Higher harmonic anisotropic flow measurements of charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV

We report on the first measurement of the triangular $v_3$, quadrangular $v_4$, and pentagonal $v_5$ charged particle flow in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We show that the triangular flow can be described in terms of the initial spatial anisotropy and its fluctuations, which provides strong constraints on its origin. In the most central events, where the elliptic flow $v_2$ and $v_3$ have similar magnitude, a double peaked structure in the two-particle azimuthal correlations is observed, which is often interpreted as a Mach cone response to fast partons. We show that this structure can be naturally explained from the measured anisotropic flow Fourier coefficients.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/387

Alignment of the CMS tracker with LHC and cosmic ray data

The central component of the CMS detector is the largest silicon tracker ever built. The precise alignment of this complex device is a formidable challenge, and only achievable with a significant extension of the technologies routinely used for tracking detectors in the past. This article describes the full-scale alignment procedure as it is used during LHC operations. Among the specific features of the method are the simultaneous determination of up to 200 000 alignment parameters with tracks, the measurement of individual sensor curvature parameters, the control of systematic misalignment effects, and the implementation of the whole procedure in a multiprocessor environment for high execution speed. Overall, the achieved statistical accuracy on the module alignment is found to be significantly better than 10 mu m

Higher harmonic anisotropic flow measurements of charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN=2.76 TeV

We report on the first measurement of the triangular v3, quadrangular v4, and pentagonal v5 charged particle flow in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN= 2.76 TeV measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We show that the triangular flow can be described in terms of the initial spatial anisotropy and its fluctuations, which provides strong constraints on its origin. In the most central events, where the elliptic flow v2 and v3 have similar magnitude, a double peaked structure in the two-particle azimuthal correlations is observed, which is often interpreted as a Mach cone response to fast partons. We show that this structure can be naturally explained from the measured anisotropic flow Fourier coefficients

Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at ps = 7 TeV

The p t-differential inclusive production cross sections of the prompt charmed mesons D0, D+, and D*+ in the rapidity range |y| < 0.5 were measured in proton-proton collisions at Ös = 7 TeVs=7TeV at the LHC using the ALICE detector. Reconstructing the decays D0 → K−π+, D+ → K−π+π+, D*+ → D0π+, and their charge conjugates, about 8,400 D0, 2,900 D+, and 2,600 D*+ mesons with 1 < p t < 24 GeV/c were counted, after selection cuts, in a data sample of 3.14 × 108 events collected with a minimum-bias trigger (integrated luminosity L int = 5 nb−1). The results are described within uncertainties by predictions based on perturbative QCD