Particle production mechanisms from RHIC to LHC

TL;DR

This paper reviews RHIC data to explore how the medium created in heavy ion collisions influences hadron production mechanisms, highlighting differences across momentum regions and potential impacts of LHC initial conditions on quark-gluon plasma hadronization.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of collective features indicating different hadronization mechanisms and discusses how higher energy collisions at LHC could affect the properties of the quark-gluon plasma.

Findings

Different regions of the particle spectrum are populated through distinct mechanisms.

The medium significantly influences the hadronization process.

Initial conditions at LHC may alter quark-gluon plasma properties.

Abstract

I will review RHIC data with respect to the intriguing possibility that the hadron production mechanism in the produced partonic medium might be different than in vacuum. I will use the measurements of collective features, such as flow and quenching of identified particles, to show that different regions of the particle momentum spectrum are likely populated through different mechanisms, and that the medium seems to play an important role in hadronization. Finally I will address the question whether the different initial conditions achievable in heavy ion collisions at LHC energies, compared to RHIC, might affect the properties of the deconfined quark-gluon phase and its hadronization to baryonic matter.