Evidence for Modification of b Quark Hadronization in High-Multiplicity pp Collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV

Phys Rev Lett. 2023 Aug 11;131(6):061901. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.061901.

Abstract

The production rate of B_{s}^{0} mesons relative to B^{0} mesons is measured by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt[s]=13 TeV over the forward rapidity interval 2<y<4.5 as a function of the charged particle multiplicity measured in the event. Evidence at the 3.4σ level is found for an increase of the ratio of B_{s}^{0} to B^{0} cross sections with multiplicity at transverse momenta below 6 GeV/c, with no significant multiplicity dependence at higher transverse momentum. Comparison with data from e^{+}e^{-} collisions implies that the density of the hadronic medium may affect the production rates of B mesons. This is qualitatively consistent with the emergence of quark coalescence as an additional hadronization mechanism in high-multiplicity collisions.