Energy dependence of light neutral meson $p_{\rm T}$ spectrum produced in pp collisions at the LHC measured in ALICE

Abstract

We present the measurement of light neutral mesons, $\pi^{0}$ and $\eta$, in pp collisions at different center-of-mass energies obtained with the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The $\pi^{0}$ and $\eta$ mesons are measured via photons reconstructed by the electromagnetic calorimeters and the central tracking system. The invariant cross-section of $\pi^{0}$ and $\eta$ mesons are measured in a broad $p_{\rm T}$ range at $\sqrt{s} = 0.9, 2.76, 7, 5.02$ and 8 TeV. The spectra of $\pi^{0}$ and $\eta$ mesons measured in pp collisions at different collision energies show $x_{\rm T}$-scaling at high $p_{\rm T}$ and violation of $m_{\rm T}$-scaling at low $p_{\rm T}$. The smaller $x_{\rm T}$-scaling exponents of our measurements compared to RHIC may hint at a reduced importance of higher twist processes at LHC.