TY - JOUR
T1 - Dielectron production in proton-proton collisions at √s=7 TeV
AU - ALICE Collaboration
AU - Acharya, S.
A2 - Andrews, H. A.
A2 - Evans, D.
A2 - Graham, Katie
A2 - Jones, Peter
A2 - Jusko, Anton
A2 - Krivda, Marian
A2 - Kvapil, Jakub
A2 - Lietava, Roman
A2 - Villalobos Baillie, Orlando
A2 - Willsher, Emily
A2 - Zardoshti, Nima
PY - 2018/9/12
Y1 - 2018/9/12
N2 - The first measurement of e+e− pair production at mid-rapidity (|ηe| <0.8) in pp collisions at s=7$$ \sqrt{s}=7 $$TeV with ALICE at the LHC is presented. The dielectron production is studied as a function of the invariant mass (mee <3.3 GeV/c2), the pair transverse momentum (pT,ee <8 GeV/c), and the pair transverse impact parameter (DCAee), i.e., the average distance of closest approach of the reconstructed electron and positron tracks to the collision vertex, normalised to its resolution. The results are compared with the expectations from a cocktail of known hadronic sources and are well described when PYTHIA is used to generate the heavy-flavour contributions. In the low-mass region (0.14 <mee <1.1 GeV/c2), prompt and non-prompt e+e− sources can be separated via the DCAee. In the intermediate-mass region (1.1 <mee <2.7 GeV/c2), a double-differential fit to the data in mee and pT,ee and a fit of the DCAee distribution allow the total cc¯$$ \mathrm{c}\overline{\mathrm{c}} $$and bb¯$$ \mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}} $$cross sections to be extracted. Two different event generators, PYTHIA and POWHEG, can reproduce the shape of the two-dimensional mee and pT,ee spectra, as well as the shape of the DCAee distribution, reasonably well. However, differences in the cc¯$$ \mathrm{c}\overline{\mathrm{c}} $$and bb¯$$ \mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}} $$cross sections are observed when using the generators to extrapolate to full phase space. Finally, the ratio of inclusive to decay photons is studied via the measurement of virtual direct photons in the transverse-momentum range 1 <pT <8 GeV/c. This is found to be unity within the statistical and systematic uncertainties and consistent with expectations from next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamic calculations.
AB - The first measurement of e+e− pair production at mid-rapidity (|ηe| <0.8) in pp collisions at s=7$$ \sqrt{s}=7 $$TeV with ALICE at the LHC is presented. The dielectron production is studied as a function of the invariant mass (mee <3.3 GeV/c2), the pair transverse momentum (pT,ee <8 GeV/c), and the pair transverse impact parameter (DCAee), i.e., the average distance of closest approach of the reconstructed electron and positron tracks to the collision vertex, normalised to its resolution. The results are compared with the expectations from a cocktail of known hadronic sources and are well described when PYTHIA is used to generate the heavy-flavour contributions. In the low-mass region (0.14 <mee <1.1 GeV/c2), prompt and non-prompt e+e− sources can be separated via the DCAee. In the intermediate-mass region (1.1 <mee <2.7 GeV/c2), a double-differential fit to the data in mee and pT,ee and a fit of the DCAee distribution allow the total cc¯$$ \mathrm{c}\overline{\mathrm{c}} $$and bb¯$$ \mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}} $$cross sections to be extracted. Two different event generators, PYTHIA and POWHEG, can reproduce the shape of the two-dimensional mee and pT,ee spectra, as well as the shape of the DCAee distribution, reasonably well. However, differences in the cc¯$$ \mathrm{c}\overline{\mathrm{c}} $$and bb¯$$ \mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}} $$cross sections are observed when using the generators to extrapolate to full phase space. Finally, the ratio of inclusive to decay photons is studied via the measurement of virtual direct photons in the transverse-momentum range 1 <pT <8 GeV/c. This is found to be unity within the statistical and systematic uncertainties and consistent with expectations from next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamic calculations.
U2 - 10.1007/JHEP09(2018)064
DO - 10.1007/JHEP09(2018)064
M3 - Article
SN - 1126-6708
VL - 2018
JO - JHEP
JF - JHEP
IS - 9
M1 - 64
ER -