Abstract
The ALICE experiment has measured the production of strange and identified charged particles in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions at LHC energies. Light-flavour hadrons are identified in various momentum ranges by using specific energy loss, timeof-flight, Cherenkov radiation, as well as decay topology and invariant mass analysis for weakly-decaying strange particles.In this contribution, the transverse momentum spectra at mid-rapidity and the corresponding yields measured in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions for different multiplicity or centrality intervals are presented. The production of light-flavour hadrons in the three collision systems is compared and confronted with theoretical models.
Highlights
Heavy-ion collisions at ultra-relativistic energies allow one to study the physics of the strongly interacting matter and to characterize the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) [1]
Compared with the pp reference scaled by the average number of binary collisions in each centrality class, the spectra measured in central Pb–Pb collisions show a reduction of particle production at high pT which can be qualitatively explained as an effect of jet quenching
This pattern is known from heavy-ion collisions where it is attributed to the hydrodynamical evolution of the medium and pT spectra measured in high multiplicity p–Pb collisions are better described by models which incorporate hydrodynamics
Summary
Heavy-ion collisions at ultra-relativistic energies allow one to study the physics of the strongly interacting matter and to characterize the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) [1]. The production of strange particles in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion interactions provides a unique additional tool to investigate the properties of the system created in the collision, as there is no net strangeness content in the initially colliding nuclei. Following a brief description of the ALICE detector and the analysis techniques used to reconstruct strange and identified particles, selected results on light-flavour hadrons produced in the three collision systems for a wide range of transverse momentum are presented and the corresponding physics implications are discussed.
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