Resonances as Probes of Heavy-Ion Collisions at ALICE

TL;DR

This paper discusses how hadronic resonances are used as probes to study the properties of hot, dense nuclear matter in heavy-ion collisions at ALICE, providing insights into particle production and nuclear effects across different collision systems.

Contribution

It presents new measurements of resonances in pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions, comparing results with models and other experiments to enhance understanding of nuclear matter and particle production mechanisms.

Findings

Resonance suppression reveals properties of the hadronic phase.

Comparison of phi(1020) and proton spectra informs production mechanisms.

Resonance measurements serve as references for different collision systems.

Abstract

Hadronic resonances serve as unique probes in the study of the hot and dense nuclear matter produced in heavy-ion collisions. Properties of the hadronic phase of the collision can be extracted from measurements of the suppression of resonance yields. A comparison of the transverse-momentum spectra of the phi(1020) meson and the proton (which have similar masses) can be used to study particle production mechanisms. Resonance measurements in pp collisions provide input for tuning QCD-inspired particle production models and serve as reference measurements for other collision systems. Measurements of resonances in p-Pb collisions allow nuclear effects in the absence of a hot and dense final state to be studied. The ALICE Collaboration has measured resonances in pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions. These measurements will be discussed and compared to results from other experiments and to theoretical models.