Production of He-4 and (4) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV at the LHC

Results on the production of He-4 and (4) nuclei in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar <1, using the ALICE detector, are presented in this paper. The rapidity densities corresponding to 0-10% central events are found to be dN/dy4(He) = (0.8 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) x 10(-6) and dN/dy4 = (1.1 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.2 (syst)) x 10(-6), respectively. This is in agreement with the statistical thermal model expectation assuming the same chemical freeze-out temperature (T-chem = 156 MeV) as for light hadrons. The measured ratio of (4)/He-4 is 1.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst). (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Heavy-flavour jet measurements with ALICE

Heavy-flavour quarks, due to their large masses, are produced in the early stages of the relativistic hadronic collisions via hard scattering processes. Therefore, they are ideal probes to investigate the properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) produced in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, since they experience the full system evolution. In this contribution, the latest results on heavy-flavour jet production measured with the ALICE detector in pp and p--Pb collisions from the LHC Run 2 data are reported. In particular, measurements of heavy-flavour decay-electron jets in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.02 TeV and in p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV as well as of D-meson tagged jet in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.02, 7 TeV and in p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV are presented. The latter includes also studies on the jet momentum fraction carried by the D meson. Moreover, a characterisation of the spatial profile and of the internal composition of the charm jet by means of the azimuthal correlations of D-mesons with charged particles in pp and in p--Pb collisions at center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV is reported

Heavy-flavor Jet Properties and Correlations from Small-to-Large Systems with ALICE

The early production of heavy-flavor (HF, charm, and beauty) quarks makes them an excellent probe of the dynamical evolution of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) systems. Jets tagged by the presence of a HF hadron give access to the kinematics of the heavy quarks, and along with correlation measurements involving HF hadrons allow for comparisons of their production, propagation, and fragmentation across different systems. In this contribution, the latest results on HF jets and angular correlations measured with the ALICE detector in $pp$, $p$–Pb, and Pb–Pb collisions from the LHC Run 2 data are reported.The early production of heavy-flavor (HF, charm and beauty) quarks makes them an excellent probe of the dynamical evolution of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) systems. Jets tagged by the presence of a HF hadron give access to the kinematics of the heavy quarks, and along with correlation measurements involving HF hadrons allow for comparisons of their production, propagation and fragmentation across different systems. In this contribution the latest results on HF jets and correlations measured with the ALICE detector in pp, p--Pb and Pb--Pb collisions from the LHC Run 2 data are reported

Non prompt D-meson measurements with ALICE at the LHC

The production of hadrons with open heavy flavour (charm and beauty) in high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions is a powerful tool to study the properties of the deconfined phase of strongly interacting matter known as the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). The production of charm and beauty quarks occurs in hard partonic scattering processes in the early stage of the collisions. ALICE is the LHC experiment devoted to the study of heavy-ion physics. It is able to reconstruct charmed mesons in exclusive decays (e.g. D^0->K^-pi^+) and beauty hadrons in semi-inclusive decays (e.g. B->eX, B->J/psi X) . At LHC energies a significant component of the inclusive D-meson yield originates from the decay of beauty-flavoured hadrons, whose knowledge is essential to determine the production of prompt D mesons coming from charm quarks. A precise determination of the non-prompt fraction combined with the determination of the inclusive D-meson yield would allow a measurement of beauty production. A data-driven method that exploits the different shapes of the distributions of the transverse-plane impact parameter to the primary vertex of prompt and feed-down D mesons in p-Pb collisions is used in ALICE. An alternative approach based on the D-meson decay length for Pb-Pb collisions is under study.The production of hadrons with open heavy flavour (charm and beauty) in high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions is a powerful tool to study the properties of the deconfined phase of strongly interacting matter known as the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). The production of charm and beauty quarks occurs in hard partonic scattering processes in the early stage of the collisions. ALICE is the LHC experiment devoted to the study of heavy-ion physics. It is able to reconstruct charmed mesons in exclusive decays (e.g. D0→K−π+) and beauty hadrons in semi-inclusive decays (e.g. B→eX, B→J/ψ X) . At LHC energies a significant component of the inclusive D-meson yield originates from the decay of beauty-flavoured hadrons, whose knowledge is essential to determine the production of prompt D mesons coming from charm quarks. A precise determination of the non-prompt fraction combined with the determination of the inclusive D-meson yield would allow a measurement of beauty production. A data-driven method that exploits the different shapes of the distributions of the transverse-plane impact parameter to the primary vertex of prompt and feed-down D mesons in p-Pb collisions is used in ALICE. An alternative approach based on the D-meson decay length for Pb–Pb collisions is under study

Multiplicity dependence of heavy-flavour correlations with charged particle and collective effects in p--Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}= 5.02 TeV with ALICE at LHC

