Transverse momentum distributions of baryons at LHC energies

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the transverse momentum spectra of baryons at LHC energies, revealing how the spectral slope varies with energy and mass, and providing insights into the energy dependence of average transverse momenta.

Contribution

It introduces a universal fitting formula for low-$p_T$ spectra and explores the energy and mass dependence of baryon transverse momentum distributions at LHC energies.

Findings

The slope of low-$p_T$ distributions varies with collision energy.

Average transverse momentum scales approximately as $s^{0.06}$.

Heavier baryons have proportionally higher average $p_T$.

Abstract

Transverse momentum spectra of protons and anti-protons from RHIC ($\sqrt{s}$ = 62 and 200 GeV) and LHC experiments ($\sqrt{s}$= 0.9 and 7 TeV) have been considered. The data are fitted in the low $p_T$ region with the universal formula that includes the value of exponent slope as a main parameter. It is seen that the slope of low-$p_T$ distributions is changing with energy. This effect impacts on the energy dependence of average transverse momenta, which behaves approximately as $s^{0.06}$ that is similar to the previously observed behavior for $\Lambda^0$-baryon spectra. In addition, the available data on $\Lambda_c$ production from LHCb at $\sqrt{s}= 7$ TeV were also studied. The estimated average $<p_T>$ is bigger than this value for protons proportionally to masses. The preliminary dependence of hadron average transverse momenta on their masses at LHC energy is presented.