Strange and Multi-Strange particle production in proton-lead collisions measured by ALICE at the LHC

• Grant number: 13/23144-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2014
• End date: September 30, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Nuclear Physics
• Principal Investigator: David Dobrigkeit Chinellato
• Grantee: David Dobrigkeit Chinellato
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In recent studies involving relativistic heavy ion collisions, signals usually attributed to the formation of a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) have been found in both high chargedparticle multiplicity proton-proton (pp) collisions and in proton-lead (p-Pb) collisions. These observations could imply that there is indeed QGP formation in these smallersystems, even though the QGP was originally thought to appear only in lead-lead (Pb-Pb) collisions. However, it could also be that these signals do not have enough discrimatingpower inequivocally determine the presence of a QGP. It is thus crucial that this issue is investigated in depth to improve our understanding of heavy ion collisions in general. In this project, we propose the investigation of multi-strange baryons production in p-Pb collisions measured by ALICE. This will allow us to determine the relative production ofstrangeness, and is of importance since an increase of strangeness production has been measured in Pb-Pb and is associated with the presence of a QGP. Furthermore, we also propose a study of the production rates of the strange particles K0s, Lambda and AntiLambda in pp collisions according to multiplicity. By measuring these rates, we will be able to look into not only strangeness enhancement but also investigate the so-called baryon anomaly by computing the baryon to meson ratio and comparing to existing measurements in p-Pb and Pb-Pb. (AU)