Disentanglement of hard and soft QCD processes using two-particle correlation functions

Abstract

Abstract Transverse spherocity (S 0) has evolved as a powerful method to distinguish between soft and hard contributions in an event in small collision systems. We used the two-particle differential-number correlation functions (R 2) and transverse momentum correlation functions (P 2) of charged particles produced in pp collisions at s = 7 TeV with the PYTHIA8 model to explore this phenomena. The Δφ projections of these correlation functions in different multiplicity and S 0 classes are discussed. We find that these correlation functions show different shapes and sizes in both near- and away-side with multiplicity and S 0 classes. We observe a strong correlation in the near- and away-side of these correlation functions for jetty-like (hard QCD processes), which become weaker for isotropic (soft QCD processes) in spherocity classes as compared to multiplicity classes. Finally, it is observed that S 0 should be a good observable as compared to multiplicity to disentangle hard and soft QCD processes in a small collision system.