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

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

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

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

Production of charged pions, kaons and protons at large transverse momenta in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76 TeV

Transverse momentum spectra of pi(+/-), K-+/- and p((p) over bar) up to p(T) = 20 GeV/c at mid-rapidity in pp, peripheral (60-80%) and central (0-5%) Pb-Pb collisions at v root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV have been measured using the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The proton-to-pion and the kaon-to-pionratios both show a distinct peak at p(T) approximate to 3 GeV/c in central Pb-Pb collisions. Below the peak, p(T) 10 GeV/c particle ratios in pp and Pb-Pb collisions are in agreement and the nuclear modification factors for pi(+/-), K-+/- and p((p) over bar) indicate that, within the systematic and statistical uncertainties, the suppression is the same. This suggests that the chemical composition of leading particles from jets in the medium is similar to that of vacuum jets

Production of charged pions, kaons and protons at large transverse momenta in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76 TeV

Transverse momentum spectra of pi(+/-), K-+/- and p((p) over bar) up to p(T) = 20 GeV/c at mid-rapidity in pp, peripheral (60-80%) and central (0-5%) Pb-Pb collisions at v root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV have been measured using the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The proton-to-pion and the kaon-to-pionratios both show a distinct peak at p(T) approximate to 3 GeV/c in central Pb-Pb collisions. Below the peak, p(T) 10 GeV/c particle ratios in pp and Pb-Pb collisions are in agreement and the nuclear modification factors for pi(+/-), K-+/- and p((p) over bar) indicate that, within the systematic and statistical uncertainties, the suppression is the same. This suggests that the chemical composition of leading particles from jets in the medium is similar to that of vacuum jets

Charged kaon femtoscopic correlations in pp collisions at sqrts=7 TeV.

Correlations of two charged identical kaons (KchKch) are measured in pp collisions at 1as = 7 TeV by the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). One-dimensional KchKch correlation functions are constructed in three multiplicity and four transverse momentum ranges. The KchKch femtoscopic source parameters R and are extracted. The KchKch correlations show a slight increase of femtoscopic radii with increasing multiplicity and a slight decrease of radii with increasing transverse momentum. These trends are similar to the ones observed for and K0s K0s correlations in pp and heavy ion collisions. However at high multiplicities, there is an indication that the one-dimensional correlation radii for charged kaons are larger than those for pions in contrast to what was observed in heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider

Centrality dependence of the pseudorapidity density distribution for charged particles in Pb\u2013Pb collisions at 1asNN = 2.76 TeV

We present the first wide-range measurement of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density distribution, for different centralities (the 0\u20135%, 5\u201310%, 10\u201320%, and 20\u201330% most central events) in Pb\u2013Pb collisions at 1asNN = 2.76 TeV at the LHC. The measurement is performed using the full coverage of the ALICE detectors, 125.0 < \u3b7 < 5.5, and employing a special analysis technique based on collisions arising from LHC \u2018satellite\u2019 bunches. We present the pseudorapidity density as a function of the number of participating nucleons as well as an extrapolation to the total number of produced charged particles (Nch = 17 165 \ub1 772 for the 0\u20135% most central collisions). From the measured dNch/d\u3b7 distribution we derive the rapidity density distribution, dNch/dy, under simple assumptions. The rapidity density distribution is found to be significantly wider than the predictions of the Landau model. We assess the validity of longitudinal scaling by comparing to lower energy results from RHIC. Finally the mechanisms of the underlying particle production are discussed based on a comparison with various theoretical models

First proton-proton collisions at the LHC as observed with the ALICE detector: Measurement of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density at √s = 900 GeV

On 23rd November 2009, during the early commissioning of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), two counter-rotating proton bunches were circulated for the first time concurrently in the machine, at the LHC injection energy of 450 GeV per beam. Although the proton intensity was very low, with only one pilot bunch per beam, and no systematic attempt was made to optimize the collision optics, all LHC experiments reported a number of collision candidates. In the ALICE experiment, the collision region was centred very well in both the longitudinal and transverse directions and 284 events were recorded in coincidence with the two passing proton bunches. The events were immediately reconstructed and analyzed both online and offline. We have used these events to measure the pseudorapidity density of charged primary particles in the central region. In the range |η|<0.5, we obtain dNch/dη=3. 10±0. 13(stat.)±0. 22(syst.) for all inelastic interactions, and dNch/dη=3.51±0. 15(stat.)±0. 25(syst.) for non-single diffractive interactions. These results are consistent with previous measurements in proton-antiproton interactions at the same centre-of-mass energy at the CERN SppS̄ collider. They also illustrate the excellent functioning and rapid progress of the LHC accelerator, and of both the hardware and software of the ALICE experiment, in this early start-up phase

Centrality, rapidity and transverse momentum dependence of J/\u3c8 suppression in Pb-Pb collisions at 1asNN= 2.76TeV

The inclusive J/.nuclear modification factor (R-AA) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76TeVhas been measured by ALICE as a function of centrality in the e+ e-decay channel at mid-rapidity (| y| < 0.8) and as a function of centrality, transverse momentum and rapidity in the + -decay channel at forward-rapidity (2.5 < y < 4). The J/.yields measured in Pb-Pb are suppressed compared to those in ppcollisions scaled by the number of binary collisions. The RAAintegrated over a centrality range corresponding to 90% of the inelastic Pb-Pb cross section is 0.72 - 0.06(stat.) - 0.10(syst.) at mid-rapidity and 0.58 - 0.01(stat.) - 0.09(syst.) at forward-rapidity. At low transverse momentum, significantly larger values of RAAare measured at forward-rapidity compared to measurements at lower energy. These features suggest that a contribution to the J/.yield originates from charm quark (re) combination in the deconfined partonic medium