NPA Seminar, Fernando Flor, University of Houston, “Flavor, Energy and System Size Dependence of the Chemical Freeze-out in Relativistic Particle Collisions from RHIC-BES to LHC energies via Statistical Hadronization”

The validity of the Statistical Hadronization Model (SHM) has been successfully tested to adequately reproduce hadronic particle abundances over nine orders of magnitude in high energy collisions of heavy ions. Assuming a thermally equilibrated system, experimental particle yields at RHIC and the LHC serve as an anchor for the determination of common freeze-out parameters in the QCD phase diagram – namely, the baryo-chemical potential (µB) and the chemical freeze-out temperature (Tch) - via thermal fits in the SHM framework. A point of interest arises when comparing the extracted freeze-out parameters obtained using different sets of particles in the thermal fit; namely, the Tch differences between the light hadrons and the strange hadrons. In this talk, I will show recent calculations of the freeze-out parameters using STAR and ALICE particle yields measured at collision energies ranging from 11.5 GeV to 5.02 TeV in the 0 - 10% centrality classes. Employing the Grand Canonical approach within the framework of the Thermal-FIST HRG model package, I will show evidence for a flavor-dependent chemical freeze-out in the crossover region of the QCD phase diagram. I will then focus on the system size dependence of Tch at vanishing µB by applying the same approach to multiplicity-dependent pp, pPb and PbPb collisions at LHC energies – showing that the statistical hadronization approach is applicable to small systems and that flavor dependencies in the freeze-out parameters lead to a natural explanation of strangeness enhancement from small to large systems. The latter parts of the talk will focus on the expansion of the current SHM framework into the charm sector and highlight my contributions to the ALICE Collaboration throughout my graduate career.
In-person attendance will be capped at 20 people on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the current Yale policies.
More Information: https://covid19.yale.edu/campus-life/events-gatherings-meetings
Please email the host for the Zoom connection information.
Host: Laura Havener
laura.havener@yale.edu