A measurement of the inclusive b-jet production cross section is presented in pp and p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV, using data collected with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The jets were reconstructed in the central rapidity region $|\eta|<~0.5$ from charged particles using the anti-$k_{\rm T}$ algorithm with resolution parameter $R=0.4$. Identification of b jets exploits the long lifetime of b hadrons, using the properties of secondary vertices and impact parameter distributions. The $p_{\rm T}$-differential inclusive production cross section of b jets, as well as the corresponding inclusive b-jet fraction, are reported for pp and p-Pb collisions in the jet transverse momentum range $10 \le p_{\text{T, ch jet}} \le 100$ GeV/$c$, together with the nuclear modification factor, $R_{\rm pPb}^{\text{b-jet}}$. The analysis thus extends the lower $p_{\rm T}$ limit of b-jet measurements at the LHC. The nuclear modification factor is found to be consistent with unity, indicating that the production of b jets in p-Pb at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV is not affected by cold nuclear matter effects within the current precision. The measurements are well reproduced by POWHEG NLO pQCD calculations with PYTHIA fragmentation.
JHEP 01 (2022) 178
HEP Data
e-Print: arXiv:2110.06104 | PDF | inSPIRE
CERN-EP-2021-205
Figure group
Figure 1
Top left: The normalized impact parameter significance ($Sd_{xy}$) distribution for all tracks inside light-flavor, charm, and beauty jets as determined from PYTHIA 8 (Monash 2013 tune ) detector-level simulations. Top right: The distribution of the second largest impact parameter significance in the jet. Bottom left: The distribution of the third largest $Sd_{xy}$ in the jet. Bottom right: Distribution of $Sd_{xy}$ for data in \pp and \pPb collisions. |  |
Figure 9
nvariant mass distribution of the combination of three prongs, forming the most displaced secondary vertex in jets with 20 < preco T,ch jet < 30 GeV/c, tagged with the default selection SLxy > 7 and
σSV < 0.03 cm for pp (left) and p–Pb (right) collisions. The data (black points) are fitted with detector-level MC templates corresponding to beauty, charm, and light-flavor jets to assess the purity of the b-jet
candidate sample. See text for further information on MC. |   |
Figure 10
Purity of the b-jet candidates selected with the SV method when using the default tagging selection criteria. The purity was estimated with the data-driven template fit method (red points) and with the POWHEG-simulation based approach. The POWHEG scale variations accepted by the statistical analysis are colored green, the rejected ones are gray. Results for \pp and \pPb are shown in the left and right panel, respectively. |   |
Figure 11
Comparison of the \pT differential production cross section of charged-particle anti-$k_{\rm T}$ $R=0.4$ b jets measured in pp and \pPb collisions at $\snn=5.02$\,TeV using the IP and SV methods. Systematic and statistical uncertainties are shown as boxes and error bars respectively. The additional common normalization uncertainty due to luminosity is denoted $\sigma_{\mathcal{L}}^{\rm Sys}$ and it is quoted separately. |   |
Figure 12
Top panels: The combined differential production cross section of charged-particle anti-$k_{\rm T}$ $R=0.4$ b jets measured in \pp (left) and \pPb (right) collisions at $\snn=5.02$\,TeV. The data are compared with a NLO pQCD prediction by the POWHEG dijet tune with PYTHIA 8 fragmentation . Systematic and statistical uncertainties are shown as boxes and error bars, respectively. The additional common normalization uncertainty due to luminosity, $\sigma_{\mathcal{L}}^{\rm Sys}$, is quoted separately. Bottom panels: Ratio of the theory calculations to the data. |   |
Figure 14
Left: The nuclear modification factor \RpPbBjet of the inclusive charged-particle anti-$k_{\rm T}$ $R=0.4$ b jets as a function of \pt from the IP and SV method. Right: The nuclear modification factor \RpPbBjet obtained from combining the IP and SV method results as a function of \pTchjet compared with the calculation by the POWHEG dijet tune with the PYTHIA 8 fragmentation Systematic and statistical uncertainties are shown as boxes and error bars, respectively. There is an additional normalization uncertainty of $4.37\%$ due to luminosity, which is quoted separately. |   |
Figure 15
The nuclear modification factor Rb-jet pPb for charged-particle b jets measured by the ALICE experiment, compared with the b-jet measurement from the CMS experiment [36]. The CMS measurement
represents R = 0.3 fully reconstructed b jets within −2.5 < ηjet < 1.5. There is an additional 22% scaling uncertainty from the PYTHIA pp reference on the CMS data that is not shown in the figure. The ALICE
Rb-jet pPb data have an additional normalization uncertainty of 4.37% |  |
Figure 16
The nuclear modification factor of b jets compared to that of inclusive jets from Ref. [81]. There is a global normalization uncertainty of 4.37% on the Rb-jet pPb data from luminosity calculation, and
11.6% on the inclusive-jet RpPb data due to luminosity calculation and the scaling of the pp reference |  |