THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL. C, PARTICLES AND FIELDS
Abstract
The measurements of the production of prompt D0 , D+ , D∗+ , and D+s mesons in proton–proton (pp) col- lisions at √s = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are reported. D mesons were reconstructed at mid-rapidity (|y| < 0.5) via their hadronic decay channels D0 → K−π+, D+ → K−π+π+, D∗+ → D0π+ → K−π+π+, D+s → φπ+ → K+K−π+, and their charge conjugates. The production cross sections were measured in the transverse momentum interval 0 < pT < 36GeV/cforD0,1 < pT < 36GeV/cforD+ and D∗+, and in 2 < pT < 24 GeV/c for D+s mesons. Thanks to the higher integrated luminosity, an analysis in finer pT bins with respect to the previous measurements at √s = 7 TeV was performed, allowing for a more detailed description of the cross-section pT shape. The measured pT- differential production cross sections are compared to the results at √s = 7 TeV and to four different perturbative QCD calculations. Its rapidity dependence is also tested combin- ing the ALICE and LHCb measurements in pp collisions at √s = 5.02 TeV. This measurement will allow for a more accurate determination of the nuclear modification factor in p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions performed at the same nucleon– nucleon centre-of-mass energy.
