Measurement of pions, kaons and protons with the ALICE detector in pp collisions at the LHC

Abstract

The research reported in this thesis was performed using data collected by A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) during the first year of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) operation. The main subject is a measurement of pion, kaon, proton and antiproton production as a function of tranverse momentum ($\pt$ spectra) in proton-proton collisions. The identification of the particles was based on the energy loss in the Inner Tracking System (ITS), a silicon detector. The method was used for two energies of the colliding protons ($\sqs=$7 TeV and $\sqs=$900 GeV). Those results were combined with results obtained using other methods of the particles identification. The combined result is compared with theoretical models, predictions of event generators and previous experimental results. In addition, a measurement of the spectra as a function of the event multiplicity for the proton-proton collisions at $\sqs=$7 TeV is presented. The thesis also contains the description of the calibration procedure of the Silicon Strip Detector (part of the ITS).