Abstract
The production of η and η′ mesons is studied in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions collected with the LHCb detector. Proton-proton collisions are studied at center-of-mass energies of 5.02 and 13TeV and proton-lead collisions are studied at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon of 8.16TeV. The studies are performed in center-of-mass (c.m.) rapidity regions 2.5<yc.m.<3.5 (forward rapidity) and -4.0<yc.m.<-3.0 (backward rapidity) defined relative to the proton beam direction. The η and η′ production cross sections are measured differentially as a function of transverse momentum for 1.5<pT<10GeV and 3<pT<10GeV, respectively. The differential cross sections are used to calculate nuclear modification factors. The nuclear modification factors for η and η′ mesons agree at both forward and backward rapidity, showing no significant evidence of mass dependence. The differential cross sections of η mesons are also used to calculate η/π0 cross-section ratios, which show evidence of a deviation from the world average. These studies offer new constraints on mass-dependent nuclear effects in heavy-ion collisions, as well as η and η′ meson fragmentation. ©2024 CERN, for the LHCb Collaboration. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 024907 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Physical Review C |
Volume | 109 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb-2024 |