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

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

Measurement of the low-energy antideuteron inelastic cross section

In this Letter, we report the first measurement of the inelastic cross section for antideuteron-nucleus interactions at low particle momenta, covering a range of 0.3 ≤ p < 4 GeV/c. The measurement is carried out using p-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon–nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV, recorded with the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC and utilizing the detector material as an absorber for antideuterons and antiprotons. The extracted raw primary antiparticle-to-particle ratios are compared to the results from detailed ALICE simulations based on the geant4 toolkit for the propagation of (anti)particles through the detector material. The analysis of the raw primary (anti)proton spectra serves as a benchmark for this study, since their hadronic interaction cross sections are well constrained experimentally. The first measurement of the inelastic cross section for antideuteron-nucleus interactions averaged over the ALICE detector material with atomic mass numbers ⟨A⟩ = 17.4 and 31.8 is obtained. The measured inelastic cross section points to a possible excess with respect to the Glauber model parametrization used in geant4 in the lowest momentum interval of 0.3 ≤ p < 0.47 GeV/c up to a factor 2.1. This result is relevant for the understanding of antimatter propagation and the contributions to antinuclei production from cosmic ray interactions within the interstellar medium. In addition, the momentum range covered by this measurement is of particular importance to evaluate signal predictions for indirect dark-matter searches

Elliptic Flow of Electrons from Beauty-Hadron Decays in Pb-Pb Collisions at sNN\sqrt {s_{NN}} = 5.02 TeV

The elliptic flow of electrons from beauty hadron decays at midrapidity (|y|<0.8) is measured in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt {s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The azimuthal distribution of the particles produced in the collisions can be parametrized with a Fourier expansion, in which the second harmonic coefficient represents the elliptic flow, $v_2$. The $v_2$ coefficient of electrons from beauty hadron decays is measured for the first time in the transverse momentum ($p_T$) range 1.3–6 GeV/c in the centrality class 30%–50%. The measurement of electrons from beauty-hadron decays exploits their larger mean proper decay length cτ ≈ 500 μm compared to that of charm hadrons and most of the other background sources. The $v_2$ of electrons from beauty hadron decays at midrapidity is found to be positive with a significance of 3.75 σ. The results provide insights into the degree of thermalization of beauty quarks in the medium. A model assuming full thermalization of beauty quarks is strongly disfavored by the measurement at high $p_T$, but is in agreement with the results at low $p_T$. Transport models including substantial interactions of beauty quarks with an expanding strongly interacting medium describe the measurement within uncertainties

J/ψ\psi elliptic and triangular flow in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02 TeV

The inclusive J/ψ elliptic (v$_{2}$) and triangular (v$_{3}$) flow coefficients measured at forward rapidity (2.5 < y < 4) and the v$_{2}$ measured at midrapidity (|y| < 0.9) in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC are reported. The entire Pb-Pb data sample collected during Run 2 is employed, amounting to an integrated luminosity of 750 μb$^{−1}$ at forward rapidity and 93 μb$^{−1}$ at midrapidity. The results are obtained using the scalar product method and are reported as a function of transverse momentum p$_{T}$ and collision centrality. At midrapidity, the J/ψ v$_{2}$ is in agreement with the forward rapidity measurement. The centrality averaged results indicate a positive J/ψ v$_{3}$ with a significance of more than 5σ at forward rapidity in the p$_{T}$ range 2 < p$_{T}$< 5 GeV/c. The forward rapidity v$_{2}$, v$_{3}$, and v$_{3}$/v$_{2}$ results at low and intermediate p$_{T}$ (p$_{T}$ ≲ 8 GeV/c) exhibit a mass hierarchy when compared to pions and D mesons, while converging into a species-independent curve at higher p$_{T}$. At low and intermediate p$_{T}$, the results could be interpreted in terms of a later thermalization of charm quarks compared to light quarks, while at high p$_{T}$, path-length dependent effects seem to dominate. The J/ψ v$_{2}$ measurements are further compared to a microscopic transport model calculation. Using a simplified extension of the quark scaling approach involving both light and charm quark flow components, it is shown that the D-meson v$_{n}$ measurements can be described based on those for charged pions and J/ψ flow

