Strange and multi-strange particle production at the LHC energies with ALICE

Abstract

Strange quark and particle production is studied at the LHC with unprecedented high beam energies in both heavy-ion and proton-proton collisions: on the one hand, strangeness is used for investigating chemical equilibration and bulk properties; on the other hand, strange particles contribute to probe different kinematical domains, from the one where collective phenomena are at play up to the region dominated by pQCD-calculable processes. We highlight the suitability of the ALICE experiment for this topic, presenting our latest measurements and comparing them to models.

arXiv comment8 pages, proceedings of Strangeness in Quark Matter 2011 conference (18-24 September 2011, Cracow)