Physics with the ALICE experiment

ALICE experiment at LHC collects data in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV and in PbPb collisions at 2.76 TeV. Highlights of the detector performance and an overview of experimental results measured with ALICE in pp and AA collisions are presented in this paper. Physics with proton-proton collisions is focused on hadron spectroscopy at low and moderate $p_T$. Measurements with lead-lead collisions are shown in comparison with those in pp collisions, and the properties of hot quark matter are discussed.Comment: Presented at the Conference of the Nuclear Physics Division of the Russian Academy of Science, 11-25.11.2011, ITEP, Moscow. 16 pages, 14 figure

Production of Neutral Pions and Eta-mesons in pp Collisions Measured with ALICE

Invariant cross sections for neutral pions and eta mesons in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 0.9, 2.76, and 7 TeV were measured by the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations describe the pi0 and eta spectra at 0.9 TeV, but overestimate the measured cross sections at 2.76 TeV and 7 TeV. The measured eta/pi0 ratio is consistent with mT scaling at 2.76 TeV. At 7 TeV indications for a violation of mT scaling were found.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the XXII International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, Quark Matter 2011, Annec

Multi-strange baryon elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76 TeV measured with the ALICE detector

We present the results on elliptic flow with multi-strange baryons produced in Pb-Pb collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76 TeV. The analysis is performed with the ALICE detector at LHC. Multi-strange baryons are reconstructed via their decay topologies and the v_2 values are analyzed with the two-particle scalar product method. The p_T differential v_2 values are compared to the VISH2+1 model calculation and to the STAR measurements at 200 GeV in Au+Au collisions. We found that the model describes \Xi and \Omega v_2 measurements within experimental uncertainties. The differential flow of \Xi and \Omega is similar to the STAR measurements at 200 GeV in Au+Au collisions.Comment: Prepared for the Proceedings of the International Conference on "Critical Point and Onset of Deconfinement - CPOD 2011", Wuhan, November 7-11, 201

Cross section normalization in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 2.76 TeV and 7 TeV, with ALICE at LHC

Measurements of the cross sections of the reference processes seen by the ALICE trigger system were obtained based on beam properties measured from van der Meer scans. The measurements are essential for absolute cross section determinations of physics processes. The paper focuses on instrumental and technical aspects of detectors and accelerators, including a description of the extraction of beam properties from the van der Meer scan. As a result, cross sections of reference processes seen by the ALICE trigger system are given for proton-proton collisions at two energies; $\sqrt{s}$=2.76 TeV and 7 TeV, together with systematic uncertainties originating from beam intensity measurements and other detector effects. Consistency checks were performed by comparing to data from other experiments in LHC.Comment: Quark Matter 2011 Conference Proceedings, 4 pages, 2 figure

Femtoscopy of Pb-Pb and pp collisions at the LHC with the ALICE experiment

We report on the results of femtoscopic analysis of Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=2.76 TeV and pp collisions at sqrt(s)=0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV with identical pions and kaons. Detailed femtoscopy studies in heavy-ion collisions at SPS and RHIC have shown that emission region sizes ("HBT radii") decrease with increasing pair transverse momentum k_T, which is understood as a manifestation of the collective behavior of matter. The trend was predicted to persist at the LHC. The data from Pb-Pb collisions confirm the existence of a flowing medium and provide strict constraints on the dynamical models. Similar analysis is carried out for pp collisions for pions and kaons and qualitative similarities to heavy-ion data are seen, especially in collisions producing large number of particles. The observed trends give insight into the soft particle production mechanism in pp collisions. 3D radii were also found to universally scale with event multiplicity in heavy-ion collisions. We extend the range of multiplicities both upwards with the Pb-Pb data and downwards with the pp data to test the scaling in new areas. In particular the high multiplicity pp collisions reach particle densities comparable to the ones measured in peripheral Cu-Cu and Au-Au collisions at RHIC. This allows for the first time to directly compare freeze-out sizes for systems with very different initial states.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of the Quark Matter 2011 plenary tal

Correlations and fluctuations studied with ALICE

The measurement of particle correlations and event-by-event fluctuations of physical observables allows to study a large variety of properties of the matter produced in ultra relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We will present results for two-particle correlations, mean transverse momentum fluctuations, and net charge fluctuations in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings submitted for the 28th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Puerto Rico, April 7-14, 2012; corrected typo

K0s-K0s correlations in 7 TeV pp collisions from the ALICE experiment at the LHC

Identical neutral kaon pair correlations are measured in 7 TeV pp collisions in the ALICE experiment. K0s-K0s correlation functions are formed in 3 multiplicity X 4 kT bins. The femtoscopic kaon source parameters Rinv and lambda are extracted from these correlation functions by fitting a (femtoscopy) X (PYTHIA) model to them, PYTHIA accounting for the non-flat baseline found in pp collisions. Source parameters are obtained from a fit which includes quantum statistics and final-state interactions of the a0/f0 resonance. K0s-K0s correlations show a systematic increase in Rinv for increasing multiplicity bin and decreasing Rinv for increasing kT bin as seen in pi-pi correlations in the pp system, as well as seen in heavy-ion collisions. Also, K0s-K0s correlations are observed to smoothly extend this pi-pi Rinv behavior for the pp system up to about three times higher kT than the kT range measured in pi-pi correlations.Comment: Proceedings of the Quark Matter 2011 Conference, 4 pages, 5 figure

Small-x Physics with the ALICE experiment at the CERN-LHC

High energy p-p, p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at the CERN-LHC offer unprecedented opportunities for studying wide variety of physics at small Bjorken-x. Here we discuss capabilities of the ALICE experiment at the CERN-LHC for probing small-x QCD physics. A new forward electromagnetic calorimeter is being proposed as an ALICE upgrade to explore the small-x region in more detail.Comment: Prepared for the Workshop on "Saturation, the Color Glass Condensate and Glasma: What Have we Learned from RHIC?" - to be published in Nucl. Phys.

Multi-strange baryon measurements at LHC energies, with the ALICE experiment

The status of the charged multi-strange baryon analysis (Xi-, anti-Xi+, Omega-, anti-Omega+) at LHC energies is presented. This report is based on the results obtained with ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment), profiting from the characteristic cascade-decay topology. A special attention is drawn to the early pp data-taking period (2009-2010) and subsequently, on the uncorrected pT-spectra extracted at mid-rapidity for centre of mass energies of 0.9 TeV and 7 TeV.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, Hot Quarks 2010 proceedings, La Londe Les Maures, France, June 2010 (to be published in Journal of Physics: Conference Series

Web-based CBR (case-based reasoning) as a tool with the application to tooling selection

Over the past few years, manufacturing companies have had to deal with an increasing demand for feature-rich products at low costs. The pressures exerted on their existing manufacturing processes have lead manufacturers to investigate internet-based solutions, in order to cope with growing competition. The decentralisation phenomenon also came up as a reason to implement networked-application, which has been the starting point for internet/intranet–based systems. Today, the availability of powerful and low cost 3D tools, database backend systems, along with web-based technologies, provides interesting opportunities to the manufacturing community, with solutions directly implementable at the core of their businesses and organisations. In this paper a web-based engineering approach is presented to developing a design support system using case-based reasoning (CBR) technology for helping in the decision-making process when choosing cutting tools. The system aims to provide on-line intelligent support for determining the most suitable configuration for turning operations, based on initial parameters and requirements for the cutting operation. The system also features a user-driven 3D turning simulator which allows testing the chosen insert for several turning operations. The system aims to be a useful e-manufacturing tool being able to quickly and responsively provide tooling data in a highly interactive way