We report measurements of the primary charged-particle pseudorapidity density and transverse momentum distributions in p-Pb collisions at √ s NN = 5.02 TeV and investigate their correlation with experimental observables sensitive to the centrality of the collision. Centrality classes are defined by using different event-activity estimators, i.e., charged-particle multiplicities measured in three different pseudorapidity regions as well as the energy measured at beam rapidity (zero degree). The procedures to determine the centrality, quantified by the number of participants (N part ) or the number of nucleon-nucleon binary collisions (N coll ) are described. We show that, in contrast to Pb-Pb collisions, in p-Pb collisions large multiplicity fluctuations together with the small range of participants available generate a dynamical bias in centrality classes based on particle multiplicity. We propose to use the zero-degree energy, which we expect not to introduce a dynamical bias, as an alternative event-centrality estimator. Based on zero-degree energy-centrality classes, the N part dependence of particle production is studied. Under the assumption that the multiplicity measured in the Pb-going rapidity region scales with the number of Pb participants, an approximate independence of the multiplicity per participating nucleon measured at mid-rapidity of the number of participating nucleons is observed. Furthermore, at high-p T the p-Pb spectra are found to be consistent with the pp spectra scaled by N coll for all centrality classes. Our results represent valuable input for the study of the event-activity dependence of hard probes in p-Pb collisions and, hence, help to establish baselines for the interpretation of the Pb-Pb data.

The ALICE Collaboration has measured the energy dependence of exclusive photoproduction of J/ψ vector mesons off proton targets in ultra-peripheral p-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair √ s NN = 5.02 TeV. The e + e − and μ + μ − decay channels are used to measure the cross section as a function of the rapidity of the J/ψ in the range −2.5 < y < 2.7, corresponding to an energy in the γ p centre-of-mass in the interval 40 < W γ p < 550 GeV. The measurements, which are consistent with a power law dependence of the exclusive J/ψ photoproduction cross section, are compared to previous results from HERA and the LHC and to several theoretical models. They are found to be compatible with previous measurements.

We report on the production of inclusive Υ (1S) and Υ (2S) in p-Pb collisions at √ s NN = 5.02 TeV at the LHC. The measurement is performed with the ALICE detector at backward (−4.46 < y cms < −2.96) and forward (2.03 < y cms < 3.53) rapidity down to zero transverse momentum. The production cross sections of the Υ (1S) and Υ (2S) are presented, as well as the nuclear modification factor and the ratio of the forward to backward yields of Υ (1S). A suppression of the inclusive Υ (1S) yield in p-Pb collisions with respect to the yield from pp collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions is observed at forward rapidity but not at backward rapidity. The results are compared to theoretical model calculations including nuclear shadowing or partonic energy loss effects.

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