Light neutral-meson production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

The ALICE collaboration Acharya, Shreyasi ; Agarwal, Apar ; Aglieri Rinella, Gianluca ; et al.
JHEP 08 (2025) 035, 2025.
Inspire Record 2848478 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.160597

The momentum-differential invariant cross sections of ${π^{0}}$ and $η$ mesons are reported for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV at midrapidity ($|y|<0.8$). The measurement is performed in a broad transverse-momentum range of $0.2<p_{\rm T}<200$ GeV/$c$ and $0.4 < p_{\rm T} < 60$ GeV/$c$ for the ${π^{0}}$ and $η$, respectively, extending the $p_{\rm T}$ coverage of previous measurements. Transverse-mass-scaling violation of up to 60% at low transverse momentum has been observed, agreeing with measurements at lower collision energies. Transverse Bjorken $x$ ($x_{\rm T}$) scaling of the ${π^{0}}$ cross sections at LHC energies is fulfilled with a power-law exponent of $n = 5.01 \pm 0.05$, consistent with values obtained for charged pions at similar collision energies. The data are compared to predictions from next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations, where the ${π^{0}}$ spectrum is best described using the CT18 parton distribution function and the NNFF1.0 or BDSS fragmentation function. Expectations from PYTHIA8 and EPOS LHC overestimate the spectrum for the ${π^{0}}$ and are not able to describe the shape and magnitude of the $η$ spectrum. The charged-particle multiplicity dependent ${π^{0}}$ and $η$ $p_{\rm T}$ spectra show the expected change of the spectral shape, characterized by a flatter slope with increasing multiplicity. This is demonstrated across a broad transverse-momentum range and up to events with a charged-particle multiplicity exceeding five times the mean value in minimum bias collisions. The $η/π^{0}$ ratio depends on the charged-particle multiplicity for $ p_{\rm T} < 4$ GeV/$c$. PYTHIA8 and EPOS LHC qualitatively explain this behavior with an increasing contribution from the feed-down of heavier particles to the ${π^{0}}$ spectrum.

94 data tables

Invariant differential cross section of the $\pi^{0}$ versus transverse momentum for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV.

Invariant differential cross section of the $\eta$ meson versus transverse momentum for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV.

The $\eta/\pi^{0}$ ratio as a function of $p_{\rm T}$ for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV.

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