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Charm quark production in heavy-ion collisions as a signature of pre-equilibrium
Authors:
Maurice Coquet,
Thomas Faure,
Sören Schlichting,
Mika Spier,
Michael Winn
Abstract:
The relative abundances and kinematic distributions of hadrons containing (anti)charm quarks are key observables for deconfinement, heavy-quark diffusion and hadronization in heavy-ion collisions. The production of (anti)charm quarks is commonly associated to the initial hard scatterings in hadronic collisions. Based on previous studies on dilepton production, we evaluate the (anti)charm quark pro…
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The relative abundances and kinematic distributions of hadrons containing (anti)charm quarks are key observables for deconfinement, heavy-quark diffusion and hadronization in heavy-ion collisions. The production of (anti)charm quarks is commonly associated to the initial hard scatterings in hadronic collisions. Based on previous studies on dilepton production, we evaluate the (anti)charm quark production from the pre-equilibrium phase. A non-negligible contribution to the overall charm quark production is found albeit large theoretical uncertainties are limiting factors. We conclude that precise total charm production measurements combined with progress on charm production calculations from the initial hard scatterings can be used to infer information on the pre-equilibrium stage.
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Submitted 8 June, 2026;
originally announced June 2026.
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SemiCharmTag: a tool for Semileptonic Charm tagging
Authors:
Carolina Arata,
Imanol Corredoira,
Alisha Lightbody,
Michael Winn
Abstract:
A method for selecting and/or rejecting leptons from charm semileptonic decays based on the tagging of the secondary vertex using a hadron track is introduced. The method is developed for dimuon Drell-Yan measurements in LHCb using full simulations in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13.6$ TeV. We focus on the invariant mass range between 2.9 and 5 GeV/$c^2$ with single muon transverse moment…
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A method for selecting and/or rejecting leptons from charm semileptonic decays based on the tagging of the secondary vertex using a hadron track is introduced. The method is developed for dimuon Drell-Yan measurements in LHCb using full simulations in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13.6$ TeV. We focus on the invariant mass range between 2.9 and 5 GeV/$c^2$ with single muon transverse momentum larger than 1 GeV/$c$. A novel strategy is detailed for background rejection, achieving an improvement of the signal over background of a factor $\sim 4$ at an efficiency of 81% while maintaining the Drell-Yan kinematic distributions largely unbiased except at the acceptance edges. Moreover, a second approach is presented for the construction of unbiased background-pure samples of single muons from charm decays, achieving a charm efficiency of 21.4% at a Drell-Yan efficiency of 1.1%.
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Submitted 10 June, 2026; v1 submitted 13 April, 2026;
originally announced April 2026.
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Experimental overview: quarkonia as probes for deconfinement
Authors:
Michael Winn
Abstract:
The current status of the experimental investigation of quarkonia in heavy-ion collisions as probes for deconfinement is reviewed. The emphasis is put on the qualitative understanding of charmonia (ccbar bound states) and bottomonia (bbbar) based on the results in the past few years. In particular, the observation of non-primordial J/psi (ccbar) production as signature of deconfinement based on di…
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The current status of the experimental investigation of quarkonia in heavy-ion collisions as probes for deconfinement is reviewed. The emphasis is put on the qualitative understanding of charmonia (ccbar bound states) and bottomonia (bbbar) based on the results in the past few years. In particular, the observation of non-primordial J/psi (ccbar) production as signature of deconfinement based on different observables and the sequential suppression patterns of the Upsilon (bbbar) states are discussed. An outlook focusing on the time scale until the next quark matter conference is provided.
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Submitted 5 December, 2025; v1 submitted 10 October, 2025;
originally announced October 2025.
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Probing of EoS with clusters and hypernuclei
Authors:
Yingjie Zhou,
Susanne Glässel,
Yue-Hang Leung,
Viktar Kireyeu,
Jiaxing Zhao,
Hui Liu,
Christoph Blume,
Iouri Vassiliev,
Vadim Voronyuk,
Michael Winn,
Norbert Herrmann,
Yaping Wang,
Nu Xu,
Jörg Aichelin,
Elena Bratkovskaya
Abstract:
The study of the nuclear equation-of-state (EoS) is a one of the primary goals of experimental and theoretical heavy-ion physics. The comparison of recent high statistics data from the STAR Collaboration with transport models provides a unique possibility to address this topic in a yet unexplored energy domain. Employing the microscopic N-body Parton-Hadron-Quantum-Molecular Dynamics (PHQMD) trans…
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The study of the nuclear equation-of-state (EoS) is a one of the primary goals of experimental and theoretical heavy-ion physics. The comparison of recent high statistics data from the STAR Collaboration with transport models provides a unique possibility to address this topic in a yet unexplored energy domain. Employing the microscopic N-body Parton-Hadron-Quantum-Molecular Dynamics (PHQMD) transport approach, which allows to describe the propagation and interactions of hadronic and partonic degrees of freedom including cluster and hyper-nucleus formation and dynamics, we investigate the influence of different EoS on bulk observables, the multiplicity, $p_T$ and rapidity distributions of protons, $Λ$s and clusters up to A=4 as well as their influence on the collective flow. We explore three different EoS: two static EoS, dubbed 'soft' and 'hard', which differ in the compressibility modulus, as well as a soft momentum dependent EoS. We find that a soft momentum dependent EoS reproduces most baryon and cluster observables, including the flow observables, quantitatively, however, hard EOS show a similar trend.
