Technical design report for the upgrade of the ALICE inner tracking system
ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is studying the physics of strongly interacting matter, and in particular the properties of the Quark–Gluon Plasma (QGP), using proton–proton, proton–nucleus and nucleus–nucleus collisions at the CERN LHC (Large Hadron Collider). The ALICE Collaboration is preparing a major upgrade of the experimental apparatus, planned for installation in the second long LHC shutdown in the years 2018–2019. A key element of the ALICE upgrade is the construction of a new, ultra-light, high- resolution Inner Tracking System (ITS) based on monolithic CMOS pixel detectors. The primary focus of the ITS upgrade is on improving the performance for detection of heavy-flavour…
Measurement of PromptD-Meson Production inp−PbCollisions atsNN=5.02 TeV
The p_{T}-differential production cross sections of the prompt charmed mesons D^{0}, D^{+}, D^{*+}, and D_{s}^{+} and their charge conjugate in the rapidity interval -0.96<y_{cms}<0.04 were measured in p-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The nuclear modification factor R_{pPb}, quantifying the D-meson yield in p-Pb collisions relative to the yield in pp collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions, is compatible within the 15%-20% uncertainties with unity in the transverse momentum interval 1<p_{T}<24 GeV/c. No significant difference among the R_{pPb} of the four D-meson species is observed. The results…
Production of Muons from Heavy Flavor Decays at Forward Rapidity inppand Pb-Pb Collisions atsNN=2.76 TeV
The ALICE Collaboration has measured the inclusive production of muons from heavy-flavor decays at forward rapidity, 2.5 < y < 4, in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV. The p(t)-differential inclusive cross section of muons from heavy-flavor decays in pp collisions is compared to perturbative QCD calculations. The nuclear modification factor is studied as a function of p(t) and collision centrality. A weak suppression is measured in peripheral collisions. In the most central collisions, a suppression of a factor of about 3-4 is observed in 6 < p(t) < 10 GeV/c. The suppression shows no significant p(t) dependence.
Pseudorapidity Density of Charged Particles inp+PbCollisions atsNN=5.02 TeV
The charged-particle pseudorapidity density measured over four units of pseudorapidity in nonsingle-diffractive p + Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV is presented. The average value at midrapidity is measured to be 16.81 +/- 0.71 (syst), which corresponds to 2.14 +/- 0.17 (syst) per participating nucleon, calculated with the Glauber model. This is 16% lower than in nonsingle-diffractive pp collisions interpolated to the same collision energy and 84% higher than in d + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 0.2 TeV. The measured pseudorapidity density in p + Pb collisions is compared to model predictions and provides new constraints on the description of …
Performance of the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC
ALICE is the heavy-ion experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The experiment continuously took data during the first physics campaign of the machine from fall 2009 until early 2013, using proton and lead-ion beams. In this paper we describe the running environment and the data handling procedures, and discuss the performance of the ALICE detectors and analysis methods for various physics observables.
