The Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) is a form of matter in which quarks and gluons are deconfined, and was suggested to be formed in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Since the discovery of high-pT hadron suppression in central Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), and the related discovery of the quenching of the away-side jet in these collisions, the role of jets as key probes of the QGP was re-affirmed. The Solenoidal Tracker At RHIC (STAR) detector system, which is suited for jet studies because of its large solid-angle coverage, has produced a number of interesting jet measurements in recent years, including gamma-jet measurements, attempts at full heavy-ion jet reconstruction, and two-dimensional correlations. A long-range correlation in pseudorapidity (the ?Ridge?) was studied (with statistical significance) out to pT^trig. <? 7 GeV /c and was assumed to have an integrated yield independent of pT^trig. Further studies out to higher pT were limited by the minimum biased statistics taken in Run 4 (2004) with STAR. This work presents results of a ridge analysis with (non-reconstructed) pi0s and direct-gamma-rich triggers out to ?13.5 GeV /c in pT^trig. Using triggered data from Run 7 (2007) and Run 10 (2010) Au+Au collisions detected with STAR. Preliminary results seem to indicate that the ridge yield decreases with pT^trig., and that the ridge yield for direct-?-rich triggers is consistent with zero.

The study of the angular distribution of photon plus jet events in pp collisions at √S =7 TeV with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector is presented. The photon is restricted to the central region of the detector (|η| < 1.4442) while the jet is allowed to be present in both central and forward regions of CMS |η| < 2.4). Dominant backgrounds due to jets fragmenting into neutral mesons are accounted for through the use of a template method that discriminates between signal and background. The angular distribution, |η*|, is defined as the absolute value of the difference in η between the leading photon and leading jet in an event divided by two. The angular distribution ranging from 0-1.4 was examined and compared with next-to-leading order QCD predictions and was found to be in good agreement.

No presente trabalho é explorada a performance do FoCal, um calorímetro eletromagnético frontal, com alta resolução espacial, proposto como um upgrade para o experimento ALICE, no LHC. O principal objetivo deste detector é fazer a medida de fótons diretos na região de pseudo-rapidez 2.5 < < 4.5. Essa região frontal é dominada por fótons provenientes do decaimento de hadrons, principalmente do píon neutro , e portanto uma eficiente medida de fótons diretos está diretamente associada à eficiência em se identificar fótons provenientes do decaimento do píon neutro. Para distinguir fótons diretos de fótons de decaimento do píon neutro, são explorados três diferentes métodos de análise, a saber, massa invariante, análise da forma do chuveiro e isolamento, sendo cada um deles adequado a uma diferente faixa de energia do píon neutro. O método da massa invariante permitiu identificar fótons de píon neutro com uma eficiência de 95% num ambiente de partículas únicas, para píon neutro com energia entre 0 e 300 GeV. Num ambiente pp, esse método mostra uma eficiência de 85%. A análise da forma do chuveiro foi capaz de identificar, com um dado corte no parâmetro de forma Width1, fótons diretos com uma eficiência acima de 90% e de rejeitar fótons de píon neutro com uma eficiência que varia de 65% a 95%, no intervalo de energia de 300 GeV a 500 GeV, num ambiente de partículas únicas. Essas eficiências podem ser melhoradas se for aplicado um corte dependente da energia e a rejeição de píon neutro pode também ser melhorada se os eventos mais assimétricos puderem ser melhor reconstruídos pelo detector no futuro. No método de isolamento, aplicado ao ambiente pp e PbPb, é explorado o melhor valor de raio de isolamento Riso a ser usado em cada ambiente. Por este método podem ser atingidas altas eficiências em detectar fótons diretos, mas o método se mostra limitado pelo grande fundo de fótons de decaimento, e a pureza dos cortes testados não atinge valores maiores que cerca de 10%. E mostrado que o uso de um trigger em 40 GeV pode melhorar a pureza dos cortes de 0.01 % para cerca de 10%. Foi feita a otimização de alguns parâmetros de análise, permitindo melhor desempenho desses métodos de análise explorados / In the present work is explored the performance of the FoCal, a forward