During the last several years the WITCH (Weak Interaction Trap for CHarged particles) experimental setup at ISOLDE has undergone various upgrades aiming at improvement of general performance. An ...essential innovation, a compact Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) ion cooler and buncher device, was designed and successfully commissioned as a part of the off-line tuning system of WITCH. The RFQ is coupled to the existing surface ionization ion source providing high intensity ion bunches (up to 107 ions per bunch) towards the pulsed drift tube and the Penning traps of WITCH. This achievement allows for loading and tuning of the Penning traps in the domain of space charge limits and grants off-line operation independently of the REX-ISOLDE ion source. The current upgrade allows for a more thorough and frequent testing with bunched stable ion beams of high intensities, which will be used for studying various systematic effects involved in experiments with radioactive ions.
The elliptic, v2, triangular, v3, and quadrangular, v4, azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions, and (anti-)protons in Pb–Pb collisions at ...sNN=2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the pseudo-rapidity range |η|<0.8 at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, pT, out to pT=20 GeV/c. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for pT>8 GeV/c. The small pT dependence of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow fluctuations up to pT=8 GeV/c. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least pT=8 GeV/c indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high pT.
Angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger particles and various species of charged associated particles (unidentified particles, pions, kaons, protons and antiprotons) are measured by ...the ALICE detector in p–Pb collisions at a nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV in the transverse-momentum range 0.3<pT<4 GeV/c. The correlations expressed as associated yield per trigger particle are obtained in the pseudorapidity range |ηlab|<0.8. Fourier coefficients are extracted from the long-range correlations projected onto the azimuthal angle difference and studied as a function of pT and in intervals of event multiplicity. In high-multiplicity events, the second-order coefficient for protons, v2p, is observed to be smaller than that for pions, v2π, up to about pT=2 GeV/c. To reduce correlations due to jets, the per-trigger yield measured in low-multiplicity events is subtracted from that in high-multiplicity events. A two-ridge structure is obtained for all particle species. The Fourier decomposition of this structure shows that the second-order coefficients for pions and kaons are similar. The v2p is found to be smaller at low pT and larger at higher pT than v2π, with a crossing occurring at about 2 GeV/c. This is qualitatively similar to the elliptic-flow pattern observed in heavy-ion collisions. A mass ordering effect at low transverse momenta is consistent with expectations from hydrodynamic model calculations assuming a collectively expanding system.
The production of Ξ− and Ω− baryons and their anti-particles in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV has been measured using the ALICE detector. The transverse momentum spectra at mid-rapidity (|y|<0.5) ...for charged Ξ and Ω hyperons have been studied in the range 0.6<pT<8.0 GeV/c and 1.2<pT<7.0 GeV/c, respectively, and in several centrality intervals (from the most central 0–10% to the most peripheral 60–80% collisions). These spectra have been compared with the predictions of recent hydrodynamic models. In particular, the Kraków and EPOS models give a satisfactory description of the data, with the latter covering a wider pT range. Mid-rapidity yields, integrated over pT, have been determined. The hyperon-to-pion ratios are similar to those at RHIC: they rise smoothly with centrality up to 〈Npart〉∼150 and saturate thereafter. The enhancements (yields per participant nucleon relative to those in pp collisions) increase both with the strangeness content of the baryon and with centrality, but are less pronounced than at lower energies.
In this Letter, comprehensive results on π±, K±, KS0, p(p¯) and Λ(Λ¯) production at mid-rapidity (0<yCMS<0.5) in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV, measured by the ALICE detector at the LHC, are ...reported. The transverse momentum distributions exhibit a hardening as a function of event multiplicity, which is stronger for heavier particles. This behavior is similar to what has been observed in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC. The measured pT distributions are compared to d–Au, Au–Au and Pb–Pb results at lower energy and with predictions based on QCD-inspired and hydrodynamic models.
The ALICE Collaboration reports the measurement of semi-inclusive distributions of charged-particle jets recoiling from a high-transverse momentum trigger hadron in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV. ...Jets are reconstructed from charged-particle tracks using the anti-kT algorithm with resolution parameter R=0.2 and 0.4. A data-driven statistical approach is used to correct the uncorrelated background jet yield. Recoil jet distributions are reported for jet transverse momentum 15<pT,jetch<50GeV/c and are compared in various intervals of p–Pb event activity, based on charged-particle multiplicity and zero-degree neutral energy in the forward (Pb-going) direction. The semi-inclusive observable is self-normalized and such comparisons do not require the interpretation of p–Pb event activity in terms of collision geometry, in contrast to inclusive jet observables. These measurements provide new constraints on the magnitude of jet quenching in small systems at the LHC. In p–Pb collisions with high event activity, the average medium-induced out-of-cone energy transport for jets with R=0.4 and 15<pT,jetch<50GeV/c is measured to be less than 0.4 GeV/c at 90% confidence, which is over an order of magnitude smaller than a similar measurement for central Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76TeV. Comparison is made to theoretical calculations of jet quenching in small systems, and to inclusive jet measurements in p–Pb collisions selected by event activity at the LHC and in d–Au collisions at RHIC.
