Extending the canonical thermodynamic model: inclusion of hypernuclei

TL;DR

This paper extends the canonical thermodynamic model to include hypernuclei, enabling predictions of hypernuclei production in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions, which was not possible with the original model.

Contribution

The authors incorporate lambda particles into the thermodynamic model, allowing for the prediction of hypernuclei yields and cross-sections in nuclear collision experiments.

Findings

Predicted average mass numbers of hypernuclei.

Estimated relative cross-sections of different hypernuclei.

Extended model facilitates hypernuclei production analysis.

Abstract

The canonical thermodynamic model has been used frequently to describe the disassembly of hot nuclear matter consisting of neutrons and protons. Such matter is formed in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. Here we extend the method to include, in addition to neutrons and protons, lambda particles. This allows us to include productions of hypernuclei in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. We can easily predict average mass number of hypernuclei produced and values of relative cross-sections of different hypernuclei. Computation of absolute cross-section was not attempted at this stage and will require much more detailed work.