Measuring (KSK +/-)-K-0 interactions using Pb-Pb collisions at root S-NN=2.76 TeV

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269317307074

DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2017.09.009

Direitos autorais / Publisher's copyright statement:

©2017

by Elsevier. All rights reserved.

DIRETORIA DE TRATAMENTO DA INFORMAÇÃO

Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz Barão Geraldo

CEP 13083-970 – Campinas SP

Fone: (19) 3521-6493

http://www.repositorio.unicamp.br

.

ALICE

Collaboration

a

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Articlehistory:

Received 22 May 2017

Received in revised form 24 August 2017 Accepted 4 September 2017

Available online 8 September 2017 Editor: L. Rolandi

WepresentthefirstevermeasurementsoffemtoscopiccorrelationsbetweentheK0_SandK±particles.The analysis wasperformedonthedatafromPb–Pbcollisionsat√sNN=2.76 TeVmeasuredbytheALICE experiment.Theobservedfemtoscopiccorrelationsareconsistentwithfinal-stateinteractionsproceeding via the a0(980) resonance. The extracted kaon source radiusand correlation strengthparameters for K0

SK− are foundto beequal withintheexperimental uncertaintiesto thosefor K0SK+.Comparing the results ofthe present studywith those from published identical-kaonfemtoscopic studies by ALICE, mass and coupling parameters for thea0 resonance are tested. Ourresults are also compatiblewith theinterpretationofthea0havingatetraquarkstructureinsteadofthatofadiquark.

©2017TheAuthor.PublishedbyElsevierB.V.ThisisanopenaccessarticleundertheCCBYlicense (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).FundedbySCOAP3_.

1. Introduction

Identicalboson femtoscopy, especiallyof identicalcharged pi-ons, has been used extensively over the years to study experi-mentallythespace–timegeometryofthecollisionregionin high-energy particle and heavy-ion collisions [1]. Identical-kaon fem-toscopy studies have also been carried out, recent examples of which are the ones with Au–Au collisions at

√

sNN

=

200 GeV by theSTARCollaboration[2](K0

SK0S)andwithpp at

√

s

=

7 TeV andPb–Pbcollisions at

√

sNN

=

2

.

76 TeV by theALICE Collabora-tion [3–5] (K0

SK0S and K±K±). The pair-wise interactions between the identical kaons that form the basis for femtoscopy are for K±K± quantum statistics and the Coulomb interaction, and for K0

SK0S quantumstatisticsandthefinal-stateinteractionthroughthe

f0

(

980

)/

a0

(

980

)

thresholdresonances.

One can also consider the case of non-identical kaon pairs, e.g.K0_SK± pairs.Besides thenon-resonantchannelswhichmaybe present, e.g. non-resonant elastic scattering or free-streaming of thekaonsfromtheirfreeze-outpositionstothedetector,theother only pair-wise interaction allowed for a K0_SK± pair atfreeze out fromthecollisionsystemisa final-stateinteraction(FSI)through the a0

(

980

)

resonance. The other pair-wise interactions present for identical-kaon pairs are not presentfor K0_SK± pairs because: a) thereisnoquantumstatisticsenhancementsincethekaonsare notidentical,b)thereisnoCoulombeffectsinceoneofthekaons is uncharged,and c) thereis no strong FSIthrough the f0

reso- _{E-mailaddress:alice-publications@cern.ch.}

nancesincethekaonpairisinan I

=

1 isospinstate,asisthea0, whereasthe f0isan I

=

0 state.

Another featureof the K0

SK± FSI through thea0 resonanceis, duetothea0 havingstrangenessS

=

0 andtheK0_S beingalinear combinationoftheK0 _andK0_,





K0_S



=

√

1 2



_

_K0



₊



_

_K0



_,

₍₁₎

onlytheK0K+pairfromK0_SK+andtheK0K−pairfromK0_SK−have S

=

0 and thus can formthe a0 resonance.This allows the pos-sibility tostudy theK0 and K0 sources separately since they are individually selected by studying K0_SK− and K0_SK+ pairs, respec-tively.An additionalconsequence ofthisfeature isthat only50% of eitherthe K0_SK− or K0_SK+ detectedpairs will passthrough the a0 resonance.Thisistakenintoaccount intheexpressionforthe modelusedtofitthecorrelationfunctions.

On the other hand, the natural requirement that the source sizes extracted from the K0_SK± femtoscopy agree with those ob-tained for the K0

SK0S and K±K± systems allows one to study the propertiesofthea0 resonanceitself.Thisisinterestinginitsown rightsincemanystudies discussthepossibilitythat thea0,listed by the Particle Data Group as a diquark light unflavored meson state [6],could be a four-quark state,i.e.a tetraquark, ora “K–K molecule”[7–12].Forexample,theproductioncrosssectionofthe a0resonanceinareactionchannelsuchasK0K−

→

a−₀ should de-pend on whetherthe a−₀ is composed ofdu or dssu quarks, the formerrequiringtheannihilationofthess pairandthelatter be-ing a direct transfer of the quarks in the kaons to the a−₀. The

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2017.09.009

0370-2693/©2017 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by

resultsfromK0_SK−femtoscopymightbesensitivetothesetwo dif-ferentscenarios.

InthisLetter, resultsfromthefirst studyof K0

SK± femtoscopy arepresented.ThishasbeendoneforPb–Pbcollisionsat

√

sNN

=

2

.

76 TeVmeasured bytheALICEexperimentattheLHC[13].The physics goals ofthe present K0

SK± femtoscopy studyare the fol-lowing:1) showtowhatextent theFSIthroughthea0 resonance describesthecorrelationfunctions,2) studytheK0 andK0 _sources toseeiftherearedifferencesinthesourceparameters,and3)test publisheda0 massandcouplingparameters bycomparisonswith publishedidenticalkaonresults[5].