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Submitted 10 December, 2025; v1 submitted 18 July, 2025;
originally announced July 2025.
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French HEP community input to the European Strategy for Particle Physics
Authors:
Yasmine Amhis,
Jeremy Andrea,
Etienne Augé,
Sara Bolognesi,
Maarten Boonekamp,
Samuel Calvet,
Emilien Chapon,
Didier Contardo,
Fabrice Couderc,
Sabine Crépé-Renaudin,
Louis D'Eramo,
Cristinel Diaconu,
Giulio Dujany,
Federico Ferri,
Marie-Hélène Genest,
Stéphane Lavignac,
Jessica Levêque,
Cyrille Marquet,
Anselmo Meregaglia,
Stephane Monteil,
Carlos Muñoz Camacho,
Louis Portales,
Philippe Schwemling,
Christopher Smith,
Ana M. Teixeira
, et al. (1 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
In view of the European Strategy for Particle Physics process, the French HEP community has organized a national process of collecting written contributions and has pursued a series of workshops culminating with a national symposium held in Paris on January 20-21, 2025 that involved over 280 scientists https://indico.in2p3.fr/event/34662/. The present document summarises the main conclusions of th…
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In view of the European Strategy for Particle Physics process, the French HEP community has organized a national process of collecting written contributions and has pursued a series of workshops culminating with a national symposium held in Paris on January 20-21, 2025 that involved over 280 scientists https://indico.in2p3.fr/event/34662/. The present document summarises the main conclusions of this bottom-up approach centred on the physics and technology motivations.
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Submitted 30 March, 2025;
originally announced April 2025.
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Prospective report of the French QCD community to the ESPPU 2025 with respect to the program of the LHC Run 5 and beyond and future colliders at CERN
Authors:
Carolina Arata,
François Arleo,
Benjamin Audurier,
Alberto Baldisseri,
Nicole Bastid,
Guillaume Batigne,
Iouri Belikov,
Marcus Bluhm,
Francesco Bossu,
Hervé Borel,
Renaud Boussarie,
Javier Castillo Castellanos,
Paul Caucal,
Cvetan Cheshkov,
Gustavo Conesa Balbastre,
Zaida Conesa del Valle,
Maurice Coquet,
Imanol Corredoira Fernandez,
Philippe Crochet,
Bruno Espagnon,
Julien Faivre,
Andrea Ferrero,
Audrey Francisco,
Frédéric Fleuret,
Chris Flett
, et al. (37 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
This document summarizes the prospective physics plans of the French QCD and Heavy-Ion community, including the experimental programs at the LHC Run 5 and beyond and future colliders at CERN, within the context of the French contribution to the update of the European Strategy in Particle Physics (ESPPU 2025), as discussed in the workshop on European Strategy for Particle Physics Update 2025 organi…
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This document summarizes the prospective physics plans of the French QCD and Heavy-Ion community, including the experimental programs at the LHC Run 5 and beyond and future colliders at CERN, within the context of the French contribution to the update of the European Strategy in Particle Physics (ESPPU 2025), as discussed in the workshop on European Strategy for Particle Physics Update 2025 organised by the QCD GdR in Oct. 2024.
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Submitted 12 March, 2025; v1 submitted 18 November, 2024;
originally announced November 2024.
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Systematic study of flow of protons and light clusters in intermediate-energy heavy-ion collisions with momentum-dependent potentials
Authors:
Viktar Kireyeu,
Vadim Voronyuk,
Michael Winn,
Susanne Gläßel,
Jörg Aichelin,
Christoph Blume,
Elena Bratkovskaya,
Gabriele Coci,
Jiaxing Zhao
Abstract:
We study the influence of the nuclear equation-of-state (EoS) on collective observables -- the directed ($v_1$) and elliptic flow ($v_2$) of nucleons and light clusters -- in heavy-ion collisions at GeV energies using the Parton-Hadron-Quantum-Molecular Dynamics (PHQMD) approach. A novel development in this work is the inclusion of a momentum-dependent nucleon potential in the PHQMD in addition to…
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We study the influence of the nuclear equation-of-state (EoS) on collective observables -- the directed ($v_1$) and elliptic flow ($v_2$) of nucleons and light clusters -- in heavy-ion collisions at GeV energies using the Parton-Hadron-Quantum-Molecular Dynamics (PHQMD) approach. A novel development in this work is the inclusion of a momentum-dependent nucleon potential in the PHQMD in addition to the static, density-dependent Skyrme interaction. This enables three distinct EoS scenarios: two static ("soft" and "hard", differing in compressibility) and a soft, momentum-dependent EoS calibrated to $pA$ elastic scattering data. We find a strong EoS sensitivity in proton and cluster rapidity and $p_T$ distributions: soft and soft momentum-dependent EoS yield similar results, markedly different from the hard EoS. Softening the EoS reduces proton yields at midrapidity while enhancing light-cluster production. The EoS also affects flow observables differently for nucleons and clusters. For protons, a soft momentum-dependent potential increases slightly the magnitude of $v_1$ and $v_2$ relative to the hard EoS, whereas cluster flows are nearly similar. The soft momentum-dependent EoS provides an overall good agreement with experimental data from HADES and FOPI Collaborations while the soft EOS is not in line with the data. A scaling of $v_2$ with cluster mass number $A$ is observed at midrapidity for low $p_T$, which breaks at higher $p_T$. Finally, we examine the sensitivity of flow observables to deuteron production mechanisms. Deuterons formed via MST clustering exhibit different flow patterns from those produced by coalescence at freeze-out, indicating that flow harmonics may help discriminate between cluster formation scenarios.
