Low Transverse Momentum Region Research Articles

Jet-induced enhancement of deuteron production in pp and p-Pb collisions at the LHC

Jet-associated deuteron production in pp collisions at s=13 TeV and p-Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV is studied in the coalescence model by using the phase-space information of proton and neutron pairs from a multiphase transport (AMPT) model at the kinetic freezeout. In the low transverse momentum (pT) region pT/A<1.5 GeV/c, where A is the mass number of a nucleus, the in-jet coalescence factor B2In-jet for deuteron production, given by the ratio of the in-jet deuteron number to the square of the in-jet proton number, is found to be larger than the coalescence factor B2 in the medium perpendicular to the jet by a factor of about 10 in pp collisions and of 25 in p−Pb collisions, which are consistent with the ALICE measurements at the LHC. Such large low-momentum enhancements mainly come from coalescence of nucleons inside the jet with the medium nucleons. Coalescence of nucleons inside the jet dominates deuteron production only at the higher pT region of pT/A≳4 GeV/c, where both the yield ratio d/p of deuteron to proton numbers and the B2 are also significantly larger in the jet direction than in the direction perpendicular to the jet due to the strong collinear correlation among particles produced from jet fragmentation. Studying jet-associated deuteron production in relativistic nuclear collisions thus opens up a new window to probe the phase-space structure of nucleons inside jets.

Status and Performance of sPHENIX Experiment

sPHENIX is a state-of-the-art experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Hard probes are to be measured in p+p, p+Au and Au+Au collisions to understand the properties of the quark-gluon plasma. sPHENIX covers a wide range of physics programs: jet correlations and substructure, upsilon spectroscopy, open heavy flavor and cold quantum chromodynamics. It provides unique opportunities in the low transverse momentum region and also offer kinematic overlap with the Large Hadron Collider experiments. In these proceedings, the scientific mission of sPHENIX, detector design and key performance parameters are described, and expected projections of some measurements under consideration are presented.

Nonequilibrium components in the region of very low transverse momentum in high-energy nuclear collisions

We analyze Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV with a novel framework based on the dynamical core--corona picture that describes particle productions from both equilibrium and non-equilibrium components. We remark the possibility of the contribution from non-equilibrium components at very low transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) region and show that such contributions significantly affect $p_{T}$-integrated four-particle cumulants. These results strongly suggest the necessity of non-equilibrium components when one extracts properties of the quark-gluon plasma from experimental data using sophisticated dynamical models based on relativistic hydrodynamics.

ϒ production in p–Pb collisions at [formula omitted

ϒ production in p–Pb interactions is studied at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon–nucleon collision sNN=8.16 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. The measurement is performed reconstructing bottomonium resonances via their dimuon decay channel, in the centre-of-mass rapidity intervals 2.03<ycms<3.53 and −4.46<ycms<−2.96, down to zero transverse momentum. In this work, results on the ϒ(1S) production cross section as a function of rapidity and transverse momentum are presented. The corresponding nuclear modification factor shows a suppression of the ϒ(1S) yields with respect to pp collisions, both at forward and backward rapidity. This suppression is stronger in the low transverse momentum region and shows no significant dependence on the centrality of the interactions. Furthermore, the ϒ(2S) nuclear modification factor is evaluated, suggesting a suppression similar to that of the ϒ(1S). A first measurement of the ϒ(3S) has also been performed. Finally, results are compared with previous ALICE measurements in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV and with theoretical calculations.

Probing transverse-momentum distributions with groomed jets

We present the transverse momentum spectrum of groomed jets in di-jet events for e+e− collisions and semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS). The jets are groomed using a soft-drop grooming algorithm which helps in mitigating effects of non-global logarithms and underlying event. At the same time, by reducing the final state hadronization effects, it provides a clean access to the non-perturbative part of the evolution of transverse momentum dependent (TMD) distributions. In SIDIS experiments we look at the transverse momentum of the groomed jet measured w.r.t. the incoming hadron in the Breit frame. Because the final state hadronization effects are significantly reduced, the SIDIS case allows to probe the TMD parton distribution functions. We discuss the sources of non-perturbative effects in the low transverse momentum region including novel (but small) effects that arise due to grooming. We derive a factorization theorem within SCET and resum any large logarithm in the measured transverse momentum up to NNLL accuracy using the ζ-prescription as implemented in the artemide package and provide a comparison with simulations.