2. Descriptionofexperimentanddataselection

The ALICEexperiment andits performance in the LHC Run1 (2009–2013) are described in Ref. [13] and Ref. [14,15], respec-tively.About22

×

106_{Pb–Pbcollisioneventswith0–10% centrality} class takenin 2011were used in thisanalysis (the average cen-tralityinthis rangeis 4.9%due toa slighttrigger inefficiency in the 8–10% range). Events were classified according to their cen-tralityusing themeasuredamplitudesin theV0detectors,which consist of two arrays of scintillators located along the beamline andcoveringthe fullazimuth[16].Charged particleswere recon-structed and identified with the central barrel detectors located within a solenoid magnet with a field strength of B

=

0

.

5 T. ChargedparticletrackingwasperformedusingtheTimeProjection Chamber(TPC) [17]andtheInnerTrackingSystem(ITS) [13].The ITSallowedforhighspatialresolutionindeterminingtheprimary (collision) vertex. Tracks were reconstructed and their momenta wereobtainedwiththeTPC. Amomentumresolutionoflessthan 10 MeV/c wastypically obtainedfor the chargedtracks of inter-est in this analysis. The primary vertex was obtained from the ITS,thepositionoftheprimaryvertexbeingconstrainedalongthe beamdirection(the“z-position”)tobewithin

±

10 cmofthe cen-teroftheALICEdetector.Inadditiontothestandardtrackquality selections, the track selections based on the quality of track re-constructionfitandthenumberofdetectedtrackingpoints inthe TPCwereusedtoensurethatonlywell-reconstructedtrackswere takenintheanalysis[14,15].

Particle identification (PID) for reconstructed tracks was car-ried out using both the TPCand the Time-of-Flight(TOF) detec-tor in the pseudorapidity range

|

η

|

<

0

.

8 [14,15]. For each PID method,a valuewas assignedtoeachtrackdenotingthenumber of standard deviations between the measured track information andcalculatedvalues(Nσ )[5,14,15].ForTPCPID,aparametrized Bethe–Blochformulawasusedtocalculatethespecificenergyloss



dE

/

dx



inthedetectorexpectedforaparticlewitha givenmass andmomentum.ForPIDwithTOF,theparticlemasswas usedto calculatetheexpectedtime-of-flightasafunction oftracklength and momentum. This procedure was repeated for four “particle species hypotheses”—electron, pion, kaon and proton—, and, for eachhypothesis,adifferentNσ valuewasobtainedperdetector. 2.1.Kaonselection

Themethodsusedto selectandidentifyindividual K0_S andK± particlesarethesameasthoseusedfortheALICEPb–PbK0_SK0_S and K±K±analyses[5].Thesearenowdescribedbelow.

2.1.1. K0_Sselection

The K0_S particles were reconstructed from the decay K0_S

→

π

+

π

−, with the daughter

π

+ and

π

− tracks detected in the TPCandTOFdetectors.Pionswith pT

>

0

.

15 GeV/c wereaccepted (sinceforlower pT trackfindingefficiencydropsrapidly)andthe distance of closest approach to the primary vertex(DCA) of the

reconstructed K0_S was required to be less than 0.3 cm in all di-rections. The required Nσ values for the pions were NσT P C

<

3

and NσT O F

<

3 for p

>

0

.

8 GeV/c. An invariant mass

distribu-tion for the

π

+

π

− pairs was produced andthe K0

S was defined tobe resultingfromapairthat fellintotheinvariant massrange 0

.

480

<

_mπ+_π−

<

0

.

515 GeV/c2.

2.1.2. K±selection

Charged kaon tracks were also detected using the TPC and TOF detectors, and were accepted if they were within the range 0

.

14

<

pT

<

1

.

5 GeV/c. In orderto reduce the number of secon-daries(forinstancethechargedparticlesproducedinthedetector material, particles from weak decays, etc.) the primary charged kaon tracks were selected based onthe DCA, such that the DCA transverse to the beam direction was less than 2.4 cm and the DCA along the beam direction was lessthan 3.2 cm. If the TOF signal werenot available,therequired Nσ values forthecharged kaonswere NσT P C

<

2 for pT

<

0

.

5 GeV/c,andthetrackwas re-jectedforpT

>

0

.

5 GeV/c.IftheTOFsignalwerealsoavailableand

pT

>

0

.

5 GeV/c:NσT P C

<

3 andNσT O F

<

2 (0

.

5

<

pT

<

0

.

8 GeV/c),

NσT O F

<

1

.

5 (0

.

8

<

pT

<

1

.

0 GeV/c), NσT O F

<

1 (1

.

0

<

pT

<

1

.

5 GeV/c).

K0

SK± experimental pair purity was estimated from a Monte Carlo(MC)studybasedonHIJING[18] simulationsusingGEANT3 [19] tomodelparticletransport throughthe ALICEdetectors.The puritywas determinedfromthefractionofthereconstructedMC simulated pairs that were identified as actual K0_SK± pairs input fromHIJING.Thepairpuritywasestimatedtobe88%forall kine-maticregionsstudiedinthisanalysis.

3. Analysismethods

3.1. Experimentalcorrelationfunctions

ThisanalysisstudiesthemomentumcorrelationsofK0_SK±pairs usingthetwo-particlecorrelationfunction,definedas

C

(

k∗

)

=

A

(

k∗

)/

B

(

k∗

)

(2)

where A

(

k∗

)

isthemeasured distributionofpairs fromthe same event, B

(

k∗

)

is the reference distribution of pairs from mixed events,andk∗ isthemagnitudeofthemomentumofeach ofthe particlesinthepairrestframe(PRF),

k∗

=



(

s

−

m2 K0

−

m2_K±

)

2

−

4m2_K0m2_K± 4s (3) where, s

=

m2_K0

+

m2_K±

+

2EK0E_K±

−

2



p_K0

· 

p_K± (4)

andmK0 (E_K0)andm_K± (E_K±)aretherestmasses(total energies)

oftheK0

SandK±,respectively.

