The correlations between flow harmonics $v_n$ for $n=2$, 3 and 4 and mean transverse momentum $[p_\mathrm{T}]$ in $^{129}$Xe+$^{129}$Xe and $^{208}$Pb+$^{208}$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.44$ TeV and 5.02 TeV, respectively, are measured using charged particles with the ATLAS detector. The correlations are sensitive to the shape and size of the initial geometry, nuclear deformation, and initial momentum anisotropy. The effects from non-flow and centrality fluctuations are minimized, respectively, via a subevent cumulant method and event activity selection based on particle production in the very forward rapidity. The results show strong dependences on centrality, harmonic number $n$, $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ and pseudorapidity range. Current models describe qualitatively the overall centrality- and system-dependent trends but fail to quantitatively reproduce all the data. In the central collisions, where models generally show good agreement, the $v_2$-$[p_\mathrm{T}]$ correlations are sensitive to the triaxiality of the quadruple deformation. The comparison of model to the Pb+Pb and Xe+Xe data suggests that the $^{129}$Xe nucleus is a highly deformed triaxial ellipsoid that is neither a prolate nor an oblate shape. This provides strong evidence for a triaxial deformation of $^{129}$Xe nucleus using high-energy heavy-ion collision.
The ALICE Collaboration presents a new suite of jet substructure measurements in Pb-Pb and pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s}_{\rm NN} = 5.02$ TeV. These measurements provide access to the internal structure of jets via the momentum and angle of their constituents, probing how the quark--gluon plasma modifies jets, an effect known as jet quenching. Jet grooming additionally removes soft wide-angle radiation to enhance perturbative accuracy and reduce experimental uncertainties. We report the groomed and ungroomed jet mass $m_{\rm jet}$ and jet angularities $\lambda_\alpha^\kappa$ using $\kappa=1$ and $\alpha>0$. Charged-particle jets are reconstructed at midrapidity using the anti-$k_\mathrm{T}$ algorithm with resolution parameter $R = 0.2$. A narrowing of the jet mass and angularity distributions in Pb-Pb collisions with respect to pp is observed and is enhanced for groomed results, confirming modification of the jet core. By using consistent jet definitions and kinematic cuts between the mass and angularities for the first time, previous inconsistencies in the interpretation of quenching measurements are resolved, rectifying a hurdle for understanding how jet quenching arises from first principles and highlighting the importance of a well-controlled baseline. These results are compared with a variety of theoretical models of jet quenching, providing constraints on jet energy-loss mechanisms in the quark--gluon plasma.
The structure of nucleons is multidimensional and depends on the transverse momenta, spatial geometry, and polarization of the constituent partons. Such a structure can be studied using high-energy photons produced in ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions. The first measurement of the azimuthal angular correlations of exclusively produced events with two jets in photon-lead interactions at large momentum transfer is presented, a process that is considered to be sensitive to the underlying nuclear gluon polarization. This study uses a data sample of ultraperipheral lead-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.38 nb$^{-1}$, collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measured second harmonic of the correlation between the sum and difference of the two jet momenta is found to be positive, and rising, as the dijet momentum increases. A well-tuned model that has been successful at describing a wide range of proton scattering data from the HERA experiments fails to describe the observed correlations, suggesting the presence of gluon polarization effects.
Quasireal photons exchanged in relativistic heavy ion interactions are powerful probes of the gluonic structure of nuclei. The coherent J/$\psi$ photoproduction cross section in ultraperipheral lead-lead collisions is measured as a function of photon-nucleus center-of-mass energies per nucleon (W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$), over a wide range of 40 $\lt$ W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$$\lt$ 400 GeV. Results are obtained using data at the nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.52 nb$^{-1}$. The cross section is observed to rise rapidly at low W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$, and plateau above W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$$\approx$ 40 GeV, up to 400 GeV, a new regime of small Bjorken-$x$ ($\approx$ 6 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$) gluons being probed in a heavy nucleus. The observed energy dependence is not predicted by current quantum chromodynamic models.