Quarkonium production in nuclear collisions

In these proceedings, an overview of recent quarkonium measurements in nuclear collisions carried out at both RHIC and LHC is presented. In p+p collisions, despite theoretical progresses made in understanding the production mechanisms for quarkonia, a complete picture is still yet to be achieved. In p+A collisions where measurements are done to quantify the cold nuclear matter effects, significant suppression of quarkonium production is observed for low transverse momentum region at both forward- and mid-rapidities. Furthermore, results from A+A collisions show the interplay of dissociation and regeneration contributions for charmonium at different collision energies, while a correspondence between the suppression level and the binding energy is observed for bottomonium family. Comparisons to experimental data provide stringent tests to model calculations, and help constrain the temperature of the deconfined medium created in heavy-ion collisions.

Scaling Properties of Multiplicity Fluctuations in the AMPT Model

From the events generated from the MC code of a multiphase transport (AMPT) model with string melting, the properties of multiplicity fluctuations of charged particles in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN = 2.76 TeV are studied. Normalized factorial moments, Fq, of spatial distributions of the particles have been determined in the framework of intermittency. Those moments are found in some kinematic regions to exhibit scaling behavior at small bin sizes, but not in most regions. However, in relating Fq to F2 scaling behavior is found in nearly all regions. The corresponding scaling exponents, ν, determined in the low transverse momentum (pT) region ≤ 1.0 GeV/c are observed to be independent of the pT bin position and width. The value of ν is found to be larger than 1.304, which is the value that characterizes the Ginzburg-Landau type second-order phase transition. Thus there is no known signature for phase transition in the AMPT model. This study demonstrates that, for the system under investigation, the method of analysis is effective in extracting features that are relevant to the question of whether the dynamical processes leading phase transition are there or not.

S -channel single top quark production and decay at next-to-next-to-leading-order in QCD

We report on a fully differential next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculation of s-channel single top (anti-)quark production with a semi-leptonic decay at the LHC, neglecting the color correlation between the light and heavy quark lines and in the narrow width approximation. The NNLO corrections can increase the cross section by about 10% in the low transverse momentum region of the top quark and reduce scale variation uncertainty. In order to compare with experimental results without unfolding procedures, we also present theoretical predictions with fiducial cuts, including total cross sections and distributions of observables used in the experimental multivariate analysis. The NNLO corrections are found to be about -8% for fiducial cross sections.

Charmonium coherent photoproduction and hadroproduction with effects of quark gluon plasma

We study the charmonium coherent photoproduction and hadroproduction consistently with modifications from both cold and hot nuclear matters. The strong electromagnetic fields from fast moving nucleus interact with the other target nucleus, producing abundant charmonium in the extremely low transverse momentum region pT<0.1 GeV/c. This results in significative enhancement of J/ψ nuclear modification factor in semi-central and peripheral collisions. In the middle pT region such as pT<3∼5 GeV/c, J/ψ final yield is dominated by the combination process of single charm and anti-charm quarks moving in the deconfined matter, c+c¯→J/ψ+g. In the higher pT region, J/ψ production are mainly from parton initial hard scatterings at the beginning of nucleus–nucleus collisions and decay of B hadrons. We include all of these production mechanisms and explain the experimental data well in different colliding centralities and transverse momentum regions.

Global extraction of partonic transverse momentum distributions from semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering and Drell-Yan data

We discuss a first attempt at a global extraction of unpolarized partonic transverse momentum dependent (TMD) distributions and fragmentation functions from a simultaneous fit of data measured in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering, Drell–Yan and Z boson production. This analysis is performed in the low transverse momentum region, at leading order in perturbative QCD. To connect data at different scales, we use TMD evolution at next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy.

Multiplicity and transverse momentum evolution of charge-dependent correlations in pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC

We report measurements of two-particle charge-dependent correlations in pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions at , and 2.76 TeV, respectively, as a function of pseudorapidity and azimuthal angle differences. These measurements, carried out using the balance function, probe the charge creation time and the development of collectivity in the produced systems. The balance function is studied as a function of the event multiplicity as well as the transverse momentum (pT) of charged particles detected in the range |η| < 0.8. In the low transverse momentum region, 0.2 < pT < 2.0 GeV/c, the balance function becomes narrower in both Δη and Δφ directions in all three systems for events with higher multiplicity. For higher values of transverse momenta, the balance function becomes even narrower but exhibits no significant multiplicity dependence, indicating that the observed narrowing with increasing multiplicity at low pT is a feature of bulk particle production.

Multiplicity and transverse momentum evolution of charge-dependent correlations in pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC.

