First Measurement of the |t| Dependence of Incoherent J/ψ Photonuclear Production.

The first measurement of the cross section for incoherent photonuclear production of J/ψ vector mesons as a function of the Mandelstam |t| variable is presented. The measurement was carried out with the ALICE detector at midrapidity, |y|<0.8, using ultraperipheral collisions of Pb nuclei at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV. This rapidity interval corresponds to a Bjorken-x range (0.3-1.4)×10^{-3}. Cross sections are given in five |t| intervals in the range 0.04<|t|<1 GeV^{2} and compared to the predictions by different models. Models that ignore quantum fluctuations of the gluon density in the colliding hadron predict a |t| dependence of the cross section much steeper than in data. The inclusion of such fluctuations in the same models provides a better description of the data.

ψ(2S) Suppression in Pb-Pb Collisions at the LHC.

The production of the ψ(2S) charmonium state was measured with ALICE in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV, in the dimuon decay channel. A significant signal was observed for the first time at LHC energies down to zero transverse momentum, at forward rapidity (2.5

Photoproduction of K

K^{+}K^{-} pairs may be produced in photonuclear collisions, either from the decays of photoproduced ϕ(1020) mesons or directly as nonresonant K^{+}K^{-} pairs. Measurements of K^{+}K^{-} photoproduction probe the couplings between the ϕ(1020) and charged kaons with photons and nuclear targets. The kaon-proton scattering occurs at energies far above those available elsewhere. We present the first measurement of coherent photoproduction of K^{+}K^{-} pairs on lead ions in ultraperipheral collisions using the ALICE detector, including the first investigation of direct K^{+}K^{-} production. There is significant K^{+}K^{-} production at low transverse momentum, consistent with coherent photoproduction on lead targets. In the mass range 1.1

Emergence of Long-Range Angular Correlations in Low-Multiplicity Proton-Proton Collisions.

This Letter presents the measurement of near-side associated per-trigger yields, denoted ridge yields, from the analysis of angular correlations of charged hadrons in proton-proton collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV. Long-range ridge yields are extracted for pairs of charged particles with a pseudorapidity difference of 1.4<|Δη|<1.8 and a transverse momentum of 1

Measurements of Chemical Potentials in Pb-Pb Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV.

This Letter presents the most precise measurement to date of the matter-antimatter imbalance at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV. Using the Statistical Hadronization framework, it is possible to obtain the value of the electric charge and baryon chemical potentials, µ_{Q}=-0.18±0.90 MeV and µ_{B}=0.71±0.45 MeV, with unprecedented precision. A centrality-differential study of the antiparticle-to-particle yield ratios of charged pions, protons, Ω baryons, and light (hyper)nuclei is performed. These results indicate that the system created in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC is on average baryon-free and electrically neutral at midrapidity.

Observation of Medium-Induced Yield Enhancement and Acoplanarity Broadening of Low-p_{T} Jets from Measurements in pp and Central Pb-Pb Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV.

The ALICE Collaboration reports the measurement of semi-inclusive distributions of charged-particle jets recoiling from a high transverse momentum (high p_{T}) hadron trigger in proton-proton and central Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV. A data-driven statistical method is used to mitigate the large uncorrelated background in central Pb-Pb collisions. Recoil jet distributions are reported for jet resolution parameter R=0.2, 0.4, and 0.5 in the range 7

Measurement of the J/ψ Polarization with Respect to the Event Plane in Pb-Pb Collisions at the LHC.

We study the polarization of inclusive J/ψ produced in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV at the LHC in the dimuon channel, via the measurement of the angular distribution of its decay products. We perform the study in the rapidity region 2.5

Enhanced Deuteron Coalescence Probability in Jets.

The transverse-momentum (p_{T}) spectra and coalescence parameters B_{2} of (anti)deuterons are measured in p-p collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV for the first time in and out of jets. In this measurement, the direction of the leading particle with the highest p_{T} in the event (p_{T}^{lead}>5 GeV/c) is used as an approximation for the jet axis. The event is consequently divided into three azimuthal regions, and the jet signal is obtained as the difference between the toward region, that contains jet fragmentation products in addition to the underlying event (UE), and the transverse region, which is dominated by the UE. The coalescence parameter in the jet is found to be approximately a factor of 10 larger than that in the underlying event. This experimental observation is consistent with the coalescence picture and can be attributed to the smaller average phase-space distance between nucleons in the jet cone as compared with the underlying event. The results presented in this Letter are compared to predictions from a simple nucleon coalescence model, where the phase-space distributions of nucleons are generated using pythia8 with the Monash 2013 tuning, and to predictions from a deuteron production model based on ordinary nuclear reactions with parametrized energy-dependent cross sections tuned on data. The latter model is implemented in pythia8.3. Both models reproduce the observed large difference between in-jet and out-of-jet coalescence parameters, although the almost flat trend of the B_{2}^{Jet} is not reproduced by the models, which instead give a decreasing trend.

First Measurement of Antideuteron Number Fluctuations at Energies Available at the Large Hadron Collider.

The first measurement of event-by-event antideuteron number fluctuations in high energy heavy-ion collisions is presented. The measurements are carried out at midrapidity (|η|<0.8) as a function of collision centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV using the ALICE detector. A significant negative correlation between the produced antiprotons and antideuterons is observed in all collision centralities. The results are compared with a state-of-the-art coalescence calculation. While it describes the ratio of higher order cumulants of the antideuteron multiplicity distribution, it fails to describe quantitatively the magnitude of the correlation between antiproton and antideuteron production. On the other hand, thermal-statistical model calculations describe all the measured observables within uncertainties only for correlation volumes that are different with respect to those describing proton yields and a similar measurement of net-proton number fluctuations.

Measurements of Groomed-Jet Substructure of Charm Jets Tagged by D

Understanding the role of parton mass and Casimir color factors in the quantum chromodynamics parton shower represents an important step in characterizing the emission properties of heavy quarks. Recent experimental advances in jet substructure techniques have provided the opportunity to isolate and characterize gluon emissions from heavy quarks. In this Letter, the first direct experimental constraint on the charm-quark splitting function is presented, obtained via the measurement of the groomed shared momentum fraction of the first splitting in charm jets, tagged by a reconstructed D^{0} meson. The measurement is made in proton-proton collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV, in the low jet transverse-momentum interval of 15≤p_{T}^{jet ch}<30 GeV/c where the emission properties are sensitive to parton mass effects. In addition, the opening angle of the first perturbative emission of the charm quark, as well as the number of perturbative emissions it undergoes, is reported. Comparisons to measurements of an inclusive-jet sample show a steeper splitting function for charm quarks compared with gluons and light quarks. Charm quarks also undergo fewer perturbative emissions in the parton shower, with a reduced probability of large-angle emissions.

Measurement of the Lifetime and Λ Separation Energy of _{Λ}

The most precise measurements to date of the _{Λ}^{3}H lifetime τ and Λ separation energy B_{Λ} are obtained using the data sample of Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV collected by ALICE at the LHC. The _{Λ}^{3}H is reconstructed via its charged two-body mesonic decay channel (_{Λ}^{3}H→^{3}He+π^{-} and the charge-conjugate process). The measured values τ=[253±11(stat)±6(syst)] ps and B_{Λ}=[102±63(stat)±67(syst)] keV are compatible with predictions from effective field theories and confirm that the _{Λ}^{3}H structure is consistent with a weakly bound system.