Performance studies of strangeness production in central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN = 8.8 GeV with the NA60+ experiment at the CERN SPS

Abstract

The NA60+ experiment is designed to study the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter by measuring thermal dimuons, charm, and strange particles produced in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. NA60+ will be installed at the CERN SPS, allowing an energy scan in the range $\sqrt{s_{NN}} \sim 5-17$ GeV and studying a region of high baryonic density little explored so far. The apparatus will be formed by a vertex telescope and a muon spectrometer. The vertex telescope will consist of layers of large area and ultra-thin state-of-the-art Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS), which offer excellent spatial resolution with a low material budget. The vertex telescope will allow the production of strange particles, such as $\phi$, K$^0_S$, (anti-)$\Lambda^0$, $\Xi^{\pm}$, and $\Omega^{\pm}$ to be studied through exclusive reconstruction of hadronic decay channels. This paper will present the expected performances for the measurement of the $\phi$, K$^0_S$, (anti-)$\Lambda^0$, $\Xi^{\pm}$, and $\Omega^{\pm}$ production in central Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 8.8$ GeV, using the vertex spectrometer to reconstruct their hadronic decays respectively into K$^+$K$^-$, $\pi^+\pi^-$, p$\pi^-$ + c.c., $\Lambda^0$(p$\pi^{-}$)$\pi^{-}$ + c.c, and $\Lambda^0$(p$\pi^-$)K$^-$ + c.c..