Centrality evolution of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density over a broad pseudorapidity range in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76TeV

Peer reviewe

Myxomycete biodiversity revealed in the Namib desert

This paper describes the results from a survey for myxomycetes (plasmodial slime molds or myxogastrids) in the Namib Desert. There are no previous records of this group of organisms from Namibia, so the results are all first records for the country and demonstrate that even the world's oldest desert has a surprising number of these visible and important microorganisms, which form an integral part of the desert microbiota. The survey recovered eight species that have never previously been reported from any country in Africa, and reveals the presence of two species Physarum atacamense and Licea eremophila, recently described from arid areas in South America. Three of the species collected are possibly new to science, but there was insufficient material to develop formal descriptions. Comments on the most interesting collections are included, and the results are compared with surveys for myxomycetes in other arid environments. These results show similarities with the coastal desert of Peru, as well as a disjunct distribution and evidence of area specificity. The fact that deserts harbor a notable diversity of myxomycetes is confirmed.The research reported herein was supported by a grant from the National Geographic Society grant number 9379-13 to S.L. Stephenson. The research permit was issued by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of the Government of the Republic of Namibia; research permit number 1988/2014. The Myxotropic project (CGL2014-52584P), funded by the Spanish government (CSIC), provided technical support for laboratory work. We are grateful to Gillian Maggs-Kölling and her team at the Gobabeb Research and Training centre (www.gobabebtrc.org) for their help on the ground in Namibia, and to Carlos de Mier (RJB) for his help with the graphics

Inclusive J/ψ production in pp collisions at √s=2.76 TeV

The ALICE Collaboration has measured inclusive J/ψ production in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy √s=2.76 TeV at the LHC. The results presented in this Letter refer to the rapidity ranges |y|<0.9 and 2.5<y<4 and have been obtained by measuring the electron and muon pair decay channels, respectively. The integrated luminosities for the two channels are Linte=1.1 nb−1 and Lintμ=19.9 nb−1, and the corresponding signal statistics are NJ/ψe+e−=59±14 and NJ/ψμ+μ−=1364±53. We present dσJ/ψ/dy for the two rapidity regions under study and, for the forward-y range, d2σJ/ψ/dydpt in the transverse momentum domain 0<pt<8 GeV/c. The results are compared with previously published results at s=7 TeV and with theoretical calculations

Suppression of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in central Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN=2.76 TeV

Inclusive transverse momentum spectra of primary charged particles in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN=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 |η|<0.8 and 0.3<pT<20 GeV/c are compared to the expectation in pp collisions at the same sNN, scaled by the number of underlying nucleon–nucleon collisions. The comparison is expressed in terms of the nuclear modification factor RAA. The result indicates only weak medium effects (RAA≈0.7) in peripheral collisions. In central collisions, RAA reaches a minimum of about 0.14 at pT=6–7 GeV/c and increases significantly at larger pT. The measured suppression of high-pT 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

Two-pion Bose–Einstein correlations in central Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN=2.76 TeV

The first measurement of two-pion Bose–Einstein correlations in central Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN=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

Coherent J/ψ photoproduction in ultra-peripheral Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN=2.76 TeV

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

Heavy flavour decay muon production at forward rapidity in proton–proton collisions at √s=7 TeV

The production of muons from heavy flavour decays is measured at forward rapidity in proton–proton collisions at √s=7 TeV collected with the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The analysis is carried out on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity Lint=16.5 nb−1. The transverse momentum and rapidity differential production cross sections of muons from heavy flavour decays are measured in the rapidity range 2.5<y<4, over the transverse momentum range 2<pt<12 GeV/c. The results are compared to predictions based on perturbative QCD calculations

Freeze-out radii extracted from three-pion cumulants in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC

In high-energy collisions, the spatio-temporal size of the particle production region can be measured using the Bose–Einstein correlations of identical bosons at low relative momentum. The source radii are typically extracted using two-pion correlations, and characterize the system at the last stage of interaction, called kinetic freeze-out. In low-multiplicity collisions, unlike in high-multiplicity collisions, two-pion correlations are substantially altered by background correlations, e.g. mini-jets. Such correlations can be suppressed using three-pion cumulant correlations. We present the first measurements of the size of the system at freeze-out extracted from three-pion cumulant correlations in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC with ALICE. At similar multiplicity, the invariant radii extracted in p–Pb collisions are found to be 5–15% larger than those in pp, while those in Pb–Pb are 35–55% larger than those in p–Pb. Our measurements disfavor models which incorporate substantially stronger collective expansion in p–Pb as compared to pp collisions at similar multiplicity

Coherent ψ(2S) photo-production in ultra-peripheral PbPb collisions at √sNN=2.76 TeV

We have performed the first measurement of the coherent ψ(2S) photo-production cross section in ultra-peripheral PbPb collisions at the LHC. This charmonium excited state is reconstructed via the ψ(2S)→l+l− and ψ(2S)→J/ψπ+π− decays, where the J/ψ decays into two leptons. The analysis is based on an event sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 22 μb−1. The cross section for coherent ψ(2S) production in the rapidity interval −0.9<y<0.9 is dσψ(2S)coh/dy=0.83±0.19(stat+syst) mb. The ψ(2S) to J/ψ coherent cross section ratio is 0.34−0.07+0.08(stat+syst). The obtained results are compared to predictions from theoretical models