An insight into strangeness with $\phi$(1020) production in small to large collision systems with ALICE at the LHC

Hadronic resonances are unique tools to investigate the interplay of re-scattering and regeneration effects in the hadronic phase of heavy-ion collisions. As the \(\phi \) meson has a longer lifetime compared to other resonances, it is expected that its production will not be affected by regeneration and re-scattering processes. Measurements in small collision systems such as proton-proton (pp) collisions provide a necessary baseline for heavy-ion data and help to tune pQCD inspired event generators. Given that the \(\phi \) is a bound state of strange-antistrange quark pair (s\(\bar{\mathrm {s}}\)), measurements of its production can contribute to the study of strangeness production. Recent results obtained by using the ALICE detector show that although \(\phi \) has zero net strangeness content, it behaves like a particle with open strangeness in small collision systems and the experimental results agree with thermal model predictions in large systems. The production mechanism of \(\phi \) is yet to be understood. We report on measurements with the ALICE detector at the LHC of \(\phi \) meson production in pp, p–Pb, Xe–Xe and Pb–Pb collisions. These results are reported for minimum bias event samples and as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity or centrality. The results include the transverse momentum (\(p_\mathrm{T}\)) distributions of \(\phi \) as well as the \(\langle p_\mathrm{T}\rangle \) and particle yield ratios. The \(\phi \) effective strangeness will be discussed in relation to descriptions of its production mechanism, such as strangeness canonical suppression, non-equilibrium production of strange quarks and thermal models.