Measurements of open-charm production in pp and p-Pb collisions with the ALICE detector at the LHC

Hadrons containing heavy quarks, i.e. charm and beauty, are effective probes to investigate the properties of the hot, dense and strongly-interacting medium formed in high-energy nuclear collisions. The relatively large masses of heavy quarks ensure that they are predominantly produced in the early stages of the collision and probe the complete space-time evolution of the expanding medium. The measurements of D-meson production in pp collisions provide an important test of pQCD calculations and serve as an essential baseline for the comprehensive studies in heavy-ion collisions. The study of D-meson production in p-Pb collisions is necessary to disentangle the cold nuclear matter effects from hot nuclear matter effects. The measurement of heavy-flavour production as a function of charged-particle multiplicity in pp and p-Pb collisions could provide insight into the role of multi-parton interactions at LHC energies. We present ALICE results on D-meson production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 7 TeV and p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm {NN}}}=$ 5.02 TeV. The D-meson yields per event, measured in different multiplicity intervals and normalized to their multiplicity-integrated values, are presented for pp and p-Pb collisions. The $p_{\rm {T}}$-differential production cross section and nuclear modification factor of prompt D mesons are measured in p-Pb collisions. The nuclear modification factor, $R_\mathrm{pPb}$, is compatible with unity within uncertainties, indicating that cold nuclear matter effects are small for $p_{\mathrm{T}} \gtrsim 3$ GeV/$c$. The D-meson transverse momentum distributions in p-Pb collisions relative to pp collisions, measured in several multiplicity classes, are also discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; To appear in the proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Physics and Astrophysics of Quark Gluon Plasma (ICPAQGP 2015), Kolkata, India. February 2-6, 201

Measurement of D-meson production in pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC with the ALICE detector

Heavy quarks are a powerful probe for investigating the properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma created in heavy-ion collisions, since they are produced in initial hard scattering processes and experience all the stages of the medium evolution. ALICE has measured the production of $\mathrm{D}^0$, $\mathrm{D}^+$, $\mathrm{D}^{*+}$, and $\mathrm{D}_{\mathrm{s}}^+$ mesons at central rapidity in their hadronic decay channels in various collision systems and energies. We present recent results for D-meson production measured by the ALICE Collaboration in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ and 2.76 TeV, Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=2.76$ TeV and p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=5.02$ TeV.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures; Invited talk presented at the 30th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics (WWND 2014), Galveston, Texas, USA, April 6-12, 201

A Review of Elliptic Flow of Light Nuclei in Heavy-Ion Collisions at RHIC and LHC Energies

We present a review of the measurements of elliptic flow ($v_{2}$) of light nuclei ($d$,$\bar{d}$, $t$, $^{3}\rm He$, and $^{3}\overline{\rm He}$) from the RHIC and LHC experiments. Light (anti)nuclei $v_{2}$ have been compared with that of (anti)proton. We observed a similar trend in light nuclei $v_{2}$ to that in identified hadron $v_{2}$ with respect to the general observations such as ($p_{\rm T}$) dependence, low $p_{\rm T}$ mass ordering, and centrality dependence. We also compared the difference of nuclei and antinuclei $v_{2}$ with the corresponding difference of $v_{2}$ of proton and antiproton at various collision energies. Qualitatively they depict similar behavior. We also compare the data on light nuclei $v_{2}$ to various theoretical models such as blast-wave and coalescence. We then present a prediction of $v_{2}$ for $^{3}\rm He$ and $^{4}\rm He$ using coalescence and blast-wave models.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Longitudinal scaling of observables in heavy-ion collision models

Longitudinal scaling of pseudorapidity distribution of charged particles ($dN_{\mathrm {ch}}/d\eta$) is observed when presented as a function of pseudorapidity ($\eta$) shifted by the beam rapidity ($\eta$ - $y_{\mathrm {beam}}$) for a wide range of collision systems ($e^{+}+e^{-}$, p+p, $d$+A and A+A) and beam energies. Such a scaling is also observed for the elliptic flow ($v_{2}$) of charged hadrons in A+A collisions. This is a striking observation, as $v_{2}$ is expected to be sensitive to the initial conditions, the expansion dynamics and the degrees of freedom of the system, all of which potentially varies with collision system and colliding energies. We present a study of the longitudinal scalings of $dN_{\mathrm {ch}}/d\eta$, average transverse momentum () and $v_{2}$ using transport models UrQMD and AMPT for Au+Au collisions at center of mass energies ($\sqrt{s_{\mathrm {NN}}}$) of 19.6, 62.4, 200 GeV and Pb+Pb collisions at 2760 GeV. Only the AMPT models which includes partonic effects and quark coalescence as a mechanism of hadronization, shows longitudinal scaling for $dN_{\mathrm {ch}}/d\eta$, $< p_{\mathrm T}>$ and $v_{2}$. Whereas the UrQMD and AMPT default versions show longitudinal scaling only for $dN_{\mathrm {ch}}/d\eta$ and . We also discuss the possibility of longitudinal scaling of $v_{2}$ within two extreme scenarios of models with hydrodynamic and collisionless limits. We find the longitudinal scaling of bulk observables to be an important test for the underlying physics mechanism in models of particle production.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

System size dependence of thermodynamic variables at kinetic freeze-out in high-energy collisions using the Tsallis distribution

We use a thermodynamically consistent form of Tsallis distribution to study the dependence of various thermodynamic quantities on the system size in high-energy collisions. The charged hadron spectra obtained in $p$+$p$, $p$+Pb, Xe+Xe, and Pb+Pb collisions at LHC are used to determine the energy density, pressure, particle density, entropy density, mean free path, Knudsen number, heat capacity, isothermal compressibility, expansion coefficient, and speed of sound at the kinetic freeze-out surface. These quantities are studied as a function of the system size. Notably, the rate of increase (or decrease) in these thermodynamic variables is found to be more rapid in small systems such as $p$+$p$ and $p$+Pb collisions than in large systems such as Xe+Xe and Pb+Pb collisions. This may be due to the small volume of the hadronic system in small collision systems at kinetic freeze-out. It is observed that high-multiplicity $p$+$p$ collisions produce similar thermodynamic conditions as peripheral heavy-ion collisions at kinetic freeze-out

Dynamics of Hot QCD Matter -- Current Status and Developments

The discovery and characterization of hot and dense QCD matter, known as Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), remains the most international collaborative effort and synergy between theorists and experimentalists in modern nuclear physics to date. The experimentalists around the world not only collect an unprecedented amount of data in heavy-ion collisions, at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in New York, USA, and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland but also analyze these data to unravel the mystery of this new phase of matter that filled a few microseconds old universe, just after the Big Bang. In the meantime, advancements in theoretical works and computing capability extend our wisdom about the hot-dense QCD matter and its dynamics through mathematical equations. The exchange of ideas between experimentalists and theoreticians is crucial for the progress of our knowledge. The motivation of this first conference named "HOT QCD Matter 2022" is to bring the community together to have a discourse on this topic. In this article, there are 36 sections discussing various topics in the field of relativistic heavy-ion collisions and related phenomena that cover a snapshot of the current experimental observations and theoretical progress. This article begins with the theoretical overview of relativistic spin-hydrodynamics in the presence of the external magnetic field, followed by the Lattice QCD results on heavy quarks in QGP, and finally, it ends with an overview of experiment results.Comment: Compilation of the contributions (148 pages) as presented in the `Hot QCD Matter 2022 conference', held from May 12 to 14, 2022, jointly organized by IIT Goa & Goa University, Goa, Indi