The production of prompt charmed mesons D$^0$, D$^+$ and D$^{*+}$, and their antiparticles, was measured with the ALICE detector in Pb-Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair, $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$, of 2.76 TeV. The production yields for rapidity $|y|<0.5$ are presented as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, in the interval 1-36 GeV/$c$ for the centrality class 0-10% and in the interval 1-16 GeV/$c$ for the centrality class 30-50%. The nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm AA}$ was computed using a proton-proton reference at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV, based on measurements at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV and on theoretical calculations. A maximum suppression by a factor of 5-6 with respect to binary-scaled pp yields is observed for the most central collisions at $p_{\rm T}$ of about 10 GeV/$c$. A suppression by a factor of about 2-3 persists at the highest $p_{\rm T}$ covered by the measurements. At low $p_{\rm T}$ (1-3 GeV/$c$), the $R_{\rm AA}$ has large uncertainties that span the range 0.35 (factor of about 3 suppression) to 1 (no suppression). In all $p_{\rm T}$ intervals, the $R_{\rm AA}$ is larger in the 30-50% centrality class compared to central collisions. The D-meson $R_{\rm AA}$ is also compared with that of charged pions and, at large $p_{\rm T}$, charged hadrons, and with model calculations.
The first measurement of neutron emission in electromagnetic dissociation of $^{208}$Pb 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 $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV with neutron emission are $\sigma_{\rm single\ EMD} = 187.4\pm0.2$ (stat.) $^{+13.2} _{-11.2}$ (syst.) b and $\sigma_{\rm mutual\ EMD} = 5.7\pm0.1$ (stat.) $\pm$0.4 (syst.) b, respectively. The experimental results are compared to the predictions from a relativistic electromagnetic dissociation model.
The ALICE Collaboration reports three measurements in ultra-peripheral proton$-$lead collisions at forward rapidity. The exclusive two-photon process \ggmm and the exclusive photoproduction of J/$\psi$ are studied. J/$\psi$ photoproduction with proton dissociation is measured for the first time at a hadron collider. The cross section for the two-photon process of dimuons in the invariant mass range from 1 to 2.5 GeV/$c^2$ agrees with leading order quantum electrodynamics calculations. The exclusive and dissociative cross sections for J/$\psi$ photoproductions are measured for photon$-$proton centre-of-mass energies from 27 to 57 GeV. They are in good agreement with HERA results.
A measurement of the transverse momentum spectra of jets in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV is reported. Jets are reconstructed from charged particles using the anti-$k_{\rm T}$ jet algorithm with jet resolution parameters $R$ of $0.2$ and $0.3$ in pseudo-rapidity $|\eta|<0.5$. The transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}$ of charged particles is measured down to $0.15$ GeV/$c$ which gives access to the low $p_{\rm T}$ fragments of the jet. Jets found in heavy-ion collisions are corrected event-by-event for average background density and on an inclusive basis (via unfolding) for residual background fluctuations and detector effects. A strong suppression of jet production in central events with respect to peripheral events is observed. The suppression is found to be similar to the suppression of charged hadrons, which suggests that substantial energy is radiated at angles larger than the jet resolution parameter $R=0.3$ considered in the analysis. The fragmentation bias introduced by selecting jets with a high $p_{\rm T}$ leading particle, which rejects jets with a soft fragmentation pattern, has a similar effect on the jet yield for central and peripheral events. The ratio of jet spectra with $R=0.2$ and $R=0.3$ is found to be similar in Pb-Pb and simulated PYTHIA pp events, indicating no strong broadening of the radial jet structure in the reconstructed jets with $R<0.3$.
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