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Submitted 15 April, 2026; v1 submitted 7 November, 2024;
originally announced November 2024.
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Exploring Baryon Resonances with Transition Generalized Parton Distributions: Status and Perspectives
Authors:
Stefan Diehl,
Kyungseon Joo,
Kirill Semenov-Tian-Shansky,
Christian Weiss,
Vladimir Braun,
Wen-Chen Chang,
Pierre Chatagnon,
Martha Constantinou,
Yuxun Guo,
Parada T. P. Hutauruk,
Hyon-Suk Jo,
Andrey Kim,
Jun-Young Kim,
Peter Kroll,
Shunzo Kumano,
Chang-Hwan Lee,
Simonetta Liuti,
Ronan McNulty,
Hyeon-Dong Son,
Pawel Sznajder,
Ali Usman,
Charlotte Van Hulse,
Marc Vanderhaeghen,
Michael Winn
Abstract:
QCD gives rise to a rich spectrum of excited baryon states. Understanding their internal structure is important for many areas of nuclear physics, such as nuclear forces, dense matter, and neutrino-nucleus interactions. Generalized parton distributions (GPDs) are an established tool for characterizing the QCD structure of the ground-state nucleon. They are used to create 3D tomographic images of t…
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QCD gives rise to a rich spectrum of excited baryon states. Understanding their internal structure is important for many areas of nuclear physics, such as nuclear forces, dense matter, and neutrino-nucleus interactions. Generalized parton distributions (GPDs) are an established tool for characterizing the QCD structure of the ground-state nucleon. They are used to create 3D tomographic images of the quark/gluon structure and quantify the mechanical properties such as the distribution of mass, angular momentum and forces in the system. Transition GPDs extend these concepts to $N \rightarrow N^\ast$ transitions and can be used to characterize the 3D structure and mechanical properties of baryon resonances. They can be probed in high-momentum-transfer exclusive electroproduction processes with resonance transitions $e + N \rightarrow e' + M + N^\ast$, such as deeply-virtual Compton scattering ($M = γ$) or meson production ($M = π, K$, $etc.$), and in related photon/hadron-induced processes. This White Paper describes a research program aiming to explore baryon resonance structure with transition GPDs. This includes the properties and interpretation of the transition GPDs, theoretical methods for structures and processes, first experimental results from JLab 12 GeV, future measurements with existing and planned facilities (JLab detector and energy upgrades, COMPASS/AMBER, EIC, EicC, J-PARC, LHC ultraperihperal collisions), and the theoretical and experimental developments needed to realize this program.
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Submitted 25 March, 2025; v1 submitted 24 May, 2024;
originally announced May 2024.
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Dilepton polarization as a signature of plasma anisotropy
Authors:
Maurice Coquet,
Xiaojian Du,
Jean-Yves Ollitrault,
Soeren Schlichting,
Michael Winn
Abstract:
We propose the angular distribution of lepton pairs produced in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions as a probe of thermalization of the quark-gluon plasma. We focus on dileptons with invariant masses large enough that they are produced through quark-antiquark annihilation in the early stages of the collision. The angular distribution of the lepton in the rest frame of the pair then reflects the…
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We propose the angular distribution of lepton pairs produced in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions as a probe of thermalization of the quark-gluon plasma. We focus on dileptons with invariant masses large enough that they are produced through quark-antiquark annihilation in the early stages of the collision. The angular distribution of the lepton in the rest frame of the pair then reflects the angular distribution of quark momenta. At early times, the transverse pressure of the quark-gluon plasma is larger than its longitudinal pressure as a result of the fast longitudinal expansion, which results in an oblate lepton distribution. By contrast, direct (Drell-Yan) production by quarks and antiquarks from incoming nuclei, whose momenta are essentially longitudinal, results in a prolate distribution. As the invariant mass increases, Drell-Yan gradually becomes the dominant source of dilepton production, and the lepton distribution evolves from oblate to prolate. The invariant mass at which the transition occurs is highly sensitive to the equilibration time of the quark-gluon plasma or, equivalently, the shear viscosity over entropy ratio $η/s$ in the early stages of the collision.
