Production of $$\omega $$ mesons in pp collisions at $$\mathbf {\sqrt{s}=7\,\text {TeV}}$$

The invariant differential cross section of inclusive $$\omega (782)$$ meson production at midrapidity ( $$|y|<0.5$$ ) in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=7\,\hbox {TeV}$$ was measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC over a transverse momentum range of $$2< p_{\mathrm {T}}< 17\,\hbox {GeV}/c$$ . The $$\omega $$ meson was reconstructed via its $$\omega \rightarrow \pi ^+\pi ^-\pi ^0$$ decay channel. The measured $$\omega $$ 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 $$6\,\hbox {GeV}/c$$ , while it overestimates the data by up to 50% for higher $$p_{\mathrm {T}}$$ . The $$\omega /\pi ^0$$ 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 $$p_{\mathrm {T}}$$  range and the ratio is constant with $$C^{\omega /\pi ^{0}}= 0.67 \pm 0.03 \text {~(stat)~} \pm 0.04 \text {~(sys)~}$$ above a transverse momentum of $$2.5\,\hbox {GeV}/c$$ .