Evidence of rescattering effect in Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC through production of K⁎(892)0 and ϕ(1020) mesons
Acharya, Shreyasi; Adamová, Dagmar; Adler, Alexander; Adolfsson, Jonatan; Aggarwal, Madan M.; Aglieri Rinella, Gianluca; Agnello, Michelangelo; Agrawal, Nikita; Ahammed, Zubayer; Ahmad, Shafiq F.; Alme, Johan; Altenkaemper, Lucas; Djuvsland, Øystein; Eikeland, Viljar Nilsen; Ersdal, Magnus Rentsch; Fionda, Fiorella Maria Celeste; Grøttvik, Ola Slettevoll; Lofnes, Ingrid Mckibben; Nystrand, Joakim; Rehman, Attiq ur; Røhrich, Dieter; Tambave, Ganesh Jagannath; Ullaland, Kjetil; Wagner, Boris; Yang, Shiming; Yuan, Shiming; Zhou, Zhuo; Arsene, Ionut Cristian; Dordic, Olja; Lardeux, Antoine Xavier; Mahmood, Sohail Musa; Malik, Qasim Waheed; Neagu, Alexandra; Richter, Matthias; Røed, Ketil; Skaali, Toralf Bernhard; Tveter, Trine Spedstad; Wikne, Jon Christopher; Helstrup, Håvard; Hetland, Kristin Fanebust; Kileng, Bjarte; Nesbø, Simon Voigt; Storetvedt, Maksim Melnik; Langøy, Rune; Lien, Jørgen André; Ahn, Sang Un; Akindinov, Alexander; Al-Turany, Mohammed; Alam, Sk Noor; De Albuquerque, Danilo Silva; ALICE, Collaboration
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Date
2020Metadata
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Abstract
Measurements of K∗(892)0 and φ(1020) resonance production in Pb–Pb and pp collisions at √sNN = 5.02
TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The resonances are measured
at midrapidity (|y| < 0.5) via their hadronic decay channels and the transverse momentum (pT)
distributions are obtained for various collision centrality classes up to pT = 20 GeV/c. The pT-integrated
yield ratio K∗(892)0/K in Pb–Pb collisions shows significant suppression relative to pp collisions
and decreases towards more central collisions. In contrast, the φ(1020)/K ratio does not show any
suppression. Furthermore, the measured K∗(892)0/K ratio in central Pb–Pb collisions is significantly
suppressed with respect to the expectations based on a thermal model calculation, while the φ(1020)/K
ratio agrees with the model prediction. These measurements are an experimental demonstration of
rescattering of K∗(892)0 decay products in the hadronic phase of the collisions. The K∗(892)0/K yield
ratios in Pb–Pb and pp collisions are used to estimate the time duration between chemical and
kinetic freeze-out, which is found to be ∼ 4–7 fm/c for central collisions. The pT-differential ratios
of K∗(892)0/K, φ(1020)/K, K∗(892)0/π, φ(1020)/π, p/K∗(892)0 and p/φ(1020) are also presented
for Pb–Pb and pp collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV. These ratios show that the rescattering effect is
predominantly a low-pT phenomenon.