Measurement of the inelastic cross section in proton-lead collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

Khachatryan, V. and Sirunyan, A. M. and Tumasyan, A. and Adam, W. and Asilar, E. and Bergauer, T. and Brandstetter, J. and Brondolin, E. and Dragicevic, M. and Erö, J. and Flechl, M. and Friedl, M. and Frühwirth, R. and Ghete, V. M. and Hartl, C. and Hörmann, N. and Hrubec, J. and Jeitler, M. and Knünz, V. and König, A. and Krammer, M. and Krätschmer, I. and Liko, D. and Matsushita, T. and Mikulec, I. and Rabady, D. and Rahbaran, B. and Rohringer, H. and Schieck, J. and Schöfbeck, R. and Filipovic, Nicolas and Bencze, György and Hajdu, Csaba and Hidas, Pál and Horváth, Dezső and Siklér, Ferenc and Veszprémi, Viktor and Vesztergombi, György and Zsigmond, Anna Júlia and Karancsi, János and Molnár, József and Bartók, Márton and Makovec, Alajos and Trócsányi, Zoltán and Ujvári, Balázs and Veres, Gábor (2016) Measurement of the inelastic cross section in proton-lead collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV. PHYSICS LETTERS B, 759. pp. 641-662. ISSN 0370-2693

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Abstract

The inelastic hadronic cross section in proton-lead collisions at a centre-of-mass en- ergy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of L = 12.6 ± 0.4 nb−1, has been collected with an unbiased trigger for inclusive particle production. The cross section is obtained from the measured number of proton-lead collisions with hadronic activity produced in the pseudorapidity ranges 3 < η < 5 and/or −5 < η < −3, corrected for photon-induced contributions, experimental accep- tance, and other instrumental effects. The inelastic cross section is measured to be σinel(pPb) = 2061 ± 3 (stat) ± 34 (syst) ± 72 (lumi) mb. Various Monte Carlo genera- tors, commonly used in heavy ion and cosmic ray physics, are found to reproduce the data within uncertainties. The value of σinel(pPb) is compatible with that expected from the proton-proton cross section at 5.02 TeV scaled up within a simple Glauber approach to account for multiple scatterings in the lead nucleus, indicating that fur- ther net nuclear corrections are small.

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