Prospects of transverse $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ polarization measurements at LHCb

TL;DR

This paper discusses the potential for measuring transverse Lambda hyperon polarization at LHCb, which can shed light on hadronization processes and test QCD predictions at high energies.

Contribution

It presents the current status and future prospects of hyperon polarization measurements at LHCb across various collision systems.

Findings

Hyperon polarization increases with $x_F$ and $p_T$ up to a few GeV.

LHCb's geometry enables precise polarization measurements at high energies.

Studying polarization helps understand hadronization in QCD.

Abstract

Transverse $\Lambda$ polarization observed over four decades ago contradicted expectations from early leading-order perturbative QCD calculations. Measurements of $\Lambda$ polarization from unpolarized $pp$ and $p$A collisions have been previously observed to increase as a function of $x_F$ and $p_T$ up to a few GeV range and approximately independent of beam energy. Recent studies have linked polarization to the process of hadronization, which describes how particular hadrons are formed from scattered quarks and gluons. The high energy of the LHC and the coverage and precision measurement possibilities from LHCb forward geometry are ideal for studying hyperon polarization as a function of both $p_T$ and $x_F$. This contribution presents the status and prospects of hyperon polarization measurements in $pp$, $p$Pb, Pb$p$, and fixed-target $p$A collisions at LHCb.