Freeze-out radii extracted from three-pion cumulants in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC
In high-energy collisions, the spatio-temporal size of the particle production region can be measured using the Bose-Einstein correlations of identical bosons at low relative momentum. The source radii are typically extracted using two-pion correlations, and characterize the system at the last stage of interaction, called kinetic freeze-out. In low-multiplicity collisions, unlike in high-multiplicity collisions, two-pion correlations are substantially altered by background correlations, e.g. mini-jets. Such correlations can be suppressed using three-pion cumulant correlations. We present the first measurements of the size of the system at freeze-out extracted from three-pion cumulant correl…
Suppression of Λ(1520) resonance production in central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV
The production yield of the Λ(1520) baryon resonance is measured at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN = 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The measurement is performed in the Λ(1520)→pK− (and charge conjugate) hadronic decay channel as a function of the transverse momentum (pT) and collision centrality. The ratio of the pT-integrated production of Λ(1520) baryons relative to Λ baryons in central collisions is suppressed by about a factor of 2 with respect to peripheral collisions. This is the first observation of the suppression of a baryonic resonance at the LHC and the first 3σ evidence of Λ(1520) suppression within a single collision system. The mea…
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 …
Measurement of transverse energy at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions atsNN=2.76TeV
We report the transverse energy ($E_{\mathrm T}$) measured with ALICE at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at ${\sqrt{s_{\mathrm {NN}}}}$ = 2.76 TeV as a function of centrality. The transverse energy was measured using identified single particle tracks. The measurement was cross checked using the electromagnetic calorimeters and the transverse momentum distributions of identified particles previously reported by ALICE. The results are compared to theoretical models as well as to results from other experiments. The mean $E_{\mathrm T}$ per unit pseudorapidity ($\eta$), $\langle $d$E_{\mathrm T}/$d$\eta \rangle$, in 0-5% central collisions is 1737 $\pm$ 6(stat.) $\pm$ 97(sys.) GeV. We find a si…
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.…
Neutral pion and η meson production at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV
Neutral pion and η meson production in the transverse momentum range 1 <pT< 20 GeV/c have been measured at midrapidity by the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in central and semicentral Pb-Pb collisions at sNN = 2.76 TeV. These results were obtained using the photon conversion method as well as the Photon Spectrometer (PHOS) and Electromagnetic Calorimeter detectors. The results extend the upper pT reach of the previous ALICE π0 measurements from 12 to 20 GeV/c and present the first measurement of η meson production in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. The η/π0 ratio is similar for the two centralities and reaches at high pT a plateau value of 0.457 ± 0.013stat ± 0.018sys…
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…
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…
Charm-quark fragmentation fractions and production cross section at midrapidity in pp collisions at the LHC
Physical review / D 105(1), L011103 (2022). doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.105.L011103
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.