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The study of the azimuthal anisotropy of inclusive muons produced in p–Pb collisions at √sNN=8.16 TeV, using the ALICE detector at the LHC is reported. The measurement of the second-order Fourier coefficient of the particle azimuthal distribution, v2, is performed as a function of transverse momentum pT in the 0–20% high-multiplicity interval at both forward (2.03<yCMS<3.53) and backward (−4.46<yCMS<−2.96) rapidities over a wide pT range, 0.5<pT<10 GeV/c, in which a dominant contribution of muons from heavy-flavour hadron decays is expected at pT>2 GeV/c. The v2 coefficient of inclusive muons is extracted using two different techniques, namely two-particle cumulants, used for the first time for heavy-flavour measurements, and forward–central two-particle correlations. Both techniques give compatible results. A positive v2 is measured at both forward and backward rapidities with a significance larger than 4.7σ and 7.6σ, respectively, in the interval 2<pT<6 GeV/c. Comparisons with previous measurements in p–Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV, and with AMPT and CGC-based theoretical calculations are discussed. The findings impose new constraints on the theoretical interpretations of the origin of the collective behaviour in small collision systems.
This letter reports the first measurement of spin alignment, with respect to the helicity axis, for D⁎+ vector mesons and their charge conjugates from charm-quark hadronisation (prompt) and from beauty-meson decays (non-prompt) in hadron collisions. The measurements were performed at midrapidity (|y|<0.8) as a function of transverse momentum (pT) in proton–proton (pp) collisions collected by ALICE at the centre-of-mass energy √s=13TeV. The diagonal spin density matrix element ρ00 of D⁎+ mesons was measured from the angular distribution of the D⁎+→D0(→K−π+)π+ decay products, in the D⁎+ rest frame, with respect to the D⁎+ momentum direction in the pp centre of mass frame. The ρ00 value for prompt D⁎+ mesons is consistent with 1/3, which implies no spin alignment. However, for non-prompt D⁎+ mesons an evidence of ρ00 larger than 1/3 is found. The measured value of the spin density element is ρ00=0.455±0.022(stat.)±0.035(syst.) in the 5<pT<20GeV/c interval, which is consistent with a Pythia 8 Monte Carlo simulation coupled with the EvtGen package, which implements the helicity conservation in the decay of D⁎+ meson from beauty mesons. In non-central heavy-ion collisions, the spin of the D⁎+ mesons may be globally aligned with the direction of the initial angular momentum and magnetic field. Based on the results for pp collisions reported in this letter it is shown that alignment of non-prompt D⁎+ mesons due to the helicity conservation coupled to the collective anisotropic expansion may mimic the signal of global spin alignment in heavy-ion collisions.
Multiplicity (Nch) distributions and transverse momentum (pT) spectra of inclusive primary charged particles in the kinematic range of |η|<0.8 and 0.15 GeV/c<pT<10 GeV/c are reported for pp, p–Pb, Xe–Xe and Pb–Pb collisions at centre-of-mass energies per nucleon pair ranging from √sNN=2.76 TeV up to 13 TeV. A sequential two-dimensional unfolding procedure is used to extract the correlation between the transverse momentum of primary charged particles and the charged-particle multiplicity of the corresponding collision. This correlation sharply characterises important features of the final state of a collision and, therefore, can be used as a stringent test of theoretical models. The multiplicity distributions as well as the mean and standard deviation derived from the pT spectra are compared to state-of-the-art model predictions. Providing these fundamental observables of bulk particle production consistently across a wide range of collision energies and system sizes can serve as an important input for tuning Monte Carlo event generators.
The most precise measurements to date of the 3ΛH lifetime τ and Λ separation energy BΛ are obtained using the data sample of Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV collected by ALICE at the LHC. The 3ΛH is reconstructed via its charged two-body mesonic decay channel (3ΛH → 3He + π− and the charge-conjugate process). The measured values τ = [253 ± 11 (stat) ± 6 (syst)] ps and BΛ = [102 ± 63 (stat) ± 67 (syst)] keV are compatible with predictions from effective field theories and confirm that the 3ΛH structure is consistent with a weakly bound system.
The production of inclusive, prompt and non-prompt J/ψ was studied for the first time at midrapidity (−1.37 < ycms < 0.43) in p-Pb collisions at √sNN = 8.16 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The inclusive J/ψ mesons were reconstructed in the dielectron decay channel in the transverse momentum (pT) interval 0 < pT < 14 GeV/c and the prompt and non-prompt contributions were separated on a statistical basis for pT > 2 GeV/c. The study of the J/ψ mesons in the dielectron channel used for the first time in ALICE online single-electron triggers from the Transition Radiation Detector, providing a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 689 ± 13 μb−1. The proton-proton reference cross section for inclusive J/ψ was obtained based on interpolations of measured data at different centre-of-mass energies and a universal function describing the pT-differential J/ψ production cross sections. The pT-differential nuclear modification factors RpPb of inclusive, prompt, and non-prompt J/ψ are consistent with unity and described by theoretical models implementing only nuclear shadowing.
