Journal Article

Measurement of inelastic, single- and double-diffraction cross sections in proton–proton collisions at the LHC with ALICE

Andrei, C., Colamaria, F., Marchisone, M., Kurepin, A. B., Muhuri, S., Karavicheva, T., Browning, T. A., Kim, J. H., Dobrin, A., Bombara, M., Elia, D., Rakotozafindrabe, A., Dalsgaard, H. H., De Pasquale, S., Putschke, J., Adamová, D., Keidel, R., Gaardhøje, J. J., Sarkamo, J., Augustinus, A., Pastirčák, B., Tumkin, A., Cicalo, C., Armesto, N., Ronchetti, F., Kiselev, S., Scomparin, E., Das, D., D Erasmo, G., Grigoriev, V., Petrovici, M., Chapeland, S., Luo, J., Nandi, B. K., Skaali, T. B., Kuryakin, A., Margagliotti, G. V., Cosentino, M. R., Šándor, L., Takahashi, J., Munhoz, M. G., Pajares, C., Giubellino, P., Vinogradov, Y., Ferreiro, E. G., Dash, S., Samsonov, V., Lévai, P., Loginov, V., Shabetai, A., Windelband, B., Vercellin, E., Mlynarz, J., Vargas, A., Kaliňák, P., Kuijer, P. G., Deppman, A., Jacobs, P. M., Papikyan, V., Painke, F., Figiel, J., Engel, H., Závada, P., Bielčík, J., Kalliokoski, T., Canoa Roman, V., Silvermyr, D., Skjerdal, K., Králik, I., Hess, B. A., Riegler, W., Rademakers, A., Ladrón de Guevara, P., Di Giglio, C., Singha, S., Antičić, T., Peryt, W., Bastid, N., Cifarelli, L., Corrales Morales, Y., Jha, D. M., Jones, P.

2013

Overview

Measurements of cross sections of inelastic and diffractive processes in proton–proton collisions at LHC energies were carried out with the ALICE detector. The fractions of diffractive processes in inelastic collisions were determined from a study of gaps in charged particle pseudorapidity distributions: for single diffraction (diffractive mass M X <200 GeV/ c 2 ) , and , respectively at centre-of-mass energies ; for double diffraction (for a pseudorapidity gap Δ η >3) σ DD / σ INEL =0.11±0.03,0.12±0.05, and , respectively at . To measure the inelastic cross section, beam properties were determined with van der Meer scans, and, using a simulation of diffraction adjusted to data, the following values were obtained:  mb at and at . The single- and double-diffractive cross sections were calculated combining relative rates of diffraction with inelastic cross sections. The results are compared to previous measurements at proton–antiproton and proton–proton colliders at lower energies, to measurements by other experiments at the LHC, and to theoretical models.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer,Springer Nature B.V,Springer Verlag (Germany)
• Subject: Astronomy / Astrophysics and Cosmology / Beams (radiation) / Collisions / Collisions (Nuclear physics) / Cross sections / Detectors / Diffraction / Diffractive Process / Double Diffraction / Elementary Particles / Fysik / Hadrons / Heavy Ions / High Energy Physics - Experiment / Inelastic collisions / Inelastic Cross Section / Large Hadron Collider / Measurement / Measurement Science and Instrumentation / Monte Carlo Generator / Natural Sciences / Naturvetenskap / Nuclear Energy / Nuclear Physics / Physical Sciences / Physics / Physics and Astronomy / Pseudorapidity Distribution / Quantum Field Theories / Quantum Field Theory / Regular - Experimental Physics / Regular Article - Experimental Physics / Simulation / String Theory / Subatomic Physics / Subatomär fysik