0000000000503438
AUTHOR
L. Vickovic
Measurement of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays at midrapidity in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV
The differential invariant yield as a function of transverse momentum (pT) of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays was measured at midrapidity in central (0–10%), semi-central (30–50%) and peripheral (60–80%) lead–lead (Pb–Pb) collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV in the pT intervals 0.5–26 GeV/c (0–10% and 30–50%) and 0.5–10 GeV/c (60–80%). The production cross section in proton–proton (pp) collisions at s=5.02 TeV was measured as well in 0.5<pT<10 GeV/c and it lies close to the upper band of perturbative QCD calculation uncertainties up to pT=5 GeV/c and close to the mean value for larger pT. The modification of the electron yield with respect to what is expected for an inco…
HΛ3 and H‾Λ¯3 production in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV
Abstract The production of the hypertriton nuclei H Λ 3 and H ‾ Λ ¯ 3 has been measured for the first time in Pb–Pb collisions at s NN = 2.76 TeV with the ALICE experiment at LHC. The p T -integrated H Λ 3 yield in one unity of rapidity, d N / d y × B . R . ( H Λ 3 → He 3 , π − ) = ( 3.86 ± 0.77 ( stat. ) ± 0.68 ( syst. ) ) × 10 − 5 in the 0–10% most central collisions, is consistent with the predictions from a statistical thermal model using the same temperature as for the light hadrons. The coalescence parameter B 3 shows a dependence on the transverse momentum, similar to the B 2 of deuterons and the B 3 of 3He nuclei. The ratio of yields S 3 = H Λ 3 / ( He 3 × Λ / p ) was measured to b…
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…
Transverse momentum spectra and nuclear modification factors of charged particles in pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC
We report the measured transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra of primary charged particles from pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV in the kinematic range of $0.15<p_{\rm T}<50$ GeV/$c$ and $|\eta|< 0.8$. A significant improvement of systematic uncertainties motivated the reanalysis of data in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV, as well as in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV, which is also presented. Spectra from Pb-Pb collisions are presented in nine centrality intervals and are compared to a reference spectrum from pp collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions. For cent…
Dielectron and heavy-quark production in inelastic and high-multiplicity proton–proton collisions at s=13TeV
The measurement of dielectron production is presented as a function of invariant mass and transverse momentum (pT) at midrapidity (|ye|<0.8) in proton–proton (pp) collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s=13 TeV. The contributions from light-hadron decays are calculated from their measured cross sections in pp collisions at s=7 TeV or 13 TeV. The remaining continuum stems from correlated semileptonic decays of heavy-flavour hadrons. Fitting the data with templates from two different MC event generators, PYTHIA and POWHEG, the charm and beauty cross sections at midrapidity are extracted for the first time at this collision energy: dσcc¯/dy|y=0=974±138(stat.)±140(syst.)±214(BR)μb and dσbb…
Charged jet cross section and fragmentation in proton-proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. We report the differential charged jet cross section and jet fragmentation distributions measured with the ALICE detector in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy √s=7 TeV. Jets with pseudorapidity |η|40 GeV/c, the pythia calculations also agree with the measured charged jet cross section. pythia6 simulations describe the fragmentation distributions to 15%. Larger discrepancies are observed for pythia8. SCOAP
The ALICE Transition Radiation Detector: Construction, operation, and performance
The Transition Radiation Detector (TRD) was designed and built to enhance the capabilities of the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). While aimed at providing electron identification and triggering, the TRD also contributes significantly to the track reconstruction and calibration in the central barrel of ALICE. In this paper the design, construction, operation, and performance of this detector are discussed. A pion rejection factor of up to 410 is achieved at a momentum of 1 GeV/$c$ in p-Pb collisions and the resolution at high transverse momentum improves by about 40% when including the TRD information in track reconstruction. The triggering capability is demonstrated both …
Centrality, rapidity and transverse momentum dependence of J/ψ suppression in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV
