Particle production in p-p collisions and prediction for LHC energy

TL;DR

This paper uses the canonical statistical model to analyze particle production in p-p collisions at SPS and RHIC energies, and predicts yields at LHC energy, highlighting the role of strangeness suppression effects.

Contribution

It introduces methods to account for strangeness suppression and extends the model to predict particle yields at LHC energies based on lower-energy data.

Findings

Midrapidity data at RHIC are well described by the canonical model.

SPS data require an additional strangeness suppression factor.

Predictions for LHC energy suggest significant effects of strangeness correlation volume.

Abstract

We analyze recent data on particle production yields obtained in p-p collisions at SPS and RHIC energies within the statistical model. We apply the model formulated in the canonical ensemble and focus on strange particle production. We introduce different methods to account for strangeness suppression effects and discuss their phenomenological verification. We show that at RHIC the midrapidity data on strange and multistrange particle multiplicity can be successfully described by the canonical statistical model with and without an extra suppression effects. On the other hand, SPS data integrated over the full phase-space require an additional strangeness suppression factor that is beyond the conventional canonical model. This factor is quantified by the strangeness saturation parameter or strangeness correlation volume. Extrapolating all relevant thermal parameters from SPS and RHIC to LHC energy we present predictions of the statistical model for particle yields in p-p collisions at sqrt(s) = 14TeV. We discuss the role and the influence of a strangeness correlation volume on particle production in p-p collisions at LHC.