Long- and short-range correlations and their event-scale dependence in high-multiplicity pp collisions at 1as = 13 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations are measured in high-multiplicity proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV by the ALICE Collaboration. The yields of particle pairs at short-( 06\u3b7 3c 0) and long-range (1.6 < | 06\u3b7| < 1.8) in pseudorapidity are extracted on the near-side ( 06\u3c6 3c 0). They are reported as a function of transverse momentum (pT) in the range 1 < pT< 4 GeV/c. Furthermore, the event-scale dependence is studied for the first time by requiring the presence of high-pT leading particles or jets for varying pT thresholds. The results demonstrate that the long-range \u201cridge\u201d yield, possibly related to the collective behavior of the system, is present in events with high-pT processes as well. The magnitudes of the short- and long-range yields are found to grow with the event scale. The results are compared to EPOS LHC and PYTHIA 8 calculations, with and without string-shoving interactions. It is found that while both models describe the qualitative trends in the data, calculations from EPOS LHC show a better quantitative agreement for the pT dependency, while overestimating the event-scale dependency. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Search for a common baryon source in high-multiplicity pp collisions at the LHC

We report on the measurement of the size of the particle-emitting source from two-baryon correlations with ALICE in high-multiplicity pp collisions at s=13 TeV. The source radius is studied with low relative momentum p–p, p‾–p‾, p–Λ, and p‾–Λ‾ pairs as a function of the pair transverse mass mT considering for the first time in a quantitative way the effect of strong resonance decays. After correcting for this effect, the radii extracted for pairs of different particle species agree. This indicates that protons, antiprotons, Λ s, and Λ‾ s originate from the same source. Within the measured mT range (1.1–2.2) GeV/c2the invariant radius of this common source varies between 1.3 and 0.85 fm. These results provide a precise reference for studies of the strong hadron–hadron interactions and for the investigation of collective properties in small colliding systems. © 2020 CERN for the benefit of the ALICE CollaborationPeer reviewe

Skewness and kurtosis of mean transverse momentum fluctuations at the LHC energies

The first measurements of skewness and kurtosis of mean transverse momentum (〈pT〉) fluctuations are reported in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN = 5.02 TeV, Xe–Xe collisions at sNN = 5.44 TeV and pp collisions at s=5.02 TeV using the ALICE detector. The measurements are carried out as a function of system size 〈dNch/dη〉|η|&lt;0.51/3, using charged particles with transverse momentum (pT) and pseudorapidity (η), in the range 0.2&lt;3.0 GeV/c and |η|&lt;0.8, respectively. In Pb–Pb and Xe–Xe collisions, positive skewness is observed in the fluctuations of 〈pT〉 for all centralities, which is significantly larger than what would be expected in the scenario of independent particle emission. This positive skewness is considered a crucial consequence of the hydrodynamic evolution of the hot and dense nuclear matter created in heavy-ion collisions. Furthermore, similar observations of positive skewness for minimum bias pp collisions are also reported here. Kurtosis of 〈pT〉 fluctuations is found to be in good agreement with the kurtosis of Gaussian distribution, for most central Pb–Pb collisions. Hydrodynamic model calculations with MUSIC using Monte Carlo Glauber initial conditions are able to explain the measurements of both skewness and kurtosis qualitatively from semicentral to central collisions in Pb–Pb system. Color reconnection mechanism in PYTHIA8 model seems to play a pivotal role in capturing the qualitative behavior of the same measurements in pp collisions

K *(892)± resonance production in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV

The production of K∗(892)± meson resonance is measured at midrapidity (|y|&lt;0.5) in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV using the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The resonance is reconstructed via its hadronic decay channel K∗(892)±→KS0π±. The transverse momentum distributions are obtained for various centrality intervals in the pT range of 0.4-16 GeV/c. Measurements of integrated yields, mean transverse momenta, and particle yield ratios are reported and found to be consistent with previous ALICE measurements for K∗(892)0 within uncertainties. The pT-integrated yield ratio 2K∗(892)±/(K++K-) in central Pb-Pb collisions shows a significant suppression at a level of 9.3σ relative to pp collisions. Thermal model calculations result in an overprediction of the particle yield ratio. Although both hadron resonance gas in partial chemical equilibrium (HRG-PCE) and music + smash simulations consider the hadronic phase, only HRG-PCE accurately represents the measurements, whereas music + smash simulations tend to overpredict the particle yield ratio. These observations, along with the kinetic freeze-out temperatures extracted from the yields measured for light-flavored hadrons using the HRG-PCE model, indicate a finite hadronic phase lifetime, which decreases with increasing collision centrality percentile. The pT-differential yield ratios 2K∗(892)±/(K++K-) and 2K∗(892)±/(π++π-) are presented and compared with measurements in pp collisions at s=5.02 TeV. Both particle ratios are found to be suppressed by up to a factor of five at pT&lt;2.0 GeV/c in central Pb-Pb collisions and are qualitatively consistent with expectations for rescattering effects in the hadronic phase. The nuclear modification factor (RAA) shows a smooth evolution with centrality and is found to be below unity at pT&gt;8 GeV/c, consistent with measurements for other light-flavored hadrons. The smallest values are observed in most central collisions, indicating larger energy loss of partons traversing the dense medium

Pion-kaon femtoscopy and the lifetime of the hadronic phase in Pb-Pb collisions at root(S)(NN)=2.76 TeV

