Statistical Model and the mesonic-baryonic transition region

The statistical model assuming chemical equilibriumand local strangeness conservation describes most of the observed features of strange particle production from SIS up to RHIC. Deviations are found as the maximum in the measured K+/pi+ ratio is much sharper than in the model calculations. At the incident energy of the maximum, the statistical model shows that freeze out changes regime from one being dominated by baryons at the lower energies toward one being dominated by mesons. It will be shown how deviations from the usual freeze-out curve influence the various particle ratios. Furthermore, other observables exhibit also changes just in this energy regime.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, CPOD conference proceeding

Statistical Model Predictions for Pb-Pb Collisions at LHC

The systematics of Statistical Model parameters extracted from heavy-ion collisions at lower energies are exploited to extrapolate in the LHC regime. Predictions of various particle ratios are presented and particle production in central Pb-Pb collisions at LHC is discussed in the context of the Statistical Model. The sensitivity of several ratios on the temperature and the baryon chemical potential is studied in detail, and some of them, which are particularly appropriate to determine the chemical freeze-out point experimentally, are indicated. The impact of feed-down contributions from resonances, especially to light hadrons, is illustrated.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, SQM 2006 conference proceedings, accepted for publication in J. Phys.

Statistical Model Predictions for p+p and Pb+Pb Collisions at LHC

Particle production in p+p and central Pb+Pb collisions at LHC is discussed in the context of the statistical thermal model. For heavy-ion collisions, predictions of various particle ratios are presented. The sensitivity of several ratios on the temperature and the baryon chemical potential is studied in detail, and some of them, which are particularly appropriate to determine the chemical freeze-out point experimentally, are indicated. Considering elementary interactions on the other hand, we focus on strangeness production and its possible suppression. Extrapolating the thermal parameters to LHC energy, we present predictions of the statistical model for particle yields in p+p collisions. We quantify the strangeness suppression by the correlation volume parameter and discuss its influence on particle production. We propose observables that can provide deeper insight into the mechanism of strangeness production and suppression at LHC.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, conference contribution to "International school of nuclear physics", Erice, Sicily, 16 - 24 September 2008; Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, 2009, in pres

Transition from baryonic to mesonic freeze-out

The recently discovered sharp peak in the K+/π+ ratio in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is discussed in the framework of the statistical model. In this model a rapid change is expected as the hadronic gas undergoes a transition from a baryon-dominated to a meson-dominated gas. The transition occurs at a temperature T=140MeV and baryon chemical potential μB=410MeV corresponding to an incident energy of sNN=8.2GeV. The maximum in the Λ/π ratio is well reproduced by the statistical model, but the change in the K+/π+ ratio is much less pronounced than the one observed by the NA49 Collaboration. The calculated smooth increase of the K−/π− ratio and the shape of the Ξ−/π+ and Ω−/π+ ratios exhibiting maxima at different incident energies is consistent with the presently available experimental data. We conclude that the measured particle ratios with 20–30% deviations agree with a hadronic freeze-out scenario. These deviations seem to occur just in the transition from baryon-dominated to meson-dominated freeze-out

Statistical Model Predictions for Particle Ratios at sqrt(s_NN) = 5.5 TeV

Particle production in central Pb-Pb collisions at LHC is discussed in the context of the Statistical Model. Predictions of various particle ratios are presented with the corresponding choice of model parameters made according to the systematics extracted from heavy-ion collisions at lower energies. The sensitivity of several ratios on the temperature and the baryon chemical potential is studied in detail, and some of them, which are particularly appropriate to determine the chemical freeze-out point experimentally, are indicated. We show that the anti-p / p ratio is most suitable to determine the baryon chemical potential while the Omega / K and Omega / pi ratios are best to determine the temperature at chemical freeze-out.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. C, 7 pages, 4 figure

Chemical Equilibrium in Collisions of Small Systems

The system-size dependence of particle production in heavy-ion collisions at the top SPS energy is analyzed in terms of the statistical model. A systematic comparison is made of two suppression mechanisms that quantify strange particle yields in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions: the canonical model with strangeness correlation radius determined from the data and the model formulated in the canonical ensemble using chemical off-equilibrium strangeness suppression factor. The system-size dependence of the correlation radius and the thermal parameters are obtained for p-p, C-C, Si-Si and Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 17.3 AGeV. It is shown that on the basis of a consistent set of data there is no clear difference between the two suppression patterns. In the present study the strangeness correlation radius was found to exhibit a rather weak dependence on the system size.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Transition from Baryon- to Meson-Dominated Freeze Out -- Early Decoupling around 30 A GeV?

The recently discovered sharp peak in the excitation function of the K+/pi+ ratio around 30 A GeV in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is discussed in the framework of the Statistical Model. In this model, the freeze-out of an ideal hadron gas changes from a situation where baryons dominate to one with mainly mesons. This transition occurs at a temperature T = 140 MeV and baryon chemical potential mu(B) = 410 MeV corresponding to an energy of sqrt(s) = 8.2 GeV. The calculated maximum in the K+/pi+ ratio is, however, much less pronounced than the one observed by the NA49 Collaboration. The smooth increase of the K-/pi- ratio with incident energy and the shape of the excitation functions of the Lambda/pi+, Xi-/pi+ and Omega/pi ratios all exhibiting maxima at different incident energies, is consistent with the presently available experimental data. The measured K+/pi+ ratio exceeds the calculated one just at the incident energy when the freeze-out condition is changing. We speculate that at this point freeze-out might occur in a modified way. We discuss a scenario of an early freeze-out which indeed increases K+/pi+ ratio while most other particle ratios remain essentially unchanged. Such an early freeze-out is supported by results from HBT studies.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, SQM2006 conference, Los Angeles, March 200