Measurement of inelastic, single-and double-diffraction cross sections in proton–proton collisions at the LHC with ALICE

Measurements of cross sections of inelastic and diffractive processes in proton-proton collisions at LHC energies were carried out with the ALICE detector. The fractions of diffractive processes in inelastic collisions were determined from a study of gaps in charged particle pseudorapidity distributions: for single diffraction (diffractive mass M-X < 200 GeV/c(2)) sigma(SD)/sigma(INEL) = 0.21 +/- 0.03, 0.20(-0.08)(+0.07,) and 0.20(-0.07)(+0.04), respectively at centre-of-mass energies root s = 0.9, 2.76, and 7 TeV; for double diffraction (for a pseudorapidity gap Delta eta > 3) sigma(DD)/sigma(INEL) = 0.11 +/- 0.03, 0.12 +/- 0.05, and 0.12(-0.04)(+0.05), respectively at root s = 0.9, 2.76, and 7 TeV. To measure the inelastic cross section, beam properties were determined with van der Meer scans, and, using a simulation of diffraction adjusted to data, the following values were obtained: sigma(INEL) = 62.8(-4.0)(+2.4)(model) +/- 1.2(lumi) mb at root s = 2.76 TeV and 73.2(-4.6)(+2.0)(model) +/- 2.6(lumi) mb at root s = 7 TeV. The single- and double-diffractive cross sections were calculated combining relative rates of diffraction with inelastic cross sections. The results are compared to previous measurements at proton-antiproton and proton-proton colliders at lower energies, to measurements by other experiments at the LHC, and to theoretical models.