Observation of hypertritons in Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

TL;DR

This paper reports the first observation of hypertritons in high-energy Au+Au collisions at RHIC, showing their production rate is comparable to helium-3 and differs from lower-energy results.

Contribution

First detection of hypertritons in RHIC heavy-ion collisions, providing new insights into hypernuclear production at high energies.

Findings

157 ± 30 hypertriton candidates identified

Hypertriton production rate similar to helium-3

No additional suppression observed compared to lower energies

Abstract

We report preliminary results of hypertriton observation in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC. We have identified 157 +- 30 candidates in the current sample containing ~10^8 Au+Au events at \sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV. The production rate of hypertriton is close to that of helium 3. No extra penalty factor is observed for hypertriton, in contrast to results observed at the AGS.