The production of K$^*$(892)$^\pm$ meson resonance is measured at midrapidity ($|y|<0.5$) in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC. The resonance is reconstructed via its hadronic decay channel K$^*$(892)$^\pm \rightarrow \rm{K^0_S \pi^\pm}$. The transverse momentum distributions are obtained for various centrality intervals in the $p_{\rm T}$ range of 0.4-16 GeV/$c$. The reported measurements of integrated yields, mean transverse momenta, and particle yield ratios are consistent with previous ALICE measurements for K$^*$(892)$^0$. The $p_{\rm T}$-integrated yield ratio 2K$^*$(892)$^\pm$/($\rm{K^+ + K^-}$) in central Pb-Pb collisions shows a significant suppression (9.3$\sigma$) relative to pp collisions. Thermal model calculations overpredict the particle yield ratio. Although both simulations consider the hadronic phase, only HRG-PCE accurately represents the measurements, whereas MUSIC+SMASH tends to overpredict them. These observations, along with the kinetic freeze-out temperatures extracted from the yields of light-flavored hadrons using the HRG-PCE model, indicate a finite hadronic phase lifetime, which increases towards central collisions. The $p_{\rm T}$-differential yield ratios 2K$^*$(892)$^\pm$/($\rm{K^+ + K^-}$) and 2K$^*$(892)$^\pm$/($\rm{\pi^+ + \pi^-}$) are suppressed by up to a factor of five at $p_{\rm T}<2$ GeV/$c$ in central Pb-Pb collisions compared to pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 5.02 TeV. Both particle ratios and are qualitatively consistent with expectations for rescattering effects in the hadronic phase. The nuclear modification factor shows a smooth evolution with centrality and is below unity at $p_{\rm T}>8$ GeV/$c$, consistent with measurements for other light-flavored hadrons. The smallest values are observed in most central collisions, indicating larger energy loss of partons traversing the dense medium.
$p_{\rm T}$-distributions of $\rm{K}^{*}$ (average of particle and anti-particle) meson measured in Pb-Pb collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV for 0-10\% centrality.
$p_{\rm T}$-distributions of $\rm{K}^{*}$ (average of particle and anti-particle) meson measured in Pb-Pb collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV for 10-20\% centrality.
$p_{\rm T}$-distributions of $\rm{K}^{*}$ (average of particle and anti-particle) meson measured in Pb-Pb collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV for 20-40\% centrality.
The transverse-momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra and coalescence parameters $B_2$ of (anti)deuterons are measured in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV for the first time in and out of jets. In this measurement, the direction of the leading particle with the highest $p_{\rm T}$ in the event ($p_{\rm T}^{\rm{ lead}} > 5$ GeV/$c$) is used as an approximation for the jet axis. The event is consequently divided into three azimuthal regions and the jet signal is obtained as the difference between the Toward region, that contains jet fragmentation products in addition to the underlying event (UE), and the Transverse region, which is dominated by the UE. The coalescence parameter in the jet is found to be approximately a factor of 10 larger than that in the underlying event. This experimental observation is consistent with the coalescence picture and can be attributed to the smaller average phase-space distance between nucleons inside the jet cone as compared to the underlying event. The results presented in this Letter are compared to predictions from a simple nucleon coalescence model, where the phase space distributions of nucleons are generated using PYTHIA 8 with the Monash 2013 tuning, and to predictions from a deuteron production model based on ordinary nuclear reactions with parametrized energy-dependent cross sections tuned on data. The latter model is implemented in PYTHIA 8.3. Both models reproduce the observed large difference between in-jet and out-of-jet coalescence parameters, although the almost flat trend of the $B^{\rm Jet}_2$ is not reproduced by the models, which instead give a decreasing trend.
Transverse momentum spectra for the transverse azimuthal regions. Events with a leading track with PT>5 GEV at midrapidity are selected. The spectrum is shown in Figure 1 (left panel).
Transverse momentum spectra for the toward azimuthal regions. Events with a leading track with PT>5 GEV at midrapidity are selected. The spectrum is shown in Figure 1 (left panel).
Transverse momentum spectra for the away azimuthal regions. Events with a leading track with PT>5 GEV at midrapidity are selected. The spectrum is shown in Figure 1 (left panel).
We report about the properties of the underlying event measured with ALICE at the LHC in pp and p$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV. The event activity, quantified by charged-particle number and summed-$p_{\rm T}$ densities, is measured as a function of the leading-particle transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}^{\rm trig}$). These quantities are studied in three azimuthal-angle regions relative to the leading particle in the event: toward, away, and transverse. Results are presented for three different $p_{\rm T}$ thresholds (0.15, 0.5, and 1 GeV/$c$) at mid-pseudorapidity ($|\eta|<0.8$). The event activity in the transverse region, which is the most sensitive to the underlying event, exhibits similar behaviour in both pp and p$-$Pb collisions, namely, a steep increase with $p_{\rm T}^{\rm trig}$ for low $p_{\rm T}^{\rm trig}$, followed by a saturation at $p_{\rm T}^{\rm trig} \approx 5$ GeV/$c$. The results from pp collisions are compared with existing measurements at other centre-of-mass energies. The quantities in the toward and away regions are also analyzed after the subtraction of the contribution measured in the transverse region. The remaining jet-like particle densities are consistent in pp and p$-$Pb collisions for $p_{\rm T}^{\rm trig}>10$ GeV/$c$, whereas for lower $p_{\rm T}^{\rm trig}$ values the event activity is slightly higher in p$-$Pb than in pp collisions. The measurements are compared with predictions from the PYTHIA 8 and EPOS LHC Monte Carlo event generators.
Fig. 4: Number density $N_{\rm ch}$ (left) and $\Sigma p_{\rm T}$ (right) distributions as a function of $p_{\rm T}^{\rm trig}$ in Transverse, Away, and Toward regions for $p_{\rm T} >$ 0.5 GeV/$c$. The shaded areas and the error bars around the data points represent the systematic and statistical uncertainties, respectively.
Fig. 5: Number density $N_{\rm ch}$ (left) and $\Sigma p_{\rm T}$ (right) distributions as a function of $p_{\rm T}^{\rm trig}$ in Transverse, Away, and Toward regions for $p_{\rm T} >$ 0.5 GeV/$c$. The shaded areas and the error bars around the data points represent the systematic and statistical uncertainties, respectively.
Fig. 6a: Number density $N_{\rm ch}$ (left) and $\Sigma p_{\rm T}$ (right) distributions as a function of $p_{\rm T}^{\rm trig}$ in Away and Toward regions after the subtraction of Number density $N_{\rm ch}$ and $\Sigma p_{\rm T}$ distributions in the transverse region for pp collisions for $p_{\rm T} >$ 0.5 GeV/$c$. The shaded areas and the error bars around the data points represent the systematic and statistical uncertainties, respectively.
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