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Submitted 6 June, 2024; v1 submitted 1 September, 2023;
originally announced September 2023.
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Exclusive meets inclusive at small Bjorken-$x_B$: how to relate exclusive measurements to PDFs based on evolution equations
Authors:
Hervé Dutrieux,
Michael Winn,
Valerio Bertone
Abstract:
Exclusive heavy-vector-meson photoproduction is a prominent signal in collider experiments with hadron beams. At the highest photon-hadron collision energies, this process is considered as a candidate to constrain gluon parton distribution functions (PDFs) at small longitudinal momentum fractions. However, in the framework of collinear factorisation, exclusive particle production is described in t…
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Exclusive heavy-vector-meson photoproduction is a prominent signal in collider experiments with hadron beams. At the highest photon-hadron collision energies, this process is considered as a candidate to constrain gluon parton distribution functions (PDFs) at small longitudinal momentum fractions. However, in the framework of collinear factorisation, exclusive particle production is described in terms of generalised parton distributions (GPDs). In this contribution, we investigate at the leading order in $α_s$ the connection between GPDs and PDFs. Our main result is a proposal to quantify the systematic uncertainty inherent to this connection. We put our approach into context with respect to the Shuavev transform. Our uncertainty estimate can be straightforwardly adapted to higher fixed orders and small-$x$ resummations. The question of extrapolating GPDs to vanishing skewness is paramount for the programme of the Electron Ion Collider (EIC), notably for the extraction of the radial distributions of partons.
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Submitted 15 February, 2023;
originally announced February 2023.
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Heavy quarks and jets as probes of the QGP
Authors:
Liliana Apolinário,
Yen-Jie Lee,
Michael Winn
Abstract:
Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), a QCD state of matter created in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, has remarkable properties, including, for example, a low shear viscosity over entropy ratio. By detecting the collection of low-momentum particles that arise from the collision, it is possible to gain quantitative insight into the created matter. However, its fast evolution and thermalization proper…
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Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), a QCD state of matter created in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, has remarkable properties, including, for example, a low shear viscosity over entropy ratio. By detecting the collection of low-momentum particles that arise from the collision, it is possible to gain quantitative insight into the created matter. However, its fast evolution and thermalization properties remain elusive. Only using high momentum objects as probes of QGP can unveil its constituents at different wavelengths. In this review, we attempt to provide a comprehensive picture of what was, so far, possible to infer about QGP given our current theoretical understanding of jets, heavy-flavor, and quarkonia. We will bridge the resulting qualitative picture to the experimental observations done at the LHC and RHIC. We will focus on the phenomenological description of experimental observations, provide a brief analytical summary of the description of hard probes, and an outlook on the main difficulties we will need to surpass in the following years. To benchmark QGP-related effects, we will also address nuclear modifications to the initial state and hadronization effects.
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Submitted 19 September, 2022; v1 submitted 30 March, 2022;
originally announced March 2022.
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Transverse mass scaling of dilepton radiation off a quark-gluon plasma
Authors:
Maurice Coquet,
Xiaojian Du,
Jean-Yves Ollitrault,
Soeren Schlichting,
Michael Winn
Abstract:
The spectrum of dileptons produced by the quark-gluon plasma in an ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collision depends only, to a good approximation, on the transverse mass M_t of the dilepton. This scaling is exact as long as transverse flow is negligible, and the system is in local thermal equilibrium. We implement a state-of-the-art modelization of kinetic and chemical equilibration in the earl…
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The spectrum of dileptons produced by the quark-gluon plasma in an ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collision depends only, to a good approximation, on the transverse mass M_t of the dilepton. This scaling is exact as long as transverse flow is negligible, and the system is in local thermal equilibrium. We implement a state-of-the-art modelization of kinetic and chemical equilibration in the early stages of the evolution to study the modifications of the spectrum. Violations of M_t scaling resulting from these effects are evaluated as a function of the shear viscosity to entropy ratio (eta/s) that controls the equilibration time. We determine the dependence of the spectrum on system size, centrality, rapidity, and collision energy. We show that the quark-gluon plasma produces more dileptons than the Drell-Yan process up to invariant masses of order M = 4 GeV. Due to different kinematics, for a given M_t , the dependence of the dilepton yield on M is opposite for the two processes, so that experiment alone can in principle determine which process dominates.
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Submitted 29 November, 2022; v1 submitted 27 December, 2021;
originally announced December 2021.
