Correlations among conserved quantum numbers, such as the net-electric charge, the net-baryon, and the net-strangeness in heavy-ion collisions, are crucial for exploring the QCD phase diagram. In this letter, these correlations are investigated using net-proton number (as a proxy for the net-baryon), net-kaon number (for the net-strangeness), and net-charged particle number in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\text{NN}}=5.02$ TeV with the ALICE detector. The observed correlations deviate from the Poissonian baseline, with a more pronounced deviation at LHC energies than at RHIC. Theoretical calculations of the Thermal-FIST hadron resonance gas model, HIJING, and EPOS LHC event generators are compared with experimental results, where a significant impact of resonance decays is observed. Thermal-FIST calculations under the grand canonical and canonical ensembles highlight significant differences, underscoring the role of local charge conservation in explaining the data. Recent lattice QCD studies have demonstrated that the magnetic field generated by spectator protons in heavy-ion collisions affects susceptibility ratios, in particular those related to the net-electric charge and the net-baryon numbers. The experimental findings are in qualitative agreement with the expectations of lattice QCD.
$\kappa^{2}_{\pi}$ as a function of centrality (%) in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV for Set 1 $p_\mathrm{T}$ acceptance.
$\kappa^{2}_{\pi}$ as a function of centrality (%) in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV for Set 2 $p_\mathrm{T}$ acceptance.
$\kappa^{2}_\mathrm{K}$ as a function of centrality (%) in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV for Set 1 $p_\mathrm{T}$ acceptance.
Understanding nuclear structure provides essential insights into the properties of atomic nuclei. In this paper, details of the nuclear structure of $^{\rm 129}$Xe, such as the quadrupole deformation and the nuclear diffuseness, are studied by extensive measurements of anisotropic-flow-related observables in Xe$-$Xe collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.44$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The results are compared with those from Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV for a baseline, given that the $^{\rm 208}$Pb nucleus is not deformed. Furthermore, comprehensive comparisons are performed with a state-of-the-art hybrid model using IP-Glasma+MUSIC+UrQMD. It is found that among various IP-Glasma+MUSIC+UrQMD calculations with different values of nuclear parameters, the one using a nuclear diffuseness parameter of $a_0=0.492$ and a nuclear quadrupole deformation parameter of $\beta_2=0.207$ provides a better description of the presented flow measurements. These studies represent an important step towards a thorough exploration of the imaging power of nuclear collisions at ultrarelativistic energy and the search for the imprint of nuclear structure on various flow observables in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. The findings demonstrate the potential of nuclear structure studies at the TeV energy scale and highlight that the LHC experiments can complement existing low-energy experiments on nuclear structure studies.
Charged particle $v_2\{2, \left | \Delta\eta \right | > 1.0\}$ as a function of centrality in Xe$-$Xe and Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.44 TeV and $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV, respectively.
Charged particle $v_2\{4\}$ as a function of centrality in Xe$-$Xe and Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.44 TeV and $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV, respectively.
Ratio between Xe$-$Xe and Pb$-$Pb charged particle $v_2\{2, \left | \Delta\eta \right | > 1.0\}$ as a function of centrality.
The first measurements of skewness and kurtosis of mean transverse momentum ($\langle p_\mathrm{T}\rangle$) fluctuations are reported in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV, Xe$-$Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$$=$ 5.44 TeV and pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 5.02$ TeV using the ALICE detector. The measurements are carried out as a function of system size $\langle \mathrm{d}N_\mathrm{ch}/\mathrm{d}\eta\rangle_{|\eta|<0.5}^{1/3}$, using charged particles with transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) and pseudorapidity ($\eta$), in the range $0.2 < p_\mathrm{T} < 3.0$ GeV/$c$ and $|\eta| < 0.8$, respectively. In Pb$-$Pb and Xe$-$Xe collisions, positive skewness is observed in the fluctuations of $\langle p_\mathrm{T}\rangle$ for all centralities, which is significantly larger than what would be expected in the scenario of independent particle emission. This positive skewness is considered a crucial consequence of the hydrodynamic evolution of the hot and dense nuclear matter created in heavy-ion collisions. Furthermore, similar observations of positive skewness for minimum bias pp collisions are also reported here. Kurtosis of $\langle p_\mathrm{T}\rangle$ fluctuations is found to be in good agreement with the kurtosis of Gaussian distribution, for most central Pb$-$Pb collisions. Hydrodynamic model calculations with MUSIC using Monte Carlo Glauber initial conditions are able to explain the measurements of both skewness and kurtosis qualitatively from semicentral to central collisions in Pb--Pb system. Color reconnection mechanism in PYTHIA8 model seems to play a pivotal role in capturing the qualitative behavior of the same measurements in pp collisions.
Standardized skewness of $\langle p_\mathrm{T}\rangle$ as a function of $\langle\mathrm{d}N_\mathrm{ch}/\mathrm{d}\eta\rangle^{1/3}_{|\eta|<0.5}$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.02 TeV.
Standardized skewness of $\langle p_\mathrm{T}\rangle$ as a function of $\langle\mathrm{d}N_\mathrm{ch}/\mathrm{d}\eta\rangle^{1/3}_{|\eta|<0.5}$ in Xe$-$Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV.
Standardized skewness of $\langle p_\mathrm{T}\rangle$ as a function of $\langle\mathrm{d}N_\mathrm{ch}/\mathrm{d}\eta\rangle^{1/3}_{|\eta|<0.5}$ in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV.
Forum