Femtoscopic correlations of non-identical charged kaons (K+K−) are studied in Pb−Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon−nucleon collision sNN−−−√=2.76 TeV by ALICE at the LHC. One-dimensional K+K− correlation functions are analyzed in three centrality classes and eight intervals of particle-pair transverse momentum. The Lednický and Luboshitz interaction model used in the K+K− analysis includes the final-state Coulomb interactions between kaons and the final-state interaction through a0(980) and f0(980) resonances. The mass of f0(980) and coupling were extracted from the fit to K+K− correlation functions using the femtoscopic technique for the first time. The measured mass and width of the f0(980) resonance are consistent with other published measurements. The height of the ϕ(1020) meson peak present in the K+K− correlation function rapidly decreases with increasing source radius, qualitatively in agreement with an inverse volume dependence. A phenomenological fit to this trend suggests that the ϕ(1020) meson yield is dominated by particles produced directly from the hadronization of the system. The small fraction subsequently produced by FSI could not be precisely quantified with data presented in this paper and will be assessed in future work.
Two-particle transverse momentum differential correlators, recently measured in Pb-Pb collisions at LHC energies, provide an additional tool to gain insights into particle production mechanisms and infer transport properties, such as the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density, of the medium created in Pb-Pb collisions. The longitudinal long-range correlations and the large azimuthal anisotropy measured at low transverse momenta in small collision systems, namely pp and p-Pb, at LHC energies resemble manifestations of collective behaviour. This suggests that locally equilibrated matter may be produced in these small collision systems, similar to what is observed in Pb-Pb collisions. In this work, the same two-particle transverse momentum differential correlators are exploited in pp and p-Pb collisions at s√=7 TeV and sNN−−−√=5.02 TeV, respectively, to seek evidence for viscous effects. Specifically, the strength and shape of the correlators are studied as a function of the produced particle multiplicity to identify evidence for longitudinal broadening that might reveal the presence of viscous effects in these smaller systems. The measured correlators and their evolution from pp and p-Pb to Pb-Pb collisions are additionally compared to predictions from Monte Carlo event generators, and the potential presence of viscous effects is discussed.
Production of K0S, Λ (Λ), Ξ±, and Ω± in jets and in the underlying event in pp and p–Pb collisions
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The production of strange hadrons (K0S, Λ, Ξ±, and Ω±), baryon-to-meson ratios (Λ/K0S, Ξ/K0S, and Ω/K0S), and baryon-to-baryon ratios (Ξ/Λ, Ω/Λ, and Ω/Ξ) associated with jets and the underlying event were measured as a function of transverse momentum (pT) in pp collisions at s√=13 TeV and p-Pb collisions at sNN−−−√=5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The inclusive production of the same particle species and the corresponding ratios are also reported. The production of multi-strange hadrons, Ξ± and Ω±, and their associated particle ratios in jets and in the underlying event are measured for the first time. In both pp and p-Pb collisions, the baryon-to-meson and baryon-to-baryon yield ratios measured in jets differ from the inclusive particle production for low and intermediate hadron pT (0.6−6 GeV/c). Ratios measured in the underlying event are in turn similar to those measured for inclusive particle production. In pp collisions, the particle production in jets is compared with PYTHIA 8 predictions with three colour-reconnection implementation modes. None of them fully reproduces the data in the measured hadron pT region. The maximum deviation is observed for Ξ± and Ω±, which reaches a factor of about six. In p-Pb collisions, there is no significant event-multiplicity dependence for particle production in jets, in contrast to what is observed in the underlying event. The presented measurements provide novel constraints on hadronisation and its Monte Carlo description. In particular, they demonstrate that the fragmentation of jets alone is insufficient to describe the strange and multi-strange particle production in hadronic collisions at LHC energies.
