Bottomed mesons and baryons in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5 \, TeV$ LHC energy within a Coalescence plus Fragmentation approach

TL;DR

This paper models bottomed hadron production in proton-proton collisions at 5 TeV using a coalescence plus fragmentation approach, predicting baryon/meson ratios and emphasizing the role of quark-gluon plasma in small systems.

Contribution

It extends coalescence plus fragmentation models to bottomed hadrons in pp collisions, providing new predictions for heavy baryon/meson ratios and their dependence on production mechanisms.

Findings

Coalescence dominates B meson production at low momenta.

Predicted $ ext{Lambda}_b/ar{B}^0$ ratio is 0.5-1 at low $p_T$.

Heavy baryon/meson ratios are larger than in charm sector.

Abstract

Recent experimental data from $pp$ collisions have shown a significant increase in heavy baryon production leading to a baryon over meson ratio which is one order of magnitude higher than elementary collisions ($e^+e^-$, $ep$). From a theoretical point of view this large production of baryon can be explained with hadronization via quark coalescence assuming a QGP medium in $pp$ collisions. In this study, we extend this analysis to include hadrons containing bottom quarks. Employing a coalescence plus fragmentation approach, we present predictions for $p_T$ spectra and the heavy baryon/meson ratio of charmed hadrons with and without strangeness content, specifically: $\bar{B^0}$, $B_s$, $\Lambda_b$, $\Xi_b^{0,-}$, $\Omega_b$, and the $B_c$ meson. We have found that coalescence is the dominant mechanism in the B meson production, especially at low momenta, at variance with what found in the charm sector where the D meson were mainly produced via fragmentation. Our model predicts a $\Lambda_b/\bar{B^0}\approx0.5\!-\!1$ and $\Xi_b^0/\bar{B^0}$ ratio around 0.3 at very low transverse momentum, which are about $1.5$ larger then those of the corresponding charmed hadron ratios at the same collision energy. Furthermore, we discuss the relative ratios between charmed and bottomed hadrons, emphasizing how these observables can provide information about the distribution of charm and bottom quarks and, if experimentally observed, would further support the idea of quark-gluon plasma formation even in small collision systems.