Quarkonia production at forward rapidity in Pb+Pb collisions at $\bf \sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector

TL;DR

This paper investigates the production of quarkonia, specifically J/ψ mesons, in lead-lead collisions at 2.76 TeV using the ALICE detector, providing insights into the quark-gluon plasma and deconfinement through suppression patterns.

Contribution

It presents the first analysis of inclusive J/ψ production at forward rapidity in Pb+Pb collisions at LHC energy, including preliminary nuclear modification factors.

Findings

Observation of J/ψ suppression in Pb+Pb collisions

Measurement of nuclear modification factor R_AA

Comparison of central and peripheral collision effects

Abstract

The study of formation of heavy quarkonia in relativistic heavy ion collisions provides important insight into the properties of the produced high density QCD medium. Lattice QCD studies show sequential suppression of quarkonia states with increasing temperature; which affirms that a full spectroscopy, can provide us a thermometer for the matter produced under extreme conditions in relativistic heavy ion collisions and one of the most direct probes of de-confinement. Muons from the decay of charmonium resonances are detected in ALICE Experiment in p+p and Pb+Pb collisions with a muon spectrometer, covering the forward rapidity region($2.5<y<4$). The analysis of the inclusive J/$\psi$ production in the first Pb+Pb data collected in the fall 2010 at a center of mass energy of $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV is discussed. Preliminary results on the nuclear modification factor ($R_{AA}$) and the central to peripheral nuclear modification factor ($R_{CP}$) are presented.