Vector meson production in the dimuon channel in the ALICE experiment at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of light vector meson production in proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV using the ALICE muon spectrometer, providing baseline data for heavy-ion collision studies and insights into QGP properties.

Contribution

It presents new measurements of $ ho$, $ ho$, and $ar{ ho}$ meson production ratios and cross sections in pp collisions at 7 TeV, aiding in understanding QGP and hadronic models.

Findings

Production ratios and cross sections for $ ho$, $ ho$, and $ar{ ho}$ mesons.

Differential and integrated cross sections for $ ho$, $ ho$, and $ar{ ho}$.

Results serve as baseline for heavy-ion collision analyses.

Abstract

The purpose of the ALICE experiment at the LHC is the study of the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) formed in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, a state of matter in which quarks and gluons are deconfined. The properties of this state of strongly-interacting matter can be accessed through the study of light vector mesons ($\rho$, $\omega$ and $\phi$). Indeed, the strange quark content ($s\bar{s}$) of the $\phi$ meson makes its study interesting in connection with the strangeness enhancement observed in heavy-ion collisions. Moreover, $\rho$ and $\omega$ spectral function studies give information on chiral symmetry restoration. Vector meson production in pp collisions is important as a baseline for heavy-ion studies and for constraining hadronic models. We present results on light vector meson production obtained with the muon spectrometer of the ALICE experiment in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=7 TeV. Production ratios, integrated and differential cross sections for $\phi$ and $\omega$ are presented. Those results are extracted for $p_{\rm T} > 1$ GeV/$c$ and $2.5 < y < 4$.