The interaction of
K
-
with protons is characterised by the presence of several coupled channels, systems like
K
¯
0
n and
π
Σ
with a similar mass and the same quantum numbers as the
K
-
p state. The ...strengths of these couplings to the
K
-
p system are of crucial importance for the understanding of the nature of the
Λ
(
1405
)
resonance and of the attractive
K
-
p strong interaction. In this article, we present measurements of the
K
-
p correlation functions in relative momentum space obtained in pp collisions at
s
=
13
Te, in p–Pb collisions at
s
NN
=
5.02
Te, and (semi)peripheral Pb–Pb collisions at
s
NN
=
5.02
Te. The emitting source size, composed of a core radius anchored to the
K
+
p correlation and of a resonance halo specific to each particle pair, varies between 1 and 2 fm in these collision systems. The strength and the effects of the
K
¯
0
n and
π
Σ
inelastic channels on the measured
K
-
p correlation function are investigated in the different colliding systems by comparing the data with state-of-the-art models of chiral potentials. A novel approach to determine the conversion weights
ω
, necessary to quantify the amount of produced inelastic channels in the correlation function, is presented. In this method, particle yields are estimated from thermal model predictions, and their kinematic distribution from blast-wave fits to measured data. The comparison of chiral potentials to the measured
K
-
p interaction indicates that, while the
π
Σ
–
K
-
p dynamics is well reproduced by the model, the coupling to the
K
¯
0
n channel in the model is currently underestimated.
We study the polarization of inclusive J/ψ produced in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrts_{NN}=5.02 TeV at the LHC in the dimuon channel, via the measurement of the angular distribution of its decay ...products. We perform the study in the rapidity region 2.5<y<4, for three transverse momentum intervals (2<p_{T}<4, 4<p_{T}<6, 6<p_{T}<10 GeV/c) and as a function of the centrality of the collision for 2<p_{T}<6 GeV/c. For the first time, the polarization is measured with respect to the event plane of the collision, by considering the angle between the positive-charge decay muon in the J/ψ rest frame and the axis perpendicular to the event-plane vector in the laboratory system. A small transverse polarization is measured, with a significance reaching 3.9σ at low p_{T} and for intermediate centrality values. The polarization could be connected with the behavior of the quark-gluon plasma, formed in Pb-Pb collisions, as a rotating fluid with large vorticity, as well as with the existence of a strong magnetic field in the early stage of its formation.
A
bstract
The cross section for coherent photonuclear production of J/
ψ
is presented as a function of the electromagnetic dissociation (EMD) of Pb. The measurement is performed with the ALICE ...detector in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of
s
NN
= 5.02 TeV. Cross sections are presented in five different J/
ψ
rapidity ranges within |
y
| < 4, with the J/
ψ
reconstructed via its dilepton decay channels. In some events the J/
ψ
is not accompanied by EMD, while other events do produce neutrons from EMD at beam rapidities either in one or the other beam direction, or in both. The cross sections in a given rapidity range and for different configurations of neutrons from EMD allow for the extraction of the energy dependence of this process in the range 17 <
W
γ
Pb
,
n
< 920 GeV, where
W
γ
Pb
,
n
is the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon of the
γ
Pb system. This range corresponds to a Bjorken-
x
interval spanning about three orders of magnitude: 1.1 × 10
−
5
<
x
< 3.3 × 10
−
2
. In addition to the ultra-peripheral and photonuclear cross sections, the nuclear suppression factor is obtained. These measurements point to a strong depletion of the gluon distribution in Pb nuclei over a broad, previously unexplored, energy range. These results, together with previous ALICE measurements, provide unprecedented information to probe quantum chromodynamics at high energies.
