Knichel, Michael Linus (2015)
Transverse momentum
distributions of primary
charged particles in pp, p–Pb
and Pb–Pb collisions measured
with ALICE at the LHC.
Technische Universität Darmstadt
Dissertation, Erstveröffentlichung
Kurzbeschreibung (Abstract)
According to the standard model of Big Bang cosmology the earliest universe contained an extremely hot and dense medium that subsequently expanded and cooled. The evolution of the early universe happened through a phase with of deconfined quarks and gluons: the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). This phase ended about ten microseconds after the Big Bang when the temperature dropped below the critical temperature Tc and quarks and gluons became confined into hadrons. The existence of a QGP phase at high temperature is also predicted by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the fundamental field theory describing the strong interaction of quarks and gluons. In high-energy collisions of heavy nuclei a QGP can be created and studied experimentally. The energy loss of high energy partons in the hot QCD medium results in a suppression of particle production at large transverse momenta. Measurements of the parton energy loss can be used to characterize the QGP properties. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN provides hadron-hadron (pp), nucleus-nucleus (Pb–Pb) and proton-nucleus (p–Pb) collisions at the highest energies reached in an accelerator so far. The ALICE experiment at the LHC is dedicated to the investigation of the QGP in heavy-ion collisions and complemented by the study of pp and p–Pb collisions. In p–Pb collisions the QGP is not expected to be formed and the nuclear initial state and cold nuclear matter effects can be studied. Measurements in pp collisions serve as a reference for p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions. They also allow to tune phenomenological models and are a test of theoretical predictions from perturbative QCD. The data analyzed for this thesis were collected in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions by ALICE in 2010-2013 with different minimum bias triggers using the two VZERO scintillators and the Silicon Pixel Detector (SPD). Charged tracks are reconstructed using combined information from the Inner Tracking System (ITS) and the Time Projection Chamber (TPC), the main tracking detectors of ALICE. Events used for the analysis are required to have a reconstructed primary vertex. The selection of tracks is optimized to provide high purity of primary particles and optimal pT resolution. Measured pT distributions are corrected for tracking efficiency and acceptance effects as well as contamination from secondary particles originating from particle decays or particle production in the detector material. Both corrections are evaluated from full detector simulations using GEANT3 for particle transport through the detector with events generated from the Monte Carlo event generators PYTHIA (pp), DPMJET (p–Pb) and HIJING (Pb–Pb). Corrections for the finite momentum resolution of the detector are derived from the measured pT resolution and the pT spectra in an unfolding procedure. Spectra are normalized to inelastic yields and cross sections (pp), respectively non-single-diffractive yields (p–Pb), taking into account the efficiencies of the trigger and the vertex reconstruction. Possible sources of systematic uncertainties are identified and their contribution is estimated. Transverse momentum (pT) distributions of primary charged particles have been measured at mid rapidity |eta| < 0.8 in inelastic pp collisions at center-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 0.9 TeV (for 0.15 < pT < 20 GeV/c), sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV (for 0.15 < pT < 32 GeV/c) and sqrt(s) = 7 TeV (for 0.15 < pT < 50 GeV/c). In non-single-diffractive p–Pb collisions at the nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy sqrt(sNN) = 5.02 TeV pT distributions have been obtained for three different pseudorapidity intervals (|etaCMS| < 0.3, 0.3 <etaCMS < 0.8 and 0.8 < etaCMS < 1.3). The analysis of the first p–Pb collisions at the LHC in 2012 covered 0.5 < pT < 20 GeV/c, the kinematic range was extended to 0.15 < pT < 50 GeV/c with the data collected during the long p–Pb run in 2013. Pb–Pb collisions were analyzed in nine intervals of centrality covering 80% of the total hadronic cross section. Transverse momentum spectra were measured at mid rapidity |eta| < 0.8 and cover 0.15 < pT < 50 GeV/c for all centrality classes. The nuclear modification factor RAA (RpPb) is calculated as the pT differential yield measured in Pb–Pb (p–Pb) collisions divided by the cross section in pp collisions, scaled by the nuclear overlap function calculated in a Monte Carlo Glauber approach. Cold and hot nuclear matter effects can be quantified with the nuclear modification factors as the deviation from binary collision scaling. To obtain the nuclear modification factor RpPb a pp reference is required at sqrt(s) = 5.02 TeV, where no measurement is available. At large pT, the pp reference is constructed from measured spectra at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV multiplied by scaling factors from NLO pQCD calculations. At low pT, where perturbative calculations are not reliable, the pp reference is interpolated between the measurements at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV and sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, assuming a power law behavior of the cross section as function of sqrt(s). As pp reference for RAA the measurement at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV is used, with a parameterization of the data for 5 < pT < 32 GeV/c and an extrapolation to 32 < pT < 50 GeV/c. Fully corrected transverse momentum spectra are also obtained as a function of the measured particle