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Comparison of heavy ion transport simulations: Ag+Ag collisions at Elab = 1.58 AGeV
Authors:
Tom Reichert,
Alexander Elz,
Taesoo Song,
Gabriele Coci,
Michael Winn,
Elena Bratkovskaya,
Jörg Aichelin,
Jan Steinheimer,
Marcus Bleicher
Abstract:
We compare the microscopic transport models UrQMD, PHSD, PHQMD, and SMASH to make predictions for the upcoming Ag+Ag data at $E_\mathrm{lab}=1.58$~$A$GeV ($\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=2.55$~GeV) by the HADES collaboration. We study multiplicities, spectra and effective source temperatures of protons, $π^{\pm,0}$, $K^\pm$, the $η$, $Λ+Σ^0$ and the $Ξ^-$ within these models. Despite variations in the detai…
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We compare the microscopic transport models UrQMD, PHSD, PHQMD, and SMASH to make predictions for the upcoming Ag+Ag data at $E_\mathrm{lab}=1.58$~$A$GeV ($\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=2.55$~GeV) by the HADES collaboration. We study multiplicities, spectra and effective source temperatures of protons, $π^{\pm,0}$, $K^\pm$, the $η$, $Λ+Σ^0$ and the $Ξ^-$ within these models. Despite variations in the detailed implementation of the dynamics in the different models, the employed transport approaches all show consistent multiplicities of the bulk of investigated hadrons. The main differences are in the $Ξ^-$ production, which is treated differently between UrQMD/SMASH on one side employing high mass resonance states with explicit decays to $\mathrm{Resonance}\rightarrow Ξ+K+K$ in contrast to PHSD/PHQMD which account only non-resonant $Ξ$ production channels. A comparison of the spectra, summarized by effective source temperatures, shows that all models provide similar source temperatures around $T_\mathrm{source}=80-95$~MeV, and show substantial radial flow on the order of $\langle v_T\rangle=0.22c-0.3c$ even for such a small system.
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Submitted 15 November, 2021;
originally announced November 2021.
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Cluster and hyper-cluster production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions within the Parton-Hadron-Quantum-Molecular-Dynamics approach
Authors:
Susanne Gläßel,
Viktar Kireyeu,
Vadim Voronyuk,
Jörg Aichelin,
Christoph Blume,
Elena Bratkovskaya,
Gabriele Coci,
Vadim Kolesnikov,
Michael Winn
Abstract:
We study cluster and hypernuclei production in heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies employing the Parton-Hadron-Quantum-Molecular-Dynamics (PHQMD) approach, a microscopic n-body transport model based on the QMD propagation of the baryonic degrees of freedom with density dependent 2-body potential interactions. All other ingredients of PHQMD, including the collision integral and the treatm…
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We study cluster and hypernuclei production in heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies employing the Parton-Hadron-Quantum-Molecular-Dynamics (PHQMD) approach, a microscopic n-body transport model based on the QMD propagation of the baryonic degrees of freedom with density dependent 2-body potential interactions. All other ingredients of PHQMD, including the collision integral and the treatment of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) phase, are adopted from the Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) approach. In PHQMD the cluster formation occurs dynamically, caused by the interactions. The clusters are recognized by the Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) algorithm. We present the PHQMD results for cluster and hypernuclei formation in comparison with the available experimental data at AGS, SPS, RHIC-BES and RHIC fixed target energies. We also provide predictions on cluster production for the upcoming FAIR and NICA experiments. PHQMD allows to study the time evolution of formed clusters and the origin of their production, which helps to understand how such weakly bound objects are formed and survive in the rather dense and hot environment created in heavy-ion collisions. It offers therefore an explanation of the 'ice in the fire' puzzle.
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Submitted 9 December, 2021; v1 submitted 28 June, 2021;
originally announced June 2021.
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Intermediate mass dileptons as pre-equilibrium probes in heavy ion collisions
Authors:
Maurice Coquet,
Xiaojian Du,
Jean-Yves Ollitrault,
Soeren Schlichting,
Michael Winn
Abstract:
The production of dileptons with an invariant mass in the range 1 GeV < M < 5 GeV provides unique insight into the approach to thermal equilibrium in ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. In this mass range, they are produced through the annihilation of quark-antiquark pairs in the early stages of the collision. They are sensitive to the anisotropy of the quark momentum distribution, and a…
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The production of dileptons with an invariant mass in the range 1 GeV < M < 5 GeV provides unique insight into the approach to thermal equilibrium in ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. In this mass range, they are produced through the annihilation of quark-antiquark pairs in the early stages of the collision. They are sensitive to the anisotropy of the quark momentum distribution, and also to the quark abundance, which is expected to be underpopulated relative to thermal equilibrium. We take into account both effects based on recent theoretical developments in QCD kinetic theory, and study how the dilepton mass spectrum depends on the shear viscosity to entropy ratio that controls the equilibration time. We evaluate the background from the Drell-Yan process and argue that future detector developments can suppress the additional background from semileptonic decays of heavy flavors.
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Submitted 20 September, 2021; v1 submitted 15 April, 2021;
originally announced April 2021.
