Yields of Pion, Kaon, and Proton Production in p-Pb Collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}$ = 8.16 TeV

The ALICE experiment at CERN is designed to study the properties of quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter formed under extreme conditions of temperature and energy density. These conditions are thought to be similar to those just after the Big Bang, allowing scientists to probe the beginning of the universe. In the LHC, quark-gluon plasma is formed and examined through pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions. In particular, p-Pb collisions are used to test initial state “cold nuclear matter” effects. The High Momentum Particle Identification Detector (HMPID) is one of the 19 subdetectors in ALICE and is designed to identify charged particles by exploiting the Cherenkov effect. It is able to identify with $3\sigma$ separation pions and kaons up to $p_{T} = 3$ GeV/$c$, and kaons and (anti)protons up to $p_{T} = 5$ GeV/$c$. In this report, p-Pb data collected in 2016 during LHC Run 2 is studied. First, the HMPID detector performance is characterized by analyzing its charge measurements. Then, the number of particles identified by the HMPID is calculated by statistical unfolding of the Cherenkov angle. Finally, corrections are applied on the detector data to obtain the total particle yield of this p-Pb sample. It is observed that particle yield has strong $p_{T}$ dependence and slight multiplicity dependence. In the next step, results from this study can be combined with analysis from other ALICE detectors to complete the $p_{T}$ spectrum up to 20 GeV/$c$, and be compared with the pp and Pb-Pb collision modes to further study quark-gluon plasma.