Thedenominator B

(

k∗

)

was formedbymixingK0_S andK± par-ticles from each eventwith particles from tenother events.The vertexesofthemixedeventswereconstrainedtobe within2cm of each other in the z-direction. A centrality constraint on the mixedeventswas foundnot tobe necessaryforthenarrow cen-tralityrange,i.e.0–10%,usedinthisanalysis.Correlationfunctions wereobtainedseparatelyfortwodifferentmagneticfield orienta-tionsintheexperimentandtheneitheraveragedorfitseparately, dependingonthefittingmethodused(seebelow).

Correlationfunctionsweremeasuredforthree overlapping/non-exclusive pair transverse momentum (kT

= |

pT,1

+

pT,2

|/

2) bins: all kT, kT

<

0

.

675 andkT

>

0

.

675 GeV/c. The meankT valuesfor thesethree binswere 0.675,0.425 and0.970 GeV/c,respectively.

Fig. 1. Examples of raw K0

SK+correlation functions for the three kT bins with linear fits to the baseline at large k∗. Statistical uncertainties are shown.

Fig. 1showssamplerawK0

SK+correlationfunctionsforthesethree bins for one of the magnetic field orientations. One can see the mainfeatureofthefemtoscopiccorrelationfunction: the suppres-sionduetothe strongfinal-stateinteractions forsmallk∗.Inthe higherk∗region,theeffectsofthea0 appeartonotbepresentand thuscouldbeusedasareference,i.e.“baseline”, forthea0-based model fitted to C

(

k∗

)

in order to extract the source parameters. Alsoshowninthefigurearelinearfitstothebaselineforlargek∗. The effectson C

(

k∗

)

by the a0 resonanceare mostly seen inthe

k∗

<

0

.

2 GeV/c region, wherethe widthof thea0 region reflects thesizeofthekaonsource(seeequationsbelow).

Correlationfunctionswerecorrectedformomentumresolution effects using HIJING calculations. HIJING was used to create two correlation functions: one interms of thegenerator-level k∗ and one in terms of the simulated detector-level k∗. Because HIJING doesnot incorporate final-stateinteractions, weights were calcu-lated using a 9th-order polynomial fit in k∗ to an experimental correlation function and were used when filling the same-event distributions. These weights were calculated using k∗. Then, the ratioofthe“ideal”correlationfunctiontothe“measured”one(for eachk∗ bin) was multipliedto thedatacorrelation functions be-forethe fit procedure.This correction mostly affected thelowest k∗ bins,increasingtheextractedsourceparametersbyseveral per-cent.

3.2. Final-stateinteractionmodel The K0

SK± correlation functions were fit with functions that include a parameterization which incorporates strong FSI. It was assumed that the FSI arises in the K0

SK± channels due to the near-thresholdresonance, a0(980). This parameterization was in-troducedbyR.LednickyandisbasedonthemodelbyR.Lednicky andV.L.Lyuboshitz [20,21](see alsoRef. [2]for moredetails on thisparameterization).

Using an equal emission time approximation in the PRF [20], the elastic K0_SK± transition is written as a stationary solution



_−k∗

(



r∗

)

ofthescatteringprobleminthePRF.Thequantity



r∗

rep-resentstheemissionseparationofthepairinthePRF,andthe

−

k∗ subscriptreferstoareversaloftimefromtheemissionprocess.At largedistancesthishastheasymptoticformofa superpositionof aplanewaveandanoutgoingsphericalwave,



_−k∗

(



r∗

)

=

e−ik∗·r∗

+

f

(

k∗

)

eik∗r∗

r∗

,

(5)

where f

(

k∗

)

is the s-wave K0_K− _{or K}0_K+ _{scattering amplitude} whose contribution is the s-wave isovector a0 resonance (see Eq. (11) inRef.[2]),

Table 1

The a0masses and coupling parameters, all in GeV (taken from Ref.[2]).

Reference ma0 γa0KK¯ γa0π η Martin[7] 0.974 0.333 0.222 Antonelli[8] 0.985 0.4038 0.3711 Achasov1[9] 0.992 0.5555 0.4401 Achasov2[9] 1.003 0.8365 0.4580 f

(

k∗

)

=

γ

a0→KK m2a0

−

s

−

i

(

γ

a0→KKk ∗

₊

_γ

_a 0→π ηkπ η

)

.

(6)

In Eq.(6),ma0 isthe massof thea0 resonance, and

γ

a0→KK and

γ

a0→π η are the couplings of the a0 resonance to the K 0_K− _(or K0K+) and

π η

channels, respectively. Also, s

=

4

(

m2_K0

+

k∗

2

₎

_and

kπη denotes the momentum in the second decay channel (

π η

) (seeTable 1).

The correlation function due to the FSI is then calculated by integrating



_−k∗

(



r∗

)

intheKoonin–Prattequation[22,23]

C

(

k∗

)

=



d3



r∗S

(



r∗

)





_−k∗

(



r∗

)





2

,

(7)

where S

(



r∗

)

isaone-dimensionalGaussiansourcefunctionofthe PRFrelativedistance



r∗



withaGaussianwidthR oftheform

S

(



r∗

)

∼

e−r∗2/(4R2)

.

(8)

Equation (7) can be integrated analytically for K0_SK± correlations withFSIfortheone-dimensionalcase,withtheresult

C

(

k∗

)

=

1

+ λ

α



1 2





f

(

_Rk∗

)





2

+

2

R

√

f

(

k∗

)

π

R F1

(

2k ∗_R

₎

−

I

f

(

k∗

)

R F2

(

2k ∗_R

₎

_,

₍₉₎ where F1

(

z

)

≡

√

π

e−z2erfi

(

z

)

2z

;

F2

(

z

)

≡

1

−

e−z2 z

.

