Heavy-flavour production in pp collisions and correlations in pp and p-Pb collisions measured with ALICE at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper reports on measurements of D meson production and correlations in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions at the LHC using the ALICE detector, extending the understanding of charm quark production at low transverse momentum.

Contribution

It presents the first measurement of the prompt D^0 cross section down to zero transverse momentum and analyzes D meson-hadron correlations in pp and p-Pb collisions.

Findings

Extended D^0 cross section measurement to zero p_T

Measured D meson-hadron azimuthal correlations

Compared results with theoretical models

Abstract

Thanks to its excellent tracking and particle identification performance, the ALICE detector is capable of measuring D mesons at central rapidity via their hadronic decay channels down to very low transverse momentum. We show an extension of the prompt ${\rm D}^0$ $p_{\rm T}$-differential cross section measurement down to zero transverse momentum, which allows us to determine the $p_{\rm T}$-integrated charm production cross section at central rapidity in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV. We also present measurements of azimuthal correlations of prompt ${\rm D}^0$, ${\rm D}^+$ and ${\rm D}^{*+}$ mesons with charged hadrons in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV and p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\scriptscriptstyle \rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV and compare the results with expectations from models.