Photoproduction of low-pT J/ψ from peripheral to central Pb–Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV
S. Acharya, D. Adamová, A. Adler, G. Aglieri Rinella, M. Agnello, N. Agrawal, Z. Ahammed, S. Ahmad, S. U. Ahn, I. Ahuja, A. Akindinov, M. Al-Turany, D. Aleksandrov, B. Alessandro, H. M. Alfanda, R. Alfaro Molina, Bushra Ali, Y. Ali, A. Alici, N. Alizadehvandchali, A. Alkin, J. Alme, G. Alocco, T. Alt, I. Altsybeev, M. N. Anaam, C. Andrei, A. Andronic, V. Anguelov, F. Antinori, P. Antonioli, C. Anuj, N. Apadula, L. Aphecetche, H. Appelshäuser, S. Arcelli, R. Arnaldi, I. C. Arsene, M. Arslandok, A. Augustinus, R. Averbeck, Sizar Aziz, M. D. Azmi, A. Badalà, Y. W. Baek, X. Bai, R. Bailhache, Y. Bailung, R. Bala, A. Balbino, A. Baldisseri, Bartosz Baliś, D. Banerjee, Z. Banoo, R. Barbera, L. Barioglio, M. Barlou, G. G. Barnaföldi, L. S. Barnby, V. Barret, L. Barreto, C. Bartels, K. Barth, E. Bartsch, F. Baruffaldi, N. Bastid, S. Basu, G. Batigne, D. Battistini, B. Batyunya, D. Bauri, J. L. Bazo Alba, I. G. Bearden, C. Beattie, P. Becht, D. Behera, I. Belikov, A. D. C. Bell Hechavarria, F. Bellini, R. Bellwied, S. Belokurova, V. Belyaev, G. Bencédi, S. Beolè, A. Bercuci, Y. Berdnikov, A. Berdnikova, L. Bergmann, Mihaela Gabriela Besoiu, L. Betev, Partha Pratim Bhaduri, A. Bhasin, I. R. Bhat, M. A. Bhat, B. Bhattacharjee, L. Bianchi, N. Bianchi, J. Bielčík, J. Bielčíková, J. Biernat
Abstract
An excess of J/ψ yield at very low transverse momentum (pT<0.3 GeV/c), originating from coherent photoproduction, is observed in peripheral and semicentral hadronic Pb–Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of sNN=5.02 TeV. The measurement is performed with the ALICE detector via the dimuon decay channel at forward rapidity (2.5<y<4). The nuclear modification factor at very low pT and the coherent photoproduction cross section are measured as a function of centrality down to the 10% most central collisions. These results extend the previous study at sNN=2.76 TeV, confirming the clear excess over hadronic production in the pT range 0−0.3 GeV/c and the centrality range 70–90%, and establishing an excess with a significance greater than 5σ also in the 50–70% and 30–50% centrality ranges. The results are compared with earlier measurements at sNN=2.76 TeV and with different theoretical predictions aiming at describing how coherent photoproduction occurs in hadronic interactions with nuclear overlap.