The effect of event background fluctuations on charged particle jet reconstruction in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV has been measured with the ALICE experiment. The main sources of non-statistical fluctuations are characterized based purely on experimental data with an unbiased method, as well as by using single high $p_{\rm T}$ particles and simulated jets embedded into real Pb-Pb events and reconstructed with the anti-$k_{\rm T}$ jet finder. The influence of a low transverse momentum cut-off on particles used in the jet reconstruction is quantified by varying the minimum track $p_{\rm T}$ between 0.15 GeV/$c$ and 2 GeV/$c$. For embedded jets reconstructed from charged particles with $p_{\rm T} > 0.15$ GeV/$c$, the uncertainty in the reconstructed jet transverse momentum due to the heavy-ion background is measured to be 11.3 GeV/$c$ (standard deviation) for the 10% most central Pb-Pb collisions, slightly larger than the value of 11.0 GeV/$c$ measured using the unbiased method. For a higher particle transverse momentum threshold of 2 GeV/$c$, which will generate a stronger bias towards hard fragmentation in the jet finding process, the standard deviation of the fluctuations in the reconstructed jet transverse momentum is reduced to 4.8-5.0 GeV/$c$ for the 10% most central events. A non-Gaussian tail of the momentum uncertainty is observed and its impact on the reconstructed jet spectrum is evaluated for varying particle momentum thresholds, by folding the measured fluctuations with steeply falling spectra.
We present measurements of Underlying Event observables in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9 and 7 TeV. The analysis is performed as a function of the highest charged-particle transverse momentum $p_{\rm T, LT}$ in the event. Different regions are defined with respect to the azimuthal direction of the leading (highest transverse momentum) track: Toward, Transverse and Away. The Toward and Away regions collect the fragmentation products of the hardest partonic interaction. The Transverse region is expected to be most sensitive to the Underlying Event activity. The study is performed with charged particles above three different $p_{\rm T}$ thresholds: 0.15, 0.5 and 1.0 GeV/$c$. In the Transverse region we observe an increase in the multiplicity of a factor 2-3 between the lower and higher collision energies, depending on the track $p){\rm T}$ threshold considered. Data are compared to Pythia 6.4, Pythia 8.1 and Phojet. On average, all models considered underestimate the multiplicity and summed $p_{\rm T}$ in the Transverse region by about 10-30%.
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.
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$0.4 (syst.) b, respectively. The experimental results are compared to the predictions from a relativistic electromagnetic dissociation model.
The inclusive transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) distributions of primary charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ as a function of event centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the $p_{\rm T}$ range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<50$ GeV/$c$ for nine centrality intervals from 70-80% to 0-5%. The Pb-Pb spectra are presented in terms of the nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm{AA}}$ using a pp reference spectrum measured at the same collision energy. We observe that the suppression of high-$p_{\rm T}$ particles strongly depends on event centrality. In central collisions (0-5%) the yield is most suppressed with $R_{\rm{AA}}\approx0.13$ at $p_{\rm T}=6$-7 GeV/$c$. Above $p_{\rm T}=7$ GeV/$c$, there is a significant rise in the nuclear modification factor, which reaches $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx0.4$ for $p_{\rm T}>30$ GeV/$c$. In peripheral collisions (70-80%), the suppression is weaker with $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx 0.7$ almost independently of $p_{\rm T}$. The measured nuclear modification factors are compared to other measurements and model calculations.
