Production of light (anti)nuclei in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}~=~5.02$ TeV

TL;DR

This paper investigates the production of light nuclei and antinuclei in proton-proton collisions at 5.02 TeV, revealing that their formation depends on particle multiplicity rather than collision energy, supporting a universal production mechanism.

Contribution

It provides new measurements of light nuclei production at 5.02 TeV and compares them across energies and collision systems, highlighting a common formation process.

Findings

Nuclei yields are consistent across different energies and systems at similar multiplicities.

Production depends on particle multiplicity, not collision energy.

Results support a universal formation mechanism for light nuclei.

Abstract

The study of the production of nuclei and antinuclei in pp collisions has proven to be a powerful tool to investigate the formation mechanism of loosely bound states in high-energy hadronic collisions. In this paper, the production of protons, deuterons and $^3$He and their charge conjugates at midrapidity is studied as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity in inelastic pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ TeV using the ALICE detector. Within the uncertainties, the yields of nuclei in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ TeV are compatible with those in pp collisions at different energies and to those in p-Pb collisions when compared at similar multiplicities. The measurements are compared with the expectations of coalescence and Statistical Hadronisation Models. The results suggest a common formation mechanism behind the production of light nuclei in hadronic interactions and confirm that they do not depend on the collision energy but on the number of produced particles.