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Prospects for quarkonium studies at the high-luminosity LHC
Authors:
Emilien Chapon,
David d'Enterria,
Bertrand Ducloue,
Miguel G. Echevarria,
Pol-Bernard Gossiaux,
Vato Kartvelishvili,
Tomas Kasemets,
Jean-Philippe Lansberg,
Ronan McNulty,
Darren D. Price,
Hua-Sheng Shao,
Charlotte Van Hulse,
Michael Winn,
Jaroslav Adam,
Liupan An,
Denys Yen Arrebato Villar,
Shohini Bhattacharya,
Francesco G. Celiberto,
Cvetan Cheshkov,
Umberto D'Alesio,
Cesar da Silva,
Elena G. Ferreiro,
Chris A. Flett,
Carlo Flore,
Maria Vittoria Garzelli
, et al. (26 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Prospects for quarkonium-production studies accessible during the upcoming high-luminosity phases of the CERN Large Hadron Collider operation after 2021 are reviewed. Current experimental and theoretical open issues in the field are assessed together with the potential for future studies in quarkonium-related physics. This will be possible through the exploitation of the huge data samples to be co…
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Prospects for quarkonium-production studies accessible during the upcoming high-luminosity phases of the CERN Large Hadron Collider operation after 2021 are reviewed. Current experimental and theoretical open issues in the field are assessed together with the potential for future studies in quarkonium-related physics. This will be possible through the exploitation of the huge data samples to be collected in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions, both in the collider and fixed-target modes. Such investigations include, among others, those of: (i) J/psi and Upsilon produced in association with other hard particles; (ii) chi(c,b) and eta(c,b) down to small transverse momenta; (iii) the constraints brought in by quarkonia on gluon PDFs, nuclear PDFs, TMDs, GPDs and GTMDs, as well as on the low-x parton dynamics; (iv) the gluon Sivers effect in polarised-nucleon collisions; (v) the properties of the quark-gluon plasma produced in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions and of collective partonic effects in general; and (vi) double and triple parton scatterings.
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Submitted 30 November, 2021; v1 submitted 28 December, 2020;
originally announced December 2020.
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Influence of modified light-flavor hadron spectra on particle yields in the statistical hadronization model
Authors:
A. Andronic,
P. Braun-Munzinger,
D. Gündüz,
Y. Kirchhoff,
M. K. Köhler,
J. Stachel,
M. Winn
Abstract:
Hadron production in relativistic nuclear collisions is well described in the framework of the Statistical Hadronization Model (SHM). We investigate the influence on SHM predictions of hadron mass spectra for light-flavor baryons and mesons modified by the addition of about 500 new states as predicted by lattice QCD and a relativistic quark model. The deterioration of the resulting thermodynamic f…
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Hadron production in relativistic nuclear collisions is well described in the framework of the Statistical Hadronization Model (SHM). We investigate the influence on SHM predictions of hadron mass spectra for light-flavor baryons and mesons modified by the addition of about 500 new states as predicted by lattice QCD and a relativistic quark model. The deterioration of the resulting thermodynamic fit quality obtained for PbPb collision data at sqrt(s_nn) = 2.76 TeV suggests that the additional states are not suited to be naively used since also interactions among the states as well as non-resonant contributions need to be considered in the SHM approach. Incorporating these effects via the pion nucleon interaction determined from measured phase shifts leads again to excellent reproduction of the experimental data. This is a strong indication that at least the additional nucleon excited states cannot be understood and used as independent resonances.
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Submitted 7 November, 2020;
originally announced November 2020.
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New opportunities at the photon energy frontier
Authors:
Jaroslav Adam,
Christine Aidala,
Aaron Angerami,
Benjamin Audurier,
Carlos Bertulani,
Christian Bierlich,
Boris Blok,
James Daniel Brandenburg,
Stanley Brodsky,
Aleksandr Bylinkin,
Veronica Canoa Roman,
Francesco Giovanni Celiberto,
Jan Cepila,
Grigorios Chachamis,
Brian Cole,
Guillermo Contreras,
David d'Enterria,
Adrian Dumitru,
Arturo Fernández Téllez,
Leonid Frankfurt,
Maria Beatriz Gay Ducati,
Frank Geurts,
Gustavo Gil da Silveira,
Francesco Giuli,
Victor P. Goncalves
, et al. (50 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Ultra-peripheral collisions (UPCs) involving heavy ions and protons are the energy frontier for photon-mediated interactions. UPC photons can be used for many purposes, including probing low-$x$ gluons via photoproduction of dijets and vector mesons, probes of beyond-standard-model processes, such as those enabled by light-by-light scattering, and studies of two-photon production of the Higgs.
Ultra-peripheral collisions (UPCs) involving heavy ions and protons are the energy frontier for photon-mediated interactions. UPC photons can be used for many purposes, including probing low-$x$ gluons via photoproduction of dijets and vector mesons, probes of beyond-standard-model processes, such as those enabled by light-by-light scattering, and studies of two-photon production of the Higgs.
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Submitted 8 September, 2020;
originally announced September 2020.
