Speaker
Description
Quarkonium production in hadronic collisions is a key observable for studying the interaction of heavy quarks with the nuclear medium. In particular, it has long been recognized as a way to infer indirectly the temperature of the medium formed in heavy ion collisions, by comparing the dissociation rate of ground and excited states with different binding energies. The interpretation of quarkonium production data are complicated by cold initial- and final-state effects such as shadowing and co-mover breakup.
In this context, the LHCb experiment offers unique capabilities to study quarkonium production over a wide range of collision systems and kinematic regimes. Measurements performed during Run 2 in PbPb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV have provided information on the relative production of excited and ground charmonium states. These results can be complemented by new data collected during Run 3, including collisions of lighter ion species and fixed-target configurations with proton and ion beams on various gaseous targets at √sNN ~ 100GeV. Such a broad experimental programme enables systematic studies of the onset of quark-gluon plasma formation and the role of cold nuclear matter effects. In this contribution, recent results from Run 2 together with selected highlights from Run 3 will be presented.