Low mass dielectron measurements in pp, p–Pb, and Pb–Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC

Abstract

Low mass dielectrons are important probes of the hot and dense QCD medium created in heavy-ion collisions, since the production of low mass dielectrons is sensitive to the thermodynamical properties of the medium and chiral symmetry restoration in the medium.The ALICE experiment at the LHC has measured low mass dielectrons in pp collisions at s=7 TeV and p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV to study and disentangle effects due to the cold nuclear matter. Recently, ALICE measured low mass dielectron mass spectra for different pair pT ranges in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV for the study of the properties of the hot and dense medium. In this paper, the status of the low-mass dielectron measurements in all collision systems produced at the LHC is summarized and the production of low mass dielectrons including virtual photons is discussed. Future prospects of the low-mass dielectron measurements in ALICE at the LHC Run3 and Run4 will be discussed.