Measurement of K*(892) ± production in inelastic pp collisions at the LHC
The first results on K*(892) ± resonance production in inelastic pp collisions at LHC energies of √s = 5.02, 8, and 13 TeV are presented. The K*(892) ± has been reconstructed via its hadronic decay channel K*(892)→±K$^0_S$ +π ± with the ALICE detector. Measurements of transverse momentum distributions, p T -integrated yields, and mean transverse momenta for charged K*(892) are found to be consistent with previous ALICE measurements for neutral K*(892) within uncertainties. For p T >1 GeV/c the K*(892) ± transverse momentum spectra become harder with increasing centre-of-mass energy from 5.02 to 13 TeV, similar to what previously observed for charged kaons and pions. For p T < GeV/c the K*(892) ± yield does not evolve significantly and the abundance of K*(892) ± relative to K is rather independent of the collision energy. The transverse momentum spectra, measured for K*(892) ± at midrapidity in the interval 0 < p T <15 GeV/c, are not well described by predictions of different versions of PYTHIA 6, PYTHIA 8 and EPOS-LHC event generators. These generators reproduce the measured p T -integrated K *± /K ratios and describe well the momentum dependence for p T <2 GeV/c.