Production of Light Nuclei in Heavy Ion Collisions Within Multiple Freezeout Scenario

TL;DR

This paper investigates light nuclei production in heavy ion collisions using a multiple freezeout model, resolving previous discrepancies and providing a consistent description of hadron and nuclei yields at high energies.

Contribution

It introduces a multiple freezeout scenario that improves the agreement between model predictions and experimental data for light nuclei production.

Findings

Multiple freezeout scenario resolves $^3_\Lambda$H/$^3$He yield discrepancies.

The model accurately describes hadron and nuclei yields at LHC energies.

Strange to non-strange nuclei ratios are highly sensitive to freezeout details.

Abstract

We discuss the production of light nuclei in heavy ion collisions within a multiple freezeout scenario. Thermal parameters extracted from the fits to the observed hadron yields are used to predict the multiplicities of light nuclei. Ratios of strange to non strange nuclei are found to be most sensitive to the details of the chemical freezeout. The well known disagreement between data of $^3_\Lambda\text{H/}^3\text{He}$ and $\overline{^3_\Lambda\text{H/}^3\text{He}}$ at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV and models based on thermal as well as simple coalescence using a single chemical freezeout surface goes away when we let the strange and non strange hadrons freezeout at separate surfaces. At the LHC energy of $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2700$ GeV, multiple freezeout scenario within a thermal model provides a consistent framework to describe the yields of all measured hadrons and nuclei.