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Measurement of the $B_c^-$ meson production fraction and asymmetry in 7 and 13 TeV $pp$ collisions
Authors:
LHCb collaboration,
R. Aaij,
C. Abellán Beteta,
T. Ackernley,
B. Adeva,
M. Adinolfi,
H. Afsharnia,
C. A. Aidala,
S. Aiola,
Z. Ajaltouni,
S. Akar,
P. Albicocco,
J. Albrecht,
F. Alessio,
M. Alexander,
A. Alfonso Albero,
G. Alkhazov,
P. Alvarez Cartelle,
A. A. Alves Jr,
S. Amato,
Y. Amhis,
L. An,
L. Anderlini,
G. Andreassi,
M. Andreotti
, et al. (882 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The production fraction of the $B_c^-$ meson with respect to the sum of $B^-$ and $\bar{B}^0$ mesons is measured in both 7 and 13 TeV center-of-mass energy $pp$ collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), using the LHCb detector. The rate, approximately 3.7 per mille, does not change with energy, but shows a transverse momentum dependence. The $B_c^- - B_c^+$ production asymmetry is al…
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The production fraction of the $B_c^-$ meson with respect to the sum of $B^-$ and $\bar{B}^0$ mesons is measured in both 7 and 13 TeV center-of-mass energy $pp$ collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), using the LHCb detector. The rate, approximately 3.7 per mille, does not change with energy, but shows a transverse momentum dependence. The $B_c^- - B_c^+$ production asymmetry is also measured, and is consistent with zero within the determined statistical and systematic uncertainties of a few percent.
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Submitted 18 December, 2019; v1 submitted 29 October, 2019;
originally announced October 2019.
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Precision measurement of the $Λ_c^+$, $Ξ_c^+$ and $Ξ_c^0$ baryon lifetimes
Authors:
LHCb collaboration,
R. Aaij,
C. Abellán Beteta,
B. Adeva,
M. Adinolfi,
C. A. Aidala,
Z. Ajaltouni,
S. Akar,
P. Albicocco,
J. Albrecht,
F. Alessio,
M. Alexander,
A. Alfonso Albero,
G. Alkhazov,
P. Alvarez Cartelle,
A. A. Alves Jr,
S. Amato,
Y. Amhis,
L. An,
L. Anderlini,
G. Andreassi,
M. Andreotti,
J. E. Andrews,
F. Archilli,
J. Arnau Romeu
, et al. (827 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
We report measurements of the lifetimes of the $Λ_c^+$, $Ξ_c^+$ and $Ξ_c^0$ charm baryons using proton-proton collision data at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8\tev, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb$^{-1}$, collected by the LHCb experiment. The charm baryons are reconstructed through the decays $Λ_c^+\to pK^-π^+$, $Ξ_c^+\to pK^-π^+$ and $Ξ_c^0\to pK^-K^-π^+$, and originate fro…
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We report measurements of the lifetimes of the $Λ_c^+$, $Ξ_c^+$ and $Ξ_c^0$ charm baryons using proton-proton collision data at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8\tev, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb$^{-1}$, collected by the LHCb experiment. The charm baryons are reconstructed through the decays $Λ_c^+\to pK^-π^+$, $Ξ_c^+\to pK^-π^+$ and $Ξ_c^0\to pK^-K^-π^+$, and originate from semimuonic decays of beauty baryons. The lifetimes are measured relative to that of the $D^+$ meson, and are determined to be \begin{align*}
τ_{Λ_c^+} &= 203.5\pm1.0\pm1.3\pm1.4~{\rm fs}, \newline
τ_{Ξ_c^+} &= 456.8\pm3.5\pm2.9\pm3.1~{\rm fs}, \newline
τ_{Ξ_c^0} &= 154.5\pm1.7\pm1.6\pm1.0~{\rm fs}, \end{align*} where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and due to the uncertainty in the $D^+$ lifetime. The measurements are approximately 3--4 times more precise than the current world average values. The $Λ_c^+$ and $Ξ_c^+$ lifetimes are in agreement with previous measurements; however, the $Ξ_c^0$ baryon lifetime is approximately 3.3 standard deviations larger than the world average value.
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Submitted 2 August, 2019; v1 submitted 19 June, 2019;
originally announced June 2019.
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Measurement of b-hadron fractions in 13 TeV pp collisions
Authors:
LHCb Collaboration,
R. Aaij,
C. Abellán Beteta,
B. Adeva,
M. Adinolfi,
C. A. Aidala,
Z. Ajaltouni,
S. Akar,
P. Albicocco,
J. Albrecht,
F. Alessio,
M. Alexander,
A. Alfonso Albero,
G. Alkhazov,
P. Alvarez Cartelle,
A. A. Alves Jr,
S. Amato,
S. Amerio,
Y. Amhis,
L. An,
L. Anderlini,
G. Andreassi,
M. Andreotti,
J. E. Andrews,
F. Archilli
, et al. (823 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The production fractions of $\overline{B}_s^0$ and $Λ_b^0$ hadrons, normalized to the sum of $B^-$ and $\overline{B}^0$ fractions, are measured in 13 TeV pp collisions using data collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.67/fb. These ratios, averaged over the $b$-hadron transverse momenta from 4 to 25 GeV and pseudorapidity from 2 to 5, are $0.122 \pm 0.006$…
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The production fractions of $\overline{B}_s^0$ and $Λ_b^0$ hadrons, normalized to the sum of $B^-$ and $\overline{B}^0$ fractions, are measured in 13 TeV pp collisions using data collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.67/fb. These ratios, averaged over the $b$-hadron transverse momenta from 4 to 25 GeV and pseudorapidity from 2 to 5, are $0.122 \pm 0.006$ for $\overline{B}_s^0$, and $0.259 \pm 0.018$ for $Λ_b^0$, where the uncertainties arise from both statistical and systematic sources. The $Λ_b^0$ ratio depends strongly on transverse momentum, while the $\overline{B}_s^0$ ratio shows a mild dependence. Neither ratio shows variations with pseudorapidity. The measurements are made using semileptonic decays to minimize theoretical uncertainties. In addition, the ratio of $D^+$ to $D^0$ mesons produced in the sum of $\overline{B}^0$ and $B^-$ semileptonic decays is determined as $0.359\pm0.006\pm 0.009$, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic.
