Inclusive J/$\psi$ production at forward and backward rapidity in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 8.16 TeV

Abstract

Inclusive J/$\psi$ production is studied in p-Pb interactions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=8.16$ TeV, using the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. The J/$\psi$ meson is reconstructed, via its decay to a muon pair, in the centre-of-mass rapidity intervals $2.03<y_{\mathrm{cms}}<3.53$ and $-4.46<y_{\mathrm{cms}}<-2.96$, where positive and negative $y_{\mathrm{cms}}$ refer to the p-going and Pb-going direction, respectively. The transverse momentum coverage is $p_{\mathrm{T}}<20$ GeV/$c$. In this paper, $y_{\mathrm{cms}}$- and $p_{\mathrm{T}}$-differential cross sections for inclusive J/$\psi$ production are presented, and the corresponding nuclear modification factors $R_{\mathrm{pPb}}$ are shown. Forward results show a suppression of the J/$\psi$ yield with respect to pp collisions, concentrated in the region $p_{\mathrm{T}}\lesssim 5$ GeV/$c$. At backward rapidity no significant suppression is observed. The results are compared to previous measurements by ALICE in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV and to theoretical calculations. Finally, the ratios $R_{\mathrm{FB}}$ between forward- and backward-$y_{\mathrm{cms}}$ $R_{\mathrm{pPb}}$ values are shown and discussed.

24 pages, 8 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 19, published, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/4284