Study of baryon-strangeness and charge-strangeness correlations in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV with ALICE

TL;DR

This study measures correlations between net-baryon, net-charge, and net-strangeness in lead-lead collisions at 5.02 TeV to explore the properties of quark-gluon plasma and QCD phase structure.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental analysis of net-kaon and net-proton correlations at LHC energies, comparing results with thermal model predictions.

Findings

Net-proton and net-kaon correlations vary with collision centrality.

Thermal-FIST model reproduces some features of the data.

Resonance decays and charge conservation influence the correlations.

Abstract

In the quest to unravel the mysteries of the strong force and the underlying properties of the quark-gluon plasma, the ALICE collaboration at CERN has carried out a comprehensive study focusing on the correlations between net-conserved quantities such as net-baryon, net-charge and net-strangeness. These correlations play a crucial role in the study of QCD phase structure as they are closely related to the ratios of thermodynamic susceptibilities in lattice QCD calculations. This work mainly focuses on the correlations between net-kaon and net-proton, and net-kaon and net-charge in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV using data recorded during LHC Run 2. The net-proton and net-kaon serve as proxies for net-baryon and net-strangeness, respectively, with measurements analyzed as a function of collision centrality. Theoretical predictions from the Thermal-FIST model are compared with experimental results, providing insights into the effects of resonance decays and charge conservation laws on the correlations.