Neutral meson production in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC measured with ALICE

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of neutral meson spectra in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions at the LHC using ALICE, focusing on $b0$, $b5$, and $b6$ mesons, and analyzes their production and nuclear modification factors.

Contribution

It provides new measurements of meson spectra and nuclear modification factors in Pb-Pb collisions at LHC energies, using complementary detection methods with ALICE.

Findings

Consistent $b0$ and $b5$ meson spectra in pp collisions.

Measured nuclear modification factor $R_{AA}$ for $b0$ in Pb-Pb collisions.

Comparison with theoretical models and lower energy results.

Abstract

We present spectra of $\pi^0$, $\eta$ and $\omega$ mesons in pp collisions and $\pi^{0}$ mesons in Pb-Pb collisions measured with ALICE at LHC energies. The $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ mesons are reconstructed via their two-photon decays by two complementary methods, using the electromagnetic calorimeters and photon conversion technique; both measurements show perfect agreement. We measure the nuclear modification factor ($R_{AA}$) of $\pi^0$ production in Pb-Pb collisions at different collision centralities and compare with lower energy results and theoretical predictions.