Charm production and hadronization in pp and p-Pb collisions at the LHC with ALICE

Studies of open-charm hadron production in pp and \pPb collisions are performed by the ALICE Collaboration at the LHC to investigate charm-quark hadronization mechanisms. Recent measurements of charm meson (\({\rm D^0}\), \({\rm D^+}\), \({\rm D^+_{\rm s}}\), and \({\rm D^{*+}}\)) and baryon (\(\Lambda^+_{\rm c}\), \(\Xi^{0,+}_{\rm c}\), \(\Sigma^{0,++}_{\rm c}\), and \(\Omega^0_{\rm c}\)) production in pp collisions at \(\sqrt{s}\) = 5.02 TeV and \(\sqrt{s}\) = 13 TeV allow the determination of the charm cross section and the fragmentation fractions at \(\sqrt{s}\) = 5.02 TeV with unprecedented precision. The measurements show that the fragmentation fractions significantly differ from the ones measured in \({\rm e^+e^-}\) and \ep collisions. This highlights possible differences in the hadronization process between electron induced collisions and pp collisions at the LHC. \\ Furthermore, the first measurement of the baryon-to-meson yield ratio \(\Lambda^+_{\rm c}/{\rm D^0}\), down to \(p_{\rm T}=0\) in pp and \pPb collisions will be discussed. In p--Pb collisions a modification of the hadronization mechanisms could be present due to cold nuclear matter effects and collective phenomena. A systematic comparison between data and model calculations will help to understand charm quark hadronization in pp and p--Pb collisions.