electromagnetic calorimeter, with high granularity, proposed as an upgrade for the ALICE experiment, in LHC. The main goal of the detector is to be able to identify direct photons in the pseudo-rapidity region 2.5 < < 4.5. This forward region is dominated by decay photons, mainly photons from neutron pion decay, so an efficient mesurement of direct photons is directly associated to the efficiency in identify photons from neutron pion decay. To separate direct photons from neutron piondecay photons, it is explored three different analysis methods, the invariant mass, shower shape and isolation, each one useful in a different energy range of the neutron pion. The invariant mass method allowed to identify photons from neutron pion with an efficiency around 95% in a single particle environment, for neutron pion with energy between 0 and 300 GeV. In a pp environment, this method showed an efficiency of 85%. The shower shape method was able to identify, by a given cut in the shower shape parameter Width1, direct photons with an efficiency of 90% and to reject 65% to 95% of the photons from neutron pion in the energy range of 300 GeV to 500 GeV, in a single particle environment. This efficiencies can be improved if there is aplied a cut that depends on the energy and the neutron pion rejectioncan also be improved if the more assimetric decays can be better reconstructed by the detector in the future. The isolation method is aplied to a pp and PbPb environments, and it is explored the best value of isolation radius Riso to be used in each environment. By this method, it can be reached high efficiencies in detecting direct photons, but the method is limited by the high background of decay photons, and the purity of the cuts is not better than about 10%. It is showed that a trigger in 40 GeV can improve the purity from 0.01% to about 10%. It was made an optimization of some of the used analysis parameters, leading to an improvement of the explored analysis methods.

No presente trabalho é explorada a performance do FoCal, um calorímetro eletromagnético frontal, com alta resolução espacial, proposto como um upgrade para o experimento ALICE, no LHC. O principal objetivo deste detector é fazer a medida de fótons diretos na região de pseudo-rapidez 2.5 < < 4.5. Essa região frontal é dominada por fótons provenientes do decaimento de hadrons, principalmente do píon neutro , e portanto uma eficiente medida de fótons diretos está diretamente associada à eficiência em se identificar fótons provenientes do decaimento do píon neutro. Para distinguir fótons diretos de fótons de decaimento do píon neutro, são explorados três diferentes métodos de análise, a saber, massa invariante, análise da forma do chuveiro e isolamento, sendo cada um deles adequado a uma diferente faixa de energia do píon neutro. O método da massa invariante permitiu identificar fótons de píon neutro com uma eficiência de 95% num ambiente de partículas únicas, para píon neutro com energia entre 0 e 300 GeV. Num ambiente pp, esse método mostra uma eficiência de 85%. A análise da forma do chuveiro foi capaz de identificar, com um dado corte no parâmetro de forma Width1, fótons diretos com uma eficiência acima de 90% e de rejeitar fótons de píon neutro com uma eficiência que varia de 65% a 95%, no intervalo de energia de 300 GeV a 500 GeV, num ambiente de partículas únicas. Essas eficiências podem ser melhoradas se for aplicado um corte dependente da energia e a rejeição de píon neutro pode também ser melhorada se os eventos mais assimétricos puderem ser melhor reconstruídos pelo detector no futuro. No método de isolamento, aplicado ao ambiente pp e PbPb, é explorado o melhor valor de raio de isolamento Riso a ser usado em cada ambiente. Por este método podem ser atingidas altas eficiências em detectar fótons diretos, mas o método se mostra limitado pelo grande fundo de fótons de decaimento, e a pureza dos cortes testados não atinge valores maiores que cerca de 10%. E mostrado que o uso de um trigger em 40 GeV pode melhorar a pureza dos cortes de 0.01 % para cerca de 10%. Foi feita a otimização de alguns parâmetros de análise, permitindo melhor desempenho desses métodos de análise explorados / In the present work is explored the performance of the FoCal, a forward electromagnetic calorimeter, with high granularity, proposed as an upgrade for the ALICE experiment, in LHC. The main goal of the detector is to be able to identify direct photons in the pseudo-rapidity region 2.5 < < 4.5. This forward region is dominated by decay photons, mainly photons from neutron pion decay, so an efficient