Spectra and flow of light nuclei in relativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC

TL;DR

This paper uses a coalescence model based on phase-space distributions from the iEBE-VISHNU hybrid model to study the spectra and flow of light nuclei in heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC, comparing with experimental data and making predictions.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed coalescence model combined with the iEBE-VISHNU hybrid framework to analyze light nuclei production and flow in relativistic heavy ion collisions, providing new insights and predictions.

Findings

Good agreement with experimental data for most observables.

Underestimation of helium-3 yield at LHC energies.

Predictions for spectra and flow at 5.02 TeV LHC energies.

Abstract

Within the framework of the coalescence model based on the phase-space distributions of protons and neutrons generated from the {{\tt iEBE-VISHNU}} hybrid model with {{\tt AMPT}} initial conditions, we study the spectra and elliptic flow of deuterons and helium-3 in relativistic heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Larger Hadron Collider (LHC). Results from our model calculations for Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV at RHIC and Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV at the LHC are compared with available experimental data. Good agreements are generally seen between theoretical results and experimental data, except that the calculated yield of helium-3 in Pb + Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV underestimates the data by about a factor of two. Possible reasons for these discrepancies are discussed. We also make predictions on the spectra and elliptic flow of deuterons and helium-3 in Pb + Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV that are being studied at LHC.