Measurements of Chemical Potentials in Pb-Pb Collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV

Abstract

This Letter presents the most precise measurement to date of the matter-antimatter imbalance at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV. Using the Statistical Hadronization framework, it is possible to obtain the value of the electric charge and baryon chemical potentials, mu(Q) = -0.18 +/- 0.90 MeV and mu(B) = 0.71 +/- 0.45 MeV, with unprecedented precision. A centrality-differential study of the antiparticle-to-particle yield ratios of charged pions, protons, Omega baryons, and light (hyper)nuclei is performed. These results indicate that the system created in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC is on average baryon-free and electrically neutral at midrapidity.