This publication describes the methods used to measure the centrality of inelastic Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per colliding nucleon pair with ALICE. The centrality is a key parameter in the study of the properties of QCD matter at extreme temperature and energy density, because it is directly related to the initial overlap region of the colliding nuclei. Geometrical properties of the collision, such as the number of participating nucleons and number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions, are deduced from a Glauber model with a sharp impact parameter selection, and shown to be consistent with those extracted from the data. The centrality determination provides a tool to compare ALICE measurements with those of other experiments and with theoretical calculations.
$N_\mathrm{part}$ for Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV with the corresponding uncertainties derived from a Glauber calculation. The ${\langle N_\mathrm{part}^{\rm data} \rangle}$ are calculated from the NBD-Glauber fit to the VZERO amplitude, while the ${\langle N_\mathrm{part}^{\rm geo} \rangle}$ are obtained by slicing the impact parameter distribution. ${\langle N_\mathrm{part}^{\rm data} \rangle}$ is also calculated for two variations of the AP, i.e. moving it to 91 % (${\langle N_\mathrm{part}^{\rm data +} \rangle}$) and to 89 % (${\langle N_\mathrm{part}^{\rm data +} \rangle}$) respectively. The last three columns report the discrepancies between ${\langle N_\mathrm{part}^{\rm geo} \rangle}$ and ${\langle N_\mathrm{part}^{\rm data} \rangle}$ and ${\langle N_\mathrm{part}^{\rm data} \rangle}$ with the uncertainty of the AP.
Same as Table A.1 for $N_\mathrm{coll}$.
Same as Table A.1 for $T_\mathrm{AA}$.
Charged-particle production was studied in proton-proton collisions collected at the LHC with the ALICE detector at centre-of-mass energies 0.9 TeV and 2.36 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |$\eta$| < 1.4. In the central region (|$\eta$| < 0.5), at 0.9 TeV, we measure charged-particle pseudorapidity density dNch/deta = 3.02 $\pm$ 0.01 (stat.) $^{+0.08}_{-0.05}$ (syst.) for inelastic interactions, and dNch/deta = 3.58 $\pm$ 0.01 (stat.) $^{+0.12}_{-0.12}$ (syst.) for non-single-diffractive interactions. At 2.36 TeV, we find dNch/deta = 3.77 $\pm$ 0.01 (stat.) $^{+0.25}_{-0.12}$ (syst.) for inelastic, and dNch/deta = 4.43 $\pm$ 0.01 (stat.) $^{+0.17}_{-0.12}$ (syst.) for non-single-diffractive collisions. The relative increase in charged-particle multiplicity from the lower to higher energy is 24.7% $\pm$ 0.5% (stat.) $^{+5.7}_{-2.8}$% (syst.) for inelastic and 23.7% $\pm$ 0.5% (stat.) $^{+4.6}_{-1.1}$% (syst.) for non-single-diffractive interactions. This increase is consistent with that reported by the CMS collaboration for non-single-diffractive events and larger than that found by a number of commonly used models. The multiplicity distribution was measured in different pseudorapidity intervals and studied in terms of KNO variables at both energies. The results are compared to proton-antiproton data and to model predictions.
Measured pseudorapidity dependence of DN/DETARAP for INEL collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 900 GeV.
Measured pseudorapidity dependence of DN/DETARAP for NSD collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 900 GeV.
Measured pseudorapidity dependence of DN/DETARAP for INEL collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 2360 GeV.
Forum