(10)

Inthe aboveequations

α

isthefractionofK0

SK± pairs thatcome from the K0_K− _{or K}0_K+ _{system, set to 0.5 assuming symmetry} in K0 _{and K}0 _{production[2], R isthe radiusparameter fromthe} sphericalGaussiansourcedistributiongiveninEq.(8),and

λ

isthe correlation strength.Thecorrelation strengthis unityintheideal caseofpurea0-resonantFSI,perfectPID,aperfectGaussiankaon sourceandtheabsenceoflong-livedresonanceswhichdecayinto kaons. Notethat the formofthe FSIterm inEq.(9) differsfrom

theformoftheFSItermforK_S0K0_S correlations(Eq. (9) ofRef.[2]) byafactorof1

/

2 duetothenon-identicalparticlesinK0_SK± cor-relationsandthusthe absenceoftherequirementto symmetrize thewavefunctiongiveninEq.(5).

As seen in Eq. (6), the K0_K− _{or K}0_K+ _{s-wave scattering} am-plitude depends on the a0 mass and decay couplings. In the present work, we have taken the values used in Ref. [2] which have been extracted from the analysis of the a0

→

π η

spectra of several experiments [7–10], shown in Table 1. The extracted a0 massanddecay couplingshave arange ofvalues forthe var-ious references. Except for the Martin reference [7], which ex-tracts the a0 values from the reaction 4.2 GeV/c incident mo-mentum K−

+

p

→

+

(

1385

)

π

−

η

using a two-channel Breit– Wigner formula, the other references extract the a0 values from the radiative

φ

-decay data, i.e.

φ

→

π

0

_ηγ

_{, from the KLOE} col-laboration [24]. These latter three referencesapply a model that assumes, aftertakingintoaccount the

φ

→

π

0

_ρ

0

_→

_π

0

_ηγ

back-groundprocess,thatthe

φ

decaystothe

π

0

_ηγ

_{finalstatethrough} theintermediate processes

φ

→

K+K−

γ

→

a0

γ

or

φ

→

K+K−

→

a0

γ

,i.e.the “chargedkaon loop model”[9].The main difference between these analyses is that the Antonelli reference [8] as-sumesa fixed a0 massin the fitof thismodel tothe

π

0

η

data, whereas the Achasov1 and Achasov2 analyses [9] allow the a0 mass to be a free parameter in the two different fits made to the data. It is assumed in the present analysis that thesedecay couplingswillalsobe validforK0_K− _andK0_K+ _{scatteringdueto} isospininvariance. Correlationfunctions were fittedwithall four ofthesecases to see theeffect on theextracted source parame-ters.

3.3.Fittingmethods

Inordertoestimatethesystematicerrorsinthefittingmethod used to extract R and

λ

using Eq. (9), two different methods, judgedtobeequallyvalid,havebeenusedtohandletheeffectsof thebaseline:1) aseparate linearfit tothe “baselineregion,” fol-lowedby fittingEq.(9)tothecorrelationfunction dividedbythe linearfittoextractthesourceparameters,and2) acombinedfitof Eq.(9)andaquadraticfunctiondescribingthebaselinewherethe source parameters andthe parameters of the quadratic function arefittedsimultaneously.Thesourceparameters areextractedfor eachcasefrombothmethodsandaveraged,thesymmetric system-aticerrorforeachcaseduetothefittingmethodbeingone-halfof thedifferencebetweenthetwomethods.Bothfittingmethodswill nowbedescribedinmoredetail.

3.3.1. Linearbaselinemethod

Inthe“linearbaseline method,”forthe allkT,kT

<

0

.

675 and

kT

>

0

.

675 GeV/c bins the a0 regions were taken tobe k∗

<

0

.

3,

k∗

<

0

.

2 andk∗

<

0

.

4 GeV/c, respectively.Inthehigherk∗ region itwas assumedthat effects ofthe a0 were not presentandthus canbeusedasareference, i.e.“baseline”, forthea0-basedmodel fittedto C

(

k∗

)

, whichwas averaged over the two magnetic field orientationsusedintheexperiment, toextractthesource param-eters.ForthethreekTbins,linearfitsweremadeinthek∗ ranges 0

.

3–0

.

45, 0

.

2–0

.

45 and 0

.

4–0

.

6 GeV/c, respectively, and the cor-relation functionswere divided by these fits to remove baseline effectsextendingintothelow-k∗ region.Theserangesweretaken to define the baselines since the measured correlation functions werefound tobe linearhere. Forlargervalues ofk∗ the correla-tionfunctionsbecamenon-linear.Thebaseline was studiedusing HIJINGMCcalculationswhichtakeintoaccountthedetector char-acteristics as described earlier. The C

(

k∗

)

distributions obtained fromHIJINGdonotshowsuppressionsatlowk∗ asseen inFig. 1

but rathershow linear distributions over the entire ranges ink∗ showninthefigure.HIJINGalsoshowsthebaselinebecoming non-linear for larger values ofk∗, asseen in the measurements. The MCgeneratorcodeAMPT[25]wasalsousedtostudythebaseline. AMPT issimilar to HIJING butalso includes final-state rescatter-ing effects.AMPT calculationsalsoshowedlinearbaselinesinthe k∗ ranges used in the present analysis, becoming non-linear for larger k∗.Both HIJINGandAMPT qualitatively showthe same di-rectionofchangesintheslopesofthebaselinevs.kTasseeninthe data,butAMPT moreaccurately describedtheslopevalues them-selves, suggestingthat final-staterescattering plays a role in the kT dependenceofthebaselineslope.Thesystematicuncertainties ontheextractedsourceparametersduetotheassumptionof lin-earity inthesek∗ regions were estimatedfromHIJING tobe less than 1%.

Fig. 2 shows examples of K0_SK+ and K0_SK− correlation func-tions dividedby linearfits to thebaseline withEq.(9)using the Achasov2 parameters. One can seethe main feature ofthe fem-toscopic correlation function: the suppression due to the strong final-stateinteractionsforsmallk∗.Asseen,thea0 FSI parameter-izationgives an excellent representationofthe “signalregion” of thedata,i.e.thesuppressionofthecorrelationfunctionsinthek∗ range0toabout0.15GeV/c.