The inclusive J/.nuclear modification factor (R-AA) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76TeVhas been measured by ALICE as a function of centrality in the e+ e-decay channel at mid-rapidity (| y| < 0.8) and as a function of centrality, transverse momentum and rapidity in the + -decay channel at forward-rapidity (2.5 < y < 4). The J/.yields measured in Pb-Pb are suppressed compared to those in ppcollisions scaled by the number of binary collisions. The RAAintegrated over a centrality range corresponding to 90% of the inelastic Pb-Pb cross section is 0.72 - 0.06(stat.) - 0.10(syst.) at mid-rapidity and 0.58 - 0.01(stat.) - 0.09(syst.) at forward-rapidity. At low transverse momentum, signi…
Searches for transverse momentum dependent flow vector fluctuations in Pb-Pb and p-Pb collisions at the LHC
The measurement of azimuthal correlations of charged particles is presented for Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=$ 2.76 TeV and p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=$ 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. These correlations are measured for the second, third and fourth order flow vector in the pseudorapidity region $|��|<0.8$ as a function of centrality and transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}$ using two observables, to search for evidence of $p_{\rm T}$-dependent flow vector fluctuations. For Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV, the measurements indicate that $p_{\rm T}$-dependent fluctuations are only present for the second order flow vector. Similar results hav…
Harmonic decomposition of two particle angular correlations in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV
Angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger (t) and associated (a) particles are measured by the ALICE experiment in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV for transverse momenta 0.25 p(T)(a). The shapes of the pair correlation distributions are studied in a variety of collision centrality classes between 0 and 50% of the total hadronic cross section for particles in the pseudorapidity interval |eta| 0.8, and are referred to as "long-range correlations". Fourier components V-n Delta equivalent to are extracted from the long-range azimuthal correlation functions. If particle pairs are correlated to one another through their individual correlation to a common symmetry plane, …
Pseudorapidity dependence of the anisotropic flow of charged particles in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV
We present measurements of the elliptic ($\mathrm{v}_2$), triangular ($\mathrm{v}_3$) and quadrangular ($\mathrm{v}_4$) anisotropic azimuthal flow over a wide range of pseudorapidities ($-3.5< \eta < 5$). The measurements are performed with Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}} = 2.76$ TeV using the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The flow harmonics are obtained using two- and four-particle correlations from nine different centrality intervals covering central to peripheral collisions. We find that the shape of $\mathrm{v}_n(\eta)$ is largely independent of centrality for the flow harmonics $n=2-4$, however the higher harmonics fall off more steeply with increasing $|…
Inclusive quarkonium production at forward rapidity in pp collisions at \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\mathbf {\sqrt{s}=8}~$$\end{document}s=8TeV
We report on the inclusive production cross sections of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\mathrm{J}/\psi }$$\end{document}J/ψ, \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\psi (\mathrm{2S})}$$\end{document}ψ(2S), \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepac…
Measurement of spin-orbital angular momentum interactions in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
The first evidence of spin alignment of vector mesons ($K^{*0}$ and $\phi$) in heavy-ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is reported. The spin density matrix element $\rho_{00}$ is measured at midrapidity ($|y| <$ 0.5) in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy ($\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$) of 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector. $\rho_{00}$ values are found to be less than 1/3 (1/3 implies no spin alignment) at low transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T} <$ 2 GeV/$c$) for $K^{*0}$ and $\phi$ at a level of 3$\sigma$ and 2$\sigma$, respectively. No significant spin alignment is observed for the $K^0_S$ meson (spin = 0) in Pb-Pb collisions and for the vector mesons in $pp$ collisions. The meas…
First measurement of the |t|-dependence of coherent J/ψ photonuclear production
