AbstractThe invariant differential cross section of inclusive $$\omega (782)$$
ω
(
782
)
meson production at midrapidity ($$|y|<0.5$$
|
y
|
<
0.5
) in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=7\,\hbox {TeV}$$
s
=
7
TeV
was measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC over a transverse momentum range of $$2< p_{\mathrm {T}}< 17\,\hbox {GeV}/c$$
2
<
p
T
<
17
GeV
/
c
. The $$\omega $$
ω
meson was reconstructed via its $$\omega \rightarrow \pi ^+\pi ^-\pi ^0$$
ω
→
π
+
π
-
π
0
decay channel. The measured $$\omega $$
ω
production cross section is compared to various calculations: PYTHIA 8.2 Monash 2013 describes the data, while PYTHIA 8.2 Tune 4C overestimates the data by about 50%. A recent NLO calculation, which includes a model describing the fragmentation of the whole vector-meson nonet, describes the data within uncertainties below $$6\,\hbox {GeV}/c$$
6
GeV
/
c
, while it overestimates the data by up to 50% for higher $$p_{\mathrm {T}}$$
p
T
. The $$\omega /\pi ^0$$
ω
/
π
0
ratio is in agreement with previous measurements at lower collision energies and the PYTHIA calculations. In addition, the measurement is compatible with transverse mass scaling within the measured $$p_{\mathrm {T}}$$
p
T
range and the ratio is constant with $$C^{\omega /\pi ^{0}}= 0.67 \pm 0.03 \text {~(stat)~} \pm 0.04 \text {~(sys)~}$$
C
ω
/
π
0
=
0.67
±
0.03
(stat)
±
0.04
(sys)
above a transverse momentum of $$2.5\,\hbox {GeV}/c$$
2.5
GeV
/
c
.