Measurement of pion, kaon and proton production in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Abstract

The measurement of primary π ± , K ± , p and p production at mid-rapidity (|y| < 0.5) in proton–proton col- lisions at √s = 7 TeV performed with a large ion collider experiment at the large hadron collider (LHC) is reported. Particle identification is performed using the specific ioni- sation energy-loss and time-of-flight information, the ring- imaging Cherenkov technique and the kink-topology identifi- cation of weak decays of charged kaons. Transverse momen- tum spectra are measured from 0.1 up to 3 GeV/c for pions, from 0.2 up to 6 GeV/c for kaons and from 0.3 up to 6 GeV/c for protons. The measured spectra and particle ratios are compared with quantum chromodynamics-inspired models, tuned to reproduce also the earlier measurements performed at the LHC. Furthermore, the integrated particle yields and ratios as well as the average transverse momenta are com- pared with results at lower collision energies.