Characterizing Proton-Proton Collisions at the Large Hadron Collider with Thermal Properties

TL;DR

This paper investigates the thermal properties of matter produced in high-multiplicity proton-proton collisions at the LHC, exploring signs of quark-gluon plasma formation through thermodynamic analysis using Tsallis distribution.

Contribution

It introduces a thermodynamically consistent method to estimate thermal properties in pp collisions, considering non-extensivity and particle species dependence, which is novel in this context.

Findings

Particle-dependent mean free path varies with multiplicity

Thermal pressure increases with non-extensivity and temperature

Results align with theoretical expectations for quark-gluon plasma formation

Abstract

High-multiplicity proton-proton (pp) collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies have created a new domain of research to look for a possible formation of quark-gluon plasma in these events. In this paper, we estimate various thermal properties of the matter formed in pp collisions at the LHC energies, such as mean free path, isobaric expansivity, thermal pressure, and heat capacity using a thermodynamically consistent Tsallis distribution function. Particle species-dependent mean free path and isobaric expansivity are studied as functions of final state charged particle multiplicity for pp collisions at the center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV. The effects of degree of non-extensivity, baryochemical potential, and temperature on these thermal properties are studied. The findings are compared with the theoretical expectations.