ALICE measurements in p–Pb collisions: Charged particle multiplicity, centrality determination and implications for binary scaling

Abstract

Measurements of particle production in proton-nucleus collisions provide a reference to disentangle final state effects, i.e. signatures of the formation of a deconfined hot medium, from initial state effects, already present in cold nuclear matter. Since many initial state effects are expected to vary as a function of the number of collisions suffered by the incoming proton, it is crucial to estimate the centrality of the collision. In p-Pb collisions categorization of events into different centrality classes using a particle multiplicity distribution is complicated by the low particle multiplicities and the large multiplicity fluctuations. We present ALICE measurements of particle production in p-Pb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 5.02$ TeV, including the pseudo-rapidity and transverse momentum dependence, we discuss the event classification in centrality classes and its implications for the measurements of nuclear modification factors.