1. |
- Abelev, B., et al.
(author)
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Upgrade of the ALICE Experiment Letter Of Intent
- 2014
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In: Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 0954-3899 .- 1361-6471. ; 41:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is studying the physics of strongly interacting matter, and in particular the properties of the Quark–Gluon Plasma (QGP), using proton–proton, proton–nucleus and nucleus–nucleus collisions at the CERN LHC (Large Hadron Collider). The ALICE Collaboration is preparing a major upgrade of the experimental apparatus, planned for installation in the second long LHC shutdown in the years 2018–2019. These plans are presented in the ALICE Upgrade Letter of Intent, submitted to the LHCC (LHC experiments Committee) in September 2012. In order to fully exploit the physics reach of the LHC in this field, high-precision measurements of the heavy-flavour production, quarkonia, direct real and virtual photons, and jets are necessary. This will be achieved by an increase of the LHC Pb–Pb instant luminosity up to 6×1027 cm−2s−1 and running the ALICE detector with the continuous readout at the 50 kHz event rate. The physics performance accessible with the upgraded detector, together with the main detector modifications, are presented.
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2. |
- Abbas, E., et al.
(author)
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Centrality dependence of the pseudorapidity density distribution for charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 TeV
- 2013
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In: Physics Letters. Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0370-2693. ; 726:4-5, s. 610-622
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present the first wide-range measurement of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density distribution, for different centralities (the 0-5%, 5-10%, 10-20%, and 20-30% most central events) in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV at the LHC. The measurement is performed using the full coverage of the ALICE detectors, -5.0 < eta < 5.5, and employing a special analysis technique based on collisions arising from LHC 'satellite' 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 (N-ch = 17165 +/- 772 for the 0-5% most central collisions). From the measured dN(ch)/d eta distribution we derive the rapidity density distribution, dN(ch)/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. (C) 2013 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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3. |
- Abbas, E., et al.
(author)
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Charmonium and e(+)e(-) pair photoproduction at mid-rapidity in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 TeV
- 2013
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In: European Physical Journal C. Particles and Fields. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044. ; 73:11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The ALICE Collaboration at the LHC has measured the J/psi and psi' photoproduction at mid-rapidity in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV. The charmonium is identified via its leptonic decay for events where the hadronic activity is required to be minimal. The analysis is based on an event sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 23 mu b(-1). The cross section for coherent and incoherent J/psi production in the rapidity interval -0.9 < y < 0.9, are d sigma(coh)(J/psi)/dy = 2.38(-0.24)(+0.34)(sta + sys) mb and d sigma(inc)(J/psi)/dy = 0.98(-0.17)(+0.19)(sta + sys) mb and , respectively. The results are compared to theoretical models for J/psi production and the coherent cross section is found to be in good agreement with those models incorporating moderate nuclear gluon shadowing at Bjorken-x around 10(-3), such as EPS09 parametrization. In addition the cross section for the process gamma gamma -> e(+)e(-) has been measured and found to be in agreement with models implementing QED at leading order.
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4. |
- Abbas, E., et al.
(author)
-
J/psi Elliptic Flow in Pb-Pb Collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 TeV
- 2013
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 1079-7114. ; 111:16
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on the first measurement of inclusive J/psi elliptic flow v(2) in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. The measurement is performed with the ALICE detector in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range 2.5 < y < 4.0. The dependence of the J/psi v(2) on the collision centrality and on the J/psi transverse momentum is studied in the range 0 <= p(T) < 10 GeV/c. For semicentral Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV, an indication of nonzero v(2) is observed with a largest measured value of v(2) = 0.116 +/-0.046(stat) +/- 0.029(syst) for J/psi in the transverse momentum range 2 <= p(T) < 4 GeV/c. The elliptic flow measurement complements the previously reported ALICE results on the inclusive J/psi nuclear modification factor and favors the scenario of a significant fraction of J/psi production from charm quarks in a deconfined partonic phase.
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5. |
- Abbas, E., et al.
(author)
-
Mid-rapidity anti-baryon to baryon ratios in pp collisions at root s=0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV measured by ALICE
- 2013
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In: European Physical Journal C. Particles and Fields. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044. ; 73:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The ratios of yields of anti-baryons to baryons probes the mechanisms of baryon-number transport. Results for (p) over bar /p, (Lambda) over bar/Lambda, (Xi) over bar (+)/(Xi) over bar (-) and (Omega) over bar (+)/(Omega) over bar (-) in pp collisions at root s = 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV, measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC, are reported. Within the experimental uncertainties and ranges covered by our measurement, these ratios are independent of rapidity, transverse momentum and multiplicity for all measured energies. The results are compared to expectations from event generators, such as PYTHIA and HIJING/B, that are used to model the particle production in pp collisions. The energy dependence of (p) over bar /p, (Lambda) over bar/(Lambda) over bar, (Xi) over bar (+)/(Xi) over bar (-) and (Omega) over bar (+)/(Omega) over bar (-), reaching values compatible with unity for root s = 7 TeV, complement the earlier (p) over bar /p measurement of ALICE. These dependencies can be described by exchanges with the Regge-trajectory intercept of alpha(J) approximate to 0.5, which are suppressed with increasing rapidity interval Delta y. Any significant contribution of an exchange not suppressed at large Delta y (reached at LHC energies) is disfavoured.