The first measurement of the dependence on $|t|$, the square of the momentum transferred between the incoming and outgoing target nucleus, of coherent J/ψ photoproduction is presented. The data were measured with the ALICE detector in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV with the J/$\psi$ produced in the central rapidity region $|y| < 0.8$, which corresponds to the small Bjorken-$x$ range $(0.3 − 1.4) \times 10 ^{−3}$. The measured $|t|$-dependence is not described by computations based only on the Pb nuclear form factor, while the photonuclear cross section is better reproduced by models including shadowing according t…
Scattering Studies with Low-Energy Kaon-Proton Femtoscopy in Proton-Proton Collisions at the LHC
The study of the strength and behaviour of the antikaon-nucleon ($\mathrm{\overline{K}N}$) interaction constitutes one of the key focuses of the strangeness sector in low-energy Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). In this letter a unique high-precision measurement of the strong interaction between kaons and protons, close and above the kinematic threshold, is presented. The femtoscopic measurements of the correlation function at low pair-frame relative momentum of (K$^+$ p $\oplus$ K$^-$ $\overline{\mathrm{p}}$) and (K$^-$ p $\oplus$ K$^+$ $\overline{\mathrm{p}}$) pairs measured in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5, 7 and 13 TeV are reported. A structure observed around a relative momentum of 58 Me…
Search for weakly decaying Λn‾ and ΛΛ exotic bound states in central Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV
We present results of a search for two hypothetical strange dibaryon states, i.e. the H-dibaryon and the possible (Lambda n) over bar bound state. The search is performed with the ALICE detector in central (0-10%) Pb-Pb collisions at root S-NN = 2.76 TeV, by invariant mass analysis in the decay modes (Lambda n) over bar (d) over bar pi(+) and H-dibaryon -> Lambda p pi(-). No evidence for these bound states is observed. Upper limits are determined at 99% confidence level for a wide range of lifetimes and for the full range of branching ratios. The results are compared to thermal, coalescence and hybrid UrQMD model expectations, which describe correctly the production of other loosely bound s…
Real-time data processing in the ALICE High Level Trigger at the LHC
At the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, atomic nuclei are collided at ultra-relativistic energies. Many final-state particles are produced in each collision and their properties are measured by the ALICE detector. The detector signals induced by the produced particles are digitized leading to data rates that are in excess of 48 GB/$s$. The ALICE High Level Trigger (HLT) system pioneered the use of FPGA- and GPU-based algorithms to reconstruct charged-particle trajectories and reduce the data size in real time. The results of the reconstruction of the collision events, available online, are used for high level data quality and detector-performance monitoring and real-tim…
Investigation of the p–Σ0 interaction via femtoscopy in pp collisions
This Letter presents the first direct investigation of the p-$\Sigma^{0}$ interaction, using the femtoscopy technique in high-multiplicity pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV measured by the ALICE detector. The $\Sigma^{0}$ is reconstructed via the decay channel to $\Lambda \gamma$, and the subsequent decay of $\Lambda$ to p$\pi^-$. The photon is detected via the conversion in material to e$^{+}$e$^{-}$ pairs exploiting the unique capability of the ALICE detector to measure electrons at low transverse momenta. The measured p-$\Sigma^{0}$ correlation indicates a shallow strong interaction. The comparison of the data to several theoretical predictions obtained employing the $Correlation~Anal…
Search for a common baryon source in high-multiplicity pp collisions at the LHC
Physics letters / B B811, 135849 (2020). doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2020.135849
Probing the Effects of Strong Electromagnetic Fields with Charge-Dependent Directed Flow in Pb-Pb Collisions at the LHC
The first measurement at the LHC of charge-dependent directed flow ($v_{1}$) relative to the spectator plane is presented for Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV. Results are reported for charged hadrons and $\rm D^{0}$ mesons for the transverse momentum intervals $p_{\rm T}>0.2$ GeV/$c$ and $3<p_{\rm T}<$ 6 GeV/$c$ in the 5-40% and 10-40% centrality classes, respectively. The difference between the positively and negatively charged hadron $v_{1}$ has a positive slope as a function of pseudorapidity $\eta$, ${\rm d}\Delta{v_1}/{\rm d}\eta=$[1.68 $\pm$ 0.49 (stat.) $\pm$ 0.41 (syst.)] $\times 10^{-4}$. The same measurement for $\rm D^{0}$ and $\rm\bar{D}{}^0$ mesons yields a p…