Upgrade of the ALICE Experiment Letter Of Intent
ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is studying the physics of strongly interacting matter, and in particular the properties of the Quark–Gluon Plasma (QGP), using proton–proton, proton–nucleus and nucleus–nucleus collisions at the CERN LHC (Large Hadron Collider). The ALICE Collaboration is preparing a major upgrade of the experimental apparatus, planned for installation in the second long LHC shutdown in the years 2018–2019. These plans are presented in the ALICE Upgrade Letter of Intent, submitted to the LHCC (LHC experiments Committee) in September 2012. In order to fully exploit the physics reach of the LHC in this field, high- precision measurements of the heavy-flavour production…
Azimuthal anisotropy ofD-meson production in Pb-Pb collisions atsNN=2.76TeV
The production of the prompt charmed mesons D0, D+, and D*+ relative to the reaction plane was measured in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision of √sNN=2.76TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. D mesons were reconstructed via their hadronic decays at central rapidity in the transverse-momentum (p_T) interval 2–16 GeV/c. The azimuthal anisotropy is quantified in terms of the second coefficient v2 in a Fourier expansion of the D-meson azimuthal distribution and in terms of the nuclear modification factor R_AA, measured in the direction of the reaction plane and orthogonal to it. The v2 coefficient was measured with three different …
Charge separation relative to the reaction plane in Pb-Pb collisions atsNN=2.76 TeV
Measurements of charge-dependent azimuthal correlations with the ALICE detector at the LHC are reported for Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV. Two- and three-particle charge-dependent azimuthal correlations in the pseudorapidity range vertical bar eta vertical bar < 0.8 are presented as a function of the collision centrality, particle separation in pseudorapidity, and transverse momentum. A clear signal compatible with a charge-dependent separation relative to the reaction plane is observed, which shows little or no collision energy dependence when compared to measurements at RHIC energies. This provides a new insight for understanding the nature of the charge-dependent azimuthal co…
Measurement of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavor hadron decays inppcollisions ats=2.76 TeV
The pT-differential production cross section of electrons from semileptonic decays of heavy-flavor hadrons has been measured at midrapidity in proton-proton collisions at s=2.76TeV in the transverse momentum range 0.5<pT<12GeV/c with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The analysis was performed using minimum bias events and events triggered by the electromagnetic calorimeter. Predictions from perturbative QCD calculations agree with the data within the theoretical and experimental uncertainties.
Multi-particle azimuthal correlations in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
Measurements of multi-particle azimuthal correlations (cumulants) for charged particles in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions are presented. They help address the question of whether there is evidence for global, flow-like, azimuthal correlations in the p-Pb system. Comparisons are made to measurements from the larger Pb-Pb system, where such evidence is established. In particular, the second harmonic two-particle cumulants are found to decrease with multiplicity, characteristic of a dominance of few-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions. However, when a $|\Delta \eta|$ gap is placed to suppress such correlations, the two-particle cumulants begin to rise at high-multiplicity, indicating the prese…
Net-charge fluctuations in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt[sNN]=2.76TeV.
We report the first measurement of the net-charge fluctuations in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV, measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The dynamical fluctuations per unit entropy are observed to decrease when going from peripheral to central collisions. An additional reduction in the amount of fluctuations is seen in comparison to the results from lower energies. We examine the dependence of fluctuations on the pseudo-rapidity interval, which may account for the dilution of fluctuations during the evolution of the system. We find that the ALICE data points are between the theoretically predicted values for a hadron gas and a Quark-Gluon Plasma.…
Charged kaon femtoscopic correlations inppcollisions ats=7 TeV
Correlations of two charged identical kaons (KchKch) are measured in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV by the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). One-dimensional (KKch)-K-ch correlation functions are constructed in three multiplicity and four transverse momentum ranges. The (KKch)-K-ch femtoscopic source parameters R and lambda are extracted. The (KKch)-K-ch correlations show a slight increase of femtoscopic radii with increasing multiplicity and a slight decrease of radii with increasing transverse momentum. These trends are similar to the ones observed for pi pi and K-s(0) K-s(0) correlations in pp and heavy-ion collisions. However at high multiplicities, there is an indica…
Neutron emission from electromagnetic dissociation of Pb nuclei at $\sqrt {s_{NN}} = 2.76$ TeV measured with the ALICE ZDC
