The strength of forward-backward (FB) multiplicity correlations is measured by the ALICE detector in proton-proton (pp) collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.9$, 2.76 and 7 TeV. The measurement is performed in the central pseudorapidity region ($|\eta| < 0.8$) for the transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}>0.3$ GeV/$c$. Two separate pseudorapidity windows of width ($\delta \eta$) ranging from 0.2 to 0.8 are chosen symmetrically around $\eta=0$. The multiplicity correlation strength ($b_{\rm cor}$) is studied as a function of the pseudorapidity gap ($\eta_{\rm gap}$) between the two windows as well as the width of these windows. The correlation strength is found to decrease with increasing $\eta_{\rm gap}$ and shows a non-linear increase with $\delta\eta$. A sizable increase of the correlation strength with the collision energy, which cannot be explained exclusively by the increase of the mean multiplicity inside the windows, is observed. The correlation coefficient is also measured for multiplicities in different configurations of two azimuthal sectors selected within the symmetric FB $\eta$-windows. Two different contributions, the short-range (SR) and the long-range (LR), are observed. The energy dependence of $b_{\rm cor}$ is found to be weak for the SR component while it is strong for the LR component. Moreover, the correlation coefficient is studied for particles belonging to various transverse momentum intervals chosen to have the same mean multiplicity. Both SR and LR contributions to $b_{\rm cor}$ are found to increase with $p_{\rm T}$ in this case. Results are compared to PYTHIA and PHOJET event generators and to a string-based phenomenological model. The observed dependencies of $b_{\rm cor}$ add new constraints on phenomenological models.
An analysis is presented based on models of the intrinsic transverse momentum (intrinsic $k_\mathrm{T}$) of partons in nucleons by studying the dilepton transverse momentum in Drell-Yan events. Using parameter tuning in event generators and existing data from fixed-target experiments and from hadron colliders, our investigation spans three orders of magnitude in center-of-mass energy and two orders of magnitude in dilepton invariant mass. The results show an energy-scaling behavior of the intrinsic $k_\mathrm{T}$ parameters, independent of the dilepton invariant mass at a given center-of-mass energy.
The ratios of yields of anti-baryons to baryons probes the mechanisms of baryon-number transport. Results for $\bar{\rm p}/{\rm p}$, $\bar{\rm \Lambda}/{\rm \Lambda}$, $\rm\bar{\Xi}$$^{+}/{\rm \Xi}^{-}$ and $\rm\bar{\Omega}$$^{+}/{\rm \Omega}^{-}$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 0.9$, 2.76 and 7 TeV, measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC, are reported. Within the experimental uncertainties and ranges covered by our measurement, these ratios are independent of rapidity, transverse momentum and multiplicity for all measured energies. The results are compared to expectations from event generators, such as PYTHIA and HIJING-B, that are used to model the particle production in pp collisions. The energy dependence of $\bar{\rm p}/{\rm p}$, $\bar{\rm \Lambda}/{\rm \Lambda}$, $\rm\bar{\Xi}$$^{+}/{\rm \Xi^{-}}$ and $\rm\bar{\Omega}$$^{+}/{\rm \Omega^{-}}$, reaching values compatible with unity for $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV, complement the earlier $\bar{\rm p}/{\rm p}$ measurement of ALICE. These dependencies can be described by exchanges with the Regge-trajectory intercept of $\alpha_{\rm {J}} \approx 0.5$, which are suppressed with increasing rapidity interval ${\rm \Delta} y$. Any significant contribution of an exchange not suppressed at large ${\rm \Delta} y$ (reached at LHC energies) is disfavoured.
We present the measurements of particle pair yields per trigger particle obtained from di-hadron azimuthal correlations in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 0.9$, $2.76$, and $7$ TeV recorded with the ALICE detector. The yields are studied as a function of the charged particle multiplicity. Taken together with the single particle yields the pair yields provide information about parton fragmentation at low transverse momenta, as well as on the contribution of multiple parton interactions to particle production. Data are compared to calculations using the PYTHIA6, PYTHIA8, and PHOJET event generators.
This note describes the details of the analysis of charged-particle pseudorapidity densities and multiplicity distributions measured by the ALICE detector in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9 and 7 TeV in specific phase space regions. The primary goal of the analysis is to provide reference measurements for Monte Carlo tuning. The pseudorapidity range |h| < 0.8 is considered and a lower $p_T$ cut is applied, at 0.15, 0.5 GeV/c and at 1 GeV/c. The choice of such phase space regions to measure the charged-particle multiplicity allows a direct comparison with the analogous results obtained by other LHC collaborations, namely ATLAS and CMS. The class of events considered are those having at least one charged particle in the kinematical ranges just described. In the note, the analysis procedure is presented, together with the corrections applied to the data, and the systematic uncertainty evaluation. The comparison of the results with different Monte Carlo generators is also shown.
The production of mesons containing strange quarks (K$^0_s$, $\phi$) and both singly and doubly strange baryons ($\Lambda$, Anti-$\Lambda$, and $\Xi$+Anti-$\Xi$) are measured at central rapidity in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9 TeV with the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The results are obtained from the analysis of about 250 k minimum bias events recorded in 2009. Measurements of yields (dN/dy) and transverse momentum spectra at central rapidities for inelastic pp collisions are presented. For mesons, we report yields (
The first measurement of two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. We observe a growing trend with energy now not only for the longitudinal and the outward but also for the sideward pion source radius. The pion homogeneity volume and the decoupling time are significantly larger than those measured at RHIC.
Event-by-event fluctuations of the mean transverse momentum of charged particles produced in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV, and Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV are studied as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity using the ALICE detector at the LHC. Dynamical fluctuations indicative of correlated particle emission are observed in all systems. The results in pp collisions show little dependence on collision energy. The Monte Carlo event generators PYTHIA and PHOJET are in qualitative agreement with the data. Peripheral Pb-Pb data exhibit a similar multiplicity dependence as that observed in pp. In central Pb-Pb, the results deviate from this trend, featuring a significant reduction of the fluctuation strength. The results in Pb--Pb are in qualitative agreement with previous measurements in Au-Au at lower collision energies and with expectations from models that incorporate collective phenomena.
The production of $\pi^+$, $\pi^-$, $K^+$, $K^-$, p, and pbar at mid-rapidity has been measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 900$ GeV with the ALICE detector. Particle identification is performed using the specific energy loss in the inner tracking silicon detector and the time projection chamber. In addition, time-of-flight information is used to identify hadrons at higher momenta. Finally, the distinctive kink topology of the weak decay of charged kaons is used for an alternative measurement of the kaon transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra. Since these various particle identification tools give the best separation capabilities over different momentum ranges, the results are combined to extract spectra from $p_{\rm T}$ = 100 MeV/$c$ to 2.5 GeV/$c$. The measured spectra are further compared with QCD-inspired models which yield a poor description. The total yields and the mean $p_{\rm T}$ are compared with previous measurements, and the trends as a function of collision energy are discussed.
We report on the measurement of two-pion correlation functions from pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=900$ GeV performed by the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Our analysis shows an increase of the HBT radius with increasing event multiplicity, in line with other measurements done in particle- and nuclear collisions. Conversely, the strong decrease of the radius with increasing transverse momentum, as observed at RHIC and at Tevatron, is not manifest in our data.
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