Investigating baryon-strangeness and charge-strangeness correlations in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV with ALICE

To explore the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) phase transitions and the properties of quark$-$gluon plasma, the ALICE collaboration at CERN has conducted an extensive analysis of the correlations among net-conserved quantities, namely net-baryon, net-charge, and net-strangeness. These correlations are essential for understanding the QCD phase structure, as they are directly connected to ratios of thermodynamic susceptibilities calculated in lattice QCD. This analysis focuses on the correlations between net-kaon and net-proton, as well as net-kaon and net-charge, in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV, where net-proton and net-kaon serve as effective proxies for net-baryon and net-strangeness, respectively. A comparison with theoretical predictions from the Thermal-FIST model sheds light on the role of resonance decays and the effects of charge conservation laws in shaping these correlations. Furthermore, the measurements show sensitivity to the correlation volume in which these conservation laws are applied, underscoring the importance of modeling the underlying dynamics to fully understand the experimental results on fluctuations and correlations in heavy-ion collisions.