Centrality evolution of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density over a broad pseudorapidity range in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV

The ALICE collaboration Adam, Jaroslav ; Adamova, Dagmar ; Aggarwal, Madan Mohan ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 754 (2016) 373-385, 2015.
Inspire Record 1394676 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.70834

The centrality dependence of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density measured with ALICE in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ over a broad pseudorapidity range is presented. This Letter extends the previous results reported by ALICE to more peripheral collisions. No strong change of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density distributions with centrality is observed, and when normalised to the number of participating nucleons in the collisions, the evolution over pseudorapidity with centrality is likewise small. The broad pseudorapidity range allows precise estimates of the total number of produced charged particles which we find to range from $162\pm22$ (syst.) to $17170\pm770$ (syst.) in 80-90% and 0-5 central collisions, respectively. The total charged-particle multiplicity is seen to approximately scale with the number of participating nucleons in the collision. This suggests that hard contributions to the charged-particle multiplicity are limited. The results are compared to models which describe $\mbox{d}N_{\mbox{ch}}/\mbox{d}\eta$ at mid-rapidity in the most central Pb-Pb collisions and it is found that these models do not capture all features of the distributions.

4 data tables

Measurement of $\mbox{d}N_{\mbox{ch}}/\mbox{d}\eta$ for all centralities and a broad $\eta$ range. Combined and symmetrised $\mbox{d}N_{\mbox{ch}}/\mbox{d}\eta$ over 30-90 PCT centrality from both SPD and FMD. Previously published results for 0-30 PCT over the full pseudorapidity range available elsewhere [PLB726.610]. Please note the systematic uncertainty from the centrality determination is encoded as a qualifier in the table header.

Full--width half--maximum of the charged--particle pseudorapidity distributions versus the average number of participants. The uncertainties on the ALICE measurements are from the fit of $f_{\text{GG}}$ only and evaluated at $95\%$ confidence level.

The charged--particle pseudorapidity density distributions scaled by the average number of participants in various pseudorapidity intervals as a function of the number of participants. Data for the 0 to 30 PCT most central events, and in ETARAP < 0.5 is available in previously published results [PLB726.610,PRC88.044910]. The uncertainties on $\left\langle N_{\text{part}}\right\rangle$ from the Glauber calculations not included (see [PRC88.044910]).

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Centrality dependence of the pseudorapidity density distribution for charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV

The ALICE collaboration Abbas, Ehab ; Abelev, Betty ; Adam, Jaroslav ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 726 (2013) 610-622, 2013.
Inspire Record 1225979 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.68753

We present the first wide-range measurement of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density distribution, for different centralities (the 0-5%, 5-10%, 10-20%, and 20-30% most central events) in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV at the LHC. The measurement is performed using the full coverage of the ALICE detectors, $-5.0 < \eta < 5.5$, and employing a special analysis technique based on collisions arising from LHC "satellite" bunches. We present the pseudorapidity density as a function of the number of participating nucleons as well as an extrapolation to the total number of produced charged particles ($N_{\rm ch} = 17165 \pm 772$ for the 0-5% most central collisions). From the measured ${\rm d}N_{\rm ch}/{\rm d}\eta$ distribution we derive the rapidity density distribution, ${\rm d}N_{\rm ch}/{\rm d}y$, under simple assumptions. The rapidity density distribution is found to be significantly wider than the predictions of the Landau model. We assess the validity of longitudinal scaling by comparing to lower energy results from RHIC. Finally the mechanisms of the underlying particle production are discussed based on a comparison with various theoretical models.

5 data tables

$\rm dN_{ch}/d\eta$ versus $\eta$ for different centralities. Errors are systematic as statistical errors are negligible.

Total number of produced charged particles extrapolated to beam rapidity as a function of the number of participating nucleons in the collision. Statistical errors are negligible. The first(sys) error is the correlated systematic error and the second is that which is uncorrelated to the other points.

$\rm dN_{ch}/d\eta$ per participant pair versus the number of participating nucleons in the collision for different eta ranges. Errors are systematic as statistical errors are negligible.

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