Elsevier

Physics Letters B

Volume 768, 10 May 2017, Pages 203-217
Physics Letters B

ϕ-Meson production at forward rapidity in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV and in pp collisions at s=2.76 TeV

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2017.01.074Get rights and content
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Abstract

The first study of ϕ-meson production in p–Pb collisions at forward and backward rapidity, at a nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass energy sNN=5.02 TeV, has been performed with the ALICE apparatus at the LHC. The ϕ-mesons have been identified in the dimuon decay channel in the transverse momentum (pT) range 1<pT<7 GeV/c, both in the p-going (2.03<y<3.53) and the Pb-going (4.46<y<2.96) directions — where y stands for the rapidity in the nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass — the integrated luminosity amounting to 5.01±0.19 nb1 and 5.81±0.20 nb1, respectively, for the two data samples. Differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum and rapidity are presented. The forward–backward ratio for ϕ-meson production is measured for 2.96<|y|<3.53, resulting in a ratio ∼0.5 with no significant pT dependence within the uncertainties. The pT dependence of the ϕ nuclear modification factor RpPb exhibits an enhancement up to a factor 1.6 at pT=34GeV/c in the Pb-going direction. The pT dependence of the ϕ-meson cross section in pp collisions at s=2.76 TeV, which is used to determine a reference for the p–Pb results, is also presented here for 1<pT<5 GeV/c and 2.5<y<4, for a 78±3 nb1 integrated luminosity sample.

Cited by (0)

i

Deceased.

ii

Also at: M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, D.V. Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear, Physics, Moscow, Russia.

iii

Also at: University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, United States.

E-mail address: [email protected].