Deuteron production in p-Be interactions at 450 GeV/c and the coalescing model

TL;DR

This paper investigates deuteron production in proton-beryllium collisions at 450 GeV/c using the coalescence model, finding that coalescence is unlikely the main production mechanism at low transverse momentum.

Contribution

It provides the first measurement of the coalescence factor in p-Be interactions at high energy, challenging the dominance of coalescence in deuteron formation.

Findings

Coalescence factor $7$ determined as $(0.79 \u00b1 0.05 7 0.13) imes 10^{-2}$.

Results suggest coalescence is not the primary mechanism for deuteron production at low $p_T$.

Data obtained from the NA56/SPY experiment at CERN SPS.

Abstract

The analysis of the deuteron production in p--Be interactions at 450 GeV/c taken by the NA56/SPY experiment at CERN SPS is presented. In the framework of the coalescence model, the coalescence factor $\kappa$ is determined as $(0.79 \pm 0.05 \pm 0.13) \times 10^{-2}$. Our results disfavour the hypothesis that coalescence be the dominant mechanism for deuteron production in $p+Be$ interactions at low $p_T$.