Jet-associated deuteron production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV

TL;DR

This study investigates jet-associated deuteron production in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV, revealing correlations around jets and supporting coalescence models through experimental data and PYTHIA simulations.

Contribution

First measurement of jet-associated deuteron production in pp collisions at 13 TeV, testing coalescence models in events with hard scattering.

Findings

Deuterons are produced around jets with high statistical significance.

PYTHIA simulations with baryon coalescence describe the data well.

Measured deuteron yields differ significantly from uncorrelated background.

Abstract

Deuteron production in high-energy collisions is sensitive to the space-time evolution of the collision system, and is typically described by a coalescence mechanism. For the first time, we present results on jet-associated deuteron production in \pp\ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV, providing an opportunity to test the established picture for deuteron production in events with a hard scattering. Using a trigger particle with high transverse-momentum ($p_{\rm T}>5$ GeV/$c$) as a proxy for the presence of a jet at midrapidity, we observe a measurable population of deuterons being produced around the jet proxy. The associated deuteron yield measured in a narrow angular range around the trigger particle differs by 2.4-4.8 standard deviations from the uncorrelated background. The data are described by PYTHIA model calculations featuring baryon coalescence.