The ALICE Collaboration has measured the energy dependence of exclusive photoproduction of $J/\psi$ vector mesons off proton targets in ultra-peripheral p-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV. The e$^+$e$^-$ and $\mu^+\mu^-$ decay channels are used to measure the cross section as a function of the rapidity of the $J/\psi$ in the range $-2.5 < y < 2.7$, corresponding to an energy in the $\gamma$p centre-of-mass in the interval $40 < W_{\gamma\mathrm{p}}<550$ GeV. The measurements, which are consistent with a power law dependence of the exclusive $J/\psi$ photoproduction cross section, are compared to previous results from HERA and the LHC and to several theoretical models. They are found to be compatible with previous measurements.
We report on the inclusive production cross sections of J/$\psi$, $\psi$(2S), $\Upsilon$(1S), $\Upsilon$(2S) and $\Upsilon$(3S), measured at forward rapidity with the ALICE detector in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV. The analysis is based on data collected at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.28 pb$^{-1}$. Quarkonia are reconstructed in the dimuon-decay channel. The differential production cross sections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}$ and rapidity $y$, over the $p_{\rm T}$ ranges $0<p_{\rm T}<20$ GeV/$c$ for J/$\psi$, $0<p_{\rm T}<12$ GeV/$c$ for all other resonances, and for $2.5<y<4$. The cross sections, integrated over $p_{\rm T}$ and $y$, and assuming unpolarized quarkonia, are $\sigma_{{\rm J}/\psi} = 8.98\pm0.04\pm0.82$ $\mu$b, $\sigma_{\psi{\rm (2S)}} = 1.23\pm0.08\pm0.22$ $\mu$b, $\sigma_{\Upsilon{\rm(1S)}} = 71\pm6\pm7$ nb, $\sigma_{\Upsilon{\rm(2S)}} = 26\pm5\pm4$ nb and $\sigma_{\Upsilon{\rm(3S)}} = 9\pm4\pm1$ nb, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second one is systematic. These values agree, within at most $1.4\sigma$, with measurements performed by the LHCb collaboration in the same rapidity range.
We present a measurement of inclusive J/$\psi$ production in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV as a function of the centrality of the collision, as estimated from the energy deposited in the Zero Degree Calorimeters. The measurement is performed with the ALICE detector down to zero transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, in the backward ($-4.46 < y_{\rm cms} < -2.96$) and forward ($2.03 < y_{\rm cms} < 3.53$) rapidity intervals in the dimuon decay channel and in the mid-rapidity region ($-1.37 < y_{\rm cms} < 0.43$) in the dielectron decay channel. The backward and forward rapidity intervals correspond to the Pb-going and p-going direction, respectively. The $p_{\rm T}$-differential J/$\psi$ production cross section at backward and forward rapidity is measured for several centrality classes, together with the corresponding average $p_{\rm T}$ and $p^2_{\rm T}$ values. The nuclear modification factor, $Q_{\rm pPb}$, is presented as a function of centrality for the three rapidity intervals, and, additionally, at backward and forward rapidity, as a function of $p_{\rm T}$ for several centrality classes. At mid- and forward rapidity, the J/$\psi$ yield is suppressed up to 40% compared to that in pp interactions scaled by the number of binary collisions. The degree of suppression increases towards central p-Pb collisions at forward rapidity, and with decreasing $p_{\rm T}$ of the J/$\psi$. At backward rapidity, the $Q_{\rm pPb}$ is compatible with unity within the total uncertainties, with an increasing trend from peripheral to central p-Pb collisions.
The elliptic flow, $v_{2}$, of muons from heavy-flavour hadron decays at forward rapidity ($2.5 < y < 4$) is measured in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$~=~2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The scalar product, two- and four-particle $Q$ cumulants and Lee-Yang zeros methods are used. The dependence of the $v_2$ of muons from heavy-flavour hadron decays on the collision centrality, in the range 0--40\%, and on transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, is studied in the interval $3 < p_{\rm T} < 10$~GeV/$c$. A positive $v_2$ is observed with the scalar product and two-particle $Q$ cumulants in semi-central collisions (10--20\% and 20--40\% centrality classes) for the $p_{\rm T}$ interval from 3 to about 5 GeV/$c$. The $v_2$ magnitude tends to decrease towards more central collisions and with increasing $p_{\rm T}$. It becomes compatible with zero in the interval $6<p_{\rm T}<10~{\rm GeV/}c$. The results are compared to models describing the interaction of heavy quarks and open heavy-flavour hadrons with the high-density medium formed in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. The model calculations describe the measured $v_2$ within uncertainties.
A measurement of continuum dimuon production in proton-copper collisions at 800-GeV incident energy is presented. The dimuons observed in this experiment cover the mass range from 6.5 to 18 GeV near y=0 in the proton-nucleon center-of-momentum frame. Scaling forms of the cross section for the continuum are compared with the results of other experiments in the context of the parton model and quantum chromodynamics. The present limitations of such scaling comparisons are discussed.
Cross sections for the production of two isolated muons up to high di-muon masses are measured in ep collisions at HERA with the H1 detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 71 pb^-1 at a centre of mass energy of sqrt{s} = 319 GeV. The results are in good agreement with Standard Model predictions, the dominant process being photon-photon interactions. Additional muons or electrons are searched for in events with two high transverse momentum muons using the full data sample corresponding to 114 pb^-1, where data at sqrt{s} = 301 GeV and sqrt{s} = 319 GeV are combined. Both the di-lepton sample and the tri-lepton sample agree well with the predictions.
We report on a sample of Jψ mesons coming from secondary vertices, a characteristic of heavyquark decay, detected in the Fermilab Meson West spectrometer. Based on eight signal events in which a Jψ emerges from a secondary vertex occurring in an air-gap region, we obtain an inclusive bb¯ cross section of 75 ± 31 ± 26 nb/nucleon. This result is compared to recent QCD predictions. We have also observed several events in the exclusive decay modes B±→Jψ+K± and B0→Jψ+K0* in which the B mass is fully reconstructed.
Data on multiplicities of charged particles produced in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon are presented. It is shown that the mean multiplicity of negative particles is proportional to the mean number of nucleons participating in the collision both for nucleus-nucleus and proton-nucleus collisions. The apparent consistency of pion multiplicity data with the assumption of an incoherent superposition of nucleon-nucleon collisions is critically discussed.
psi' production is studied in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon incident momentum. Absolute cross-sections are measured and production rates are investigated as a function of the centrality of the collision. The results are compared with those obtained for lighter colliding systems and also for the J/psi meson produced under identical conditions.
The first observation of $Z$ boson production in proton-lead collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per proton-nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5~\text{TeV}$ is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of $1.6~\text{nb}^{-1}$ collected with the LHCb detector. The $Z$ candidates are reconstructed from pairs of oppositely charged muons with pseudorapidities between 2.0 and 4.5 and transverse momenta above $20~\text{GeV}/c$. The invariant dimuon mass is restricted to the range $60-120~\text{GeV}/c^2$. The $Z$ production cross-section is measured to be \begin{eqnarray*} \sigma_{Z\to\mu^+\mu^-}(\text{fwd})&=&13.5^{+5.4}_{-4.0}\text{(stat.)}\pm1.2\text{(syst.)}~\text{nb} \end{eqnarray*} in the direction of the proton beam and \begin{eqnarray*} \sigma_{Z\to\mu^+\mu^-}(\text{bwd}) & =&10.7^{+8.4}_{-5.1}\text{(stat.)}\pm1.0\text{(syst.)}~\text{nb} \end{eqnarray*} in the direction of the lead beam, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic.
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