Charged-particle multiplicity measurement in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with ALICE at LHC

The pseudorapidity density and multiplicity distribution of charged particles produced in proton–proton collisions at the LHC, at a centre-of-mass energy \(\sqrt{s}=7\) TeV, were measured in the central pseudorapidity region |η|<1. Comparisons are made with previous measurements at \(\sqrt{s}=0.9\) TeV and 2.36 TeV. At \(\sqrt{s}=7\) TeV, for events with at least one charged particle in |η|<1, we obtain \(\mathrm{d}N_{\mathrm{ch}}/\mathrm{d}\eta=6.01\pm0.01(\mathrm {stat.})^{+0.20}_{-0.12}(\mathrm{syst.})\). This corresponds to an increase of \(57.6\%\pm0.4\%(\mathrm{stat.})^{+3.6}_{-1.8}\%(\mathrm{syst.})\) relative to collisions at 0.9 TeV, significantly higher than calculations from commonly used models. The multiplicity distribution at 7 TeV is described fairly well by the negative binomial distribution.