Is Strangeness Still Strange at the LHC?

TL;DR

This paper models strangeness production at high transverse momentum in proton-proton and heavy-ion collisions, comparing predictions with RHIC data and forecasting LHC results, highlighting the unique role of strangeness.

Contribution

It provides a pQCD-based calculation including nuclear effects and parton energy loss, offering new insights into strangeness behavior at LHC energies.

Findings

Strange-to-non-strange ratios deviate from unity at RHIC and LHC.

Predictions show these ratios remain significantly different from one at LHC.

Strangeness plays a special role in high-energy collisions.

Abstract

Strangeness production is calculated in a pQCD-based model (including nuclear effects) in the high transverse momentum sector, where pQCD is expected to work well. We investigate pion, kaon, proton and lambda production in pp and heavy-ion collisions. Parton energy loss in AA collisions is taken into account. We compare strange-to-non-strange meson and baryon ratios to data at RHIC, and make predictions for the LHC. We find that these ratios significantly deviate from unity not only at RHIC but also at the LHC, indicating the special role of strangeness at both energies.