language: en

[Confidential: not for distribution. Submitted to IOP Publishing for peer review]

24 February 2010

['Strangeness in Quark Matter' Conference, Buzios, 2009]

Strangeness in High Multiplicity Proton-Proton Collisions in the ALICE Experiment

Z L Matthews

[for the ALICE Collaboration]

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham,
Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT
E-mail: zlm@hep.ph.bham.ac.uk

Abstract. The ALICE experiment at CERN is primarily focused on quark-gluon plasma production in heavy ion (Pb-Pb) collisions. In addition, high multiplicity events from the LHC pp programme will provide an interesting field of study. As with A-A collisions, high multiplicity could suggest high underlying energy density of the system, possibly exceeding that required for deconfinement. Bjorken first suggested that deconfinement might occur in pp collisions, and evidence for this was sought by the E-735 experiment at Fermilab but no clear signature was seen. The LHC will offer new possibilities for examining this idea owing to the much greater multiplicity reach available at higher energy. The ALICE experiment has powerful triggering tools and particle identification (PID), which place it in a strong position to analyse these events and to measure the observable signatures of deconfinement that may arise. Signatures particularly related to strangeness production will be outlined and the capabilities for such studies at ALICE will be discussed.

PACS numbers: 12.38.Mh, 14.20.Jn, 14.40.Df, 25.75.-q, 25.75.Nq Keywords: high multiplicity, deconfinement, strangeness, phi resonance, proton collisions, heavy ion, quark-gluon plasma, ALICE 1. Introduction