(Anti-)deuteron production and anisotropic flow measured with ALICE at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper reports on measurements of (anti-)deuteron production and elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC, providing insights into particle production mechanisms in heavy-ion collisions.

Contribution

It presents simultaneous measurements of deuteron production rates and elliptic flow at high transverse momentum with ALICE, comparing results to coalescence and hydrodynamic models.

Findings

Deuteron elliptic flow $v_2$ measured at high $p_T$

Comparison with coalescence and hydrodynamic model predictions

Enhanced understanding of light nuclei formation in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

The high abundance of (anti-)deuterons in the statistics gathered in Run 1 of the LHC and the excellent performance of the ALICE setup allow for the simultaneous measurement of the elliptic flow and the deuteron production rates with a large transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) reach. The (anti-) deuterons are identified using the specific energy loss in the time projection chamber and the velocity information in the time-of-flight detector. The elliptic flow of (anti-)deuterons can provide insight into the production mechanisms of particles in heavy-ion collisions. Quark coalescence is one of the approaches to describe the elliptic flow of hadrons, while the production of light nuclei can be also depicted as a coalescence of nucleons. In these proceedings, the measured $v_{2}$ of deuterons produced in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$=2.76TeV will be compared to expectations from coalescence and hydrodynamic models.