Light Nuclei Production in Au+Au Collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 3 GeV from the STAR experiment

TL;DR

This paper reports on the production of light nuclei in gold-gold collisions at 3 GeV, providing spectra and yields that shed light on the medium's properties and potential phase transition signatures.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed spectra and yields of light nuclei at 3 GeV from STAR, highlighting differences in freeze-out dynamics compared to higher energies.

Findings

Light nuclei yields measured at 3 GeV.

Kinetic freeze-out parameters differ from higher energy trends.

Indications of a different medium equation of state at 3 GeV.

Abstract

Light nuclei production is expected to be sensitive to baryon density fluctuations and can be used to probe the signatures of QCD critical point and/or a first-order phase transition in heavy-ion collisions. In this proceedings, we present the spectra and yields of protons ($p$) and light nuclei ($d$, $t$, $^{3}\mathrm{He}$, $^{4}\mathrm{He}$) in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 3 GeV by the STAR experiment. Finally, it is found that the kinetic freeze-out dynamics (temperature $T_{kin}$ $vs.$ average radial flow velocity $\langle\beta_{T}\rangle$) at 3 GeV extracted with the blast-wave model deviate from the trends at high energies ($\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 7.7 - 200 GeV), indicating a different medium equation of state.