Deuteron yields from LHC: Continuum correlations and in-medium effects

TL;DR

This paper investigates deuteron production in high-energy heavy-ion collisions at the LHC, emphasizing the role of continuum correlations and in-medium effects using quantum statistical and virial approaches.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of quantum statistical methods and the virial approach to model deuteron yields considering in-medium effects and pion environment influences.

Findings

Calculated deuteron yields agree with LHC observations.

Pion environment significantly affects deuteron-like correlations.

Quantum statistical approaches effectively describe bound state formation in hot, dense matter.

Abstract

To explain the production of light nuclei in heavy-ion collisions at extreme energies, we focus on the deuteron case. A Gibbs ensemble at chemical freeze-out is a prerequisite to investigate the non-equilibrium evolution of the expanding fireball. Quantum statistical approaches allow to describe correlations including bound state formation in the strongly interacting and hot system. We consider the virial approach to evaluate proton-neutron correlations. In generalization of the treatment of protons in pionic matter (pion-proton puzzle), the influence of the pion environment on deuteron-like correlations is evaluated using data for the pion-deuteron scattering phase shifts. Calculated yields for deuteron production are compared with the ones observed at the LHC.