ϕ-Meson production at forward rapidity in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV and in pp collisions at s=2.76 TeV

Abstract

The first study of ϕ-meson production in p–Pb collisions at forward and backward rapidity, at a nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass energy sNN=5.02 TeV, has been performed with the ALICE apparatus at the LHC. The ϕ-mesons have been identified in the dimuon decay channel in the transverse momentum (pT) range 1 <3.53, resulting in a ratio ∼0.5 with no significant pT dependence within the uncertainties. The pT dependence of the ϕ nuclear modification factor RpPb exhibits an enhancement up to a factor 1.6 at pT=3–4 GeV/c in the Pb-going direction. The pT dependence of the ϕ-meson cross section in pp collisions at s=2.76 TeV, which is used to determine a reference for the p–Pb results, is also presented here for 1