Probing Strange-Quark Hadronization via (Multi-)Strange Hadron Multiplicity Distributions in Small Collision Systems with ALICE · arXivDesk
2606.20213Jun 18, 2026Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Hypernuclear and Strange Particle Physics (HYP2025), Tokyo (Japan), 29 September 2025 - 3 October 2025. Parallel talk, 6 pages, 2 figures
Probing Strange-Quark Hadronization via (Multi-)Strange Hadron Multiplicity Distributions in Small Collision Systems with ALICE
Strangeness enhancement is defined as the increased relative production of strange hadrons in heavy-ion collisions compared to proton--proton (pp) interactions. It was originally proposed as one of the signatures of quark--gluon plasma (QGP) formation. At the LHC, the ALICE experiment observed that strange-hadron-to-pion yield ratios rise with increasing charged-particle multiplicity at midrapidity, independently of collision energy (s) and system size, from pp to p--Pb and up to Pb--Pb collisions. To gain deeper insight into the mechanisms of strangeness production, the ALICE collaboration has measured the probability distribution of producing a given number of strange particles (KS0
Nearby in the stack
,
Λ
,
Ξ
, and
Ω
) of the same species per event in pp collisions at
s=5.02
TeV. This measurement extends the study of strangeness production beyond the mean particle yield by employing, for the first time, a technique based on event-by-event particle counting. It provides a new test bench for production mechanisms, probing events with large imbalances between strange and non-strange content. The results are compared with state-of-the-art phenomenological models implemented in commonly used Monte Carlo event generators, offering enhanced sensitivity to the underlying dynamics of strangeness production.