Measurements of longitudinal and transverse momentum distributions for neutral pions in the forward-rapidity region with the LHCf detector
Abstract
The differential cross sections for inclusive neutral pions as a function of transverse and longitudinal momentum in the very forward-rapidity region have been measured at the LHC with the LHC forward detector in proton-proton collisions at √{s }=2.76 and 7 TeV and in proton-lead collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energies of √{sNN}=5.02 TeV . Such differential cross sections in proton-proton collisions are compatible with the hypotheses of limiting fragmentation and Feynman scaling. Comparing proton-proton with proton-lead collisions, we find a sizable suppression of the production of neutral pions in the differential cross sections after subtraction of ultraperipheral proton-lead collisions. This suppression corresponds to the nuclear modification factor value of about 0.1-0.3. The experimental measurements presented in this paper provide a benchmark for the hadronic interaction Monte Carlo simulation codes that are used for the simulation of cosmic ray air showers.
- Publication:
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Physical Review D
- Pub Date:
- August 2016
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevD.94.032007
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1507.08764
- Bibcode:
- 2016PhRvD..94c2007A
- Keywords:
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- High Energy Physics - Experiment
- E-Print:
- 47 pages, 23 figures, 59 tables, accepted in PRD