The pseudorapidity density of charged particles with minimum transverse momentum ($p_{\mathrm{T}}$) thresholds of 0.15, 0.5, 1, and $2\mathrm{GeV}/c$ is measured in pp collisions at the center of mass energies of $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ and 13 TeV with the ALICE detector. The study is carried out for inelastic collisions with at least one primary charged particle having a pseudorapidity ($\eta$) within $\pm 0.8$ and $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ larger than the corresponding threshold. In addition, measurements without $p_{\mathrm{T}}$-thresholds are performed for inelastic and nonsingle-diffractive events as well as for inelastic events with at least one charged particle having $|\eta |<1$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$ for the first time at the LHC. These measurements are compared to the pythia 6, pythia 8, and epos-lhc models. In general, the models describe the $\eta$ dependence of particle production well. However, discrepancies are observed for the highest transverse momentum threshold ($p_{\mathrm{T}}>2\mathrm{GeV}/c$), highlighting the importance of such measurements for tuning event generators. The new measurements agree within uncertainties with results from the ATLAS and CMS experiments obtained at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$.

• Received 16 December 2022
• Accepted 12 September 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.108.072008

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