De-Confinement in high multiplicity proton-proton collisions at LHC energies

TL;DR

This paper analyzes high multiplicity proton-proton collisions at LHC energies using color field models, suggesting the formation of deconfined, strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma in small systems.

Contribution

It introduces a framework based on color fields inside overlapping strings to explain particle spectra and thermalization in high energy pp collisions, indicating possible quark-gluon plasma formation.

Findings

Initial temperature exceeds hadronization temperature at high multiplicities.

Evidence of low shear viscosity near the critical temperature.

Indications of deconfined matter in small collision systems.

Abstract

Recently, the CMS Collaboration has published identified particle transverse momentum spectra in high multiplicity events at LHC energies $\sqrt s $ = 0.9-13 TeV. In the present work the transverse momentum spectra have been analyzed in the framework of the color fields inside the clusters of overlapping strings, which are produced in high energy hadronic collisions. The non-Abelian nature is reflected in the coherence sum of the color fields which as a consequence gives rise to an enhancement of the transverse momentum and a suppression of the multiplicities relative to the non overlapping strings. The initial temperature and shear viscosity to entropy density ratio $\eta/s$ are obtained. For the higher multiplicity events at $\sqrt s $ =7 and 13 TeV the initial temperature is above the universal hadronization temperature and is consistent with the creation of de-confined matter. In these small systems it can be argued that the thermalization is a consequence of the quantum tunneling through the event horizon introduced by the confining color fields, in analogy to the Hawking-Unruh effect. The small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio $\eta/s$ near the critical temperature suggests that the matter is a strongly coupled Quark Gluon Plasma.