First experimental test of HAL QCD lattice calculations for the multi strange hyperon - nucleon interaction with ALICE

The use of non-traditional femtoscopy in small collision systems is a promising technique to improve our knowledge on nucleon-hyperon and hyperon-hyperon interactions. This article gives an overview on the experimental status and prospects for the measurement of the p–Ξ − and p–Ω − correlation functions, using the ALICE data collected in pp collisions at 13 TeV, triggered for high-multiplicity. Such studies are relevant for the understanding of the nuclear Equation of State and its relation to dense objects like neutron stars. Recently the HAL-QCD collaboration conducted calculations without relying on constraints by data and with quarks and gluons as degrees of freedom. Their results converge for the interactions between heavier Ξ − and Ω − hyperons and nucleons and in the p–Ω − system they predict a bound state. This work highlights the feasibility of exploiting the ALICE data to study the existence of a di-baryon bound state and provides the most precise test of the lattice results for the p–Ξ − interaction.