The ALICE experiment at the LHC has studied J/psi production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at sqrt{s}=7 TeV through its electron pair decay on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity L_int = 5.6nb-1. The fraction of J/psi from the decay of long-lived beauty hadrons was determined for J/psi candidates with transverse momentum p_t>1.3 GeV/c and rapidity |y|<0.9. The cross section for prompt J/psi mesons, i.e. directly produced J/psi and prompt decays of heavier charmonium states such as the Psi(2S) and Csi_c resonances, is sigma_prompt-J/psi(pt > 1.3 GeV/c, |y| < 0.9) = 8.3 +- 0.8(stat.) +- 1.1(syst.) + 1.5 - 1.4(syst. pol.) micro barn. The cross section for the production of b-hadrons decaying to J/psi with p_t>1.3 GeV/c and |y|<0.9 is sigma_{J/psi<-h_B} = 1.46 +- 0.38(stat.) + 0.26 -0.32(syst.) micro barn. The results are compared to QCD model predictions. The shape of the p_t and y distributions of b-quarks predicted by perturbative QCD model calculations are used to extrapolate the measured cross section to derive the b-bbar pair total cross section and dsigma/dy at mid-rapidity.
The ALICE Collaboration has measured the inclusive production of muons from heavy flavour decays at forward rapidity, 2.5 < y < 4, in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt {s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV. The $p_{\rm T}$-differential inclusive cross section of muons from heavy flavour decays in pp collisions is compared to perturbative QCD calculations. The nuclear modification factor is studied as a function of pt and collision centrality. A weak suppression is measured in peripheral collisions. In the most central collisions, a suppression of a factor of about 3-4 is observed in 6 < $p_{\rm T}$ < 10 GeV/$c$. The suppression shows no significant $p_{\rm T}$ dependence.
The elliptic, $v_2$, triangular, $v_3$, and quadrangular, $v_4$, azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, out to $p_{\rm T}=20$ GeV/$c$. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for $p_{\rm T}>8$ GeV/$c$. The small $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow fluctuations up to $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high $p_{\rm T}$.
On 23rd November 2009, during the early commissioning of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), two counter-rotating proton bunches were circulated for the first time concurrently in the machine, at the LHC injection energy of 450 GeV per beam. Although the proton intensity was very low, with only one pilot bunch per beam, and no systematic attempt was made to optimize the collision optics, all LHC experiments reported a number of collision candidates. In the ALICE experiment, the collision region was centred very well in both the longitudinal and transverse directions and 284 events were recorded in coincidence with the two passing proton bunches. The events were immediately reconstructed and analyzed both online and offline. We have used these events to measure the pseudorapidity density of charged primary particles in the central region. In the range |$\eta$| < 0.5, we obtain dNch/deta = 3.10 $\pm$ 0.13 (stat.) $\pm$ 0.22 (syst.) for all inelastic interactions, and dNch/deta = 3.51 $\pm$ 0.15 (stat.) $\pm$ 0.25 (syst.) for non-single diffractive interactions. These results are consistent with previous measurements in proton-antiproton interactions at the same centre-of-mass energy at the CERN SppS collider. They also illustrate the excellent functioning and rapid progress of the LHC accelerator, and of both the hardware and software of the ALICE experiment, in this early start-up phase.
The ALICE experiment has measured low-mass dimuon production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV in the dimuon rapidity region 2.5<y<4. The observed dimuon mass spectrum is described as a superposition of resonance decays ($\eta$, $\rho$, $\omega$, $\eta^{'}$, $\phi$) into muons and semi-leptonic decays of charmed mesons. The measured production cross sections for $\omega$ and $\phi$ are $\sigma_\omega$ (1<$p_{\rm T}$<5 GeV/$c$,2.5<y<4) = 5.28 $\pm$ 0.54 (stat) $\pm$ 0.50 (syst) mb and $\sigma_\phi$(1<$p_{\rm T}$<5 GeV/$c$,2.5<y<4)=0.940 $\pm$ 0.084 (stat) $\pm$ 0.078 (syst) mb. The differential cross sections $d^2\sigma/dy dp_{\rm T}$ are extracted as a function of $p_{\rm T}$ for $\omega$ and $\phi$. The ratio between the $\rho$ and $\omega$ cross section is obtained. Results for the $\phi$ are compared with other measurements at the same energy and with predictions by models.
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