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.
Pseudorapidity dependence of DN/DETARAP in Inelastic (INEL) and Non-Single-Diffractive (NSD) collisions. Note that the plot in the paper shows only statistical errors.
Pseudorapidity density for |ETARAP|<0.5 for Inelastic (INEL) and Non-Single-Diffractive (NSD) collisions.
We present particle spectra for charged hadrons $\pi^\pm, K^\pm, p$ and $\bar{p}$ from pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV measured for the first time at forward rapidities (2.95 and 3.3). The kinematics of these measurements are skewed in a way that probes the small momentum fraction in one of the protons and large fractions in the other. Large proton to pion ratios are observed at values of transverse momentum that extend up to 4 GeV/c, where protons have momenta up to 35 GeV. Next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations describe the production of pions and kaons well at these rapidities, but fail to account for the large proton yields and small $\bar{p}/p$ ratios.
Invariant cross section for PI+ production in P P collisions at SQRT(S)=200 GeV and rapidity 2.95.
Invariant cross section for PI- production in P P collisions at SQRT(S)=200 GeV and rapidity 2.95.
Invariant cross section for K+ production in P P collisions at SQRT(S)=200 GeV and rapidity 2.95.
We present the first measurements of the double spin asymmetries A_NN and A_SS at sqrt{s}=200 GeV, obtained by the pp2pp experiment using polarized proton beams at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The data were collected in the four momentum transfer t range 0.01<|t|<0.03 (GeV/c)^2. The measured asymmetries, which are consistent with zero, allow us to estimate upper limits on the double helicity-flip amplitudes phi_2 and phi_4 at small t as well as on the difference Delta(sigma_T) between the total cross sections for transversely polarized protons with antiparallel or parallel spin orientations.
Double spin asymmetries.
Double spin asymmetries.
T dependence of the double spin asymmetry ASS3 with statistical errors only.
A precise measurement of the analyzing power $A_N$ in proton-proton elastic scattering in the region of 4-momentum transfer squared $0.001 < |t| < 0.032 ({\rm GeV}/c)^2$ has been performed using a polarized atomic hydrogen gas jet target and the 100 GeV/$c$ RHIC proton beam. The interference of the electromagnetic spin-flip amplitude with a hadronic spin-nonflip amplitude is predicted to generate a significant $A_N$ of 4--5%, peaking at $-t \simeq 0.003 ({\rm GeV}/c)^2$. This kinematic region is known as the Coulomb Nuclear Interference region. A possible hadronic spin-flip amplitude modifies this otherwise calculable prediction. Our data are well described by the CNI prediction with the electromagnetic spin-flip alone and do not support the presence of a large hadronic spin-flip amplitude.
Analysing power as a function of momentum transfer T. The first DSYS error is the systematic error, the second is the normalization error on the target polarization.
We report on the first measurement of the single spin analyzing power (A_N) at sqrt(s)=200GeV, obtained by the pp2pp experiment using polarized proton beams at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Data points were measured in the four momentum transfer t range 0.01 < |t| < 0.03 (GeV/c)^2. Our result, averaged over the whole t-interval is about one standard deviation above the calculation, which uses interference between electromagnetic spin-flip amplitude and hadronic non-flip amplitude, the source of A_N. The difference could be explained by an additional contribution of a hadronic spin-flip amplitude to A_N.
The single spin analyzing power for 3 T intervals.
The first result of the pp2pp experiment at RHIC on elastic scattering of polarized protons at sqrt{s} = 200 GeV is reported here. The exponential slope parameter b of the diffractive peak of the elastic cross section in the t range 0.010 <= |t| <= 0.019 (GeV/c)^2 was measured to be b = 16.3 +- 1.6 (stat.) +- 0.9 (syst.) (GeV/c)^{-2} .
Measured slope of the elastic cross section.
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