Measurement of dielectron production in central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN =2.76 TeV

Abstract

The first measurement of dielectron (e+e-) production in central (0-10%) Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76TeV at the LHC is presented. The dielectron invariant-mass spectrum is compared to the expected contributions from hadron decays in the invariant-mass range 0 <2GeV/c and 2 <4GeV/c. The measured fraction of virtual direct photons is consistent with the measurement of real direct photons by ALICE and with the expectations from previous dielectron measurements at RHIC within the experimental uncertainties.