Thermal model description of p–Pb collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02$$ sNN=5.02  TeV

Abstract

Abstract The ALICE data on light flavor hadron production obtained in p–Pb collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02$$ sNN=5.02 TeV are studied in the thermal model using the canonical approach with exact strangeness conservation. The chemical freeze-out temperature is independent of centrality except for the lowest multiplicity bin, with values close to 160 MeV but consistent with those obtained in Pb–Pb collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76$$ sNN=2.76 TeV. The value of the strangeness non-equilibrium factor $$\gamma _s$$ γs is slowly increasing with multiplicity from 0.9 to 0.96, i.e. it is always very close to full chemical equilibrium.