Multiplicity dependence of and production in pp collisions at TeV

A bstract The first measurement at midrapidity (| y | < 0 . 5) of the production yield of the strange-charm baryons $${\Xi }_{\text{c}}^{+}$$ and $${\Xi }_{\text{c}}^{0}$$ as a function of transverse momentum ( p T ) in different charged-particle multiplicity classes in proton-proton collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ TeV with the ALICE experiment at the LHC is reported. The $${\Xi }_{\text{c}}^{+}$$ baryon is reconstructed via the $${\Xi }_{\text{c}}^{+}\to {\Xi }^{-}{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{+}$$ decay channel in the range 4 < p T < 12 GeV /c , while the $${\Xi }_{\text{c}}^{0}$$ baryon is reconstructed via both the $${\Xi}_{\text{c}}^{0}\to {\Xi}^{-}{\pi }^{+}$$ and $${\Xi}_{\text{c}}^{0}\to {\Xi}^{-}{\text{e}}^{+}{\nu }_{\text{e}}$$ decay channels in the range 2 < p T < 12 GeV /c . The baryon-to-meson $$\left({\Xi}_{\text{c}}^{0,+}/{\text{D}}^{0}\right)$$ and the baryon-to-baryon $$\left({\Xi}_{\text{c}}^{0,+}/{\Lambda}_{\text{c}}^{+}\right)$$ production yield ratios show no significant dependence on multiplicity. In addition, the observed yield ratios are not described by theoretical predictions that model charm-quark fragmentation based on measurements at e + e − and e − p colliders, indicating differences in the charm-baryon production mechanism in pp collisions. A comparison with different event generators and tunings, including different modelling of the hadronisation process, is also discussed. Moreover, the branching-fraction ratio of $${\text{BR}}\left({\Xi}_{\text{c}}^{0}\to {\Xi }^{-}{\text{e}}^{+}{\nu }_{\text{e}}\right)/{\text{BR}}\left({\Xi}_{\text{c}}^{0}\to {\Xi }^{-}{\pi }^{+}\right)$$ is measured as 0.825 ± 0.094 (stat.) ± 0.081 (syst.). This value supersedes the previous ALICE measurement, improving the statistical precision by a factor of 1.6.