Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 30: Hadron Structure and Spectroscopy VI

HK 30.5: Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2026, 15:15–15:30, PHIL A 401

First measurement of the Λ–φ correlation function with data taken by ALICE in Run 3 — •Christopher Klumm for the ALICE Germany collaboration — James-Franck-Straße 1, 85748 Garching b. München

Neutron stars are among the densest objects in the observable universe and play a crucial role in advancing our understanding of dense hadronic matter. One of the central open questions is the so-called hyperon puzzle. In general, the relationship between the mass and radius of a neutron star is determined by its equation of state (EoS). Due to the extreme densities and pressures in the stellar core, the conversion of neutrons into hyperons is expected. However, this conversion leads to a softening of the EoS, preventing it from reproducing astrophysical observations. To counteract this effect, repulsive contributions to the hyperon–hyperon interaction are required. One proposed mechanism is the exchange of φ mesons between Λ hyperons, which could produce such a repulsion. With the transition to Run 3 of the LHC, the ALICE detector now benefits from a substantial increase in luminosity and statistics, enabling new insight into the baryon–baryon interaction using the femtoscopic method. Leveraging these improved capabilities, this contribution presents the first measurements of the two-body correlation between Λ and φ particles, using data collected by the ALICE experiment in pp collisions at √s = 13.6 TeV during Run 3 of the LHC. This project has been funded by the DFG under Germany*s Excellence Strategy - EXC2094 - 390783311 and by BMFTR Verbundforschung (05P24WO4 ALICE).

Keywords: femtoscopy; ALICE; LHC Run3