Evidence of rescattering effect in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC through production of $\rm{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$ and $\phi(1020)$ mesons

TL;DR

This study provides experimental evidence of rescattering effects in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC by analyzing the production and suppression patterns of $ m{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$ and $ m{\,phi}(1020)$ mesons, revealing insights into the hadronic phase.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed measurement of resonance suppression patterns in Pb-Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV, highlighting the rescattering effects on $ m{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$ mesons and estimating the duration between freeze-out stages.

Findings

$ m{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$/$K$ ratio is significantly suppressed in central Pb-Pb collisions.

$ m{\,phi}(1020)$/$K$ ratio shows no suppression, aligning with thermal model predictions.

Rescattering predominantly affects low-$p_{ m{T}}$ particles, indicating the hadronic phase duration of 4-7 fm/c.

Abstract

Measurements of $\rm{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$ and $\phi(1020)$ resonance production in Pb-Pb and pp collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The resonances are measured at midrapidity ($|y|$ $<$ 0.5) via their hadronic decay channels and the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm{T}}$) distributions are obtained for various collision centrality classes up to $p_{\rm{T}}$ $=$ 20 GeV$/c$. The $p_{\rm{T}}$-integrated yield ratio $\rm{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$$/$K in Pb-Pb collisions shows significant suppression relative to pp collisions and decreases towards more central collisions. In contrast, the $\phi(1020)$$/$K ratio does not show any suppression. Furthermore, the measured $\rm{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$$/$K ratio in central Pb-Pb collisions is significantly suppressed with respect to the expectations based on a thermal model calculation, while the $\phi(1020)$$/$K ratio agrees with the model prediction. These measurements are an experimental demonstration of rescattering of $\rm{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$ decay products in the hadronic phase of the collisions. The $\rm{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$$/$K yield ratios in Pb-Pb and pp collisions are used to estimate the time duration between chemical and kinetic freeze-out, which is found to be $\sim$ 4-7 fm$/c$ for central collisions. The $p_{\rm{T}}$-differential ratios of $\rm{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$$/$K, $\phi(1020)$$/$K, $\rm{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$$/\pi$, $\phi(1020)$$/\pi$, $p/$$\rm{K}^{*}(892)^{0}$ and $p/$$\phi(1020)$ are also presented for Pb-Pb and pp collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ $=$ 5.02 TeV. These ratios show that the rescattering effect is predominantly a low-$p_{\rm{T}}$ phenomenon.