Resonances as Probes of Heavy-Ion Collisions at ALICE

A G Knospe,Alice Collaboration

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/612/1/012064

A G Knospe, Alice Collaboration

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/612/1/012064

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Abstract

Hadronic resonances serve as unique probes in the study of the hot and dense nuclear matter produced in heavy-ion collisions. Properties of the hadronic phase of the collision can be extracted from measurements of the suppression of resonance yields. A comparison of the transverse-momentum spectra of the ϕ(1020) meson and the proton (which have similar masses) can be used to study particle production mechanisms. Resonance measurements in pp collisions provide input for tuning QCD-inspired particle production models and serve as reference measurements for other collision systems. Measurements of resonances in p-Pb collisions allow nuclear effects in the absence of a hot and dense final state to be studied. The ALICE Collaboration has measured resonances in pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions. These measurements will be discussed and compared to results from other experiments and to theoretical models.

Highlights

Resonances serve as useful probes that allow the characteristics of heavy-ion collisions to be studied at different stages of their evolution
While the yields of stable hadrons are fixed at chemical freeze-out, the yields of resonances can be modified by hadronic scattering processes after chemical freeze-out [1,2,3]
Pseudo-elastic scattering of a resonance decay product through a different resonance state will prevent reconstruction of the first resonance [4]

Summary

Introduction

Resonances serve as useful probes that allow the characteristics of heavy-ion collisions to be studied at different stages of their evolution. Theoretical models that take these effects into account can be used to estimate the properties of the hadronic phase using measured resonance yields (or their ratios to stable particles) as input [2, 5, 6]. The K∗0 and φ masses and√widths have been measured as functions of pT for central and peripheral Pb–Pb collisions at sNN = 2.76 TeV [18].

Results

Conclusion