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 jet cross sections and properties in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV
The differential charged jet cross sections, jet fragmentation distributions, and jet shapes are measured in minimum bias proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC. Jets are reconstructed from charged particle momenta in the mid-rapidity region using the sequential recombination $k_{\rm T}$ and anti-$k_{\rm T}$ as well as the SISCone jet finding algorithms with several resolution parameters in the range $R=0.2$ to $0.6$. Differential jet production cross sections measured with the three jet finders are in agreement in the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) interval $20<p_{\rm T}^{\rm jet,ch}<100$ GeV/$c$. They are also consistent w…
Dielectron production in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions at √sNN=5.02TeV
The first measurements of dielectron production at midrapidity (|ηe| < 0.8) in proton–proton and proton–lead collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV at the LHC are presented. The dielectron cross section is measured with the ALICE detector as a function of the invariant mass mee and the pair transverse momentum pT, ee in the ranges mee < 3.5 GeV/c2 and pT, ee < 8 GeV/c, in both collision systems. In proton–proton collisions, the charm and beauty cross sections are determined at midrapidity from a fit to the data with two different event generators. This complements the existing dielectron measurements performed at √s = 7 and 13 TeV. The slope of the √s dependence of the three measurements is…
Measurement of pion, kaon and proton production in proton–proton collisions at \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sqrt{s} = 7$$\end{document}s=7 TeV
The measurement of primary \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\pi ^{\pm }$$\end{document}π±, \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$K^{\pm }$$\end{document}K±, \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrs…
Production of K\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$^{*}$$\end{document}∗(892)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$^{0}$$\end{document}0 and \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\phi $$\end{document}ϕ(1020) in p–Pb collisions at \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sqrt{s_{{\text {NN}}}}$$\end{document}sNN = 5.02 TeV
The production of K\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$^{*}$$\end{document}∗(892)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$^{0}$$\end{document}0 and \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage…
Suppression of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in central Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV
Inclusive transverse momentum spectra of primary charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV have been measured by the ALICE Collaboration at the LHC. The data are presented for central and peripheral collisions, corresponding to 0-5% and 70-80% of the hadronic Pb-Pb cross section. The measured charged particle spectra in |eta| < 0.8 and 0.3 < p(T) < 20 GeV/c are compared to the expectation in pp collisions at the same root s(NN), scaled by the number of underlying nucleon-nucleon collisions. The comparison is expressed in terms of the nuclear modification factor R-AA. The result indicates only weak medium effects (R-AA approximate to 0.7) in peripheral collisions. In cen…
Two-pion Bose–Einstein correlations in central Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV
The first measurement of two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. We observe a growing trend with energy now not only for the longitudinal and the outward but also for the sideward pion source radius. The pion homogeneity volume and the decoupling time are significantly larger than those measured at RHIC. (C) 2010 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Multiplicity dependence of light (anti-)nuclei production in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV
The measurement of the deuteron and anti- deuteron production in the rapidity range −1 < y < 0 as a function of transverse momentum and event multiplicity in p–Pb collisions at √sNN= 5.02 TeV is presented. (Anti-)deuterons are identified via their specific energy loss dE/dxand via their time-of-flight. Their production in p–Pb collisions is compared to pp and Pb–Pb collisions and is discussed within the context of thermal and coalescence models. The ratio of integrated yields of deuterons to protons (d/p) shows a significant increase as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity of the event starting from values similar to those observed in pp collisions at low multiplicities and appro…
Direct photon production in Pb–Pb collisions atsNN=2.76 TeV
