Evidence of rescattering effect in Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC through production of K⁎ and ϕ(1020) mesons

(ALICE Collaboration) Acharya, S.; Antičić, Tome; Erhardt, Filip; Gotovac, Sven; Jerčić, Marko; Lončar, Petra; Mudnić, Eugen; Planinić, Mirko; Poljak, Nikola; Simatović, Goran; Utrobičić, Antonija; Vicković, Linda; Zurlo, N. (2020) Evidence of rescattering effect in Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC through production of K⁎ and ϕ(1020) mesons. Physics Letters B, 802 . ISSN 0370-2693

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Abstract

Measurements of K⁎ and resonance production in Pb–Pb and pp collisions at = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The resonances are measured at midrapidity ( < 0.5) via their hadronic decay channels and the transverse momentum () distributions are obtained for various collision centrality classes up to = 20 GeV/c. The -integrated yield ratio K⁎/K in Pb–Pb collisions shows significant suppression relative to pp collisions and decreases towards more central collisions. In contrast, the /K ratio does not show any suppression. Furthermore, the measured K⁎/K ratio in central Pb–Pb collisions is significantly suppressed with respect to the expectations based on a thermal model calculation, while the /K ratio agrees with the model prediction. These measurements are an experimental demonstration of rescattering of K⁎ decay products in the hadronic phase of the collisions. The K⁎/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 -differential ratios of K⁎/K, /K, K⁎/π, /π, p/K⁎ and p/ are also presented for Pb–Pb and pp collisions at = 5.02 TeV. These ratios show that the rescattering effect is predominantly a low- phenomenon.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Pb-Pb, K* meson, ϕ(1020) mesons, rescattering effect
Subjects:	NATURAL SCIENCES > Physics
Divisions:	Division of Experimental Physics
Depositing User:	Tome Antičić
Date Deposited:	27 Mar 2020 12:13
URI:	http://fulir.irb.hr/id/eprint/5388
DOI:	10.1016/j.physletb.2020.135225

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