The production cross sections of the prompt charmed mesons D$^0$, D$^+$, D$^{*+}$ and D$_s$ were measured at mid-rapidity in p-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. D mesons were reconstructed from their decays D$^0\rightarrow{\rm K}^-\pi^+$, D$^+\rightarrow{\rm K}^-\pi^+\pi^+$, D$^{*+}\rightarrow D^0\pi^+$, D$_s^+\rightarrow\phi\pi^+\rightarrow{\rm K}^-{\rm K}^+\pi^+$, and their charge conjugates. The $p_{\rm T}$-differential production cross sections were measured at mid-rapidity in the interval $1<p_{\rm T}<24$ GeV/$c$ for D$^0$, D$^+$ and D$^{*+}$ mesons and in $2<p_{\rm T}<12$ GeV/$c$ for D$_s$ mesons, using an analysis method based on the selection of decay topologies displaced from the interaction vertex. The production cross sections of the D$^0$, D$^+$ and D$^{*+}$ mesons were also measured in three $p_{\rm T}$ intervals as a function of the rapidity $y_{\rm cms}$ in the centre-of-mass system in $-1.26<y_{\rm cms}<0.34$. In addition, the prompt D$^0$ cross section was measured in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV down to $p_{\rm T}=0$ using an analysis technique that is based on the estimation and subtraction of the combinatorial background, without reconstruction of the D$^0$ decay vertex. The nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm pPb}(p_{\rm T})$, defined as the ratio of the $p_{\rm T}$-differential D-meson cross section in p-Pb collisions and that in pp collisions scaled by the mass number of the Pb nucleus, was calculated for the four D-meson species and found to be compatible with unity within experimental uncertainties. The results are compared to theoretical calculations that include cold-nuclear-matter effects and to transport model calculations incorporating the interactions of charm quarks with an expanding deconfined medium.
The production cross sections of the prompt charmed mesons ${\rm D^0}$, ${\rm D^+}$, ${\rm D^{*+}}$ and ${\rm D_s^+}$ were measured at mid-rapidity in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). D mesons were reconstructed from their decays ${\rm D}^0 \to {\rm K}^-\pi^+$, ${\rm D}^+\to {\rm K}^-\pi^+\pi^+$, ${\rm D}^{*+} \to {\rm D}^0 \pi^+$, ${\rm D_s^{+}\to \phi\pi^+\to K^-K^+\pi^+}$, and their charge conjugates. With respect to previous measurements in the same rapidity region, the coverage in transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) is extended and the uncertainties are reduced by a factor of about two. The accuracy on the estimated total $\rm c\overline c$ production cross section is likewise improved. The measured $p_{\rm T}$-differential cross sections are compared with the results of three perturbative QCD calculations.
The production of prompt D$_s^+$ mesons was measured for the first time in collisions of heavy nuclei with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The analysis was performed on a data sample of Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair, $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$, of 2.76 TeV in two different centrality classes, namely 0-10% and 20-50%. D$_s^+$ mesons and their antiparticles were reconstructed at mid-rapidity from their hadronic decay channel D$_s^+\rightarrow\phi\pi^+$, with $\phi\rightarrow$K$^-$K$^+$, in the transverse momentum intervals $4< p_{\rm T}<12$ GeV/$c$ and $6< p_{\rm T}<12$ GeV/$c$ for the 0-10% and 20-50% centrality classes, respectively. The nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm AA}$ was computed by comparing the $p_{\rm T}$-differential production yields in Pb-Pb collisions to those in proton-proton (pp) collisions at the same energy. This pp reference was obtained using the cross section measured at $\sqrt{s}= 7$ TeV and scaled to $\sqrt{s}= 2.76$ TeV. The $R_{\rm AA}$ of D$_s^+$ mesons was compared to that of non-strange D mesons in the 10% most central Pb-Pb collisions. At high $p_{\rm T}$ ($8< p_{\rm T}<12$ GeV/$c$) a suppression of the D$_s^+$-meson yield by a factor of about three, compatible within uncertainties with that of non-strange D mesons, is observed. At lower $p_{\rm T}$ ($4< p_{\rm T}<8$ GeV/$c$) the values of the D$_s^+$-meson $R_{\rm AA}$ are larger than those of non-strange D mesons, although compatible within uncertainties. The production ratios D$_s^+$/D$^0$ and D$_s^+$\D$^+$ were also measured in Pb-Pb collisions and compared to their values in proton-proton collisions.
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