The ALICE muon trigger system: cosmic ray commissioning and first beam-induced events.

International audienceALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the experiment dedicated to the study of nucleus-nucleus collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Its main physics goal is to characterize the properties of hot and dense nuclear matter created in heavy ion collisions, the so-called quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The forward part of ALICE consists of a muon spectrometer which is focused on the study of the production of heavy flavours and quarkonia via their (di)muon decay channels. This muon spectrometer is equipped of a trigger system based on four planes of large area Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) with 21,000 channels associated to a fast decision electronics. A commissioning phase was started in 2008 with the detection of cosmic rays and of the first beam injections into the LHC ring. In the presentation, design considerations and requirements will be discussed in view of lead-lead collisions. Next, the performances of the whole trigger system (detector and electronics) achieved in the commissioning will be presented, including the first tracks matched between the muon trigger and the muon tracking chambers

The muon spectrometer of the ALICE experiment at LHC

présenté par P. Rosnet, à paraître dans les proceedingsThe muon spectrometer of the ALICE experiment is a dedicated device to study heavy quark production in heavy ion collisions via their decay into muons. After more than 10 years of R&D and production, all large pieces of the muon spectrometer are installed in the ALICE experimental hall, while all detectors and their electronics are almost ready for installation

Inclusive Measurement of the Charmless Semileptonic Branching Ratio of B-hadrons

From the study of the kinematics properties of the final state produced in the semileptonic $\mathrm{B}$ decays $\mathrm{B\to \ell\nu_{\ell} X}$, the inclusive charmless semileptonic branching ratio of $\mathrm{B}$-hadrons has been measured. Using the data collected between 1992 and 1995, one gets: $\mathrm{BR(B\to \ell\nu_{\ell} X_u)} = (1.6\pm 0.4_{stat}\pm 0.4_{syst})\times 10^{-3}$, where $\mathrm{X_u}$ represents any charmless hadronic states

Inclusive Measurement of the Charmless Semileptonic Branching Ratio of B-hadrons

From the study of the kinematics properties of the final state produced in the semileptonic $\mathrm{B}$ decays $\mathrm{B\to \ell\nu_{\ell} X}$, the inclusive charmless semileptonic branching ratio of $\mathrm{B}$-hadrons has been measured. Using the data collected between 1992 and 1995, one gets: $\mathrm{BR(B\to \ell\nu_{\ell} X_u)} = (1.6\pm 0.4_{stat}\pm 0.4_{syst})\times 10^{-3}$, where $\mathrm{X_u}$ represents any charmless hadronic states

Front-End Electronics of the ALICE dimuon trigger

This document presents the design and performance of the Front-End Electronics (FEE) developed for the ALICE dimuon trigger operating with Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) in streamer mode. This electronics, yet ready for production, is based on a dedicated ASIC designed at LPC Clermont-Fd

Heavy-flavour and quarkonium production in the LHC era: from proton-proton to heavy-ion collisions

This report reviews the study of open heavy-flavour and quarkonium production in high-energy hadronic collisions, as tools to investigate fundamental aspects of Quantum Chromodynamics, from the proton and nucleus structure at high energy to deconfinement and the properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma. Emphasis is given to the lessons learnt from LHC Run 1 results, which are reviewed in a global picture with the results from SPS and RHIC at lower energies, as well as to the questions to be addressed in the future. The report covers heavy flavour and quarkonium production in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions. This includes discussion of the effects of hot and cold strongly interacting matter, quarkonium photo-production in nucleus-nucleus collisions and perspectives on the study of heavy flavour and quarkonium with upgrades of existing experiments and new experiments. The report results from the activity of the SaporeGravis network of the I3 Hadron Physics programme of the European Union 7th Framework Programme

Combined results on b-hadron production rates and decay properties

Combined results on b-hadron lifetimes, b-hadron production rates, B^0_d - \bar{B^0_d} and B^0_S - \bar{B^0_s} oscillations, the decay width difference between the mass eigenstates of the B^0_s - \bar{B^0_s} system, the average number of c and \bar{c} quarks in b-hadron decays, and searches for CP violation in the B^0_d - \bar{B-0_d} system are presented. They have been obtained from published and preliminary measurements available in Summer 2000 from the ALEPH, CDF, DELPHI, L3, OPAL and SLD Collaborations. These results have been used to determine the parameters of the CKM unitarity triangle

Search for CP Violation in the Decay Z -> b (b bar) g

About three million hadronic decays of the Z collected by ALEPH in the years 1991-1994 are used to search for anomalous CP violation beyond the Standard Model in the decay Z -> b \bar{b} g. The study is performed by analyzing angular correlations between the two quarks and the gluon in three-jet events and by measuring the differential two-jet rate. No signal of CP violation is found. For the combinations of anomalous CP violating couplings, ${\hat{h}}_b = {\hat{h}}_{Ab}g_{Vb}-{\hat{h}}_{Vb}g_{Ab}$ and $h^{\ast}_b = \sqrt{\hat{h}_{Vb}^{2}+\hat{h}_{Ab}^{2}}$, limits of \hat{h}_b < 0.59$and$h^{\ast}_{b} < 3.02$ are given at 95\% CL.Comment: 8 pages, 1 postscript figure, uses here.sty, epsfig.st