Direct photon production at low transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at $\mathbf{\sqrt{s}=2.76}$ and 8 TeV

The ALICE collaboration Acharya, Shreyasi ; Torales - Acosta, Fernando ; Adamova, Dagmar ; et al.
Phys.Rev.C 99 (2019) 024912, 2019.
Inspire Record 1664312 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.88395

Measurements of inclusive and direct photon production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ and 8 TeV are presented by the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The results are reported in transverse momentum ranges of $0.4<p_{T}<10$ GeV/$c$ and $0.3<p_{T}<16$ GeV/$c$, respectively. Photons are detected with the electromagnetic calorimeter~(EMCal) and via reconstruction of e$^+$e$^-$ pairs from conversions in the ALICE detector material using the central tracking system. For the final measurement of the inclusive photon spectra the results are combined in the overlapping $p_{T}$ interval of both methods. Direct photon spectra, or their upper limits at 90% C.L. are extracted using the direct photon excess ratio $R_{\gamma}$, which quantifies the ratio of inclusive photons over decay photons generated with a decay-photon simulation. An additional hybrid method, combining photons reconstructed from conversions with those identified in the EMCal, is used for the combination of the direct photon excess ratio $R_{\gamma}$, as well as the extraction of direct photon spectra or their upper limits. While no significant signal of direct photons is seen over the full $p_{T}$ range, $R_{\gamma}$ for $p_{T}>7$ GeV/$c$ is at least one $\sigma$ above unity and consistent with expectations from next-to-leading order pQCD calculations.

10 data tables

Double Ratio RGAMMA in inelastic pp collisions at center-of-mass energy 2.76 TeV. RGAMMA is the ratio of inclusive GAMMA to decay GAMMA.

Double Ratio RGAMMA in inelastic pp collisions at center-of-mass energy 8 TeV. RGAMMA is the ratio of inclusive GAMMA to decay GAMMA.

Invariant differential cross section of inclusive GAMMA produced in inelastic pp collisions at center-of-mass energy 2.76 TeV, the uncertainty of $\sigma_{MB}$ of 2.5% is not included in the systematic error. Values are given in the center of the PT bin.

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