Publication : t18/026

Reconstructing the impact parameter of proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions

Rogly R. (CEA, IPhT (Institut de Physique Théorique), F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
Giacalone G. (CEA, IPhT (Institut de Physique Théorique), F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
Ollitrault J.-Y. (CEA, IPhT (Institut de Physique Théorique), F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
Abstract:
In proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collision experiments, one determines the centrality of a collision according to the multiplicity or energy deposited in a detector. This serves as a proxy for the true collision centrality, as defined by the impact parameter. We show that the probability distribution of impact parameter in a given bin of experiment-defined centrality can be reconstructed without assuming any specific model for the collision dynamics, in both proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus systems. The reconstruction is reliable up to about 10% centrality, and is more accurate for nucleus-nucleus collisions. We perform an application of our procedure to experimental data from all the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) collaborations, from which we extract, in Pb+Pb and p+Pb collisions, the corresponding distributions of impact parameter.
Année de publication : 2018
Revue : Phys. Rev. C 98 024902 (2018)
DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevC.98.024902
Preprint : arXiv:1804.03031
Langue : Anglais

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