3.3.2. Quadraticbaselinemethod

Inthe “quadraticbaseline method,” R and

λ

areextracted as-suming a quadratic baseline function by fitting the product of a quadraticfunction andtheLednicky equation, Eq.(9),tothe raw correlation functions for each of the two magnetic field orienta-tionsusedintheexperiment,suchasshowninFig. 1,i.e.,

Crawf it

(

k∗

)

=

a

(

1

−

bk∗

+

ck∗2

)

C

(

k∗

)

(11)

where C

(

k∗

)

is givenby Eq.(9), anda, b and c are fit parame-ters.Eq.(11) isfit tothe samek∗ ranges asshowninFig. 1,i.e. 0–0

.

45 GeV/c forallkTandkT

<

0

.

675 GeV/c,and0–0

.

6 GeV/c for

kT

>

0

.

675 GeV/c. The fits to the experimental correlation func-tionsarefoundtobeofsimilargoodqualityasseenforthelinear baselinemethodfitsshowninFig. 2.

3.4. Systematicuncertainties

Systematic uncertainties on the extracted source parameters were estimated by varying the ranges of kinematic and PID cut valuesonthedataby

±

10%and

±

20%,aswell asfromMC simu-lations.Themainsystematicuncertainties ontheextractedvalues of R and

λ

duetovarioussources, notincludingthebaseline fit-tingmethod,are:a)k∗ fittingrange:2%,b)single-particleandpair cuts (e.g. DCAcuts, PID cuts, pair separation cuts): 2%–4% for R and3%–8% for

λ

,andc)pairpurity:1%on

λ

.Combiningthe indi-vidualsystematicuncertaintiesinquadrature,thetotalsystematic uncertaintiesontheextractedsourceparameters,notincludingthe baseline fittingmethodcontribution,are inthe ranges3%–5% for R and4%–8% for

λ

.

As mentioned earlier, for the two fitting methods, the source parametersareextractedforeachcasefrombothmethodsand av-eraged, the symmetric systematicerror foreach casedue to the fitting methodbeing one-half ofthe difference betweenthe two methods. The baseline fitting method systematic error thus ob-tained is added in quadrature with the systematic errors given above.Itisfoundthatthesizeofthebaselinefittingmethod sys-tematicerrorsareabout50%largerforR andofsimilarmagnitude for

λ

asthosequotedaboveforthenon-fitting-methodsystematic errors.

Fig. 2. Examples

of K

0 SK+ and K

0

SK− correlation functions divided by linear fits to the baseline with the Lednicky parameterization using the Achasov2 [9]parameters. Statistical (lines) and the linear sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties (boxes) are shown.

4. Resultsanddiscussion

Fig. 3 shows sample results for the R and

λ

parameters ex-tracted in the present analysisfrom K0_SK± femtoscopyusing the Achasov1parameters. The left columncompares K_S0K+ andK0_SK− resultsfromthequadratic baselinefit method,andtheright col-umn compares results averaged over K0

SK+ and K0SK− for the quadraticbaselinefits andthe linearbaseline fits.As itisusually the case in femtoscopicanalyses, the fitted R and

λ

parameters are correlated. The fitting (statistical) uncertainties are taken to be the extreme values of the 1

σ

fit contours in R vs.

λ

. Statis-ticaluncertaintiesareplottedforallresults.Itisseeninthefigure that the R and

λ

values for K_S0K− have a slight tendency to be larger than those for K0_SK+. Such a difference could result from theK−–nucleonscatteringcrosssectionbeinglargerthanthatfor K+–nucleon(see Fig. 51.9 of Ref. [6]), possibly resulting inmore final-staterescatteringforthe K−.Since thedifferenceis not sig-nificantoncesystematicuncertaintiesaretakenintoaccount,K0

SK+ andK0_SK− areaveraged overinthefinalresults.Thedifferencein theextracted parameters betweenthetwo baseline fitting meth-odsisalsoseento besmall, andisaccountedforasa systematic error,asdescribedearlier.

TheresultsfortheR and

λ

parametersextractedinthepresent analysis from K0

SK± femtoscopy, averaged over the two baseline fitmethods andaveraged over K0

SK+ andK0SK−,are presented in

Table 2andinFigs. 4 and5.Fitresultsareshownforallfour pa-rametersetsgiveninTable 1.Figs. 4 and 5alsoshowcomparisons withidenticalkaonresultsforthesamecollision systemand en-ergyfromALICEfromRef.[5].Statisticalandtotaluncertaintiesare shownforallresults.

AsshowninFig. 4,bothAchasovparametersets,withthelarger a0 massesanddecaycouplings,appeartogive R valuesthatagree bestwiththoseobtainedfromidentical-kaonfemtoscopy.The

An-tonelli parameter set appears to give slightlylower values. Com-paringthe measured R values betweenK0

SK0S andK±K± inFig. 4 theyareseentoagreewitheachotherwithintheuncertainties.In fact,theonlyreasonforthefemtoscopicK0_SK±radiitobedifferent fromtheK0

SK0SandK±K±oneswouldbeiftheK0SandK± sources weredisplacedwithrespecttoeachother.Thisisnotexpected be-causethecollisiondynamicsisgovernedbystronginteractionsfor whichtheisospinsymmetryapplies.

Theresultsforthecorrelationstrengthparameters

λ

areshown in Fig. 5. The

λ

parameters fromK_S0K± and K±K± are corrected forexperimental purity[5].The K0

SK0S pairshavea highpurityof

>

90%,sothecorresponding correctionwasneglected [5](seethe earlierdiscussiononpurity).Statistical andtotaluncertainties are shownforallresults.

The K0_SK±

λ

values,withtheexception oftheMartin parame-ters,appeartobeinagreementwiththe

λ

valuesfortheidentical kaons. All of the

λ

values are seen to be measured to be about 0.6, i.e. less than the ideal value of unity, which can be due to the contribution ofkaons fromK∗ decay (

∼

50 MeV,where

isthedecaywidth)andfromotherlong-livedresonances(suchas the D-meson)distortingthespatialkaonsourcedistributionaway fromtheidealGaussianwhichisassumedinthefitfunction[26]. One wouldexpectthat theK0_SK±

λ

valuesagreewiththosefrom theidenticalkaonsiftheFSIfortheK0_SK±wentsolelythroughthe a0resonantchannelsincethisanalysisshouldseethesamesource distribution.

