used successfully in ATLAS, contributing to several important results such as the evidence for H→ττ. For the 2015 LHC run (Run 2), the LHC will be upgraded. Due to the energy increase, the cross sections for SM processes are expected to get much larger. Additionally, the number of overlapping interactions per bunch crossing (pile-up) is expected to increase significantly. It will therefore be challenging to control trigger rates while keeping interesting physics events. This document summarizes the tau trigger performance in Run 1 and its prospects for Run 2.