Direct photon production at mid-rapidity in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV was studied in the transverse momentum range 0.9<pT<14 GeV/c. Photons were detected with the highly segmented electromagnetic calorimeter PHOS and via conversions in the ALICE detector material with the e+e− pair reconstructed in the central tracking system. The results of the two methods were combined and direct photon spectra were measured for the 0–20%, 20–40%, and 40–80% centrality classes. For all three classes, agreement was found with perturbative QCD calculations for pT≳5 GeV/c. Direct photon spectra down to pT≈1 GeV/c could be extracted for the 20–40% and 0–20% centrality classes. The significance of th…
Kaon femtoscopy in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN=2.76 TeV
We present the results of three-dimensional femtoscopic analyses for charged and neutral kaons recorded by ALICE in Pb-Pb collisions at √ s NN = 2.76 TeV. Femtoscopy is used to measure the space-time characteristics of particle production from the effects of quantum statistics and final-state interactions in two-particle correlations. Kaon femtoscopy is an important supplement to that of pions because it allows one to distinguish between different model scenarios working equally well for pions. In particular, we compare the measured three-dimensional kaon radii with a purely hydrodynamical calculation and a model where the hydrodynamic phase is followed by a hadronic rescattering stage. The…
Precision measurement of the mass difference between light nuclei and anti-nuclei
The measurement of the mass differences for systems bound by the strong force has reached a very high precision with protons and anti-protons. The extension of such measurement from (anti-)baryons to (anti-)nuclei allows one to probe any difference in the interactions between nucleons and anti-nucleons encoded in the (anti-)nuclei masses. This force is a remnant of the underlying strong interaction among quarks and gluons and can be described by effective theories, but cannot yet be directly derived from quantum chromodynamics. Here we report a measurement of the difference between the ratios of the mass and charge of deuterons and anti-deuterons, and $^{3}{\rm He}$ and $^3\overline{\rm He}…
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…
Study of cosmic ray events with high muon multiplicity using the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
ALICE is one of four large experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, specially designed to study particle production in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Located 52 meters underground with 28 meters of overburden rock, it has also been used to detect muons produced by cosmic ray interactions in the upper atmosphere. In this paper, we present the multiplicity distribution of these atmospheric muons and its comparison with Monte Carlo simulations. This analysis exploits the large size and excellent tracking capability of the ALICE Time Projection Chamber. A special emphasis is given to the study of high multiplicity events containing more than 100 reconstructed muons a…
Centrality and pseudorapidity dependence of the charged-particle multiplicity density in Xe–Xe collisions at sNN=5.44TeV
In this Letter, the ALICE Collaboration presents the first measurements of the charged-particle multiplicity density, dNch/dη, and total charged-particle multiplicity, Nchtot, in Xe–Xe collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon–nucleon pair of sNN=5.44TeV. The measurements are performed as a function of collision centrality over a wide pseudorapidity range of −3.5<η<5. The values of dNch/dη at mid-rapidity and Nchtot for central collisions, normalised to the number of nucleons participating in the collision (Npart) as a function of sNN follow the trends established in previous heavy-ion measurements. The same quantities are also found to increase as a function of Npart, and up …
Beauty production in pp collisions at s=2.76 TeV measured via semi-electronic decays
The ALICE Collaboration at the LHC reports measurement of the inclusive production cross section of electrons from semi-leptonic decays of beauty hadrons with rapidity |y|<0.8 and transverse momentum 1<pT<10 GeV/c, in pp collisions at s=2.76 TeV. Electrons not originating from semi-electronic decay of beauty hadrons are suppressed using the impact parameter of the corresponding tracks. The production cross section of beauty decay electrons is compared to the result obtained with an alternative method which uses the distribution of the azimuthal angle between heavy-flavour decay electrons and charged hadrons. Perturbative QCD predictions agree with the measured cross section within the exper…
