Searching for onset of deconfinement via hypernuclei and baryon-strangeness correlations

TL;DR

This paper investigates the use of hypernuclei and baryon-strangeness correlations, specifically the ratio S_3, as a probe to distinguish between quark-gluon plasma and hadron gas in high-energy heavy-ion collisions.

Contribution

It introduces the ratio S_3 as a new observable for probing dense matter and uses transport and coalescence models to analyze its energy dependence in collisions.

Findings

AMPT with string melting predicts increasing S_3 with energy.

AMPT with only hadronic scattering predicts low S_3, inconsistent with data.

Experimental data supports the string melting model's predictions.

Abstract

We argue that the ratio $S_3 =\mathrm{^3_\Lambda H} / (\mathrm{^3He} \times \frac{\Lambda}{p})$ is a good representation of the local correlation between baryon number and strangeness, and therefore is a valuable tool to probe the nature of the dense matter created in high energy heavy-ion collision: quark gluon plasma or hadron gas. A multiphase transport model (AMPT) plus a dynamical coalescence model is used to elucidate our arguments. We find that AMPT with string melting predicts an increase of $S_3$ with increasing beam energy, and is consistent with experimental data, while AMPT with only hadronic scattering results in a low $S_3$ throughout the energy range from AGS to RHIC, and fails to describe the experimental data.