New insights into hadron production mechanism from $p_{T}$ spectra in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the quark combination mechanism effectively explains the transverse momentum spectra of various hadrons in 7 TeV proton-proton collisions, outperforming traditional fragmentation models and revealing new scaling behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces the quark combination mechanism as a superior model for hadronization in high-energy pp collisions and predicts new scaling behaviors among hadrons.

Findings

Quark combination reproduces $p_{T}$ spectra better than string/cluster fragmentation.

Data for multiple hadrons are well explained by the model.

Predictions for other hadrons and scaling behaviors are proposed.

Abstract

We show that the experimental data of mid-rapidity $p_{T}$ spectra for proton, $\Lambda$, $\Xi$ , $\Omega^{-}$, $\text{K(892)}^{*0}$ and $\Xi(1530)^{*0}$ in minimum-bias $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV can be systemically explained by the quark combination mechanism of hadronization. The averaged transverse momentum $\langle p_{T}\rangle$ and spectra ratios such as $\Xi/\Lambda$ and $\Omega/\phi$ calculated from quark combination reproduce the data much better than those from traditional string and/or cluster fragmentation. The available data of hadronic $p_{T}$ spectra released by ALICE collaboration in the first three high-multiplicity classes of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV are also well explained. We make predictions for other hadrons, and propose two scaling behaviors among decuplet baryons and vector mesons as the effective probe of hadron production mechanism at such high collision energy.