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Main Author: Trainor, Thomas A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.19207
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author Trainor, Thomas A.
author_facet Trainor, Thomas A.
contents In recent years certain experimental results from small collision systems (e.g. p-p, d-Au, p-Pb) at the RHIC and LHC have been reinterpreted as evidence for formation therein of a dense flowing medium (QGP) despite small collision volumes. Systems that had been assigned as simple references (e.g. cold nuclear matter) for larger A-A collisions would then no longer play that role. This presentation examines conventional interpretations of certain data features in the context of a two-component (soft+hard) collision model. Specific topics include centrality determination for p-Pb collisions, interpretation (or not) of nuclear modification factors, significance of claims for strangeness enhancement, and interpretation of the "ridge" in p-p collisions. For p-p and p-Pb data analysis results indicate that p-Pb collisions are simple linear superpositions of p-N collisions, and N-N collisions within small systems generally follow simple and consistent rules. However, there is more to be learned about "basic" QCD in small systems with improved analysis methods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_19207
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Some physics of small collision systems
Trainor, Thomas A.
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
In recent years certain experimental results from small collision systems (e.g. p-p, d-Au, p-Pb) at the RHIC and LHC have been reinterpreted as evidence for formation therein of a dense flowing medium (QGP) despite small collision volumes. Systems that had been assigned as simple references (e.g. cold nuclear matter) for larger A-A collisions would then no longer play that role. This presentation examines conventional interpretations of certain data features in the context of a two-component (soft+hard) collision model. Specific topics include centrality determination for p-Pb collisions, interpretation (or not) of nuclear modification factors, significance of claims for strangeness enhancement, and interpretation of the "ridge" in p-p collisions. For p-p and p-Pb data analysis results indicate that p-Pb collisions are simple linear superpositions of p-N collisions, and N-N collisions within small systems generally follow simple and consistent rules. However, there is more to be learned about "basic" QCD in small systems with improved analysis methods.
title Some physics of small collision systems
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.19207