In order to obtain a more quantitative comparison of the present results for R and

λ

with the identical kaon results, the

χ

2

_/

_{ndf iscalculatedforR and}

_λ

_{foreachparameterset,}

χ

_ω2

/

ndf

=

1 ndf 3

i=1

[

ω

i

(

K_S0K±

)

−

ω

i

(

K K

)

]

2

σ

2 i (12)

Fig. 3. Sample

results for the

R andλparameters extracted in the present analysis from K0

SK±femtoscopy using the Achasov1 parameters. The left column compares K0SK+ and K0

SK−results from the quadratic baseline fit method, and the right column compares results averaged over K 0 SK+and K

0

SK−for the quadratic baseline fits and the linear baseline fits. Statistical uncertainties are plotted for all results.

Table 2

Fit results for R andλextracted in the present analysis from K0SK± femtoscopy averaged over K 0 SK+and K

0 SK−. Statistical and systematic errors are also shown.

Parameters R (fm) orλ All kT kT<0.675 GeV/c kT>0.675 GeV/c Achasov2 R 5.17±0.16±0.41 6.71±0.40±0.42 4.75±0.18±0.36 λ 0.587±0.034±0.051 0.651±0.073±0.076 0.600±0.040±0.034 Achasov1 R 4.92±0.15±0.39 6.30±0.40±0.43 4.49±0.18±0.30 λ 0.650±0.038±0.056 0.723±0.087±0.091 0.649±0.048±0.038 Antonelli R 4.66±0.17±0.46 5.74±0.36±0.26 4.07±0.18±0.29 λ 0.624±0.044±0.058 0.703±0.085±0.077 0.613±0.052±0.037 Martin R 3.29±0.12±0.35 4.46±0.25±0.20 2.90±0.11±0.41 λ 0.305±0.020±0.033 0.376±0.041±0.037 0.296±0.021±0.030 where

ω

iseitherR or

λ

,i runsoverthethreekT values,the

num-berofdegreesoffreedomtakenisndf

=

3 and

σ

iisthesumofthe

statisticalandsystematicuncertainties onthe ithK0_SK± extracted parameter(NotethattheallkT binindeedcontainsthekaonpairs that make up the kT

<

0

.

675 GeV/c and kT

>

0

.

675 GeV/c bins, butinadditionitcontainsanequalnumberofnewpair combina-tionsbetweenthe kaonsinthe kT

<

0

.

675 GeV/c and kT

>

0

.

675 GeV/c bins.Soforthepurposesofthissimplecomparison,we ap-proximate the all kT bin as being independent.) The linear sum ofthe statisticalandsystematicuncertaintiesisused for

σ

i tobe

consistentwiththelinearsumofthestatisticalandsystematic un-certainties plotted on the points in Figs. 4 and 5. The quantity

ω

i

(

K K

)

isdeterminedby fittingaquadratictotheidenticalkaon

resultsandevaluatingthefitattheaveragekT valuesoftheK0SK± measurements.Table 3summarizestheresultsforeachparameter set andthe extracted p-values. As seen, the Achasov2, Achasov1 andAntonelliparametersetsareconsistentwiththeidenticalkaon resultsforbothR and

λ

.TheMartinparametersetisseentohave vanishinglysmall p-valuesforboth R and

λ

and isthus inclear

Table 3

Comparisons of R andλfrom K0SK±with identical kaon results. Parameters χ2 R/ndf R p-value χλ2/ndf λp-value  λ(K0 SK±) λ(K K)  Achasov2 0.456 0.713 0.248 0.863 1.04±0.17 Achasov1 0.583 0.626 0.712 0.545 1.14±0.20 Antonelli 1.297 0.273 0.302 0.824 1.09±0.20 Martin 14.0 0.000 22.2 0.000 0.55±0.10

disagreementwiththeidenticalkaonresults,ascaneasilybeseen byexaminingFigs. 4 and 5.

Inordertoquantitativelyestimatethesizeofthenon-resonant channel present,the ratio



λ(K_S0K±) λ(K K)



hasbeencalculatedforeach parameters set, where the average is over the three kT values

andtheuncertaintyiscalculatedfromtheaverageofthe statisti-cal+systematicuncertaintiesontheK0_SK±parameters.Thesevalues are showninthe lastcolumnofTable 3.Disregarding theMartin value,thesmallestvaluethisratiocantakewithin the

uncertain-Fig. 4. Source

radius parameter,

R,

extracted in the present analysis from K

0

SK±femtoscopy averaged over K 0 SK+and K

0

SK−and the two baseline fit methods (red symbols), along with comparisons with identical kaon results from ALICE[5](blue symbols). Statistical (lines) and the linear sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties (boxes) are

shown. (For interpretation of the colors in this figure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 5. Correlation

strength parameter,

λ, extracted in the present analysis from K0SK± femtoscopy averaged over K 0 SK+ and K

0

SK− and the two baseline fit methods (red symbols), along with comparisons with identical kaon results from ALICE[5](blue symbols). Statistical (lines) and the linear sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties

ties is 0.87 (from the Achasov2 parameters) which would thus allowatmosta13%non-resonantcontribution.