We report on two-particle charge-dependent correlations in pp, p–Pb, and Pb–Pb collisions as a function of the pseudorapidity and azimuthal angle difference, Delta eta and Delta varphi respectively. These correlations are studied using the balance function that probes the charge creation time and the development of collectivity in the produced system. The dependence of the balance function on the event multiplicity as well as on the trigger and associated particle transverse momentum (p_{{mathrm {T}}}) in pp, p–Pb, and Pb–Pb collisions at sqrt{s_{mathrm {NN}}}= 7, 5.02, and 2.76 TeV, respectively, are presented. In the low transverse momentum region, for 0.2 < p_{{mathrm {T}}} < 2.0 GeV/c, the balance function becomes narrower in both Delta eta and Delta varphi directions in all three systems for events with higher multiplicity. The experimental findings favor models that either incorporate some collective behavior (e.g. AMPT) or different mechanisms that lead to effects that resemble collective behavior (e.g. PYTHIA8 with color reconnection). For higher values of transverse momenta the balance function becomes even narrower but exhibits no multiplicity dependence, indicating that the observed narrowing with increasing multiplicity at low p_{{mathrm {T}}} is a feature of bulk particle production.

Forward heavy quarkonium productions at the LHC

We investigate the low transverse momentum heavy quarkonium ($J/\psi$, $\Upsilon$) productions in the forward rapidity region of $pp$ and $pA$ collisions at the LHC as an important probe to the transverse momentum tomography of the gluons in hadrons in the Color Glass Condensate (CGC) framework. By implementing the Sudakov resummation consistently in the CGC formalism, we achieve an excellent agreement between the improved CGC calculations and the LHC data. We show that both the small-$x$ and the Sudakov effects are essential for a complete description of heavy quarkonium productions in the low transverse momentum region. This provides a solid foundation to study the small-$x$ gluon saturation in a big nucleus with the future $pA$ programs at the LHC.

Elliptic flow of identified hadrons in Pb-Pb collisions at s N N = 2.76 $$ \sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76 $$ TeV

The elliptic flow coefficient ($v_{2}$) of identified particles in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{{NN}}} = 2.76$ TeV was measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The results were obtained with the Scalar Product method, a two-particle correlation technique, using a pseudo-rapidity gap of $|\Delta\eta| > 0.9$ between the identified hadron under study and the reference particles. The $v_2$ is reported for $\pi^{\pm}$, $\mathrm{K}^{\pm}$, $\mathrm{K}^0_\mathrm{S}$, p+$\overline{\mathrm{p}}$, $\mathrm{\phi}$, $\Lambda$+$\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda}}$, $\Xi^-$+$\overline{\Xi}^+$ and $\Omega^-$+$\overline{\Omega}^+$ in several collision centralities. In the low transverse momentum ($p_{\mathrm{T}}$) region, $p_{\mathrm{T}} < 2 $GeV/$c$, $v_2(p_\mathrm{T})$ exhibits a particle mass dependence consistent with elliptic flow accompanied by the transverse radial expansion of the system with a common velocity field. The experimental data for $\pi^{\pm}$ and $\mathrm{K}$ are described fairly well by hydrodynamical calculations coupled to a hadronic cascade model (VISHNU) for central collisions. However, the same calculations fail to reproduce the $v_2(p_\mathrm{T})$ for p+$\overline{\mathrm{p}}$, $\mathrm{\phi}$, $\Lambda$+$\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda}}$ and $\Xi^-$+$\overline{\Xi}^+$. For transverse momentum values larger than about 3 GeV/$c$, particles tend to group according to their type, i.e. mesons and baryons. However, the experimental data at the LHC exhibit deviations from the number of constituent quark (NCQ) scaling at the level of $\pm$20$\%$ for $p_{\mathrm{T}} > 3 $GeV/$c$.

Unified description of transverse momentum spectrums contributed by soft and hard processes in high-energy nuclear collisions

The transverse momentum spectrums of π −, π +, K −, K +, $$\bar p$$ , and p produced in p-Pb collisions at √s NN = 502 TeV measured by the CMS Collaboration and in Pb-Pb collisions at √s NN = 2.76 TeV measured by the ALICE Collaboration are described by a two-component Erlang distribution. The first component corresponds to “soft” excitation process and contributes in the low transverse momentum region, which is contributed by 2–5 partons (sea quarks and gluons) with strong interactions. The second component corresponds to “hard” scattering process and contributes in the high transverse momentum region, which is contributed by 2 partons (valent quarks) with violent head-on collision. Each parton source contributes an exponential transverse momentum spectrum. Both the soft and hard processes result in an Erlang distribution. The transverse momentum spectrums of final-state charged particles are then described by the two-component Erlang distribution. The contribution ratio (30–40%) of the hard process extracted from nuclear collisions at the Large Hadron Collider is consistent with that (17–46%) obtained from other methods.

