Identified charged hadron production measured with ALICE at the LHC

Abstract

Abstract The ALICE experiment is the general-purpose heavy-ion experiment at the LHC which is optimized for the reconstruction and identification of particles over a broad momentum range, a unique feature among the four major LHC experiments. In this article, several results on identified charged hadron production are presented. These measurements depend critically on the excellent particle identification performance of the ALICE central barrel detectors which is reviewed briefly as well. Transverse momentum ( p T ) distributions of π ± , K ± , p and p ¯ from Pb–Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of s NN = 2.76 TeV are compared with corresponding measurements from Au–Au collisions at s NN = 0.2 TeV at RHIC. The spectral shapes indicate a strong increase of the radial flow velocity with growing s NN . Integrated hadron yields at mid–rapidity are compared with corresponding measurements from RHIC. Particle yield ratios, including strange hadrons are discussed in terms of thermal model calculations. Nuclear modification factors R AA of identified charged hadrons have been measured as a function of p T for the first time up to transverse momenta of 20 GeV/ c .