First measurement of quarkonium polarization in nuclear collisions at the LHC

International audienceThe polarization of inclusive J/ψ and ϒ(1S) produced in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV at the LHC is measured with the ALICE detector. The study is carried out by reconstructing the quarkonium through its decay to muon pairs in the rapidity region 2.5<y<4 and measuring the polar and azimuthal angular distributions of the muons. The polarization parameters λθ , λϕ and λθϕ are measured in the helicity and Collins-Soper reference frames, in the transverse momentum interval 2<pT<10 GeV/ c and pT<15 GeV/ c for the J/ψ and ϒ(1S) , respectively. The polarization parameters for the J/ψ are found to be compatible with zero, within a maximum of about two standard deviations at low pT , for both reference frames and over the whole pT range. The values are compared with the corresponding results obtained for pp collisions at s=7 and 8 TeV in a similar kinematic region by the ALICE and LHCb experiments. Although with much larger uncertainties, the polarization parameters for ϒ(1S) production in Pb–Pb collisions are also consistent with zero

A new laboratory to study hadron-hadron interactions

One of the big challenges for nuclear physics today is to understand, starting from first principles, the effective interaction between hadrons with different quark content. First successes have been achieved utilizing techniques to solve the dynamics of quarks and gluons on discrete space-time lattices. Experimentally, the dynamics of the strong interaction have been studied by scattering hadrons off each other. Such scattering experiments are difficult or impossible for unstable hadrons and hence, high quality measurements exist only for hadrons containing up and down quarks. In this work, we demonstrate that measuring correlations in the momentum space between hadron pairs produced in ultrarelativistic proton-proton collisions at the CERN LHC provides a precise method to obtain the missing information on the interaction dynamics between any pair of unstable hadrons. Specifically, we discuss the case of the interaction of baryons containing strange quarks (hyperons). We demonstrate for the first time how, using precision measurements of p-$\Omega^{-}$ correlations, the effect of the strong interaction for this hadron-hadron pair can be studied and compared with predictions from lattice calculations

ΛK\Lambda\rm{K} femtoscopy in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 2.76 TeV

The first measurements of the scattering parameters of ΛK pairs in all three charge combinations (ΛK+, ΛK−, and ΛKS0) are presented. The results are achieved through a femtoscopic analysis of ΛK correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV recorded by ALICE at the Large Hadron Collider. The femtoscopic correlations result from strong final-state interactions and are fit with a parametrization allowing for both the characterization of the pair emission source and the measurement of the scattering parameters for the particle pairs. Extensive studies with the THERMINATOR 2 event generator provide a good description of the nonfemtoscopic background, which results mainly from collective effects, with unprecedented precision. Furthermore, together with HIJING simulations, this model is used to account for contributions from residual correlations induced by feed-down from particle decays. The extracted scattering parameters indicate that the strong force is repulsive in the ΛK$^+$ interaction and attractive in the ΛK$^−$ interaction. The data hint that the ΛK$_S^0$ interaction is attractive; however, the uncertainty of the result does not permit such a decisive conclusion. The results suggest an effect arising either from different quark-antiquark interactions between the pairs (s$\bar{\rm s}$ in ΛK$^+$ and u$\bar{\rm u}$ in ΛK$^−$) or from different net strangeness for each system (S=0 for ΛK$^+$, and S=−2 for Λ$K^−$). Finally, the ΛK systems exhibit source radii larger than expected from extrapolation from identical particle femtoscopic studies. This effect is interpreted as resulting from the separation in space-time of the single-particle Λ and K source distributions

Elliptic and triangular flow of (anti)deuterons in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 5.02 TeV

International audienceThe measurements of the (anti)deuteron elliptic flow (v2) and the first measurements of triangular flow (v3) in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision sNN = 5.02 TeV are presented. A mass ordering at low transverse momentum (pT) is observed when comparing these measurements with those of other identified hadrons, as expected from relativistic hydrodynamics. The measured (anti)deuteron v2 lies between the predictions from the simple coalescence and blast-wave models, which provide a good description of the data only for more peripheral and for more central collisions, respectively. The mass number scaling, which is violated for v2, is approximately valid for the (anti)deuterons v3. The measured v2 and v3 are also compared with the predictions from a coalescence approach with phase-space distributions of nucleons generated by iebe-vishnu with ampt initial conditions coupled with urqmd, and from a dynamical model based on relativistic hydrodynamics coupled to the hadronic afterburner smash. The model predictions are consistent with the data within the uncertainties in midcentral collisions, while a deviation is observed in the most central collisions