Speaker
Description
Strangeness enhancement has emerged as a system-spanning trend in pp, pPb, and PbPb collisions. Whether a similar behavior is present in elementary $e^+e^-$ collisions, where the initial state is clean and final-state interactions are minimal, is a key question for disentangling hadronization dynamics from hot-QCD effects. We present a measurement of the kaon-to-pion yield ratio, $K^{\pm}/\pi^{\pm}$, as a function of the event charged-particle multiplicity using archived DELPHI data collected at LEP. Events are binned in the reconstructed track multiplicity $N_{\mathrm{trk}}^{\mathrm{offline}}$, and inclusive $K^{\pm}$ and $\pi^{\pm}$ yields are extracted using DELPHI’s particle-identification capabilities, with corrections applied for detector acceptance and efficiency. The resulting $K/\pi$ vs.\ $N_{\mathrm{trk}}^{\mathrm{offline}}$ dependence is compared to event generators such as PYTHIA6, PYTHIA8, HERWIG, and SHERPA. This measurement sheds new light on the emergence of strangeness enhancement in small collision systems.