Measurement of dielectron production in central Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. The first measurement of dielectron (e + e −) production in central (0 – 10 %) Pb – Pb collisions at √sNN=2.76TeV at the LHC is presented. The dielectron invariant-mass spectrum is compared to the expected contributions from hadron decays in the invariant-mass range 0 < mee < 3.5 GeV / c2. The ratio of data and the cocktail of hadronic contributions without vacuum ρ0 is measured in the invariant-mass range 0.15 < mee < 0.7 GeV / c2, w…
Elliptic Flow in Pb-Pb Collisions at
We report a precise measurement of the J/ψ elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The J/ψ mesons are reconstructed at midrapidity (|y|<0.9) in the dielectron decay channel and at forward rapidity (2.5<y<4.0) in the dimuon channel, both down to zero transverse momentum. At forward rapidity, the elliptic flow v2 of the J/ψ is studied as a function of the transverse momentum and centrality. A positive v2 is observed in the transverse momentum range 2<pT<8 GeV/c in the three centrality classes studied and confirms with higher statistics our earlier results at sNN=2.76 TeV in semicentral collisions. At midrapidity, the J/ψ v2 is investigated as …
Multi-strange baryon production in p Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV
The multi-strange baryon yields in Pb--Pb collisions have been shown to exhibit an enhancement relative to pp reactions. In this work, $\Xi$ and $\Omega$ production rates have been measured with the ALICE experiment as a function of transverse momentum, ${p_{\rm T}}$, in p-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of ${\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The results cover the kinematic ranges 0.6 GeV/$c<{p_{\rm T}} <$7.2 GeV/$c$ and 0.8 GeV/$c<{p_{\rm T}}<$ 5 GeV/$c$, for $\Xi$ and $\Omega$ respectively, in the common rapidity interval -0.5 $<{y_{\rm CMS}}<$ 0. Multi-strange baryons have been identified by reconstructing their weak decays into charged particles. The ${p_{\rm T}}$ spectra are ana…
Measurement of quarkonium production at forward rapidity in \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\mathbf {pp}$$\end{document}pp collisions at \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\mathbf {\sqrt{s}=7}~$$\end{document}s=7TeV
The inclusive production cross sections at forward rapidity of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\mathrm{J}/\psi }$$\end{document}J/ψ, \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\psi (\mathrm{2S})}$$\end{document}ψ(2S), \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} …
Centrality dependence of charged jet production in p–Pb collisions at \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$$\end{document}sNN = 5.02 TeV
Measurements of charged jet production as a function of centrality are presented for p–Pb collisions recorded at \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sqrt{s_\mathrm {NN}}= 5.02$$\end{document}sNN=5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector. Centrality classes are determined via the energy deposit in neutron calorimeters at zero degree, close to the beam direction, to minimise dynamical biases of the selection. The corresponding number of participants or binary nucleon–nucleon collisions is determined based on…
Measurement of Z 0 -boson production at large rapidities in Pb–Pb collisions at
The production of Z0 bosons at large rapidities in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02TeV is reported. Z0 candidates are reconstructed in the dimuon decay channel (Z0→μ+μ−), based on muons selected with pseudo-rapidity −4.0 20GeV/c. The invariant yield and the nuclear modification factor, RAA, are presented as a function of rapidity and collision centrality. The value of RAA for the 0–20% central Pb–Pb collisions is 0.67±0.11(stat.)±0.03(syst.)±0.06(corr. syst.), exhibiting a deviation of 2.6σ from unity. The results are well-described by calculations that include nuclear modifications of the parton distribution functions, while the predictions using vacuum PDFs deviate from data by 2.3σ in the 0…
The ALICE Collaboration
The production of mesons containing strange quarks (KS, φ) and both singly and doubly strange baryons ( , , and − + +) are measured at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at √ s = 0.9 TeV with the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The results are obtained from the analysis of about 250 k minimum bias events recorded in 2009. Measurements of yields (dN/dy) and transverse momentum spectra at mid-rapidity for inelastic pp collisions are presented. For mesons, we report yields (〈dN/dy〉) of 0.184 ± 0.002(stat.) ± 0.006(syst.) for KS and 0.021 ± 0.004(stat.) ± 0.003(syst.) for φ. For baryons, we find 〈dN/dy〉 = 0.048 ± 0.001(stat.) ± 0.004(syst.) for , 0.047 ± 0.002(stat.) ± 0.005(syst.) for and 0.0101 ± 0.0…