Theresultsofthisstudypresentedaboveclearlyshowthatthe measuredK0_SK± havedominantlyundergone aFSIthrough thea0 resonance.ThisisremarkableconsideringthatwemeasureinPb– Pb collisions the average separation between the two kaons at freezeout to be

∼

5 fm, and dueto the short-rangednature of thestrong interactionof

∼

1 fmthis wouldseemto not encour-agea FSIbutratherencouragefree-streamingofthekaonstothe detectorresultingina “flat” correlation function.A dominantFSI is what might be expected ifthe a0 would be a four-quark, i.e. tetraquark,stateora“K–Kmolecule.”Thereappearstobeno cal-culationsintheliteratureforthetetraquarkvs.diquarkproduction cross sections for the interaction KK

→

a0, but qualitative argu-ments compatible with the a0 being a four–quark state can be madebasedonthepresentmeasurements.Themainargumentin favorofthisisthatthereactionchannelK0_K−

_→

_a−

0 (K0K+

→

a+0) is strongly favored if the a−₀ (a+₀) is composed of dssu (dssu) quarkssuchthatadirecttransferofthequarksinthekaonstothe a−₀ (a+₀)hastakenplace,sincethisisan“OZIsuperallowed” reac-tion[12].The“OZIrule”canbestatedas“aninhibitionassociated withthecreationor annihilationofquark lines” [12].Thus, a di-quarka0 finalstateislessfavoredaccordingtotheOZIrulesince itwouldrequiretheannihilationofthestrangequarksinthekaon interaction. This would allow for the possibility of a significant non-resonant or free-streaming channel for the kaon interaction thatwouldresult ina

λ

value belowthe identical-kaon value by dilutingthea0signal.Asmentionedabove,thecollisiongeometry itself also suppresses the annihilation of the strange quarks due tothelargeseparationbetweenthekaonsatfreezeout.Notethat thisassumesthattheC

(

k∗

)

distributionofanon-resonantchannel wouldbemostly “flat” or“monotonic”inshape andnotshowing astrongresonant-likesignalasseenforthea0 inFig. 1andFig. 2. Thisassumption isclearly true inthe free-streaming case, which isassumedinEq.(9)in setting

α

=

0

.

5 due tothe non-resonant kaoncombinations.Asimilarargument,namelythatthesuccessof the“chargedkaonloopmodel”indescribingtheradiative

φ

-decay datafavorsthea0 asatetraquarkstate,isgiveninRef.[9].

5. Summary

In summary, femtoscopic correlations with K0_SK± pairs have beenstudiedforthefirsttime.Thisnewfemtoscopicmethodwas appliedtodatafromcentral Pb–Pbcollisions at

√

sNN

=

2

.

76 TeV bythe LHCALICEexperiment.Correlations inthe K0_SK± pairs are produced by final-state interactions which proceed through the a0(980) resonance.The a0 resonant FSI is seen to give an excel-lentrepresentationoftheshapeofthesignalregioninthepresent study.ThedifferencesbetweenK0K+andK0K−fortheextractedR and

λ

valuesarefoundtobeinsignificantwithintheuncertainties ofthepresentstudy.Thethreelargera0massanddecayparameter setsarefavoredbythecomparisonwiththeidenticalkaonresults. Thepresentresultsare alsocompatiblewiththeinterpretationof thea0 resonance asatetraquark state. Thiswork should provide aconstraintonmodels that areusedto predictkaon–kaon inter-actions[27,28].Itwillbeinterestingtoapply K0_SK± femtoscopyto other collision energies, e.g. the higher LHC energies now avail-able,andbombarding species, e.g. proton–protoncollisions, since the different source sizes encountered in these cases will probe theinteractionoftheK0

S withtheK±indifferentsensitivityranges (i.e.seethe R dependenceinEq.(9)).

Acknowledgements

The ALICECollaboration wouldlike to thank all its engineers andtechniciansfortheirinvaluablecontributionstothe

construc-tion of the experiment and the CERN accelerator teams for the outstanding performance ofthe LHC complex.The ALICE Collab-oration gratefully acknowledges the resources and support pro-videdbyallGridcenters andtheWorldwideLHCComputingGrid (WLCG) collaboration. The ALICE Collaboration acknowledges the followingfunding agenciesfortheir supportinbuildingand run-ningtheALICEdetector:A.I.AlikhanyanNationalScience Labora-tory(YerevanPhysicsInstitute)Foundation(ANSL),State Commit-teeofScienceandWorldFederationofScientists(WFS),Armenia; Austrian AcademyofSciences andNationalstiftungfür Forschung, Technologie und Entwicklung, Austria; Ministry of Communica-tions and High Technologies, National Nuclear Research Center, Azerbaijan; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (Finep) and Fun-dação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Brazil; Ministry of Science & Technology of China (MSTC), Na-tional Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and Ministry of Education of China (MOEC), China; Ministry of Science, Edu-cationandSports and Croatian ScienceFoundation, Croatia; Min-istryofEducation,YouthandSportsoftheCzech Republic,Czech Republic; The Danish Council for Independent Research Natu-ral Sciences, the Carlsberg Foundation and Danish National Re-search Foundation (DNRF), Denmark; HelsinkiInstitute of Physics (HIP),Finland;Commissariatàl’EnergieAtomique(CEA)and Insti-tut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (IN2P3) andCentre Nationalde la Recherche Scientifique(CNRS), France; Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung undTechnologie (BMBF)andGSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schweri-onenforschung GmbH, Germany; GeneralSecretariat for Research and Technology, Ministry of Education, Research and Religions, Greece; National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Hungary;DepartmentofAtomicEnergyGovernmentofIndia(DAE) andCouncilofScientificandIndustrialResearch(CSIR),NewDelhi, India; Indonesian Institute of Science, Indonesia; Centro Fermi – MuseoStorico dellaFisicae CentroStudi eRicerche EnricoFermi andIstitutoNazionalediFisicaNucleare(INFN),Italy;Institute for Innovative Science and Technology, Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science (IIST), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHIandJapaneseMinistryofEducation,Culture, Sports, Sci-enceandTechnology (MEXT), Japan;Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología(CONACYT), through Fondo de Cooperación Interna-cional enCienciay Tecnología(FONCICYT)andDirección General deAsuntosdelPersonalAcademico(DGAPA),Mexico;Nederlandse OrganisatievoorWetenschappelijkOnderzoek(NWO),Netherlands; TheResearchCouncilofNorway,Norway;CommissiononScience andTechnology forSustainable Developmentin theSouth (COM-SATS),Pakistan;PontificiaUniversidadCatólicadelPerú,Peru; Min-istry ofScience and Higher Education andNational Science Cen-tre, Poland; Korea Institute of Science and Technology Informa-tion and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), Republic ofKorea;MinistryofEducationandScientificResearch,Instituteof Atomic Physicsand Romanian NationalAgency forScience, Tech-nology and Innovation, Romania; Joint Institute for Nuclear Re-search (JINR), Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian FederationandNationalResearchCentre KurchatovInstitute, Rus-sia; Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, Slovakia; NationalResearch Foundation of South Africa,South Africa;Centrode AplicacionesTecnológicasy Desar-rolloNuclear(CEADEN),Cubaenergía,Cuba,MinisteriodeCienciae InnovacionandCentrodeInvestigacionesEnergéticas, Medioambi-entalesyTecnológicas(CIEMAT),Spain;SwedishResearchCouncil (VR)andKnut&AliceWallenbergFoundation(KAW),Sweden; Eu-ropean Organization for Nuclear Research, Switzerland; National Science andTechnology Development Agency(NSDTA), Suranaree

