Charged-particle multiplicity with ALICE at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper reports the first measurements of charged-particle multiplicity and pseudorapidity density in proton-proton collisions at the LHC using the ALICE detector, providing essential data for understanding high-energy particle interactions.

Contribution

It presents novel measurements of charged-particle multiplicity distributions at multiple LHC energies, comparing results with existing data and theoretical models.

Findings

Charged-particle multiplicity increases with collision energy.

Results are consistent with some model predictions and differ from others.

Provides baseline data for future high-energy collision studies.

Abstract

The pseudorapidity density and multiplicity distributions of charged particles have been the first measurements carried out with the ALICE detector at the LHC. After an introduction on the experiment and some details on the subdetectors relevant for these measurements, results from minimum bias proton-proton collisions at 0.9, 2.36 and 7 TeV are presented. Comparisons with other measurements and model predictions are also discussed.