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.
A detailed study of pseudorapidity densities and multiplicity distributions of primary charged particles produced in proton-proton collisions, at $\sqrt{s} =$ 0.9, 2.36, 2.76, 7 and 8 TeV, in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|<2$, was carried out using the ALICE detector. Measurements were obtained for three event classes: inelastic, non-single diffractive and events with at least one charged particle in the pseudorapidity interval $|\eta|<1$. The use of an improved track-counting algorithm combined with ALICE's measurements of diffractive processes allows a higher precision compared to our previous publications. A KNO scaling study was performed in the pseudorapidity intervals $|\eta|<$ 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5. The data are compared to other experimental results and to models as implemented in Monte Carlo event generators PHOJET and recent tunes of PYTHIA6, PYTHIA8 and EPOS.
Measured pseudorapidity dependence of $dN/d\eta$ for INEL collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 900 GeV.
Measured pseudorapidity dependence of $dN/d\eta$ for NSD collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 900 GeV.
Measured pseudorapidity dependence of $dN/d\eta$ for INEL>0 collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 900 GeV.
The pseudorapidity density and multiplicity distribution of charged particles produced in proton-proton collisions at the LHC, at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV, were measured in the central pseudorapidity region |$\eta$| < 1. Comparisons are made with previous measurements at $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9 TeV and 2.36 TeV. At $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV, for events with at least one charged particle in |$\eta$| < 1, we obtain dNch/deta = 6.01 $\pm$ 0.01 (stat.) $^{+0.20}_{-0.12}$ (syst.). This corresponds to an increase of 57.6% $\pm$ 0.4% (stat.) $^{+3.6}_{-1.8}$% (syst.) relative to collisions at 0.9 TeV, significantly higher than calculations from commonly used models. The multiplicity distribution at 7 TeV is described fairly well by the negative binomial distribution.
Charged-particle pseudorapidity densities at central pseudorapidity (ETRAP from -1.0 to 1.0) for the INEL>0 class of events. Data are also given for the lower energy ALICE data.
Relative increase in pseudorapidity density between the different energies.
Multiplicity distribution normalized to the bin width in the pseudorapidity region -1.0 to 1.0 for INEL>0 collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7000 GeV. See the paper arXiv:1004.3034 for the lower energy data. Note that the statistical as well as the systematic uncertainties are strongly correlated between neighbouring points. See text of paper for details.
We report the first measurement of the net-charge fluctuations in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 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 pseudorapidity interval, which may account for the dilution of fluctuations during the evolution of the system. We find that the fluctuations at LHC are smaller compared to the measurements at the Relativistic heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), and as such, closer to what has been theoretically predicted for the formation of Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP).
The measured NU(+-DYN) as a function of the centrality of the collisions, expressed as the number of participating nucleons, for two values of midrapidity range.
NU(+-DYN), corrected for charge conservation and finite acceptance effects, as a function of the centrality of the collisions, expressed as the number of participating nucleons, for two values of midrapidity range.
The measured and corrected NU(+-DYN) in P P collisions for two values of midrapidity range.
The transverse momentum ($p_{\mathrm T}$) distribution of primary charged particles is measured at midrapidity in minimum-bias p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC in the range $0.15<p_{\mathrm T}<50$ GeV/$c$. The spectra are compared to the expectation based on binary collision scaling of particle production in pp collisions, leading to a nuclear modification factor consistent with unity for $p_{\mathrm T}$ larger than 2 GeV/$c$, with a weak indication of a Cronin-like enhancement for $p_{\rm T}$ around 4 GeV/$c$. The measurement is compared to theoretical calculations and to data in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV.
Transverse momentum distributions of charged particles in minimum-bias (NSD) p-Pb collisions for different pseudorapidity ranges.
The histogram represents the reference spectrum (cross section scaled by the nuclear overlap function, T(pPb)) in inelastic pp collisions, determined in |eta(cms)| < 0.8.
The ratio of spectra in p-Pb at backward pseudorapidities to that at |eta(cms)| < 0.3.
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 $T_\mathrm{AA}$.
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 collisions.
The normalized differential primary charged particle cross sections measured at 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV centre-of- mass energies. Additional systematic error for 0.9 TeV data: +5.1% -4.0%. Additional systematic error for 2.76 TeV data: +1.9% -1.9%. Additional systematic error for 7.0 TeV data: +3.6% -3.6%.
