I.J. Abualrob, S. Acharya, G. Aglieri Rinella, L. Aglietta, M. Agnello, N. Agrawal, Z. Ahammed, S. Ahmad, I. Ahuja, ZUL. Akbar, A. Akindinov, V. Akishina, M. Al-Turany, D. Aleksandrov, B. Alessandro, R. Alfaro Molina, B. Ali, A. Alici, A. Alkin, J. Alme, G. Alocco, T. Alt, AR Altamura, I. Altsybeev, C. Andrei, N. Andreou, A. Andronic, E. Andronov, V. Anguelov, F. Antinori, P. Antonioli, N. Apadula, H. Appelshäuser, S. Arcelli, R. Arnaldi, J.G.M.C.A. Arneiro, I.C. Arsene, M. Arslandok, A. Augustinus, R. Averbeck, M.D. Azmi, H. Baba, A.R.J. Babu, A. Badalà, J. Bae, Y. Bae, Y.W. Baek, X. Bai, R. Bailhache, Y. Bailung, R. Bala, A. Baldisseri, B. Balis, S. Bangalia, Z. Banoo, V. Barbasova, F. Barile, L. Barioglio, M. Barlou, B. Barman, GG Barnaföldi, L.S. Barnby, E. Barreau, V. Barret, L. Barreto, K. Barth, E. Bartsch, N. Bastid, G. Batigne, D. Battistini, B. Batyunya, D. Bauri, JL Bazo Alba, I.G. Bearden, P. Becht, D. Behera, S. Behera, I. Belikov, V.D. Bella, F. Bellini, R. Bellwied, L.G.E. Beltran, Y.A.V. Beltran, G. Bencedi, A. Bensaoula, S. Beole, Y. Berdnikov, A. Berdnikova, L. Bergmann, L. Bernardinis, L. Betev, P.P. Bhaduri, T. Bhalla, A. Bhasin, B. Bhattacharjee, S. Bhattarai, L. Bianchi, J. Bielčík, J. Bielčíková, A. Bilandzic
In this letter, the first measurement of the femtoscopic correlation of protons and Σ + hyperons is presented and used to study the p– Σ + interaction. The measurement is performed with the ALICE detector in high-multiplicity triggered pp collisions at s = 13 TeV. The Σ + hyperons are reconstructed using a missing-mass approach in the decay channel to p + π 0 with π 0 → γ γ , while both Σ + and protons are identified using a machine learning approach. These techniques result in a high reconstruction efficiency and purity, which allows the measurement of the p– Σ + correlation function for the first time. Thanks to the high significance achieved in the p– Σ + correlation signal, it is possible to discriminate between the predictions of different models of the N–Σ interaction and to accomplish a first determination of the p– Σ + scattering parameters.