Azimuthal correlation studies of heavy-flavour particles with charged particles in p--Pb collisions can give an insight into the cold nuclear matter effects on heavy-quark production and hadronization into heavy-flavour jets. Multiplicity-dependent measurements of angular correlations of heavy-flavour particles with charged hadrons allow us to investigate the collective behavior of the system and the initial state effects on heavy flavour hadron production. In addition, they can reveal possible modifications of the heavy-quark fragmentation and hadronization at different multiplicities. We present ALICE measurements of azimuthal correlations of prompt D-mesons with charged hadrons as a function of the multiplicity in p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02TeV. Moreover, the elliptic flow ($v_2$) of heavy-flavour hadron decay electrons in high-multiplicity p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$= 5.02 TeV, obtained using correlations with charged particles, is reported.Azimuthal correlation studies of heavy-flavour particles with charged particles in p–Pb collisions can give an insight into the cold nuclear matter effects on heavy-quark production and hadronization into heavy-flavour jets. Multiplicity-dependent measurements of angular correlations of heavy-flavour particles with charged hadrons allow us to investigate the collective behavior of the system and the initial state effects on heavy flavour hadron production. In addition, they can reveal possible modifications of the heavy-quark fragmentation and hadronization at different multiplicities. We present ALICE measurements of azimuthal correlations of prompt D-mesons with charged hadrons as a function of the multiplicity in p–Pb collisions at s NN = 5.02TeV. Moreover, the elliptic flow ( v 2 ) of heavy-flavour hadron decay electrons in high-multiplicity p–Pb collisions at s NN = 5.02 TeV, obtained using correlations with charged particles, is reported

Measurements of HF-tagged jet substructure and energy-energy correlators with ALICE

Properties of partonic fragmentation in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) depend on parton flavours in $1\rightarrow2$ splitting processes in parton showers due to the different Casimir factors of quarks and gluons, and to the different masses of light- and heavy-flavour quarks. Heavy-flavour jets provide a unique experimental tool to probe these flavour dependencies. They represent an enhanced sample of jets originating from quarks and, at low and intermediate transverse momenta, they exhibit sensitivity to mass-related effects

Analysis of heavy-flavour particles in ALICE with the O

Precise measurements of heavy-flavour hadrons down to very low pT represent the core of the physics program of the upgraded ALICE experiment in Run 3 [1]. These physics probes are characterised by a very small signal-to-background ratio requiring very large statistics of minimum-bias events. In Run 3, ALICE is expected to collect up to 13 nb−1 of lead–lead collisions, corresponding to about 1 × 1011 minimum-bias events. In order to analyse this unprecedented amount of data, which is about 100 times larger than the statistics collected in Run 1 and Run 2, the ALICE collaboration is developing a complex analysis framework that aims at maximising the processing speed and data volume reduction [2]. In this paper, the strategy of reconstruction, selection, skimming, and analysis of heavy-flavour events for Run 3 will be presented. Some preliminary results on the reconstruction of charm mesons and baryons will be shown and the prospects for future developments and optimisation discussed

Multiplicity dependence of light (anti-)nuclei production in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV

The measurement of the deuteron and anti-deuteron production in the rapidity range −1 < y < 0 as a function of transverse momentum and event multiplicity in p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV is presented. (Anti-)deuterons are identified via their specific energy loss dE/dx and via their time-of- flight. Their production in p–Pb collisions is compared to pp and Pb–Pb collisions and is discussed within the context of thermal and coalescence models. The ratio of integrated yields of deuterons to protons (d/p) shows a significant increase as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity of the event starting from values similar to those observed in pp collisions at low multiplicities and approaching those observed in Pb–Pb collisions at high multiplicities. The mean transverse particle momenta are extracted from the deuteron spectra and the values are similar to those obtained for p and particles. Thus, deuteron spectra do not follow mass ordering. This behaviour is in contrast to the trend observed for non-composite particles in p–Pb collisions. In addition, the production of the rare 3He and 3He nuclei has been studied. The spectrum corresponding to all non-single diffractive p-Pb collisions is obtained in the rapidity window −1 < y < 0 and the pT-integrated yield dN/dy is extracted. It is found that the yields of protons, deuterons, and 3He, normalised by the spin degeneracy factor, follow an exponential decrease with mass number

Pseudorapidity densities of charged particles with transverse momentum thresholds in pp collisions at √ s = 5.02 and 13 TeV

The pseudorapidity density of charged particles with minimum transverse momentum (pT) thresholds of 0.15, 0.5, 1, and 2 GeV/c is measured in pp collisions at the center of mass energies of √s=5.02 and 13 TeV with the ALICE detector. The study is carried out for inelastic collisions with at least one primary charged particle having a pseudorapidity (η) within 0.8pT larger than the corresponding threshold. In addition, measurements without pT-thresholds are performed for inelastic and nonsingle-diffractive events as well as for inelastic events with at least one charged particle having |η|2GeV/c), highlighting the importance of such measurements for tuning event generators. The new measurements agree within uncertainties with results from the ATLAS and CMS experiments obtained at √s=13TeV.

Measurement of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays at midrapidity in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The differential invariant yield as a function of transverse momentum (pT) of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays was measured at midrapidity in central (0–10%), semi-central (30–50%) and peripheral (60–80%) lead–lead (Pb–Pb) collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV in the pT intervals 0.5–26 GeV/c (0–10% and 30–50%) and 0.5–10 GeV/c (60–80%). The production cross section in proton–proton (pp) collisions at √s = 5.02 TeV was measured as well in 0.5 < pT < 10 GeV/c and it lies close to the upper band of perturbative QCD calculation uncertainties up to pT = 5 GeV/c and close to the mean value for larger pT. The modification of the electron yield with respect to what is expected for an incoherent superposition of nucleon–nucleon collisions is evaluated by measuring the nuclear modification factor RAA. The measurement of the RAA in different centrality classes allows in-medium energy loss of charm and beauty quarks to be investigated. The RAA shows a suppression with respect to unity at intermediate pT, which increases while moving towards more central collisions. Moreover, the measured RAA is sensitive to the modification of the parton distribution functions (PDF) in nuclei, like nuclear shadowing, which causes a suppression of the heavy-quark production at low pT in heavy-ion collisions at LHC