The production of the ψ(2S) charmonium state was measured with ALICE in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrts_{NN}=5.02 TeV, in the dimuon decay channel. A significant signal was observed for the first time at ...LHC energies down to zero transverse momentum, at forward rapidity (2.5<y<4). The measurement of the ratio of the inclusive production cross sections of the ψ(2S) and J/ψ resonances is reported as a function of the centrality of the collisions and of transverse momentum, in the region p_{T}<12 GeV/c. The results are compared with the corresponding measurements in pp collisions, by forming the double ratio σ^{ψ(2S)}/σ^{J/ψ}_{Pb-Pb}/σ^{ψ(2S)}/σ^{J/ψ}_{pp}. It is found that in Pb-Pb collisions the ψ(2S) is suppressed by a factor of ∼2 with respect to the J/ψ. The ψ(2S) nuclear modification factor R_{AA} was also obtained as a function of both centrality and p_{T}. The results show that the ψ(2S) resonance yield is strongly suppressed in Pb-Pb collisions, by a factor of up to ∼3 with respect to pp. Comparisons of cross section ratios with previous Super Proton Synchrotron findings by the NA50 experiment and of R_{AA} with higher-p_{T} results at LHC energy are also reported. These results and the corresponding comparisons with calculations of transport and statistical models address questions on the presence and properties of charmonium states in the quark-gluon plasma formed in nuclear collisions at the LHC.
The transverse-momentum (p_{T}) spectra and coalescence parameters B_{2} of (anti)deuterons are measured in p-p collisions at sqrts=13 TeV for the first time in and out of jets. In this measurement, ...the direction of the leading particle with the highest p_{T} in the event (p_{T}^{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 in the jet cone as compared with 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 pythia8 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 pythia8.3. Both models reproduce the observed large difference between in-jet and out-of-jet coalescence parameters, although the almost flat trend of the B_{2}^{Jet} is not reproduced by the models, which instead give a decreasing trend.
A
bstract
The first measurement of the e
+
e
−
pair production at low lepton pair transverse momentum (
p
T
,
ee
) and low invariant mass (
m
ee
) in non-central Pb–Pb collisions at
s
NN
= 5
.
02 TeV ...at the LHC is presented. The dielectron production is studied with the ALICE detector at midrapidity (
|η
e
| <
0
.
8) as a function of invariant mass (0.4
≤ m
ee
<
2
.
7 GeV/
c
2
) in the 50–70% and 70–90% centrality classes for
p
T
,
ee
<
0.1 GeV/
c
, and as a function of
p
T
,
ee
in three
m
ee
intervals in the most peripheral Pb–Pb collisions. Below a
p
T
,
ee
of 0.1 GeV/
c
, a clear excess of e
+
e
−
pairs is found compared to the expectations from known hadronic sources and predictions of thermal radiation from the medium. The
m
ee
excess spectra are reproduced, within uncertainties, by different predictions of the photon–photon production of dielectrons, where the photons originate from the extremely strong electromagnetic fields generated by the highly Lorentz-contracted Pb nuclei. Lowest-order quantum electrodynamic (QED) calculations, as well as a model that takes into account the impact-parameter dependence of the average transverse momentum of the photons, also provide a good description of the
p
T
,
ee
spectra. The measured
p
T
,
ee
2
of the excess
p
T
,
ee
spectrum in peripheral Pb–Pb collisions is found to be comparable to the values observed previously at RHIC in a similar phase-space region.
A
bstract
The first measurements of elliptic flow of
π
±
, K
±
,
p
+
p
¯
,
K
S
0
,
Λ
+
Λ
¯
,
ϕ
,
Ξ
−
+
Ξ
¯
+
, and
Ω
−
+
Ω
¯
+
using multiparticle cumulants in Pb–Pb collisions at
s
NN
= 5
.
