Centrality and transverse momentum dependence of inclusive J/ production at midrapidity in Pb–Pb collisions at TeV

The inclusive $\text{J}/\psi $ meson production in Pb–Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon–nucleon collision of $\sqrt{{s}_{\text{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV at midrapidity ($|y|<0.9$) is reported by the ALICE Collaboration. The measurements are performed in the dielectron decay channel, as a function of event centrality and $\text{J}/\psi $ transverse momentum ${p}_{\text{T}}$, down to ${p}_{\text{T}}=0$. The $\text{J}/\psi $ mean transverse momentum $〈{p}_{\text{T}}〉$ and ${r}_{\text{AA}}$ ratio, defined as ${〈{p}_{\text{T}}^{2}〉}_{\text{PbPb}}/{〈{p}_{\text{T}}^{2}〉}_{\text{pp}}$, are evaluated. Both observables show a centrality dependence decreasing towards central (head-on) collisions. The $\text{J}/\psi $ nuclear modification factor ${R}_{\text{AA}}$ exhibits a strong ${p}_{\text{T}}$ dependence with a large suppression at high ${p}_{\text{T}}$ and an increase to unity for decreasing ${p}_{\text{T}}$. When integrating over the measured momentum range ${p}_{\text{T}}<10$ $\text{GeV}/c$, the $\text{J}/\psi $ ${R}_{\text{AA}}$ shows a weak centrality dependence. Each measurement is compared with results at lower center-of-mass energies and with ALICE measurements at forward rapidity, as well as to theory calculations. All reported features of the $\text{J}/\psi $ production at low ${p}_{\text{T}}$ are consistent with a dominant contribution to the $\text{J}/\psi $ yield originating from charm quark (re)combination.