Predictions of hadron abundances in pp collisions at the LHC

F Becattini (1) , P Castorina (2) , A Milov (3) , H Satz (4)

1 Dipartimento di Fisica
2 Dipartimento di Fisica
3 Department of Particle Physics
4 Fakultät für Physik

Based on the statistical hadronization model, we obtain quantitative predictions for the relative abundances of hadron species in pp collisions at the LHC. By using the parameters of the model determined at √ s = 200 GeV, and extrapolating the overall normalization from p¯ p collisions at the SPS and Tevatron, we find that the expected rapidity densities are almost grand-canonical. Therefore , at LHC the ratios between different species become essentially energy-independent, provided that the hadronization temperature TH and the strangeness suppression factor γS retain the stable values observed in the presently explored range of pp and p¯ p collisions. Just before the advent of data from the highest energy hadron collider of all times, the LHC, we want to ask what, if anything, we can predict quantitatively for the forthcoming measurements dealing with the truly non-perturbative strong interaction regime. The one feature which has emerged over the years in multihadron production, from e + e − annihilation to heavy ion collisions, is its statistical nature. The relative abundances of the different species are predicted with remarkable precision by an ideal resonance gas model, with a hadronization temperature converging to about 170 MeV in the limit of high collision energy [ 1-5 ], and this feature has already been used to make predictions for relative hadron abundances expected at the LHC in Pb-Pb collisions [ 6, 7 ].

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

F Becattini, P Castorina, A Milov, H Satz. Predictions of hadron abundances in pp collisions at the LHC. Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, 2011, 38 (2), pp.25002. ⟨10.1088/0954-3899/38/2/025002⟩. ⟨hal-00600874⟩