The ratios of differential cross sections of charged particles at different collisions energies.
The constructed reference P-P spectra for comparison with PB-PB and p-PB spectra.
The average transverse momentum $\langle p_{\rm T}\rangle$ versus the charged-particle multiplicity $N_{\rm ch}$ was measured in p-Pb collisions at a collision energy per nucleon-nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV and in pp collisions at collision energies of $\sqrt{s}=0.9$, 2.76, and 7 TeV in the kinematic range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<10.0$ GeV/$c$ and $|\eta|<0.3$ with the ALICE apparatus at the LHC. These data are compared to results in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV at similar charged-particle multiplicities. In pp and p-Pb collisions, a strong increase of $\langle p_{\rm T}\rangle$ with $N_{\rm ch}$ is observed, which is much stronger than that measured in Pb-Pb collisions. For pp collisions, this could be attributed, within a model of hadronizing strings, to multiple-parton interactions and to a final-state color reconnection mechanism. The data in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions cannot be described by an incoherent superposition of nucleon-nucleon collisions and pose a challenge to most of the event generators.
The average transverse momentum as a function of multiplicity of charged particles having transverse momentum in the range 0.15-10 GeV/c and |eta| < 0.3 produced from P-P collisions at a centre-of mass energy/nucleon of 0.9 TeV.
The average transverse momentum as a function of multiplicity of charged particles having transverse momentum in the range 0.15-10 GeV/c and |eta| < 0.3 produced from P-P collisions at a centre-of mass energy/nucleon of 2.76 TeV.
The average transverse momentum as a function of multiplicity of charged particles having transverse momentum in the range 0.15-10 GeV/c and |eta| < 0.3 produced from P-P collisions at a centre-of mass energy/nucleon of 7 TeV.
Measurements of the sphericity of primary charged particles in minimum bias proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.9$, 2.76 and 7 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC are presented. The observable is linearized to be collinear safe and is measured in the plane perpendicular to the beam direction using primary charged tracks with $p_{\rm T}\geq0.5$ GeV/c in $|\eta|\leq0.8$. The mean sphericity as a function of the charged particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity ($N_{\rm ch}$) is reported for events with different $p_{\rm T}$ scales ("soft" and "hard") defined by the transverse momentum of the leading particle. In addition, the mean charged particle transverse momentum versus multiplicity is presented for the different event classes, and the sphericity distributions in bins of multiplicity are presented. The data are compared with calculations of standard Monte Carlo event generators. The transverse sphericity is found to grow with multiplicity at all collision energies, with a steeper rise at low $N_{\rm ch}$, whereas the event generators show the opposite tendency. The combined study of the sphericity and the mean $p_{\rm T}$ with multiplicity indicates that most of the tested event generators produce events with higher multiplicity by generating more back-to-back jets resulting in decreased sphericity (and isotropy). The PYTHIA6 generator with tune PERUGIA-2011 exhibits a noticeable improvement in describing the data, compared to the other tested generators.
pp @ 900 GeV, Mean Transverse Sphericity (y) vs Multiplicity.
pp @ 7000 GeV, Mean Transverse Sphericity (y) vs Multiplicity.
pp @ 2760 GeV, Mean Transverse Sphericity (y) vs Multiplicity.
We present the measurements of particle pair yields per trigger particle obtained from di-hadron azimuthal correlations in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 0.9$, $2.76$, and $7$ TeV recorded with the ALICE detector. The yields are studied as a function of the charged particle multiplicity. Taken together with the single particle yields the pair yields provide information about parton fragmentation at low transverse momenta, as well as on the contribution of multiple parton interactions to particle production. Data are compared to calculations using the PYTHIA6, PYTHIA8, and PHOJET event generators.
Per-trigger near-side pair yield for pT(trig) > 0.7 GeV and pT(assoc) > 0.4 GeV measured at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV.
Per-trigger near-side pair yield for pT(trig) > 0.7 GeV and pT(assoc) > 0.7 GeV measured at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV.
Per-trigger away-side pair yield for pT(trig) > 0.7 GeV and pT(assoc) > 0.4 GeV measured at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV.
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