Dire
ct photon produ
ction at mid-rapidity in Pb–Pb
collisions at
class="mathmlsrc">ce" class="mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0370269316000320&_mathId=si1.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0370269316000320&_rdoc=1&_issn=03702693&md5=1c8185232f9746b818569f8c750d7a2c">class="imgLazyJSB inlineImage" height="15" width="105" alt="View the MathML source" style="margin-top: -5px; vertical-align: middle" title="View the MathML source" src="/sd/grey_pxl.gif" data-inlimgeid="1-s2.0-S0370269316000320-si1.gif">cript>cal-align:bottom" width="105" alt="View the MathML source" title="View the MathML source" src="http://origin-ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0370269316000320-si1.gif">cript>class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> was studied in the transverse momentum range
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0370269316000320&_mathId=si148.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0370269316000320&_rdoc=1&_issn=03702693&md5=0013d3c9759dbd106f0bce3f81d2dae8" title="Click to view the MathML source">0.9<pT<14 GeV/cclass="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode">. Photons were dete
cted with the highly segmented ele
ctromagneti
c calorimeter PHOS and via
conversions in the ALICE dete
ctor material with the
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0370269316000320&_mathId=si4.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0370269316000320&_rdoc=1&_issn=03702693&md5=1166737fefdecce3d6290006e66f4e08" title="Click to view the MathML source">e+e−class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> pair re
constru
cted in the
central tra
cking system. The results of the two methods were
combined and dire
ct photon spe
ctra were measured for the 0–20%, 20–40%, and 40–80%
centrality
classes. For all three
classes, agreement was found with perturbative QCD
cal
culations for
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0370269316000320&_mathId=si5.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0370269316000320&_rdoc=1&_issn=03702693&md5=f876eeae8231e04158b538b59eb9bcfd" title="Click to view the MathML source">pT≳5 GeV/cclass="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode">. Dire
ct photon spe
ctra down to
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0370269316000320&_mathId=si6.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0370269316000320&_rdoc=1&_issn=03702693&md5=145471da8223133907c91fcc1011f6da" title="Click to view the MathML source">pT≈1 GeV/cclass="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> could be extra
cted for the 20–40% and 0–20%
centrality
classes. The signifi
can
ce of the dire
ct photon signal for
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0370269316000320&_mathId=si7.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0370269316000320&_rdoc=1&_issn=03702693&md5=4067fc100418e5d9dc8ef576fcc34c21" title="Click to view the MathML source">0.9<pT<2.1 GeV/cclass="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> is 2.6
σ for the 0–20%
class. The spe
ctrum in this
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0370269316000320&_mathId=si8.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0370269316000320&_rdoc=1&_issn=03702693&md5=aa58cb03581d230341ba1ff810fef8b0" title="Click to view the MathML source">pTclass="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> range and
centrality
class
can be des
cribed by an exponential with an inverse slope parameter of
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0370269316000320&_mathId=si9.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0370269316000320&_rdoc=1&_issn=03702693&md5=2e8066a435697eed598476449755381f" title="Click to view the MathML source">(297±12stat±41syst) MeVclass="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode">. State-of-the-art models for photon produ
ction in heavy-ion
collisions agree with the data within un
certainties.