Energy dependence of $\phi$(1020) production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions with ALICE at the LHC

Abstract

Hadronic resonances are unique tools to investigate the interplay of re-scattering and regeneration effects during the hadronization phase in heavy-ion collisions. Measurements in small collision systems provide a necessary baseline for heavy-ion data, help to tune pQCD inspired event generators and give insight into the search for the onset of collective effects. As the $\phi$ meson has a longer lifetime compared to other resonances, it is expected that its production would be much less affected by regeneration and re-scattering processes. We report on measurements of $\phi$ meson production in minimum bias pp collisions at different beam energies and as a function of charged particle multiplicity with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The results include the transverse momentum $(p_{\mathrm{T}})$ distributions of $\phi$ as well as the particle yield ratios. Finally, we have also studied the $\phi$ effective strangeness content by comparing our results to theoretical calculations.