Transverse momentum spectra and nuclear modification factors of charged particles in Xe-Xe collisions at root s(NN)=5.44 TeV

Transverse momentum (p T ) spectra of charged particles at mid-pseudorapidity in Xe–Xe collisions at s NN =5.44TeV measured with the ALICE apparatus at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The kinematic range 0.15<p T <50GeV/c and |η|<0.8 is covered. Results are presented in nine classes of collision centrality in the 0–80% range. For comparison, a pp reference at the collision energy of s=5.44 TeV is obtained by interpolating between existing pp measurements at s=5.02 and 7 TeV. The nuclear modification factors in central Xe–Xe collisions and Pb–Pb collisions at a similar center-of-mass energy of s NN =5.02 TeV, and in addition at 2.76 TeV, at analogous ranges of charged particle multiplicity density 〈dN ch /dη〉 show a remarkable similarity at p T >10 GeV/c. The centrality dependence of the ratio of the average transverse momentum 〈p T 〉 in Xe–Xe collisions over Pb–Pb collision at s=5.02 TeV is compared to hydrodynamical model calculations.