System-size dependence of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV for pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions

TL;DR

This study systematically compares charged-particle pseudorapidity densities across pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV, revealing how particle production and energy density evolve with system size, indicating a transition to a denser matter phase.

Contribution

First comprehensive comparison of pseudorapidity densities in three collision systems at top LHC energy, with minimized systematic uncertainties using the same detector.

Findings

Decreasing width of particle production with increasing system size

Approximately tenfold increase in energy density from pp to Pb-Pb collisions

Consistent evidence of a higher dense phase of matter in larger systems

Abstract

We present the first systematic comparison of the charged-particle pseudorapidity densities for three widely different collision systems, pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb, at the top energy of the Large Hadron Collider ($\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV) measured over a wide pseudorapidity range (${-3.5 <\eta <5}$), the widest possible among the four experiments at that facility. The systematic uncertainties are minimised since the measurements are recorded by the same experimental apparatus (ALICE). The distributions for p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions are determined as a function of the centrality of the collisions, while results from pp collisions are reported for inelastic events with at least one charged particle at midrapidity. The charged-particle pseudorapidity densities are, under simple and robust assumptions, transformed to charged-particle rapidity densities. This allows for the calculation and the presentation of the evolution of the width of the rapidity distributions and of a lower bound on the Bjorken energy density, as a function of the number of participants in all three collision systems. We find a decreasing width of the particle production, and roughly a smooth ten fold increase in the energy density, as the system size grows, which is consistent with a gradually higher dense phase of matter.