Present and future investigations of hadron formation mechanisms in Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC with the ALICE experiment

Abstract

The present status and the future of hadron production characterization in Pb–Pb collisions at LHC by measuring the pT dependence of baryon over meson ratios is presented. The current RHIC and LHC results showing a strong enhancement of the Λ/KS0 ratio in Pb–Pb collisions with respect to proton-proton collisions at intermediate pT and their interpretation in terms of coalescence processes are discussed. A crucial extension of these studies to heavy flavor hadrons (D, B mesons and Λc, Λb baryons) will be enabled by the foreseen reforging of the ALICE Inner Tracking System (ITS). The main performance objectives and technological ingredients of the ITS upgrade are summarized.