Anisotropic flow and flow fluctuations of identified hadrons in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV
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The first measurements of elliptic flow of π±, K±, p+p¯¯¯, K0S, Λ+Λ¯¯¯¯, ϕ, Ξ−+Ξ+, and Ω−+Ω+ using multiparticle cumulants in Pb−Pb collisions at sNN−−−√ = 5.02 TeV are presented. Results obtained with two- (v2{2}) and four-particle cumulants (v2{4}) are shown as a function of transverse momentum, pT, for various collision centrality intervals. Combining the data for both v2{2} and v2{4} also allows us to report the first measurements of the mean elliptic flow, elliptic flow fluctuations, and relative elliptic flow fluctuations for various hadron species. These observables probe the event-by-event eccentricity fluctuations in the initial state and the contributions from the dynamic evolution of the expanding quark-gluon plasma. The characteristic features observed in previous pT-differential anisotropic flow measurements for identified hadrons with two-particle correlations, namely the mass ordering at low pT and the approximate scaling with the number of constituent quarks at intermediate pT, are similarly present in the four-particle correlations and the combinations of v2{2} and v2{4}. In addition, a particle species dependence of flow fluctuations is observed that could indicate a significant contribution from final state hadronic interactions. The comparison between experimental measurements and CoLBT model calculations, which combine the various physics processes of hydrodynamics, quark coalescence, and jet fragmentation, illustrates their importance over a wide pT range.
The transverse-momentum (pT) spectra and coalescence parameters B2 of (anti)deuterons are measured in p-p collisions at √s=13 TeV for the first time in and out of jets. In this measurement, the direction of the leading particle with the highest pT in the event (p lead T>5 GeV/c) is used as an approximation for the jet axis. The event is consequently divided into three azimuthal regions, and the jet signal is obtained as the difference between the toward region, that contains jet fragmentation products in addition to the underlying event (UE), and the transverse region, which is dominated by the UE. The coalescence parameter in the jet is found to be approximately a factor of 10 larger than that in the underlying event. This experimental observation is consistent with the coalescence picture and can be attributed to the smaller average phase-space distance between nucleons in the jet cone as compared with the underlying event. The results presented in this Letter are compared to predictions from a simple nucleon coalescence model, where the phase-space distributions of nucleons are generated using pythia8 with the Monash 2013 tuning, and to predictions from a deuteron production model based on ordinary nuclear reactions with parametrized energy-dependent cross sections tuned on data. The latter model is implemented in pythia8.3. Both models reproduce the observed large difference between in-jet and out-of-jet coalescence parameters, although the almost flat trend of the BJet2 is not reproduced by the models, which instead give a decreasing trend.
Neutral pion and η meson production in the transverse momentum range 1 < pT < 20 GeV/c have been measured at mid-rapidity by the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in central and semi-central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN−−−−√ = 2.76 TeV. These results were obtained using the photon conversion method as well as the PHOS and EMCal detectors. The results extend the upper pT reach of the previous ALICE π0 measurements from 12 GeV/c 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 ± 0.018syst. A suppression of similar magnitude for π0 and η meson production is observed in Pb-Pb collisions with respect to their production in pp collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions. We discuss the results in terms of NLO pQCD predictions and hydrodynamic models. The measurements show a stronger suppression with respect to what was observed at lower center-of-mass energies in the pT range 6 < pT < 10 GeV/c. At pT < 3 GeV/c, hadronization models describe the π0 results while for the η some tension is observed.
Measurements of inclusive and direct photon production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at s√=2.76 and 8 TeV are presented by the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The results are reported in transverse momentum ranges of 0.4<pT<10 GeV/c and 0.3<pT<16 GeV/c, respectively. Photons are detected with the electromagnetic calorimeter~(EMCal) and via reconstruction of e+e− pairs from conversions in the ALICE detector material using the central tracking system. For the final measurement of the inclusive photon spectra the results are combined in the overlapping pT interval of both methods. Direct photon spectra, or their upper limits at 90% C.L. are extracted using the direct photon excess ratio Rγ, which quantifies the ratio of inclusive photons over decay photons generated with a decay-photon simulation. An additional hybrid method, combining photons reconstructed from conversions with those identified in the EMCal, is used for the combination of the direct photon excess ratio Rγ, as well as the extraction of direct photon spectra or their upper limits. While no significant signal of direct photons is seen over the full pT range, Rγ for pT>7 GeV/c is at least one σ above unity and consistent with expectations from next-to-leading order pQCD calculations.
The production yield of the Λ(1520) baryon resonance is measured at mid-rapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN−−−√ = 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the 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 pT-integrated production rate of Λ(1520) relative to Λ 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 measured Λ(1520)/Λ ratio in central collisions is smaller than the value predicted by the statistical hadronisation model calculations. The shape of the measured pT distribution and the centrality dependence of the suppression are reproduced by the EPOS3 Monte Carlo event generator. The measurement adds further support to the formation of a dense hadronic phase in the final stages of the evolution of the fireball created in heavy-ion collisions, lasting long enough to cause a significant reduction in the observable yield of short-lived resonances.