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6. |
- Abbas, E., et al.
(author)
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Performance of the ALICE VZERO system
- 2013
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In: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221. ; 8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- ALICE is an LHC experiment devoted to the study of strongly interacting matter in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at ultra-relativistic energies. The ALICE VZERO system, made of two scintillator arrays at asymmetric positions, one on each side of the interaction point, plays a central role in ALICE. In addition to its core function as a trigger source, the VZERO system is used to monitor LHC beam conditions, to reject beam-induced backgrounds and to measure basic physics quantities such as luminosity, particle multiplicity, centrality and event plane direction in nucleus-nucleus collisions. After describing the VZERO system, this publication presents its performance over more than four years of operation at the LHC.
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7. |
- Abelev, B., et al.
(author)
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Centrality determination of Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 TeV with ALICE
- 2013
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In: Physical Review C (Nuclear Physics). - 0556-2813. ; 88:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This publication describes the methods used to measure the centrality of inelastic Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per colliding nucleon pair with ALICE. The centrality is a key parameter in the study of the properties of QCD matter at extreme temperature and energy density, because it is directly related to the initial overlap region of the colliding nuclei. Geometrical properties of the collision, such as the number of participating nucleons and the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions, are deduced from a Glauber model with a sharp impact parameter selection and shown to be consistent with those extracted from the data. The centrality determination provides a tool to compare ALICE measurements with those of other experiments and with theoretical calculations.
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8. |
- Abelev, B., et al.
(author)
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J/psi Polarization in pp Collisions at root s=7 TeV
- 2012
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 1079-7114. ; 108:8
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The ALICE Collaboration has studied J/psi production in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV at the LHC through its muon pair decay. The polar and azimuthal angle distributions of the decay muons were measured, and results on the J/psi polarization parameters lambda(theta) and lambda(phi) were obtained. The study was performed in the kinematic region 2: 5 < y < 4, 2 < p(t) < 8 GeV/c, in the helicity and Collins-Soper reference frames. In both frames, the polarization parameters are compatible with zero, within uncertainties.
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9. |
- Abelev, B., et al.
(author)
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Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV
- 2012
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In: Journal of High Energy Physics. - 1029-8479. ; :1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The p(t)-differential inclusive production cross sections of the prompt charmed mesons D-0, D+, and D*(+) in the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.5 were measured in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV at the LHC using the ALICE detector. Reconstructing the decays D-0 -> K-pi(+), D+ -> K-pi(+)pi(+), D*(+) -> D-0 pi(+), and their charge conjugates, about 8,400 D-0, 2,900 D+, and 2,600 D*(+) mesons with 1 < p(t) < 24 GeV/c were counted, after selection cuts, in a data sample of 3.14 x 10(8) events collected with a minimum-bias trigger (integrated luminosity L-int = 5 nb(-1)). The results are described within uncertainties by predictions based on perturbative QCD.
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10. |
- Abelev, B., et al.
(author)
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Measurement of event background fluctuations for charged particle jet reconstruction in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 TeV
- 2012
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In: Journal of High Energy Physics. - 1029-8479. ; :3
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The effect of event background fluctuations on charged particle jet reconstruction in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV has been measured with the ALICE experiment. The main sources of non-statistical fluctuations are characterized based purely on experimental data with an unbiased method, as well as by using single high p(t) particles and simulated jets embedded into real Pb-Pb events and reconstructed with the anti-k(t) jet finder. The influence of a low transverse momentum cut-off on particles used in the jet reconstruction is quantified by varying the minimum track p(t) between 0.15 GeV/c and 2 GeV/c. For embedded jets reconstructed from charged particles with p(t) > 0.15 GeV/c, the uncertainty in the reconstructed jet transverse momentum due to the heavy-ion background is measured to be 11.3 GeV/c (standard deviation) for the 10% most central Pb-Pb collisions, slightly larger than the value of 11.0 GeV/c measured using the unbiased method. For a higher particle transverse momentum threshold of 2 GeV/c, which will generate a stronger bias towards hard fragmentation in the jet finding process, the standard deviation of the fluctuations in the reconstructed jet transverse momentum is reduced to 4.8-5.0 GeV/c for the 10% most central events. A non-Gaussian tail of the momentum uncertainty is observed and its impact on the reconstructed jet spectrum is evaluated for varying particle momentum thresholds, by folding the measured fluctuations with steeply falling spectra.
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