Production of $Ξ$ and $Ω$ hyperons in high-multiplicity proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

This paper presents the first measurement of Ξ± and Ω± hyperon yields at the highest multiplicities reached in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV. This measurement exploits the high-multiplicity pp collisions collected by ALICE with dedicated triggers. The production yields and average transverse momenta of the hyperons agree with trends indicated by previous measurements in pp collisions at lower multiplicities. The difference in average transverse momenta between pp and p–Pb collisions provides additional insight into the underlying particle production mechanisms in small systems. The results support a strong correlation between multi-strange hadron production and final-state multiplicity regardless of the collision system at the LHC energies. The comparison with PYTHIA8.2 with the Monash 2013 tune, PYTHIA8.2 with Ropes, and EPOS4, suggests that the description of strange-hadron production is improved by recently introduced features such as interactions between overlapping strings in PYTHIA8.2 with Ropes and the collective expansion of high-density string regions in EPOS4.