Abstract. The ALICE experiment at the LHC is optimized to study the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), created in heavy-ion collisions. The medium-induced energy loss of particles can be investigated via the measurement of neutral meson spectra in heavy-ion collisions as well as via neutral meson-hadron correlations. Neutral mesons are identified from decay photon pairs via the invariant mass technique. Photons are measured in ALICE directly in the two electromagnetic calorimeters (PHOS and EMCal), as well as via the method of photon conversion (PCM) into electron-positon pairs, where the latter are measured in the inner tracking system (ITS) and the time projection chamber (TPC). Results obtained from EMCal, PHOS and PCM are consistent and allow measurements of spectra with high precision over a wide kinematical range. Suppression of the high-pT meson production is observed through the mesasurement of nuclear modification factor (RAA), which decreases with increasing the centrality of the collision. The suppression of the per-trigger yield on the away side in high-pT π 0 hadron correlations as measured by the modification factor (IAA) also shows evidence for parton energy loss in the medium.
IntroductionNeutral π 0 and η mesons are produced via parton fragmentation in pp collisions. The meson production differential cross section is a convolution of parton distribution functions (PDF) in the proton, fragmentation functions (FF) of the parton into a meson, and the inclusive cross section of partons production. Studies of neutral meson production constrain both the PDF and FF. The dense environment created in heavy-ion collisions allows observation of modification of the PDF or FF via linear and non-linear recombination effects caused by the dense matter [1]. Insight into modification can be quantified with particle ratio comparisons between ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions and pp collisions. Light mesons are mostly produced in gluon fragmentation at LHC energies. Due to the different color factor, gluons will suffer a larger energy loss in the medium than quarks. Both this and a different relative contribution of gluons and quarks to neutral meson production may lead to differences in the suppression pattern of π 0 and η mesons [2,3]. High-p T meson production spectra give information about the energy loss of the scattered parton in the dense medium.Two-particle angular correlations between high-p T particles and associated particles are also used to study jet-quenching phenomena. They provide information about the amount and