Bulk matter physics and its future at the Large Hadron Collider

TL;DR

This paper discusses the experimental capabilities and future prospects for studying bulk matter physics at the LHC, focusing on low transverse momentum measurements in proton-proton and heavy-ion collisions to understand particle production mechanisms.

Contribution

It presents the experimental setup, discusses baryon production measurements, and explores observables for investigating multi-parton interactions at the LHC.

Findings

Anticipated measurements for identified particle species at multi-TeV energies.

Model extrapolations for baryon production in $pp$ and heavy-ion collisions.

Potential observables for studying multi-parton interactions and the underlying event.

Abstract

Measurements at low transverse momentum will be performed at the LHC for studying particle production mechanisms in $pp$ and heavy-ion collisions. Some of the experimental capabilities for bulk matter physics are presented, focusing on tracking elements and particle identification. In order to anticipate the study of baryon production for both colliding systems at multi-TeV energies, measurements for identified species and recent model extrapolations are discussed. Several mechanisms are expected to compete for hadro-production in the low momentum region. For this reason, experimental observables that could be used for investigating multi-parton interactions and help understanding the "underlying event" content in the first $pp$ collisions at the LHC are also mentioned.