Formation of Centauro and Strangelets in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions at the LHC and their Identification by the ALICE Experiment

TL;DR

This paper introduces a phenomenological model for Centauro fireball formation and Strangelet production in high-energy nucleus collisions, detailing the CASTOR detector's design and simulation results for identifying these exotic states at the LHC.

Contribution

It presents a new model for Centauro and Strangelet formation and describes the CASTOR detector's capabilities for detecting these phenomena in LHC heavy-ion collisions.

Findings

Simulation results show CASTOR can detect Strangelets effectively.

The model predicts distinctive signatures for Centauro events.

CASTOR's response to Strangelets is characterized in detail.

Abstract

We present a phenomenological model which describes the formation of a Centauro fireball in nucleus-nucleus interactions in the upper atmosphere and at the LHC, and its decay to non-strange baryons and Strangelets. We describe the CASTOR detector for the ALICE experiment at the LHC. CASTOR will probe, in an event-by-event mode, the very forward, baryon-rich phase space 5.6 < \eta < 7.2 in 5.5 A TeV central Pb + Pb collisions. We present results of simulations for the response of the CASTOR calorimeter, and in particular to the traversal of Strangelets.