The elliptic flow ($v_2$) of $\rm D^0$ mesons from beauty-hadron decays (non-prompt $\rm D^0$) was measured in midcentral (30-50%) Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The $\rm D^0$ mesons were reconstructed at midrapidity ($|y|<0.8$) from their hadronic decay $\mathrm{D^0 \to K^-\pi^+}$, in the transverse momentum interval $2 < p_{\rm T} < 12$ GeV/$c$. The result indicates a positive $v_2$ for non-prompt $\rm D^0$ mesons with a significance of 2.7$\sigma$. The non-prompt $\rm D^0$-meson $v_2$ is lower than that of prompt non-strange D mesons with 3.2$\sigma$ significance in $2 < p_{\rm T} < 8$ GeV/$c$, and compatible with the $v_2$ of beauty-decay electrons. Theoretical calculations of beauty-quark transport in a hydrodynamically expanding medium describe the measurement within uncertainties.
The azimuthal anisotropy of particles associated with jets (jet particles) at midrapidity is measured for the first time in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV down to transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) of 0.5 GeV/$c$ and 2 GeV/$c$, respectively, with ALICE. The results obtained in p-Pb collisions are based on a novel three-particle correlation technique. The azimuthal anisotropy coefficient $v_2$ in high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions is positive, with a significance reaching 6.8$\sigma$ at low $p_{\rm T}$, and its magnitude is smaller than in semicentral Pb-Pb collisions. In contrast to the measurements in Pb-Pb collisions, the $v_2$ coefficient is also found independent of $p_{\rm T}$ within uncertainties. Comparisons with the inclusive charged-particle $v_2$ and with AMPT calculations are discussed. The predictions suggest that parton interactions play an important role in generating a non-zero jet-particle $v_2$ in p-Pb collisions, even though they overestimate the reported measurement. These observations shed new insights on the understanding of the origin of the collective behaviour of jet particles in small systems such as p-Pb collisions, and provide significant stringent new constraints to models.
The production yield and angular anisotropy of prompt ${D_s^+}$ mesons were measured as a function of transverse momentum ($p_{ T}$) in Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{ NN}} = 5.02$ TeV collected with the ALICE detector at the LHC. ${D_s^+}$ mesons and their charge conjugates were reconstructed at midrapidity ($|y|<0.5$) from their hadronic decay channel ${D_s^+ \to \phi \pi^+}$, with ${\phi \to K^-K^+}$, in the $p_{ T}$ intervals $2<p_{ T}<50$ GeV/$c$ and $2<p_{ T}<36$ GeV/$c$ for the 0-10% and 30-50% centrality intervals. For $p_{ T}>10$ GeV/$c$, the measured ${D_s^+}$-meson nuclear modification factor $R_{ AA}$ is consistent with the one of non-strange D mesons within uncertainties, while at lower $p_{ T}$ a hint for a ${D_s^+}$-meson $R_{ AA}$ larger than that of non-strange D mesons is seen. The enhanced production of ${D_s^+}$ relative to non-strange D mesons is also studied by comparing the $p_{ T}$-dependent ${D_s^+/D^0}$ production yield ratios in Pb-Pb and in pp collisions. The ratio measured in Pb-Pb collisions is found to be on average higher than that in pp collisions in the interval $2<p_{ T} <8$ GeV/$c$ with a significance of 2.3$\sigma$ and 2.4$\sigma$ for the 0-10% and 30-50% centrality intervals. The azimuthal anisotropy coefficient $v_2$ of prompt ${D_s^+}$ mesons was measured in Pb-Pb collisions in the 30-50% centrality interval and is found to be compatible with that of non-strange D mesons. The main features of the measured $R_{ AA}$, ${D_s^+/D^0}$ ratio, and $v_2$ as a function of $p_{ T}$ are described by theoretical calculations of charm-quark transport in a hydrodynamically expanding quark-gluon plasma including hadronisation via charm-quark recombination with light quarks from the medium. The $p_{ T}$-integrated production yield of ${D_s^+}$ mesons is compatible with the prediction of the statistical hadronisation model.