In this paper, the first femtoscopic analysis of pion-kaon correlations at the LHC is reported. The analysis was performed on the Pb-Pb collision data at root(S)(NN) = 2.76 TeV recorded with the ALICE detector. The non-identical particle correlations probe the spatio-temporal separation between sources of different particle species as well as the average source size of the emitting system. The sizes of the pion and kaon sources increase with centrality, and pions are emitted closer to the centre of the system and/or later than kaons. This is naturally expected in a system with strong radial flow and is qualitatively reproduced by hydrodynamic models. ALICE data on pion-kaon emission asymmetry are consistent with (3+1)-dimensional viscous hydrodynamics coupled to a statistical hadronisation model, resonance propagation, and decay code THERMINATOR 2 calculation, with an additional time delay between 1 and 2 fm/c for kaons. The delay can be interpreted as evidence for a significant hadronic rescattering phase in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. (C) 2020 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Multiplicity and event-scale dependent flow and jet fragmentation in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV and in p-Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV

Long- and short-range correlations for pairs of charged particles are studied via two-particle angular correlations in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV and p–Pb collisions at sNN = 5.02 TeV. The correlation functions are measured as a function of relative azimuthal angle ∆φ and pseudorapidity separation ∆η for pairs of primary charged particles within the pseudorapidity interval |η| &lt; 0.9 and the transverse-momentum interval 1 &lt; pT&lt; 4 GeV/c. Flow coefficients are extracted for the long-range correlations (1.6 &lt; |∆η| &lt; 1.8) in various high-multiplicity event classes using the low-multiplicity template fit method. The method is used to subtract the enhanced yield of away-side jet fragments in high-multiplicity events. These results show decreasing flow signals toward lower multiplicity events. Furthermore, the flow coefficients for events with hard probes, such as jets or leading particles, do not exhibit any significant changes compared to those obtained from high-multiplicity events without any specific event selection criteria. The results are compared with hydrodynamic-model calculations, and it is found that a better understanding of the initial conditions is necessary to describe the results, particularly for low-multiplicity events

Search for jet quenching effects in high-multiplicity pp collisions at √s=13 TeV via di-jet acoplanarity

The ALICE Collaboration reports a search for jet quenching effects in high-multiplicity (HM) proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV, using the semi-inclusive azimuthal-difference distribution ∆φ of charged-particle jets recoiling from a high transverse momentum (high-pT,trig) trigger hadron. Jet quenching may broaden the ∆φ distribution measured in HM events compared to that in minimum bias (MB) events. The measurement employs a pT,trig-differential observable for data-driven suppression of the contribution of multiple partonic interactions, which is the dominant background. While azimuthal broadening is indeed observed in HM compared to MB events, similar broadening for HM events is observed for simulations based on the PYTHIA 8 Monte Carlo generator, which does not incorporate jet quenching. Detailed analysis of these data and simulations show that the azimuthal broadening is due to bias of the HM selection towards events with multiple jets in the final state. The identification of this bias has implications for all jet quenching searches where selection is made on the event activity

Pseudorapidity dependence of anisotropic flow and its decorrelations using long-range multiparticle correlations in Pb-Pb and Xe-Xe collisions

The pseudorapidity dependence of elliptic (v2), triangular (v3), and quadrangular (v4) flow coefficients of charged particles measured in Pb–Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of sNN=5.02TeV and in Xe–Xe collisions at sNN=5.44TeV with ALICE at the LHC are presented. The measurements are performed in the pseudorapidity range −3.5&lt;η&lt;5 for various centrality intervals using two- and multi-particle cumulants with the subevent method. The flow probability density function (p.d.f.) is studied with the ratio of flow coefficient v2 calculated with four- and two-particle cumulant, and suggests that the variance of flow p.d.f. is independent of pseudorapidity. The decorrelation of the flow vector in the longitudinal direction is probed using two-particle correlations. The results measured with respect to different reference regions in pseudorapidity exhibit differences, argued to be a result of saturating decorrelation effect above a certain pseudorapidity separation, in contrast to previous publications which assign this observation to non-flow effects. The results are compared to 3+1 dimensional hydrodynamic and the AMPT transport model calculations. Neither of the models is able to simultaneously describe the pseudorapidity dependence of measurements of anisotropic flow and its fluctuations. The results presented in this work highlight shortcomings in our current understanding of initial conditions and subsequent system expansion in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, they provide input for its improvement

Prompt and non-prompt J/ψ production at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV

The transverse momentum (pT) and centrality dependence of the nuclear modification factor RAA of prompt and non-prompt J/ψ, the latter originating from the weak decays of beauty hadrons, have been measured by the ALICE collaboration in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN = 5.02 TeV. The measurements are carried out through the e+e− decay channel at midrapidity (|y| &lt; 0.9) in the transverse momentum region 1.5 &lt; pT &lt; 10 GeV/c. Both prompt and non-prompt J/ψ measurements indicate a significant suppression for pT &gt; 5 GeV/c, which becomes stronger with increasing collision centrality. The results are consistent with similar LHC measurements in the overlapping pT intervals, and cover the kinematic region down to pT = 1.5 GeV/c at midrapidity, not accessible by other LHC experiments. The suppression of prompt J/ψ in central and semicentral collisions exhibits a decreasing trend towards lower transverse momentum, described within uncertainties by models implementing J/ψ production from recombination of c and c ̄ quarks produced independently in different partonic scatterings. At high transverse momentum, transport models including quarkonium dissociation are able to describe the suppression for prompt J/ψ. For non-prompt J/ψ, the suppression predicted by models including both collisional and radiative processes for the computation of the beauty-quark energy loss inside the quark-gluon plasma is consistent with measurements within uncertainties