Elliptic flow of charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV

We report the first measurement of charged particle elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is performed in the central pseudorapidity region (|$\eta$|<0.8) and transverse momentum range 0.2< $p_{\rm T}$< 5.0 GeV/$c$. The elliptic flow signal v$_2$, measured using the 4-particle correlation method, averaged over transverse momentum and pseudorapidity is 0.087 $\pm$ 0.002 (stat) $\pm$ 0.004 (syst) in the 40-50% centrality class. The differential elliptic flow v$_2(p_{\rm T})$ reaches a maximum of 0.2 near $p_{\rm T}$ = 3 GeV/$c$. Compared to RHIC Au-Au collisions at 200 GeV, the elliptic flow increases by about 30%. Some hydrodynamic model predictions which include viscous corrections are in agreement with the observed increase.Comment: 10 pages, 4 captioned figures, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/389

Strange particle production in proton-proton collisions at s=0.9\sqrt{s}=0.9 TeV with ALICE at the LHC

The production of mesons containing strange quarks (K$^0_s$, $\phi$) and both singly and doubly strange baryons ($\Lambda$, Anti-$\Lambda$, and $\Xi$+Anti-$\Xi$) are measured at central rapidity in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9 TeV with the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The results are obtained from the analysis of about 250 k minimum bias events recorded in 2009. Measurements of yields (dN/dy) and transverse momentum spectra at central rapidities for inelastic pp collisions are presented. For mesons, we report yields () of 0.184 $\pm$ 0.002 stat. $\pm$ 0.006 syst. for K$^0_s$ and 0.021 $\pm$ 0.004 stat. $\pm$ 0.003 syst. for $\phi$. For baryons, we find = 0.048 $\pm$ 0.001 stat. $\pm$ 0.004 syst. for $\Lambda$, 0.047 $\pm$ 0.002 stat. $\pm$ 0.005 syst. for Anti-$\Lambda$ and 0.0101 $\pm$ 0.0020 stat. $\pm$ 0.0009 syst. for $\Xi$+Anti-$\Xi$. The results are also compared with predictions for identified particle spectra from QCD-inspired models and provide a baseline for comparisons with both future pp measurements at higher energies and heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 33 pages, 21 captioned figures, 10 tables, authors from page 28, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/387

Measurement of D+- and D0 production in deep inelastic scattering using a lifetime tag at HERA

The production of D-+/-- and D-0-mesons has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 133.6 pb(-1). The measurements cover the kinematic range 5 < Q(2) < 1000 GeV2, 0.02 < y < 0.7, 1.5 < p(T)(D) < 15 GeV and |eta(D)| < 1.6. Combinatorial background to the D-meson signals is reduced by using the ZEUS microvertex detector to reconstruct displaced secondary vertices. Production cross sections are compared with the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD, which is found to describe the data well. Measurements are extrapolated to the full kinematic phase space in order to obtain the open-charm contribution, F-2(c (c) over bar), to the proton structure function, F-2

Performance of the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC

ALICE is the heavy-ion experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The experiment continuously took data during the first physics campaign of the machine from fall 2009 until early 2013, using proton and lead-ion beams. In this paper we describe the running environment and the data handling procedures, and discuss the performance of the ALICE detectors and analysis methods for various physics observables

Performance of the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC

ALICE is the heavy-ion experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The experiment continuously took data during the first physics campaign of the machine from fall 2009 until early 2013, using proton and lead-ion beams. In this paper we describe the running environment and the data handling procedures, and discuss the performance of the ALICE detectors and analysis methods for various physics observables

Production of Excited Charm and Charm-Strange Mesons at HERA

The production of excited charm, D 1(2420)0 and D 2 * (2460)0, and charm-strange, D s1(2536)±, mesons in ep collisions was measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 126 pb -1. Masses, widths and helicity parameters were determined. The measured yields were converted to the rates of c quarks hadronising as a given excited charm meson and to the ratios of the dominant D 2 * (2460)0 and D s1(2536) ± branching fractions. A search for the radially excited charm meson, D *(2640)±, was also performed. The results are compared with those measured previously and with theoretical expectations

Description and performance of track and primary-vertex reconstruction with the CMS tracker

A description is provided of the software algorithms developed for the CMS tracker both for reconstructing charged-particle trajectories in proton-proton interactions and for using the resulting tracks to estimate the positions of the LHC luminous region and individual primary-interaction vertices. Despite the very hostile environment at the LHC, the performance obtained with these algorithms is found to be excellent. For t (t) over bar events under typical 2011 pileup conditions, the average track-reconstruction efficiency for promptly-produced charged particles with transverse momenta of p(T) > 0.9GeV is 94% for pseudorapidities of vertical bar eta vertical bar < 0.9 and 85% for 0.9 < vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.5. The inefficiency is caused mainly by hadrons that undergo nuclear interactions in the tracker material. For isolated muons, the corresponding efficiencies are essentially 100%. For isolated muons of p(T) = 100GeV emitted at vertical bar eta vertical bar < 1.4, the resolutions are approximately 2.8% in p(T), and respectively, 10 m m and 30 mu m in the transverse and longitudinal impact parameters. The position resolution achieved for reconstructed primary vertices that correspond to interesting pp collisions is 10-12 mu m in each of the three spatial dimensions. The tracking and vertexing software is fast and flexible, and easily adaptable to other functions, such as fast tracking for the trigger, or dedicated tracking for electrons that takes into account bremsstrahlung

Rapidity and transverse momentum dependence of inclusive J/psi production in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

5 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett. B See paper for full list of authorsThe ALICE experiment at the LHC has studied inclusive J/psi production at central and forward rapidities in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. In this Letter, we report on the first results obtained detecting the J/psi through its dilepton decay into e+e- and mu+mu- pairs in the rapidity range |y|<0.9 and 2.

Searches for supersymmetry based on events with b jets and four W bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Five mutually exclusive searches for supersymmetry are presented based on events in which b jets and four W bosons are produced in proton-proton collisions at root s = 8TeV. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 fb(-1), were collected with the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2012. The five studies differ in the leptonic signature from the W boson decays, and correspond to all-hadronic, single-lepton, opposite-sign dilepton, same-sign dilepton, and >= 3 lepton final states. The results of the five studies are combined to yield 95% confidence level limits for the gluino and bottom-squark masses in the context of gluino and bottom-squark pair production, respectively. In the limit when the lightest supersymmetric particle is light, gluino and bottom squark masses are excluded below 1280 and 570 GeV, respectively