We present the first wide-range measurement of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density distribution, for different centralities (the 0–5%, 5–10%, 10–20%, and 20–30% most central events) in Pb–Pb ...collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV at the LHC. The measurement is performed using the full coverage of the ALICE detectors, −5.0<η<5.5, and employing a special analysis technique based on collisions arising from LHC ‘satellite’ bunches. We present the pseudorapidity density as a function of the number of participating nucleons as well as an extrapolation to the total number of produced charged particles (Nch=17165±772 for the 0–5% most central collisions). From the measured dNch/dη distribution we derive the rapidity density distribution, dNch/dy, under simple assumptions. The rapidity density distribution is found to be significantly wider than the predictions of the Landau model. We assess the validity of longitudinal scaling by comparing to lower energy results from RHIC. Finally the mechanisms of the underlying particle production are discussed based on a comparison with various theoretical models.
The ALICE Collaboration has made the first measurement at the LHC of J/ψ photoproduction in ultra-peripheral Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV. The J/ψ is identified via its dimuon decay in the ...forward rapidity region with the muon spectrometer for events where the hadronic activity is required to be minimal. The analysis is based on an event sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 55 μb−1. The cross section for coherent J/ψ production in the rapidity interval −3.6<y<−2.6 is measured to be dσJ/ψcoh/dy=1.00±0.18(stat)−0.26+0.24(syst) mb. The result is compared to theoretical models for coherent J/ψ production and found to be in good agreement with those models which include nuclear gluon shadowing.
Angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger (t) and associated (a) particles are measured by the ALICE experiment in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV for transverse momenta ...0.25<pTt,a<15 GeV/c, where pTt>pTa. The shapes of the pair correlation distributions are studied in a variety of collision centrality classes between 0 and 50% of the total hadronic cross section for particles in the pseudorapidity interval |η|<1.0. Distributions in relative azimuth Δϕ≡ϕt−ϕa are analyzed for |Δη|≡|ηt−ηa|>0.8, and are referred to as “long-range correlations”. Fourier components VnΔ≡〈cos(nΔϕ)〉 are extracted from the long-range azimuthal correlation functions. If particle pairs are correlated to one another through their individual correlation to a common symmetry plane, then the pair anisotropy VnΔ(pTt,pTa) is fully described in terms of single-particle anisotropies vn(pT) as VnΔ(pTt,pTa)=vn(pTt)vn(pTa). This expectation is tested for 1⩽n⩽5 by applying a global fit of all VnΔ(pTt,pTa) to obtain the best values vn{GF}(pT). It is found that for 2⩽n⩽5, the fit agrees well with data up to pTa∼3–4 GeV/c, with a trend of increasing deviation as pTt and pTa are increased or as collisions become more peripheral. This suggests that no pair correlation harmonic can be described over the full 0.25<pT<15 GeV/c range using a single vn(pT) curve; such a description is however approximately possible for 2⩽n⩽5 when pTa<4 GeV/c. For the n=1 harmonic, however, a single v1(pT) curve is not obtained even within the reduced range pTa<4 GeV/c.
A measurement of the multi-strange Ξ− and Ω− baryons and their antiparticles by the ALICE experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is presented for inelastic proton–proton collisions at a ...centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The transverse momentum (pT) distributions were studied at mid-rapidity (|y|<0.5) in the range of 0.6<pT<8.5 GeV/c for Ξ− and Ξ¯+ baryons, and in the range of 0.8<pT<5 GeV/c for Ω− and Ω¯+. Baryons and antibaryons were measured as separate particles and we find that the baryon to antibaryon ratio of both particle species is consistent with unity over the entire range of the measurement. The statistical precision of the current data has allowed us to measure a difference between the mean pT of Ξ− (Ξ¯+) and Ω− (Ω¯+). Particle yields, mean pT, and the spectra in the intermediate pT range are not well described by the PYTHIA Perugia 2011 tune Monte Carlo event generator, which has been tuned to reproduce the early LHC data. The discrepancy is largest for Ω− (Ω¯+). This PYTHIA tune approaches the pT spectra of Ξ− and Ξ¯+ baryons below pT<0.85 GeV/c and describes the Ξ− and Ξ¯+ spectra above pT>6.0 GeV/c. We also illustrate the difference between the experimental data and model by comparing the corresponding ratios of (Ω−+Ω¯+)/(Ξ−+Ξ¯+) as a function of transverse mass.
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