Measurement of the Fraction of Jet Longitudinal Momentum Carried by Λ_ C^+ Baryons in Pp Collisions

Recent measurements of charm-baryon production in hadronic collisions have questioned the universality of charm-quark fragmentation across different collision systems. In this work the fragmentation of charm quarks into charm baryons is probed, by presenting the first measurement of the longitudinal jet momentum fraction carried by Lambda(+)(c) baryons, z(||)(ch) , in hadronic collisions. The results are obtained in proton-proton (pp) collisions at root s = 13 TeV at the LHC, with Lambda(+)(c) baryons and charged (track-based) jets reconstructed in the transverse momentum intervals of 3 <= p(T)(Lambda c+) < 15 GeV/c and 7 <= p(T)(jet)ch < 15 GeV/c, respectively. The zch k distribution is compared to a measurement of D-0-tagged charged jets in pp collisions as well as to PYTHIA 8 simulations. The data hints that the fragmentation of charm quarks into charm baryons is softer with respect to charm mesons, in the measured kinematic interval, as predicted by hadronization models which include color correlations beyond leading-color in the string formation.