Lambda and lambda production in central Pb-Pb collisions at 40, 80, and 158A GeV

Measurements of Chemical Potentials in Pb-Pb Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV

This Letter presents the most precise measurement to date of the matter-antimatter imbalance at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02  TeV. Using the Statistical Hadronization framework, it is possible to obtain the value of the electric charge and baryon chemical potentials, μ_{Q}=-0.18±0.90  MeV and μ_{B}=0.71±0.45  MeV, with unprecedented precision. A centrality-differential study of the antiparticle-to-particle yield ratios of charged pions, protons, Ω baryons, and light (hyper)nuclei is performed. These results indicate that the system created in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC is on average baryon-free and electrically neutral at midrapidity.

Centrality dependence of multistrangeness production in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

We compare the experimental data on yields of protons, strange Λ′s, and multistrange baryons (Ξ, Ω), and antibaryons production on nuclear targets, and the experimental ratios of multistrange to strange antibaryon production, at the energy region from SPS up to LHC, with the corresponding results of the Quark-Gluon String Model calculations. In the case of heavy nucleus collisions, the experimental dependence of the Ξ̅+/Λ̅, and Ω̅+/Λ̅ ratios, on the centrality of the collision, shows a manifest violation of quark combinatorial rules.

Mesons in NA61/SHINE

This contribution presents a selection of recent results on meson production from the NA61/SHINE experiment. The results include spectra of ø mesons in p + p collisions at 40, 80 and 158 GeV/c beam momenta, as well as π±, K±, ρ0, ω and K*0 mesons in π− + C collisions at 158 GeV/c and 350 GeV/c. They are compared with predictions of several models. A spectacular failure of considered models is observed for ø, ρ0 and K*0 production. Also a very peculiar system size dependence of the longitudinal evolution of ø production, contrasting with all other measured hadrons, is shown. Finally, preliminary results on spectator-induced electromagnetic effects in π± production in Ar + Sc at 150A GeV/c are presented, bringing information on space-time evolution of the hot and dense matter created in the collision.

Small systems at the LHC

In these proceedings, I report on a selection of recent LHC results in small systems from ALICE [1], ATLAS [2] and CMS [3] experiments. Due to the fact that the investigation of QCD in small systems at high multiplicity is becoming an increasingly large subject, interesting the heavy-ion community and more in general the high-energy physics community, not all the related topics can be discussed in this paper. The focus will be given to some of the measurements addressing the physics of collective phenomena in small systems and to the recent results on strangeness enhancement in proton-proton collisions. The reader must be informed that a large number of interesting results did not find space in the discussion reported here.

New baryonic and mesonic observables from NA61/SHINE

One of the main objectives of the NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN SPS is to study properties of strongly interacting matter. This paper presents new results on observables relevant for this part of the NA61/SHINE programme. These include the first ever measurements of ϕ meson production in p+p collisions at 40 and 80 GeV, and most detailed ever experimental data at 158 GeV. This contribution demonstrates the superior accuracy of the present dataset with respect to existing measurements. The comparison of p+p to Pb+Pb collisions shows a non-trivial system size dependence of the longitudinal evolution of hidden strangeness production, contrasting with that of other mesons. Furthermore, proton density fluctuations are investigated as a possible order parameter of the second order phase transition in the neighbourhood of the critical point (CP) of strongly interacting matter. An intermittency analysis is performed of the proton second scaled factorial moments in transverse momentum space. A previous analysis of this sort revealed significant power-law fluctuations for the “Si”+Si system at 158A GeV measured by the NA49 experiment. The fitted power-law exponent was consistent within errors with the theoretically expected critical value, a result suggesting a baryochemical potential in the vicinity of the CP of about 250MeV [24]. The analysis will now be extended to NA61/SHINE systems of similar size, Be+Be and Ar+Sc, at 150A GeV. Finally, spectator-induced electromagnetic (EM) effects on charged meson production are being studied and bring information on the space-time position of the pion formation zone, which appears to be much closer to the spectator system for faster pions than for slower ones. On that basis, we demonstrate that the longitudinal evolution of the system at CERN SPS energies may be interpreted as a pure consequence of local energymomentum conservation.

Separate freeze-out of strange particles and the quark-hadron phase transition

The scenario of the independent chemical freeze-outs for strange and nonstrange particles is discussed. Within such a scenario an apparent in-equilibrium of strangeness is naturally explained by a separation of chemical freeze-out of strange hadrons from the one of non-strange hadrons, which, nevertheless, are connected by the conservation laws of entropy, baryonic charge and third isospin projection. An interplay between the separate freeze-out of strangeness and its residual non-equilibrium is studied within an elaborate version of the hadron resonance gas model. The developed model enables us to perform a high-quality fit of the hadron multiplicity ratios measured at AGS, SPS and RHIC with an overall fit quality ϰ2/dof = 0:93. A special attention is paid to a description of the Strangeness Horn and to the well-known problem of selective suppression of Δ- and ж hyperons. It is remarkable that for all collision energies the strangeness suppression factor γs is about 1 within the error bars. The only exception is found in the vicinity of the center-of-mass collision energy 7.6 GeV, at which a residual enhancement of strangeness of about 20 % is observed.

Core-corona separation in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions

Simple geometrical considerations show that the collision zone in high energy nuclear collisions may be divided into a central part ("core"), with high energy densities, and a peripheral part ("corona"), with smaller energy densities, more like in pp or pA collisions. We present calculations that allow us to separate these two contributions, and which show that the corona contribution is quite small (but not negligible) for central collisions, but gets increasingly important with decreasing centrality. We will discuss consequences concerning results obtained in heavy ion collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and CERN Super Proton Synchrotron.

Omega- and Omega+ production in central Pb + Pb collisions at 40 and 158A GeV

Results are presented on Omega production in central Pb+Pb collisions at 40 and 158A GeV beam energy. For the first time in heavy ion reactions, rapidity distributions and total yields were measured for the sum Omega(-) + Omega(+) at 40A GeV and for Omega(-) and Omega(+) separately at 158A GeV. The yields are strongly underpredicted by the string-hadronic UrQMD model but agree better with predictions from hadron gas models.

System-size dependence of strangeness production in nucleus-nucleus collisions at squareroot[sNN]=17.3 GeV

Emission of pi+/-, K+/-, phi, and Lambda was measured in near-central C+C and Si+Si collisions at 158 AGeV beam energy. Together with earlier data for p+p, S+S, and Pb+Pb, the system-size dependence of relative strangeness production in nucleus-nucleus collisions is obtained. Its fast rise and the saturation observed at about 60 participating nucleons can be understood as the onset of the formation of coherent systems of increasing size.