The ALICE Zero Degree Calorimeter system (ZDC) is composed of two identical sets of calorimeters, placed at opposite sides with respect to the interaction point, 114 meters away from it, complemented by two small forward electromagnetic calorimeters (ZEM). Each set of detectors consists of a neutron (ZN) and a proton (ZP) ZDC. They are placed at zero degrees with respect to the LHC axis and allow to detect particles emitted close to beam direction, in particular neutrons and protons emerging from hadronic heavy-ion collisions (spectator nucleons) and those emitted from electromagnetic processes. For neutrons emitted by these two processes, the ZN calorimeters have nearly 100% acceptance. Du…
Transverse Momentum Distribution and Nuclear Modification Factor of Charged Particles inp+PbCollisions atsNN=5.02 TeV
The transverse momentum (pT) distribution of primary charged particles is measured in minimum bias (non-single-diffractive) p + Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-s = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The pT spectra measured near central rapidity in the range 0.5< p(T) < 20 GeV/c exhibit a weak pseudorapidity dependence. The nuclear modification factor R-pPb is consistent with unity for p(T) above 2 GeV/c. This measurement indicates that the strong suppression of hadron production at high p(T) observed in Pb + Pb collisions at the LHC is not due to an initial-state effect. The measurement is compared to theoretical calculations. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.082302
Performance of the ALICE VZERO system
ALICE is an LHC experiment devoted to the study of strongly interacting matter in proton-proton, proton--nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at ultra-relativistic energies. The ALICE VZERO system, made of two scintillator arrays at asymmetric positions, one on each side of the interaction point, plays a central role in ALICE. In addition to its core function as a trigger, the VZERO system is used to monitor LHC beam conditions, to reject beam-induced backgrounds and to measure basic physics quantities such as luminosity, particle multiplicity, centrality and event plane direction in nucleus-nucleus collisions. After describing the VZERO system, this publication presents its performance o…
Measurement of visible cross sections in proton-lead collisions at √sNN= 5.02 TeV in van der Meer scans with the ALICE detector
In 2013, the Large Hadron Collider provided proton-lead and lead-proton collisions at the center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV. Van der Meer scans were performed for both configurations of colliding beams, and the cross section was measured for two reference processes, based on particle detection by the T0 and V0 detectors, with pseudo-rapidity coverage $4.6<\eta< 4.9$, $-3.3<\eta<-3.0$ and $2.8<\eta< 5.1$, $-3.7<\eta<-1.7$, respectively. Given the asymmetric detector acceptance, the cross section was measured separately for the two configurations. The measured visible cross sections are used to calculate the integrated luminosity of the proton-lead and lead-…
Centrality Dependence of the Charged-Particle Multiplicity Density at Midrapidity in Pb-Pb Collisions atsNN=2.76 TeV
The centrality dependence of the charged-particle multiplicity density at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2: 76 TeV is presented. The charged-particle density normalized per participating nucleon pair increases by about a factor of 2 from peripheral (70%-80%) to central (0%-5%) collisions. The centrality dependence is found to be similar to that observed at lower collision energies. The data are compared with models based on different mechanisms for particle production in nuclear collisions.
K*(892)0 and ϕ(1020) meson production at high transverse momentum in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV
The yields of the K*(892)(0) and phi(1020) resonances are measured in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV through their hadronic decays using the ALICE detector. The measurements are performed in multiple centrality intervals at mid-rapidity (vertical bar y vertical bar <0.5) in the transverse-momentum ranges 0.3 <p(T) <5 GeV/c for the K*(892)(0) and 0.5 <p(T) <5 GeV/c for the phi(1020). The yields of K*(892)(0) are suppressed in central Pb-Pb collisions with respect to pp and peripheral Pb-Pb collisions (perhaps due to rescattering of its decay products in the hadronic medium), while the longer-lived phi(1020) meson is not suppressed. These particles are also used as probes to study …
Centrality dependence of particle production inp−Pbcollisions atsNN=5.02TeV
We report measurements of the primary charged-particle pseudorapidity density and transverse momentum distributions in p-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV and investigate their correlation with experimental observables sensitive to the centrality of the collision. Centrality classes are defined by using different event-activity estimators, i.e., charged-particle multiplicities measured in three different pseudorapidity regions as well as the energy measured at beam rapidity (zero degree). The procedures to determine the centrality, quantified by the number of participants (N-part) or the number of nucleon-nucleon binary collisions (N-coll) are described. We show that, in contrast to Pb…
J/ψPolarization inppCollisions ats=7 TeV
The ALICE Collaboration has studied J/psi production in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV at the LHC through its muon pair decay. The polar and azimuthal angle distributions of the decay muons were measured, and results on the J/psi polarization parameters lambda(theta) and lambda(phi) were obtained. The study was performed in the kinematic region 2: 5 < y < 4, 2 < p(t) < 8 GeV/c, in the helicity and Collins-Soper reference frames. In both frames, the polarization parameters are compatible with zero, within uncertainties.