Combining resummed Higgs predictions across jet bins

Experimental analyses often use jet binning to distinguish between different kinematic regimes and separate contributions from background processes. To accurately model theoretical uncertainties in these measurements, a consistent description of the jet bins is required. We present a complete framework for the combination of resummed results for production processes in different exclusive jet bins, focusing on Higgs production in gluon fusion as an example. We extend the resummation of the Higgs + 1-jet cross section into the challenging low transverse momentum region, lowering the uncertainties considerably. We provide combined predictions with resummation for cross sections in the Higgs + 0-jet and Higgs + 1-jet bins, and give an improved theory covariance matrix for use in experimental studies. We estimate that the relevant theoretical uncertainties on the signal strength in the Higgs to WW analysis are reduced by nearly a factor of 2 compared to the current value.

Effects of nuclear absorption on theΛ¯/p¯ratio in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

An enhanced antiLambda/antiproton ratio in heavy-ion relative to p+p collisions has been proposed as one of the signatures for the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) formation. A significantly large (antiLambda+antiSigma0+1.1*antiSigma-)/antiproton ratio of 3.5 has been observed in the mid-rapidity and low transverse momentum region in central Au+Au collisions at the nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 4.9 GeV at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS). This is an order of magnitude larger than the values in peripheral Au+Au collisions and p+p collisions at the corresponding energy. By using the Ultra-relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) transport model, we demonstrate that the observed large ratio can be explained by strong absorption of antiprotons (~99.9%) and antiLambdas (~99%) in dense nuclear matter created in central collisions. We find within the model that the initial antiLambda/antiproton ratio, mainly from string fragmentation, does not depend on the collision centrality, and is consistent with that observed in p+p collisions. This suggests that the observed large (antiLambda+antiSigma0+1.1*antiSigma-)/antiproton ratio at the AGS does not necessarily imply the formation of the QGP. We further study the excitation function of the ratio in UrQMD, which may help in the search and study of the QGP.

Probing the low transverse momentum domain of Z production with novel variables

The measurement of the low transverse momentum region of vector boson production in Drell-Yan processes has long been invaluable to testing our knowledge of QCD dynamics both beyond fixed-order in perturbation theory as well as in the non-perturbative region. Recently the DØ collaboration have introduced novel variables which lead to improved measurements compared to the case of the standard Q T variable. To complement this improvement on the experimental side, we develop here a complete phenomenological study dedicated in particular to the new ϕ* variable. We compare our study, which contains the state-of-the-art next-to-next-to-leading resummation of large logarithms and a smooth matching to the full next-to-leading order $ \left( {\mathcal{O}\left( {\alpha_s^2} \right)} \right) $ result, to the experimental data and find excellent agreement over essentially the entire range of ϕ*, even without direct inclusion of non-perturbative effects. We comment on our findings and on the potential for future studies to constrain non-perturbative behaviour.

Study of low momentum track reconstruction for the BESIII main drift chamber

In order to overcome the difficulty brought by the circling charged tracks with transverse momentum less than 120 MeV in the BESIII Main Drift Chamber (MDC), a specialized method called TCurlFinder was developed. This tracking method focuses on the charged track reconstruction under 120 MeV and possesses a special mechanism to reject background noise hits. The performance of the package has been carefully checked and tuned by both Monte Carlo data and real data. The study shows that this tracking method could obviously enhance the reconstruction efficiency in the low transverse momentum region, providing physics analysis with more and reliable data.

Measurement of D + and Λ c + production in deep inelastic scattering at HERA

Charm production in deep inelastic scattering has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 120 pb−1. The hadronic decay channels D + → K S 0 π +, Λ c + → pK S 0 and Λ c + → Λπ +, and their charge conjugates, were reconstructed. The presence of a neutral strange hadron in the final state reduces the combinatorial background and extends the measured sensitivity into the low transverse momentum region. The kinematic range is 0 < p T (D +, Λ c +) < 10 GeV, |η(D +, Λ c +)| < 1.6, 1.5 < Q 2 < 1000 GeV2 and 0.02 < y < 0.7. Inclusive and differential cross sections for the production of D + mesons are compared to next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. The fraction of c quarks hadronising into Λ c + baryons is extracted.