Extracting strange-quark freeze-out information in Pb + Pb collisions at √{sN N}=2.76 TeV from ϕ and Ω production

Using a covariant quark coalescence model combined with a blast-wave-like analytical parametrization for (anti-)strange-quark phase-space freeze-out configuration, we extract information on strange-quark freeze-out dynamics in Pb+Pb collisions at √{s_{N N}}=2.76 TeV by fitting the measured transverse momentum spectra and elliptic flows (v₂) of ϕ mesons and Ω baryons. We find that, although both the measured and calculated v₂ of ϕ and Ω satisfy the number-of-constituent-quark (NCQ) scaling, the NCQ-scaled v₂ is significantly smaller than the v₂ of strange quarks, implying that the NCQ-scaled v₂ of ϕ and Ω cannot be simply identified as the v₂ of strange quarks at hadronization. Meanwhile, our results indicate that the covariant quark coalescence model can nicely describe the spectra and elliptic flows of ϕ and Ω simultaneously, suggesting the coalescence mechanism is still valid for ϕ and Ω production in Pb+Pb collisions at energies typical of the CERN Large Hadron Collider.