Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Preprint (679)
- Article (378)
- diplomthesis (1)
- Doctoral Thesis (1)
Has Fulltext
- yes (1059)
Keywords
- Heavy Ion Experiments (20)
- Hadron-Hadron Scattering (12)
- Hadron-Hadron scattering (experiments) (11)
- LHC (10)
- Heavy-ion collision (6)
- Jets (5)
- ALICE experiment (4)
- Collective Flow (4)
- Heavy Ions (4)
- Quark-Gluon Plasma (4)
Institute
- Physik (1059)
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) (984)
- Informatik (949)
- Informatik und Mathematik (3)
- Hochschulrechenzentrum (2)
The ALICE experiment has measured the inclusive J/psi production in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV down to pt = 0 in the rapidity range 2.5 < y < 4. A suppression of the inclusive J/psi yield in Pb-Pb is observed with respect to the one measured in pp collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions. The nuclear modification factor, integrated over the 0%-80% most central collisions, is 0.545 +/- 0.032 (stat.) +/- 0.084 (syst.) and does not exhibit a significant dependence on the collision centrality. These features appear significantly different from lower energy measurements. Models including J/psi production from charm quarks in a deconfined partonic phase can describe our data.
The transverse momentum (pT) distribution of primary charged particles is measured in minimum bias (non-single-diffractive) p-Pb collisions at sNN−−−√=5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The pT spectra measured near central rapidity in the range 0.5<pT<20 GeV/c exhibit a weak pseudorapidity dependence. The nuclear modification factor RpPb is consistent with unity for pT above 2 GeV/c. This measurement indicates that the strong suppression of hadron production at high pT observed in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC is not due to an initial-state effect. The measurement is compared to theoretical calculations.
Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at √s = 2.76 TeV
(2012)
The pT-differential production cross sections of the prompt (B feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D0, D+, and D∗+ in the rapidity range |y|<0.5, and for transverse momentum 1<pT<12 GeV/c, were measured in proton-proton collisions at s√=2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic decays D0→Kπ, D+→Kππ, D∗+→D0π, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a Lint=1.1 nb−1 event sample collected in 2011 with a minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at s√=2.76 TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space the pT-differential production cross sections at s√=2.76 TeV and our previous measurements at s√=7 TeV. The results were compared to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of cdbar D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined.
The first measurement of neutron emission in electromagnetic dissociation of 208Pb nuclei at the LHC is presented. The measurement is performed using the neutron Zero Degree Calorimeters of the ALICE experiment, which detect neutral particles close to beam rapidity. The measured cross sections of single and mutual electromagnetic dissociation of Pb nuclei at sNN−−−√ = 2.76 TeV with neutron emission are σsingle EMD=187.4±0.2 (stat.) +13.2−11.2 (syst.) b and σmutual EMD=5.7±0.1 (stat.) ±0.4 (syst.) b, respectively. The experimental results are compared to the predictions from a relativistic electromagnetic dissociation model.
ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment), is the dedicated heavy-ion experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It is optimised to reconstruct and identify the particles created in a lead-lead collision with a centre of mass energy of 5.5TeV. The main tracking detector is a large-volume time-projection chamber (TPC). With an active volume of about 88m^3 and a total readout area of 32.5m^2 it is the most challenging TPC ever build. A central electrode divides the 5m long detector into two drift regions. Each readout side is subdivided into 18 inner and 18 outer multi-wire proportional read-out chambers. The readout area is subdivide into 557568 pads, where each pad is read out by and electronics chanin. A complex calibration is needed in order to reach the design position-resolution of the reconstructed particle tracks of about 200um. One part of the calibration lies in understanding the electronic-response. The work at hand presents results of the pedestal and noise behaviour of the front-end electronics (FEE), measurements of the pulse-shaping properties of the FEE using results obtained with a calibration pulser and measurements performed with the laser-calibration system. The data concerned were taken during two phases of the TPC commissioning. First measurements were performed in the clean room where the TPC was built. After the TPC was moved underground and built into the experiment, a second round of commissioning took place. Noise measurements in the clean room revealed a very large fraction of pads with noise values larger than the design specifications. The unexpected high noise values could be explained by the 'ground bounce' effect. Two modifications helped to reduce this effect: A desynchronisation in the the start of the readout of groups of channels and a modification in the grounding scheme of the FEE. Further noise measurements were carried out after the TPC has been moved to the experimental area underground. Here even a larger fraction of channels showed too large noise values. This could be traced back to a common mode current injected by the electronics power supplies. To study the shaping properties of the FEE a calibration pulser was used. To generate signals in the FEE a pulse is injected to the cathode wires of the read-out chambers. Due to manufacturing tolerances slight channel-by-channel variations of the shaping properties are expected. This effects the determination of the arrival time as well as the measured integral signal of the induced charge and has to be corrected. The measured arrival time variations follow a Gaussian distribution with a width (sigma) of 6.2ns. This corresponds to an error of the cluster position of about 170um. The charge variations are on the level of 2.8%. In order to reach the intrinsic resolution on the measurement of the specific energy loss of the particles (6%) those variations have to be taken into account. The photons of the laser-calibration system are energetic enough to emit photo electrons off metallic surfaces. Most interesting for the detector calibration are photo electrons from the central electrode. The laser light is intense enough to get a signal in all readout channels of the TPC. Since the central electrode is a smooth surface, differences in the arrival time between sectors reveal mechanical displacements of the readout sectors and can be used to correct for this effect. In addition the measurements can be used to determine the electron drift velocity in the TPC gas. The drift velocity measurements have shown a vertical as well as a radial gradient. The first can be explained by the temperature gradient, which naturally builds up in the 5m high detector. The second gradient is most probably caused by a relative conical deformation of the readout plane and the central electrode.
Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Messung der Elektronen-Driftgeschwindigkeit in dem Gasgemisch Ne/CO2 (90% / 10 %). Durchgeführt wurde sie zur Optimierung der Spurendriftkammer des ALICE-Projektes am CERN. Mit dem Aufbau zur Driftgeschwindigkeitsmessung läßt sich eine Genauigkeit von 1‰ erzielen. Untersucht wurden mit diesem Anspruch die Abhängigkeiten von der Temperatur, von CO2 Konzentrationsänderungen sowie von Stickstoffzugabe. Für die genaue Messung der Driftgeschwindigkeit wurde eine kleine Driftkammer gebaut. Die Ionisation des Gases erfolgt mit Hilfe eines UV-Lasers, dessen Strahl zunächst aufgeweitet, und dann geteilt wird. Der Abstand der so erhaltenen zwei Laser-Strahlen wird mit Hilfe von zwei präzisen Doppelblenden definiert. Zur Kontrolle der Gaszusammensetzung und -qualität wurde eine Gasanalysestation zusammengestellt. Die aufgenommenen Daten werden über ein ADC-System auf einem Computer gespeichert. Damit können in der Analyse die Driftgeschwindigkeitsdaten mit den Gasdaten zeitgleich ausgewertet werden. Das wird u.a. für die Korrektur der Daten auf den momentanen Druck und die Temperatur des Gases benötigt. Die Driftgeschwindigkeit wurde bei Feldstärken von 100 - 900 V/cm in Schritten von 100 V/cm gemessen. Die Spurendriftkammer des ALICE-Experimentes soll bei einer Feldstärke von 400 V/cm arbeiten. Die dafür gemessenen Ergebnisse sind: Temperaturabhängigkeit: Bei der erreichbaren Genauigkeit läßt sich über die Abhängigkeit der Driftgeschwindigkeit ve􀀀 von der Teilchenzahldichte N des Gases ve􀀀 = f(E/N) = f(E*T/P) keine weitere Temperaturabhängigkeit feststellen. Die relative Änderung der Driftgeschwindigkeit mit der Temperatur beträgt: Dv400 e􀀀 DT = 3.1 +- 0.23‰ /K CO2-Abhängigkeit: Die relative Änderung der Driftgeschwindigkeit mit dem CO2-Gehalt bei einer CO2- Konzentration um die 10% beträgt: Dv400 e􀀀;CO2 = -7.69 +- 0.39 Eine Erhöhung des CO2-Gehaltes um 1‰ (10.0% -> 10.1 %) führt also zu einer Herabsetzung der Driftgeschwindigkeit um ca. 7.7‰. N2-Abhängigkeit: Die relative Änderung der Driftgeschwindigkeit bei Stickstoffzugabe beträgt Dv400 e􀀀;N2 = - 1.14 +- 0.08 Eine Zugabe von 1‰ N2 zur Driftgasmischung führt damit zu einer Herabsetzung der Driftgeschwindigkeit um ca. 1.1‰ .
The Time Projection Chamber (TPC) of the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC was upgraded for Run 3 and Run 4. Readout chambers based on Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) technology and a new readout scheme allow continuous data taking at the highest interaction rates expected in Pb-Pb collisions. Due to the absence of a gating grid system, a significant amount of ions created in the multiplication region is expected to enter the TPC drift volume and distort the uniform electric field that guides the electrons to the readout pads. Analytical calculations were considered to correct for space-charge distortion fluctuations but they proved to be too slow for the calibration and reconstruction workflow in Run 3. In this paper, we discuss a novel strategy developed by the ALICE Collaboration to perform distortion-fluctuation corrections with machine learning and convolutional neural network techniques. The results of preliminary studies are shown and the prospects for further development and optimization are also discussed.
ALICE is the dedicated heavy-ion experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Its main tracking and particle-identification detector is a large volume Time Projection Chamber (TPC). The TPC has been designed to perform well in the high-track density environment created in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. In this proceeding, we describe the track reconstruction procedure in ALICE. In particular, we focus on the two main challenges that were faced during the Run 2 data-taking period (2015–2018) of the LHC, which were the baseline fluctuations and the local space charge distortions in the TPC. We present the corresponding solutions in detail and describe the software tools that allowed us to circumvent these challenges.
ALICE (A Large Heavy Ion Experiment) is one of the four large scale experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The High Level Trigger (HLT) is an online computing farm, which reconstructs events recorded by the ALICE detector in real-time. The most computing-intensive task is the reconstruction of the particle trajectories. The main tracking devices in ALICE are the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) and the Inner Tracking System (ITS). The HLT uses a fast GPU-accelerated algorithm for the TPC tracking based on the Cellular Automaton principle and the Kalman filter. ALICE employs gaseous subdetectors which are sensitive to environmental conditions such as ambient pressure and temperature and the TPC is one of these. A precise reconstruction of particle trajectories requires the calibration of these detectors. As our first topic, we present some recent optimizations to our GPU-based TPC tracking using the new GPU models we employ for the ongoing and upcoming data taking period at LHC. We also show our new approach to fast ITS standalone tracking. As our second topic, we present improvements to the HLT for facilitating online reconstruction including a new flat data model and a new data flow chain. The calibration output is fed back to the reconstruction components of the HLT via a feedback loop. We conclude with an analysis of a first online calibration test under real conditions during the Pb-Pb run in November 2015, which was based on these new features.