Suppression of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV

Inclusive transverse momentum spectra of primary charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV have been measured by the ALICE Collaboration at the LHC. The data are presented for central and peripheral collisions, corresponding to 0-5% and 70-80% of the hadronic Pb-Pb cross section. The measured charged particle spectra in $|\eta|<0.8$ and $0.3 < p_T < 20$ GeV/$c$ are compared to the expectation in pp collisions at the same $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$, scaled by the number of underlying nucleon-nucleon collisions. The comparison is expressed in terms of the nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm AA}$. The result indicates only weak medium effects ($R_{\rm AA} \approx$ 0.7) in peripheral collisions. In central collisions, $R_{\rm AA}$ reaches a minimum of about 0.14 at $p_{\rm T}=6$-7GeV/$c$ and increases significantly at larger $p_{\rm T}$. The measured suppression of high-$p_{\rm T}$ particles is stronger than that observed at lower collision energies, indicating that a very dense medium is formed in central Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages, 5 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 10, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/98

Two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV

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.Comment: 17 pages, 5 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 12, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/388

Higher harmonic anisotropic flow measurements of charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV

We report on the first measurement of the triangular $v_3$, quadrangular $v_4$, and pentagonal $v_5$ charged particle flow in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We show that the triangular flow can be described in terms of the initial spatial anisotropy and its fluctuations, which provides strong constraints on its origin. In the most central events, where the elliptic flow $v_2$ and $v_3$ have similar magnitude, a double peaked structure in the two-particle azimuthal correlations is observed, which is often interpreted as a Mach cone response to fast partons. We show that this structure can be naturally explained from the measured anisotropic flow Fourier coefficients.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/387

Measurement of the charge asymmetry in B-+/- -> phi K +/- and search for B-+/- -> phi pi(+/-) decays

The CP-violating charge asymmetry in B-+/- -> phi K-+/- decays is measured in a sample of pp collisions at 7 TeV centre-of-mass energy, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb-1 collected by the LHCb experiment. The result is A(CP)(B-+/- -> phi K-+/-) = 0.022 +/- 0.021 +/- 0.009, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. In addition, a search for the B-+/- -> phi pi(+/-) decay mode is performed, using the B-+/- -> phi K-+/- decay rate for normalization. An upper limit on the branching fraction B(B-+/- -> phi pi(+/-)) < 1.5 x 10(-7) is set at 90% confidence level. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Search for the decay D-0 -> pi(+)pi(-)mu(+)mu(-)

A search for the D-0 -> pi(+)pi(-)mu(+)mu(-) decay, where the muon pair does not originate from a resonance, is performed using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1) recorded by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. No signal is observed and an upper limit on the relative branching fraction with respect to the resonant decay mode D-0 -> pi(+)pi(-)phi(-> mu(+)mu(-)), under the assumption of a phase-space model, is found to be B(D-0 -> pi(+)pi(-)mu(+)mu(-))/B(D-0 -> pi(+)pi(-)phi(-> mu(+)mu(-))) pi(+)pi(-)mu(+)mu(-)) < 5.5 x 10(-7) at 90% confidence level. This is the most stringent to date

Observation of the decay B-s(0) -> (D)over-bar(0)phi

First observation of the decay B-s(0) -> (D) over bar (0)phi is reported using pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The significance of the signal is 6.5 standard deviations. The branching fraction is measured relative to that of the decay B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)phi to be beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)phi/beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)(K) over bar*(0) = 0.069 +/- 0.013 (stat) +/- 0.007 (syst). The first measurement of the ratio of branching fractions for the decays beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)(K) over bar*(0) and beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)(K) over bar*(0) is found to be beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)(K) over bar*(0/)beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)(K) over bar*(0=7.8) +/- 0.7(stat) +/- 0.3 (syst) +/- 0.6 (f(s)/f(d)) where the last uncertainty is due to the ratio of the B(s)(0)and B-0 fragmentation fractions

First measurement of time-dependent CP violation in Bs0→K+K− B_s^0\to K^+K^- decays

Direct and mixing-induced CP-violating asymmetries in B-s(0) -> K+K- decays are measured for the first time using a data sample of p p collisions, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1), collected with the LHCb detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The results are C-KK = 0.14 +/- 0.11 +/- 0.03 and S-KK = 0.30 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.04, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. The corresponding quantities are also determined for B-0 -> pi(+)pi(-) decays to be C-pi pi = -0.38 +/- 0.15 +/- 0.02 and S-pi pi = -0.71 +/- 0.13 +/- 0.02, in good agreement with existing measurements

Measurement of the flavour-specific CP-violating asymmetry a(sl)(s) in B-s(0) decays

The CP-violating asymmetry a(sl)(s), is studied using semileptonic decays of B-s(0) and (B) over bar (0)(s) mesons produced in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC, exploiting a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1). The reconstructed final states are D-s(+/-)mu(+/-)(s), with the D-s(+/-) particle decaying in the phi pi(+/-) mode. The D-s(+/-)mu(+/-)(s) yields are summed over B-s(0) and (B) over bar (0)(s) initial states, and integrated with respect to decay time. Data-driven methods are used to measure efficiency ratios. We obtain a(sl)(s) = (-0.06 +/- 0.50 +/- 0.36)%, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic

Two- and three-pion quantum statistics correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at 1asNN = 2.76 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Correlations induced by quantum statistics are sensitive to the spatiotemporal extent as well as dynamics of particle-emitting sources in heavy-ion collisions. In addition, such correlations can be used to search for the presence of a coherent component of pion production. Two- and three-pion correlations of same and mixed charge are measured at low relative momentum to estimate the coherent fraction of charged pions in Pb-Pb collisions at 1asNN = 2.76 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider with ALICE. The genuine three-pion quantum statistics correlation is found to be suppressed relative to the two-pion correlation based on the assumption of fully chaotic pion emission. The suppression is observed to decrease with triplet momentum. The observed suppression at low triplet momentum may correspond to a coherent fraction in charged-pion emission of 23% \ub1 8%

Model-independent search for CP violation in D-0 > K-K+pi(-)pi(+) and D-0 -> pi(-)pi(+)pi(+)pi(-) decays

A search for CP violation in the phase-space structures of 130 and 15 decays to the final states K-K+pi(-)pi(+) and pi(-)pi(+)pi(+)pi(-) is presented. The search is carried out with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1) collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. For the K-K+pi(-)pi(+) final state, the four-body phase space is divided into 32 bins, each bin with approximately 1800 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 9.1%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 6.5% observed. The phase space of the pi(-)pi(+)pi(+)pi(-). final state is partitioned into 128 bins, each bin with approximately 2500 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 41%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 5.5% observed. All results are consistent with the hypothesis of no CP violation at the current sensitivity