Elliptic flow of identified hadrons in Pb-Pb collisions at 1asNN = 2.76 TeV

The elliptic flow coefficient (v2) of identified particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 1asNN = 2.76 TeV was measured with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The results were obtained with the Scalar Product method, a two-particle corre- lation technique, using a pseudo-rapidity gap of | 06\u3b7| > 0.9 between the identified hadron under study and the reference particles. The v2 is reported for \u3c0\ub1, K\ub1, K0S, p+p, \u3c6, \u39b+\u39b, \u39e 12+\u39e+ and \u3a9 12+\u3a9+ in several collision centralities. In the low transverse momentum (pT) region, pT 3 GeV/c

J/\u3a8 production and nuclear effects in p-Pb collisions at 1asNN=5.02 TeV

Inclusive J/\u3a8 production has been studied with the ALICE detector in p-Pb collisions at the nucleon-nucleon center of mass energy 1asNN = 5.02TeV at the CERN LHC. The measurement is performed in the center of mass rapidity domains 2.03 < ycms < 3.53 and ?4.46 < ycms < ?2.96, down to zero transverse momentum, studying the \u3bc+\u3bc? decay mode. In this paper, the J/\u3a8 production cross section and the nuclear modification factor RpPb for the rapidities under study are presented. While at forward rapidity, corresponding to the proton direction, a suppression of the J/\u3a8 yield with respect to binary-scaled pp collisions is observed, in the backward region no suppression is present. The ratio of the forward and backward yields is also measured differentially in rapidity and transverse momentum. Theoretical predictions based on nuclear shadowing, as well as on models including, in addition, a contribution from partonic energy loss, are in fair agreement with the experimental results

Technical design report for the upgrade of the ALICE inner tracking system

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is studying the physics of strongly interacting matter, and in particular the properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), using proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN LHC (Large Hadron Collider). The ALICE Collaboration is preparing a major upgrade of the experimental apparatus, planned for installation in the second long LHC shutdown in the years 2018-2019. A key element of the ALICE upgrade is the construction of a new, ultra-light, high-resolution Inner Tracking System (ITS) based on monolithic CMOS pixel detectors. The primary focus of the ITS upgrade is on improving the performance for detection of heavy-flavour hadrons, and of thermal photons and low-mass di-electrons emitted by the QGP. With respect to the current detector, the new Inner Tracking System will significantly enhance the determination of the distance of closest approach to the primary vertex, the tracking efficiency at low transverse momenta, and the read-out rate capabilities. This will be obtained by seven concentric detector layers based on a 50 \uce\ubcm thick CMOS pixel sensor with a pixel pitch of about 30\uc3\u9730 \uce\ubcm2. This document, submitted to the LHCC (LHC experiments Committee) in September 2013, presents the design goals, a summary of the R&D activities, with focus on the technical implementation of the main detector components, and the projected detector and physics performance. \uc2\ua9 2014 CERN on behalf of The ALICE Collaboration

Performance of the ALICE VZERO system

ALICE is an LHC experiment devoted to the study of strongly interacting matter in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at ultra-relativistic energies. The ALICE VZERO system, made of two scintillator arrays at asymmetric positions, one on each side of the interaction point, plays a central role in ALICE. In addition to its core function as a trigger source, the VZERO system is used to monitor LHC beam conditions, to reject beam-induced backgrounds and to measure basic physics quantities such as luminosity, particle multiplicity, centrality and event plane direction in nucleus-nucleus collisions. After describing the VZERO system, this publication presents its performance over more than four years of operation at the LHC

Multiplicity dependence of the average transverse momentum in pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC

The average transverse momentum (p(T)) versus the charged-particle multiplicity N-ch was measured in p-Pb collisions at a collision energy per nucleon-nucleon root S-NN = 5.02 TeV and in pp collisions at collision energies of root s = 0.9, 2.76, and 7 TeV in the kinematic range 0.15 < p(T) < 10.0 GeV/c and vertical bar eta vertical bar < 0.3 with the ALICE apparatus at the LHC. These data are compared to results in Pb-Pb collisions at root S-NN = 2.76 TeV at similar charged-particle multiplicities. In pp and p-Pb collisions, a strong increase of (p(T)) with N-ch is observed, which is much stronger than that measured in Pb-Pb collisions. For pp collisions, this could be attributed, within a model of hadronizing strings, to multiple-parton interactions and to a final-state color reconnection mechanism. The data in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions cannot be described by an incoherent superposition of nucleon-nucleon collisions and pose a challenge to most of the event generators. (C) 2013 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Technical Design Report for the Upgrade of the ALICE Inner Tracking System

Technical Design Report for the Upgrade of the ALICE Inner Tracking Syste