The global polarization of the Λ and Λ¯¯¯¯ hyperons is measured for Pb-Pb collisions at sNN−−−√ = 2.76 and 5.02 TeV recorded with the ALICE at the LHC. The results are reported differentially as a function of collision centrality and hyperon's transverse momentum (pT) for the range of centrality 5-50%, 0.5<pT<5 GeV/c, and rapidity |y|<0.5. The hyperon global polarization averaged for Pb-Pb collisions at sNN−−−√ = 2.76 and 5.02 TeV is found to be consistent with zero, ⟨PH⟩ (%) ≈ - 0.01 ± 0.05 (stat.) ± 0.03 (syst.) in the collision centrality range 15-50%, where the largest signal is expected. The results are compatible with expectations based on an extrapolation from measurements at lower collision energies at RHIC, hydrodynamical model calculations, and empirical estimates based on collision energy dependence of directed flow, all of which predict the global polarization values at LHC energies of the order of 0.01%.
In the original paper, the sign used to determine the global polarization PH was opposite to the convention used in previous papers, particularly, published by the STAR Collaboration to which the results are compared to in Fig. 5. The correct version of Eq. (3) in the paper for PH is...
This article reports measurements of the pT-differential inclusive jet cross-section in pp collisions at s√ = 5.02 TeV and the pT-differential inclusive jet yield in Pb-Pb 0-10% central collisions at sNN−−−√ = 5.02 TeV. Jets were reconstructed at mid-rapidity with the ALICE tracking detectors and electromagnetic calorimeter using the anti-kT algorithm. For pp collisions, we report jet cross-sections for jet resolution parameters R=0.1−0.6 over the range 20<pT,jet<140 GeV/c, as well as the jet cross-section ratios of different R, and comparisons to two next-to-leading-order (NLO)-based theoretical predictions. For Pb-Pb collisions, we report the R=0.2 and R=0.4 jet spectra for 40<pT,jet<140 GeV/c and 60<pT,jet<140 GeV/c, respectively. The scaled ratio of jet yields observed in Pb-Pb to pp collisions, RAA, is constructed, and exhibits strong jet quenching and a clear pT-dependence for R=0.2. No significant R-dependence of the jet RAA is observed within the uncertainties of the measurement. These results are compared to several theoretical predictions.
This paper presents isolated photon-hadron correlations using pp and p-Pb data collected by the ALICE detector at the LHC. For photons with |η| < 0.67 and 12 < pT < 40 GeV/c, the associated yield of charged particles in the range |η| < 0.80 and 0.5 < pT < 10 GeV/c is presented. These momenta are much lower than previous measurements at the LHC. No significant difference between pp and p-Pb is observed, with PYTHIA 8.2 describing both data sets within uncertainties. This measurement constrains nuclear effects on the parton fragmentation in p-Pb collisions, and provides a benchmark for future studies of Pb-Pb collisions.
The measurements of the (anti)deuterons elliptic flow (v2) and the first measurements of triangular flow (v3) in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collisions sNN−−−√ = 5.02 TeV are presented. A mass ordering at low transverse momentum (pT) is observed when comparing these measurements with those of other identified hadrons, as expected from relativistic hydrodynamics. The measured (anti)deuterons v2 lies between the predictions from the simple coalescence and blast-wave models, which provide a good description of the data only for more peripheral and for more central collisions, respectively. The mass number scaling, which is violated for v2, is approximately valid for the (anti)deuterons v3. The measured v2 and v3 are also compared with the predictions from a coalescence approach with phase-space distributions of nucleons generated by iEBE-VISHNU with AMPT initial conditions coupled with UrQMD, and from a dynamical model based on relativistic hydrodynamics coupled to the hadronic afterburner SMASH. The model predictions are consistent with the data within the uncertainties in mid-central collisions, while a deviation is observed in central centrality intervals.
The ALICE Collaboration reports a differential measurement of inclusive jet suppression using pp and Pb−Pb collision data at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision sNN−−−√=5.02 TeV. Charged-particle jets are reconstructed using the anti-kT algorithm with resolution parameters R= 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6 in pp collisions and R= 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 in central (0−10%), semi-central (30−50%), and peripheral (60−80%) Pb−Pb collisions. A novel approach based on machine learning is employed to mitigate the influence of jet background. This enables measurements of inclusive jet suppression in new regions of phase space, including down to the lowest jet pT≥40 GeV/c at R=0.6 in central Pb−Pb collisions. This is an important step for discriminating different models of jet quenching in the quark-gluon plasma. The transverse momentum spectra, nuclear modification factors, derived cross section, and nuclear modification factor ratios for different jet resolution parameters of charged-particle jets are presented and compared to model predictions. A mild dependence of the nuclear modification factor ratios on collision centrality and resolution parameter is observed. The results are compared to a variety of jet-quenching models with varying levels of agreement.