Charmonium Production at Forward Rapidity in pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb Collisions, with ALICE

TL;DR

This paper presents ALICE experiment results on charmonium production in pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions at TeV energies, analyzing nuclear modification factors and comparing them with theoretical models to understand underlying QCD phenomena.

Contribution

It provides new measurements of charmonium nuclear modification factors at forward rapidity in various collision systems, offering insights into QCD effects like gluon saturation and color screening.

Findings

Suppression patterns vary with collision system and rapidity.

Results are consistent with models including gluon saturation and energy loss.

Data suggest recombination effects at high energies.

Abstract

This contribution focuses on latest ALICE results on charmonium forward production in proton-proton (pp), proton-lead (p-Pb) and lead-lead (Pb-Pb) collisions at the TeV scale. In p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions, measurements are presented in the form of the charmonium nuclear modification factor (the properly normalized ratio of its production cross section in heavy ion collisions to its pp counterpart) as a function of the charmonium rapidity and transverse momentum. These measurements are compared to available theoretical calculations. Possible interpretations of these results in terms of gluon saturation, initial and final state energy loss, color screening and recombination are also discussed.