Investigation of the onset of deconfinement with the NA61/SHINE experiment

Abstract

High-energy heavy-ion collisions provide a unique framework for studying the phase transition of strongly interacting matter. The NA61/SHINE experiment, located in the North Area of CERN's SPS, is a fixed-target facility designed to perform a systematic exploration of the QCD phase diagram. This is achieved through a two-dimensional scan that varies both the beam momentum (from 13A to 150/158A GeV/c) and the size of the colliding systems (p+p, p+Pb, Be+Be, Ar+Sc, Xe+La, Pb+Pb, O+O). Such a wide scan enables detailed studies of how collision dynamics evolve with system size and energy. A central objective of the NA61/SHINE research program is to investigate the onset of deconfinement - the transition from hadronic matter to a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) - by analyzing observables such as the strangeness-to-entropy ratio, where entropy is proportional to pion yields. According to the Statistical Model of the Early Stage (SMES), this ratio is expected to exhibit a horn-like structure within the SPS energy range. This article discusses the theoretical framework of the SMES, its assumptions, and compares recent NA61/SHINE results with other experimental data worldwide, contributing to a deeper understanding of the QCD phase transition.