Speaker
Description
Quantum Chromodynamics predicts the occurrence of a phase transition from the hadronic matter to a plasma of deconfined quarks and gluons (Quark-Gluon Plasma) at extreme conditions of temperature and energy density. Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions provide the means to study this phase of matter in the laboratory.
Strangeness production is a key tool to understand the properties of the medium formed in heavy-ion collisions: an enhanced production of strange particles was early proposed as one of the signatures of the QGP. The $\phi$ meson, due to its $s \bar s$ valence quark content, provides insight into strangeness production.
The ALICE experiment has measured $\phi$ meson production in the dimuon channel at the forward rapidity ($2.5 < y < 4$) in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at several center of mass energies.
Results in pp collisions at center of mass energies $\sqrt{s} = 5.02$, $8$ and $13$ TeV will be reported. They will complement the previously published results at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ and $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV, providing a solid baseline for Pb-Pb collisions. In Pb-Pb, the preliminary $\phi$ meson $p_\mathrm{T}$ spectra for different centrality classes and the yield as a function of the collision centrality in the transverse momentum range $2 < p_\mathrm{T} < 7$ GeV/$c$ are presented. These results are also compared with the final ones previously obtained in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV.
| List of tracks | Strangeness production at low baryon densities |
|---|
