Quarkonium production in Pb--Pb and Xe--Xe collisions with ALICE at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper presents recent ALICE measurements of quarkonium production in Pb--Pb and Xe--Xe collisions at the LHC, analyzing nuclear modification factors to understand QCD medium effects in heavy-ion collisions.

Contribution

It provides new experimental data on quarkonium suppression patterns across different collision systems and energies, enhancing understanding of QCD in hot dense media.

Findings

Nuclear modification factors vary with centrality, transverse momentum, and rapidity.

Suppression patterns differ between charmonium and bottomonium states.

Results agree with some phenomenological models, constraining QCD medium properties.

Abstract

Quarkonium production is an excellent probe to investigate the properties of the hot and dense medium, which can be created in heavy-ion collisions. The production and hadronisation of heavy quarks are well separated in the space-time evolution of a collision and provide a wealth of information of the underlying QCD dynamics from the dense to the eventually dilute system. We report on the latest results from ALICE at the LHC on quarkonium production in heavy-ion collisions at mid- and forward rapidity. The nuclear modification factor as a function of centrality, transverse momentum, and rapidity is presented for charmonium and bottomonium states in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$~TeV. In addition, results on the nuclear modification factor of J/$\psi$ in Xe--Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.44 $~TeV are presented. Experimental results are compared with available phenomenological calculations.