Measurement of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02TeV
The production of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays was measured as a function of transverse momentum (pT) in minimum-bias p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC. The measurement covers the pT interval 0.5 < pT < 12 GeV/c and the rapidity range −1.065 < ycms < 0.135 in the centre-of-mass reference frame. The contribution of electrons from background sources was subtracted using an invariant mass approach. The nuclear modification factor RpPb was calculated by comparing the pT-differential invariant cross section in p–Pb collisions to a pp reference at the same centre-of-mass energy, which was obtained by interpolating measurements at √s = 2.76 TeV an…
Multiplicity dependence of charged pion, kaon, and (anti)proton production at large transverse momentum in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV
The production of charged pions, kaons and (anti)protons has been measured at mid-rapidity ($-0.5 10$ GeV/$c$), the particle ratios are consistent with those reported for pp and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC energies. At intermediate $p_{\rm T}$ the (anti)proton $R_{\rm pPb}$ shows a Cronin-like enhancement, while pions and kaons show little or no nuclear modification. At high $p_{\rm T}$ the charged pion, kaon and (anti)proton $R_{\rm pPb}$ are consistent with unity within statistical and systematic uncertainties.
Measurements of mixed harmonic cumulants in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV
Correlations between moments of different flow coefficients are measured in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV recorded with the ALICE detector. These new measurements are based on multiparticle mixed harmonic cumulants calculated using charged particles in the pseudorapidity region |η|<0.8 with the transverse momentum range 0.2<pT<5.0 GeV/c. The centrality dependence of correlations between two flow coefficients as well as the correlations between three flow coefficients, both in terms of their second moments, are shown. In addition, a collection of mixed harmonic cumulants involving higher moments of v2 and v3 is measured for the first time, where the characteristic signature of ne…
Energy dependence of the transverse momentum distributions of charged particles in pp collisions measured by ALICE
Differential cross sections of charged particles in inelastic pp collisions as a function of $p_{\rm T}$ have been measured at $\sqrt{s}=$ 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV at the LHC. The $p_{\rm T}$ spectra are compared to NLO-pQCD calculations. Though the differential cross section for an individual $\sqrt{s}$ cannot be described by NLO-pQCD, the relative increase of cross section with $\sqrt{s}$ is in agreement with NLO-pQCD. Based on these measurements and observations, procedures are discussed to construct pp reference spectra at $\sqrt{s} =$ 2.76 and 5.02 TeV up to $p_{\rm T}$ = 50 GeV/$c$ as required for the calculation of the nuclear modification factor in nucleus-nucleus and proton-nucleus coll…
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-…
Particle identification in ALICE: a Bayesian approach
We present a Bayesian approach to particle identification (PID) within the ALICE experiment. The aim is to more effectively combine the particle identification capabilities of its various detectors. After a brief explanation of the adopted methodology and formalism, the performance of the Bayesian PID approach for charged pions, kaons and protons in the central barrel of ALICE is studied. PID is performed via measurements of specific energy loss ($\mathrm{d}E/\mathrm{d}x$) and time-of-flight. PID efficiencies and misidentification probabilities are extracted and compared with Monte Carlo simulations using high-purity samples of identified particles in the decay channels ${\rm K}^0_S \righta…
Global baryon number conservation encoded in net-proton fluctuations measured in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV
Experimental results are presented on event-by-event net-proton fluctuation measurements in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV, recorded by the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. These measurements have as their ultimate goal an experimental test of Lattice QCD (LQCD) predictions on second and higher order cumulants of net-baryon distributions to search for critical behavior near the QCD phase boundary. Before confronting them with LQCD predictions, account has to be taken of correlations stemming from baryon number conservation as well as fluctuations of participating nucleons. Both effects influence the experimental measurements and are usually not considered in theoretical calculations. For t…