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Submitted 14 August, 2019; v1 submitted 18 February, 2019;
originally announced February 2019.
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Future physics opportunities for high-density QCD at the LHC with heavy-ion and proton beams
Authors:
Z. Citron,
A. Dainese,
J. F. Grosse-Oetringhaus,
J. M. Jowett,
Y. -J. Lee,
U. A. Wiedemann,
M. Winn,
A. Andronic,
F. Bellini,
E. Bruna,
E. Chapon,
H. Dembinski,
D. d'Enterria,
I. Grabowska-Bold,
G. M. Innocenti,
C. Loizides,
S. Mohapatra,
C. A. Salgado,
M. Verweij,
M. Weber,
J. Aichelin,
A. Angerami,
L. Apolinario,
F. Arleo,
N. Armesto
, et al. (160 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The future opportunities for high-density QCD studies with ion and proton beams at the LHC are presented. Four major scientific goals are identified: the characterisation of the macroscopic long wavelength Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) properties with unprecedented precision, the investigation of the microscopic parton dynamics underlying QGP properties, the development of a unified picture of particle…
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The future opportunities for high-density QCD studies with ion and proton beams at the LHC are presented. Four major scientific goals are identified: the characterisation of the macroscopic long wavelength Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) properties with unprecedented precision, the investigation of the microscopic parton dynamics underlying QGP properties, the development of a unified picture of particle production and QCD dynamics from small (pp) to large (nucleus--nucleus) systems, the exploration of parton densities in nuclei in a broad ($x$, $Q^2$) kinematic range and the search for the possible onset of parton saturation. In order to address these scientific goals, high-luminosity Pb-Pb and p-Pb programmes are considered as priorities for Runs 3 and 4, complemented by high-multiplicity studies in pp collisions and a short run with oxygen ions. High-luminosity runs with intermediate-mass nuclei, for example Ar or Kr, are considered as an appealing case for extending the heavy-ion programme at the LHC beyond Run 4. The potential of the High-Energy LHC to probe QCD matter with newly-available observables, at twice larger center-of-mass energies than the LHC, is investigated.
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Submitted 25 February, 2019; v1 submitted 17 December, 2018;
originally announced December 2018.
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Prospects for quarkonium measurements in p--A and A--A collisions at the LHC
Authors:
Michael Winn
Abstract:
The potential of the ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb detectors for the measurement of quarkonium in heavy-ion collisions, both in nucleus-nucleus (A-A) and in proton-nucleus (p-A) interactions, in the years 2015 until about 2030 in the LHC Runs 2, 3 and 4 with larger statistics and detector upgrades is described. A selection of newly available observables is discussed.
The potential of the ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb detectors for the measurement of quarkonium in heavy-ion collisions, both in nucleus-nucleus (A-A) and in proton-nucleus (p-A) interactions, in the years 2015 until about 2030 in the LHC Runs 2, 3 and 4 with larger statistics and detector upgrades is described. A selection of newly available observables is discussed.
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Submitted 22 November, 2016; v1 submitted 5 September, 2016;
originally announced September 2016.
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Interacting hadron resonance gas meets lattice QCD
Authors:
A. Andronic,
P. Braun-Munzinger,
J. Stachel,
M. Winn
Abstract:
We present, in the framework of the interacting hadron resonance gas, an evaluation of thermodynamical quantities. The interaction is modelled via a correction for the finite size of the hadrons. We investigate the sensitivity of the model calculations on the radius of the hadrons, which is a parameter of the model. Our calculations for thermodynamical quantities as energy and entropy densities an…
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We present, in the framework of the interacting hadron resonance gas, an evaluation of thermodynamical quantities. The interaction is modelled via a correction for the finite size of the hadrons. We investigate the sensitivity of the model calculations on the radius of the hadrons, which is a parameter of the model. Our calculations for thermodynamical quantities as energy and entropy densities and pressure are confronted with predictions using the lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) formalism.
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Submitted 1 October, 2012; v1 submitted 3 January, 2012;
originally announced January 2012.