Measurements of charged-particle production in pp, p$-$Pb, and Pb$-$Pb collisions in the toward, away, and transverse regions with the ALICE detector are discussed. These regions are defined event-by-event relative to the azimuthal direction of the charged trigger particle, which is the reconstructed particle with the largest transverse momentum ($p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\rm trig}$) in the range $8<p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\rm trig}<15$ GeV$/c$. The toward and away regions contain the primary and recoil jets, respectively; both regions are accompanied by the underlying event (UE). In contrast, the transverse region perpendicular to the direction of the trigger particle is dominated by the so-called UE dynamics, and includes also contributions from initial- and final-state radiation. The relative transverse activity classifier, $R_{\mathrm{T}}=N_{\mathrm{ch}}^{\mathrm{T}}/\langle N_{\mathrm{ch}}^{\mathrm{T}}\rangle$, is used to group events according to their UE activity, where $N_{\mathrm{ch}}^{\mathrm{T}}$ is the charged-particle multiplicity per event in the transverse region and $\langle N_{\mathrm{ch}}^{\mathrm{T}}\rangle$ is the mean value over the whole analysed sample. The energy dependence of the $R_{\mathrm{T}}$ distributions in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=2.76$, 5.02, 7, and 13 TeV is reported, exploring the Koba-Nielsen-Olesen (KNO) scaling properties of the multiplicity distributions. The first measurements of charged-particle $p_{\rm T}$ spectra as a function of $R_{\mathrm{T}}$ in the three azimuthal regions in pp, p$-$Pb, and Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV are also reported. Data are compared with predictions obtained from the event generators PYTHIA 8 and EPOS LHC. This set of measurements is expected to contribute to the understanding of the origin of collective-like effects in small collision systems (pp and p$-$Pb).
Anisotropic flow and radial flow are two key probes of the expansion dynamics and properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). While anisotropic flow has been extensively studied, radial flow, which governs the system's radial expansion, has received less attention. Notably, experimental evidence for the global and collective nature of radial flow has been lacking. This Letter presents the first measurement of transverse momentum ($p_{\mathrm{T}}$) dependence of radial flow fluctuations ($v_0(p_{\mathrm{T}})$) over $0.5<p_{\mathrm{T}}<10$ GeV, using a two-particle correlation method in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV. The data reveal three key features supporting the collective nature of radial flow: long-range correlation in pseudorapidity, factorization in $p_{\mathrm{T}}$, and centrality-independent shape in $p_{\mathrm{T}}$. The comparison with a hydrodynamic model demonstrates the sensitivity of $v_0(p_{\mathrm{T}})$ to bulk viscosity, a crucial transport property of the QGP. These findings establish a new, powerful tool for probing collective dynamics and properties of the QGP.
The ALICE Collaboration reports measurements of the large relative transverse momentum ($k_{\text{T}}$) component of jet substructure in pp and Pb$-$Pb collisions at center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV. Enhancement in the yield of such large-$k_{\text{T}}$ emissions in head-on Pb$-$Pb collisions is predicted to arise from partonic scattering with quasi-particles of the quark-gluon plasma. The analysis utilizes charged-particle jets reconstructed by the anti-$k_{\text{T}}$ algorithm with resolution parameter $R=0.2$ in the transverse-momentum interval $60 < p_{\text{T,ch jet}} < 80$ GeV/$c$. The soft drop and dynamical grooming algorithms are used to identify high transverse momentum splittings in the jet shower. Comparison of measurements in Pb$-$Pb and pp collisions shows medium-induced narrowing, corresponding to yield suppression of high-$k_{\text{T}}$ splittings, in contrast to the expectation of yield enhancement due to quasi-particle scattering. The measurements are compared to theoretical model calculations incorporating jet modification due to jet-medium interactions ("jet quenching"), both with and without quasi-particle scattering effects. These measurements provide new insight into the underlying mechanisms and theoretical modeling of jet quenching.