02 TeV ...are resented. Results obtained with two- (
v
2
{2}) and four-particle cumulants (
v
2
{4}) are shown as a function of transverse momentum,
p
T
, for various collision centrality intervals. Combining the data for both
v
2
{2} and
v
2
{4} also allows us to report the first measurements of the mean elliptic flow, elliptic flow fluctuations, and relative elliptic flow fluctuations for various hadron species. These observables probe the event-by-event eccentricity fluctuations in the initial state and the contributions from the dynamic evolution of the expanding quark–gluon plasma. The characteristic features observed in previous
p
T
-differential anisotropic flow measurements for identified hadrons with two-particle correlations, namely the mass ordering at low
p
T
and the approximate scaling with the number of constituent quarks at intermediate
p
T
, are similarly present in the four-particle correlations and the combinations of
v
2
{2} and
v
2
{4}. In addition, a particle species dependence of flow fluctuations is observed that could indicate a significant contribution from final state hadronic interactions. The comparison between experimental measurements and CoLBT model calculations, which combine the various physics processes of hydrodynamics, quark coalescence, and jet fragmentation, illustrates their importance over a wide
p
T
range.
The ALICE Collaboration reports the measurement of semi-inclusive distributions of charged-particle jets recoiling from a high transverse momentum (high p_{T}) hadron trigger in proton-proton and ...central Pb-Pb collisions at sqrts_{NN}=5.02 TeV. A data-driven statistical method is used to mitigate the large uncorrelated background in central Pb-Pb collisions. Recoil jet distributions are reported for jet resolution parameter R=0.2, 0.4, and 0.5 in the range 7<p_{T,jet}<140 GeV/c and trigger-recoil jet azimuthal separation π/2<Δφ<π. The measurements exhibit a marked medium-induced jet yield enhancement at low p_{T} and at large azimuthal deviation from Δφ∼π. The enhancement is characterized by its dependence on Δφ, which has a slope that differs from zero by 4.7σ. Comparisons to model calculations incorporating different formulations of jet quenching are reported. These comparisons indicate that the observed yield enhancement arises from the response of the QGP medium to jet propagation.The ALICE Collaboration reports the measurement of semi-inclusive distributions of charged-particle jets recoiling from a high transverse momentum (high p_{T}) hadron trigger in proton-proton and central Pb-Pb collisions at sqrts_{NN}=5.02 TeV. A data-driven statistical method is used to mitigate the large uncorrelated background in central Pb-Pb collisions. Recoil jet distributions are reported for jet resolution parameter R=0.2, 0.4, and 0.5 in the range 7<p_{T,jet}<140 GeV/c and trigger-recoil jet azimuthal separation π/2<Δφ<π. The measurements exhibit a marked medium-induced jet yield enhancement at low p_{T} and at large azimuthal deviation from Δφ∼π. The enhancement is characterized by its dependence on Δφ, which has a slope that differs from zero by 4.7σ. Comparisons to model calculations incorporating different formulations of jet quenching are reported. These comparisons indicate that the observed yield enhancement arises from the response of the QGP medium to jet propagation.
A
bstract
The production of inclusive, prompt and non-prompt J/
ψ
was studied for the first time at midrapidity (−1
.
37
< y
cms
<
0
.
43) in p-Pb collisions at
s
NN
= 8
.
16 TeV with the ALICE ...detector at the LHC. The inclusive J/
ψ
mesons were reconstructed in the dielectron decay channel in the transverse momentum (
p
T
) interval 0
< p
T
<
14 GeV/
c
and the prompt and non-prompt contributions were separated on a statistical basis for
p
T
>
2 GeV/
c
. The study of the J/
ψ
mesons in the dielectron channel used for the first time in ALICE online single-electron triggers from the Transition Radiation Detector, providing a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 689 ± 13
μ
b
−
1
. The proton-proton reference cross section for inclusive J/
ψ
was obtained based on interpolations of measured data at different centre-of-mass energies and a universal function describing the
p
T
-differential J/
ψ
production cross sections. The
p
T
-differential nuclear modification factors
R
pPb
of inclusive, prompt, and non-prompt J/
ψ
are consistent with unity and described by theoretical models implementing only nuclear shadowing.