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S. Acharya

139

,

D. Adamová

96

,

J. Adolfsson

34

,

M.M. Aggarwal

101

,

G. Aglieri Rinella

35

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M. Agnello

31

,

N. Agrawal

48

,

Z. Ahammed

139

,

N. Ahmad

17

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S.U. Ahn

80

,

S. Aiola

143

,

A. Akindinov

65

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S.N. Alam

139

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J.L.B. Alba

114

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D.S.D. Albuquerque

125

,

D. Aleksandrov

92

,

B. Alessandro

59

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R. Alfaro Molina

75

,

A. Alici

54

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12

,

27

,

A. Alkin

3

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J. Alme

22

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T. Alt

71

,

L. Altenkamper

22

,

I. Altsybeev

138

,

C. Alves Garcia Prado

124

,

M. An

7

,

C. Andrei

89

,

D. Andreou

35

,

H.A. Andrews

113

,

A. Andronic

109

,

V. Anguelov

106

,

C. Anson

99

,

T. Antiˇci ´c

110

,

F. Antinori

57

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P. Antonioli

54

,

R. Anwar

127

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L. Aphecetche

117

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H. Appelshäuser

71

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S. Arcelli

27

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R. Arnaldi

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O.W. Arnold

107

,

36

,

I.C. Arsene

21

,

M. Arslandok

106

,

B. Audurier

117

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A. Augustinus

35

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R. Averbeck

109

,

M.D. Azmi

17

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A. Badalà

56

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Y.W. Baek

79

,

61

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S. Bagnasco

59

,

R. Bailhache

71

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R. Bala

103

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A. Baldisseri

76

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45

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33

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142

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82

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12

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27

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F. Cindolo

54

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J. Cleymans

102

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F. Colamaria

33

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D. Colella

66

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35

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A. Collu

84

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M. Colocci

27

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M. Concas

59

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ii

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G. Conesa Balbastre

83

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Z. Conesa del Valle

62

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M.E. Connors

143

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iii

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J.G. Contreras

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T.M. Cormier

97

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Y. Corrales Morales

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2

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P. Cortese

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35

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J. Crkovská

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P. Crochet

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107

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A. Dainese

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4

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A. Dash

90

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48

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124

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49

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A. De Caro

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G. de Cataldo

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12

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N. De Marco

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R.D. De Souza

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A. Deisting

109

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106

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A. Deloff

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I. Diakonov

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10

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T. Dietel

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P. Dillenseger

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R. Divià

35

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22

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A. Dobrin

35

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D. Domenicis Gimenez

124

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71

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O. Dordic

21

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T. Drozhzhova

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A. Dubla

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A.K. Duggal

101

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P. Dupieux

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D. Elia

53

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E. Endress

114

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H. Engel

70

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143

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B. Erazmus

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F. Erhardt

100

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62

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S. Esumi

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35

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19

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36

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107

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G. Feofilov

138

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J. Ferencei

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A. Fernández Téllez

2

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A. Ferretti

26

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29

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V.J.G. Feuillard

82

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76

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J. Figiel

121

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M.A.S. Figueredo

124

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S. Filchagin

111

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D. Finogeev

63

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24

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E.M. Fiore

33

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M. Floris

35

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S. Foertsch

77

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P. Foka

109

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S. Fokin

92

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E. Fragiacomo

60

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A. Francescon

35

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A. Francisco

117

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U. Frankenfeld

109

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26

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35

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C. Furget

83

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30

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114

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93

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M. Gallio

26

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123

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P. Ganoti

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7

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C. Garabatos

109

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13

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28

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P. Garg

49

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C. Gargiulo

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36

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M. Germain

117

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J. Ghosh

112

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P. Ghosh

139

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4

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P. Gianotti

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P. Giubellino

109

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59

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35

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P. Giubilato

29

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E. Gladysz-Dziadus

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P. Glässel

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A. Gomez Ramirez

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10

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P. González-Zamora

10

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S. Gorbunov

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L. Görlich

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S. Gotovac

120

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V. Grabski

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84

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A. Grelli

64

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35

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A. Grigoryan

1

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N. Grion

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31

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R. Grosso

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L. Gruber

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27

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K. Gulbrandsen

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T. Gunji

132

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A. Gupta

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2

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86

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12

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S. Hayashi

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H. Helstrup

37

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72

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B.A. Hess

105

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H. Hillemanns

35

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C. Hills

129

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B. Hohlweger

107

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39

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83

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P. Hristov

35

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C. Hughes

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N. Hussain

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R. Ilkaev

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M. Inaba

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M. Ippolitov

85

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92

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M. Irfan

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V. Isakov

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M. Ivanov

109

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V. Ivanov

98

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119

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M.J. Jakubowska

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106

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35

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L. Milano

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