mesurement of direct photons is directly associated to the efficiency in identify photons from neutron pion decay. To separate direct photons from neutron piondecay photons, it is explored three different analysis methods, the invariant mass, shower shape and isolation, each one useful in a different energy range of the neutron pion. The invariant mass method allowed to identify photons from neutron pion with an efficiency around 95% in a single particle environment, for neutron pion with energy between 0 and 300 GeV. In a pp environment, this method showed an efficiency of 85%. The shower shape method was able to identify, by a given cut in the shower shape parameter Width1, direct photons with an efficiency of 90% and to reject 65% to 95% of the photons from neutron pion in the energy range of 300 GeV to 500 GeV, in a single particle environment. This efficiencies can be improved if there is aplied a cut that depends on the energy and the neutron pion rejectioncan also be improved if the more assimetric decays can be better reconstructed by the detector in the future. The isolation method is aplied to a pp and PbPb environments, and it is explored the best value of isolation radius Riso to be used in each environment. By this method, it can be reached high efficiencies in detecting direct photons, but the method is limited by the high background of decay photons, and the purity of the cuts is not better than about 10%. It is showed that a trigger in 40 GeV can improve the purity from 0.01% to about 10%. It was made an optimization of some of the used analysis parameters, leading to an improvement of the explored analysis methods.

Dans le cadre du Modèle Standard de la physique des particules, les constituants élémentaires de la matière identifiés à ce jour sont les quarks et les gluons, génériquement appelés partons et soumis à l'interaction forte, décrite par la chromodynamique quantique (QCD). Si les partons sont confinés dans les hadrons sous des conditions normales de température et de densité, l'existence d'un état déconfiné, le plasma de quarks et de gluons (QGP), a été prédite par la QCD pour des conditions thermodynamiques extrêmes. Cet état de la matière peut être atteint dans le cadre de collisions d'ions lourds ultrarelativistes telles qu'en produit le grand collisionneur de hadrons du CERN (LHC), et sondé à l'aide de multiples observables auxquelles peut accéder l'expérience ALICE en particulier. Les photons prompts, issus de processus partoniques de haute énergie, constituent à ce titre une sonde privilégiée de la matière hadronique. Insensibles à l'interaction forte, ils peuvent traverser le milieu déconfiné en conservant les informations primaires d'une collision et représentent ainsi une référence précieuse a priori non affectée par le QGP. Ces photons peuvent être identifiés à l'aide de techniques de calorimétrie électromagnétique et d'isolement. Dans le cadre de cette thèse de doctorat, la production de photons isolés a été mesurée dans des collisions proton-proton et proton-plomb avec l'expérience ALICE. Les résultats obtenus sont compatibles avec des prédictions de QCD, y compris dans un régime cinématique inexploré jusqu'alors par cette observable. / In the Standard Model of particle physics, elementary constituents of matter identified to date are quarks and gluons, generically called partons and obeying the strong interaction described by quantum chromodynamics (QCD). While partons are confined in hadrons under standard temperature and density conditions, the existence of a deconfined state, quark-gluon plasma (QGP), has been predicted by QCD for extreme thermodynamic conditions. This state of matter can be reached in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions such as produced at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and can be probed with many observables accessible to the ALICE experiment in particular. Prompt photons, emitted by high-energy partonic processes, constitute a key probe of hadronic matter. Insensitive to the strong interaction they can traverse the deconfined medium preserving primary information about a collision, and thus represent a valuable reference not affected by QGP a priori. These photons can be identified with electromagnetic calorimetry and isolation techniques. Within this doctoral thesis, the isolated photon production has been measured in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions with the ALICE experiment. The results are in agreement with QCD predictions, including in a kinematic range unexplored by this observable thus far.