Charged pion identification at high pT in ALICE using TPC dE/dx

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the capability of the ALICE TPC detector to identify charged pions at high transverse momentum (up to 10 GeV/c) in proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV using dE/dx measurements.

Contribution

It presents a novel analysis method for high pT charged pion identification in ALICE using TPC dE/dx, extending the particle identification range.

Findings

Charged pion yields up to 10 GeV/c were successfully measured.

The TPC dE/dx method is effective for high pT particle identification.

The analysis enhances understanding of particle production at high energies.

Abstract

The ALICE TPC provides excellent charged particle tracking for the study of pp and Pb-Pb collisions at LHC. The TPC also allows particle identification via the measurement of the specific ionisation dE/dx. At high pT (pT > 3 GeV/c) this is accomplished in the region of the relativistic rise of the energy loss. From the energy loss distributions the yields of charged pions, kaons, and protons can be determined in bins of pT and pT-spectra are constructed. Here we present the performance of such an analysis in pp collisions at 7 TeV for charged pions up to 10 GeV/c.