Speaker
Description
Understanding charm-quark hadronization is key to characterizing the quark–gluon plasma formed in heavy-ion collisions. Measurements of strange and non-strange charm hadrons across collision systems probe hadronization mechanisms, particularly in Pb–Pb collisions where abundant strangeness is expected to enhance recombination effects and provide stringent tests of statistical-hadronization models. In addition, the observed enhancement of charm-baryon production relative to mesons compared with e⁺e⁻ collisions challenges fragmentation-based descriptions and motivates models incorporating modified hadronization mechanisms. A consistent description of both strange and non-strange charm baryons remains an open question, calling for precise experimental constraints.
In this contribution, we present a combined study of charm-meson and charm-baryon production with ALICE. We report measurements of the $\mathrm{D_s^+/D^+}$ production ratio from low-multiplicity pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13.6$ TeV to Pb–Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.36$ TeV. We also present the first $\mathrm{p_T}$-differential cross sections of the orbitally excited $\mathrm{D_{s1}(2536)^+}$ and $\mathrm{D_{s2}(2573)^{*+}}$ mesons in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13.6$ TeV, including their yield ratios to the $\mathrm{D_s^+}$ ground state. Furthermore, we discuss measurements of non-strange ($\Lambda_{\mathrm{c}}^{+}$, $\Sigma_{\mathrm{c}}^{0,++}$) and strange ($\Xi_{\mathrm{c}}^{0,+}$) charm baryons in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13.6$ TeV from LHC Run 3, and compare them with model predictions. Finally, we highlight baryon-to-meson ratios as functions of event multiplicity, including the latest $\Lambda_{\mathrm{c}}^{+}/\mathrm{D^{0}}$ results.