multiplicity. The average transverse momentum <pT> as a function of the true multiplicity is constructed using a reweighting procedure with effective corrections obtained from Monte Carlo simulations which account for limited acceptance, tracking efficiency and contamination. The multiplicity dependence of the average transverse momentum is compared to predictions from Monte Carlo event generators and (in p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions) to expectations from binary collision scaling. In pp collisions the expected power-law behavior at large transverse momentum is observed, but the measured cross section does not agree with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations. At small transverse momenta the shape of the spectrum is approximately exponential. The data are compared to the MC event generators PHOJET and PYTHIA; none of them agrees with the data over the full pT range. In p–Pb collisions pT spectra are softer at forward pseudorapidity (in the Pb fragmentation region). The nuclear modification factor RpPb reveals that at low pT approximate participant scaling is in place. In the intermediate pT region, a hint of Cronin enhancement is visible, but at the edge of the experimental uncertainties. At high pT no deviation from binary collision scaling is observed and RpPb is consistent with unity. Theoretical predictions from a Color Glass Condensate initial state model are in agreement with the measured RpPb, as well as as calculations based on NLO pQCD with EPS09s nuclear parton distribution functions. In Pb–Pb collisions particle production is suppressed compared to the expectation from binary collision scaling. The suppression is largest for central collisions but remains substantial also for peripheral collisions. For central (0-5%) collisions the nuclear modification factor is about 0.4 at the largest measured momenta. The observations are in quantitative agreement only with part of theoretical models that incorporate medium-induced parton energy loss. In the future, improvements in the simulations and analysis procedure are expected to reduce the systematic uncertainties to about half the current values. With the inclusion of Pb–Pb data recorded in 2011 and the use of other triggers than minimum bias the pT reach could be extended up to 100 GeV/c.
Typ des Eintrags: | Dissertation | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Erschienen: | 2015 | ||||
Autor(en): | Knichel, Michael Linus | ||||
Art des Eintrags: | Erstveröffentlichung | ||||
Titel: | Transverse momentum distributions of primary charged particles in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions measured with ALICE at the LHC | ||||
Sprache: | Englisch | ||||
Referenten: | Braun-Munzinger, Prof. Dr. Peter ; Wambach, Prof. Dr. Jochen | ||||
Publikationsjahr: | 2015 | ||||
Ort: | Darmstadt | ||||
Datum der mündlichen Prüfung: | 1 Dezember 2014 | ||||
URL / URN: | http://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/4930 | ||||
Kurzbeschreibung (Abstract): | According to the standard model of Big Bang cosmology the earliest universe contained an extremely hot and dense medium that subsequently expanded and cooled. The evolution of the early universe happened through a phase with of deconfined quarks and gluons: the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). This phase ended about ten microseconds after the Big Bang when the temperature dropped below the critical temperature Tc and quarks and gluons became confined into hadrons. The existence of a QGP phase at high temperature is also predicted by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the fundamental field theory describing the strong interaction of quarks and gluons. In high-energy collisions of heavy nuclei a QGP can be created and studied experimentally. The energy loss of high energy partons in the hot QCD medium results in a suppression of particle production at large transverse momenta. Measurements of the parton energy loss can be used to characterize the QGP properties. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN provides hadron-hadron (pp), nucleus-nucleus (Pb–Pb) and proton-nucleus (p–Pb) collisions at the highest energies reached in an accelerator so far. The ALICE experiment at the LHC is dedicated to the investigation of the QGP in heavy-ion collisions and complemented by the study of pp and p–Pb collisions. In p–Pb collisions the QGP is not expected to be formed and the nuclear initial state and cold nuclear matter effects can be studied. Measurements in pp collisions serve as a reference for p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions. They also allow to tune phenomenological models and are a test of theoretical predictions from perturbative QCD. The data analyzed for this thesis were collected in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions by ALICE in 2010-2013 with different minimum bias triggers using the two VZERO scintillators and the Silicon Pixel Detector (SPD). Charged tracks are reconstructed using combined information from the Inner Tracking System (ITS) and the Time Projection Chamber (TPC), the main tracking detectors of ALICE. Events used for the analysis are required to have a reconstructed primary vertex. The selection of tracks is optimized to provide high purity of primary particles and optimal pT resolution. Measured pT distributions are corrected for tracking efficiency and acceptance effects as well as contamination from secondary particles originating from particle decays or particle production in the detector material. Both corrections are evaluated from full detector simulations using GEANT3 for particle transport through the detector with events generated from the Monte Carlo event generators PYTHIA (pp), DPMJET (p–Pb) and HIJING (Pb–Pb). Corrections for the finite momentum resolution of the detector are derived from the measured pT resolution and the pT spectra in an unfolding procedure. Spectra are normalized to inelastic yields and cross sections (pp), respectively non-single-diffractive yields (p–Pb), taking into account the efficiencies of the trigger and the vertex reconstruction. Possible sources of systematic uncertainties are identified and their contribution is estimated. Transverse momentum (pT) distributions of primary charged particles have been measured at mid rapidity |eta| < 0.8 in inelastic pp collisions at center-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 0.9 TeV (for 0.15 < pT < 20 GeV/c), sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV (for 0.15 < pT < 32 GeV/c) and sqrt(s) = 7 TeV (for 0.15 < pT < 50 GeV/c). In non-single-diffractive p–Pb collisions at the nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy sqrt(sNN) = 5.02 TeV pT distributions have been obtained for three different pseudorapidity intervals (|etaCMS| < 0.3, 0.3 <etaCMS < 0.8 and 0.8 < etaCMS < 1.3). The analysis of the first p–Pb collisions at the LHC in 2012 covered 0.5 < pT < 20 GeV/c, the kinematic range was extended to 0.15 < pT < 50 GeV/c with the data collected during the long p–Pb run in 2013. Pb–Pb collisions were analyzed in nine intervals of centrality covering 80% of the total hadronic cross section. Transverse momentum spectra were measured at mid rapidity |eta| < 0.8 and cover 0.15 < pT < 50 GeV/c for all centrality classes. The nuclear modification factor RAA (RpPb) is calculated as the pT differential yield measured in Pb–Pb (p–Pb) collisions divided by the cross section in pp collisions, scaled by the nuclear overlap function calculated in a Monte Carlo Glauber approach. Cold and hot nuclear matter effects can be quantified with the nuclear modification factors as the deviation from binary collision scaling. To obtain the nuclear modification factor RpPb a pp reference is required at sqrt(s) = 5.02 TeV, where no measurement is available. At large pT, the pp reference is constructed from measured spectra at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV multiplied by scaling factors from NLO pQCD calculations. At low pT, where perturbative calculations are not reliable, the pp reference is interpolated between the measurements at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV and sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, assuming a power law behavior of the cross section as function of sqrt(s). As pp reference for RAA the measurement at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV is used, with a parameterization of the data for 5 < pT < 32 GeV/c and an extrapolation to 32 < pT < 50 GeV/c. Fully corrected transverse momentum spectra are also obtained as a function of the measured particle multiplicity. The average transverse momentum <pT> as a function of the true multiplicity is constructed using a reweighting procedure with effective corrections obtained from Monte Carlo simulations which account for limited acceptance, tracking efficiency and contamination. The multiplicity dependence of the average transverse momentum is compared to predictions from Monte Carlo event generators and (in p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions) to expectations from binary collision scaling. In pp collisions the expected power-law behavior at large transverse momentum is observed, but the measured cross section does not agree with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations. At small transverse momenta the shape of the spectrum is approximately exponential. The data are compared to the MC event generators PHOJET and PYTHIA; none of them agrees with the data over the full pT range. In p–Pb collisions pT spectra are softer at forward pseudorapidity (in the Pb fragmentation region). The nuclear modification factor RpPb reveals that at low pT approximate participant scaling is in place. In the intermediate pT region, a hint of Cronin enhancement is visible, but at the edge of the experimental uncertainties. At high pT no deviation from binary collision scaling is observed and RpPb is consistent with unity. Theoretical predictions from a Color Glass Condensate initial state model are in agreement with the measured RpPb, as well as as calculations based on NLO pQCD with EPS09s nuclear parton distribution functions. In Pb–Pb collisions particle production is suppressed compared to the expectation from binary collision scaling. The suppression is largest for central collisions but remains substantial also for peripheral collisions. For central (0-5%) collisions the nuclear modification factor is about 0.4 at the largest measured momenta. The observations are in quantitative agreement only with part of theoretical models that incorporate medium-induced parton energy loss. In the future, improvements in the simulations and analysis procedure are expected to reduce the systematic uncertainties to about half the current values. With the inclusion of Pb–Pb data recorded in 2011 and the use of other triggers than minimum bias the pT reach could be extended up to 100 GeV/c. |
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Alternatives oder übersetztes Abstract: |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:tuda-tuprints-49306 | ||||
Sachgruppe der Dewey Dezimalklassifikatin (DDC): | 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 530 Physik | ||||
Fachbereich(e)/-gebiet(e): | 05 Fachbereich Physik > Institut für Kernphysik 05 Fachbereich Physik |
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Hinterlegungsdatum: | 20 Sep 2015 19:55 | ||||
Letzte Änderung: | 20 Sep 2015 19:55 | ||||
PPN: | |||||
Referenten: | Braun-Munzinger, Prof. Dr. Peter ; Wambach, Prof. Dr. Jochen | ||||
Datum der mündlichen Prüfung / Verteidigung / mdl. Prüfung: | 1 Dezember 2014 | ||||
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