Production of Protons and Light Nuclei in Au+Au Collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 3 GeV with the STAR Detector

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive measurement of proton and light nuclei production in gold-gold collisions at 3 GeV, analyzing spectra, yields, ratios, and coalescence parameters to understand production mechanisms and QCD phase structure.

Contribution

It provides the first systematic measurement of light nuclei production at this energy, including spectra, yield ratios, and coalescence parameters, offering new insights into the production mechanisms in heavy-ion collisions.

Findings

Particle yields depend on rapidity and centrality.

Yield ratios vary with energy, centrality, and rapidity.

Coalescence parameters provide information on light nuclei formation.

Abstract

We report the systematic measurement of protons and light nuclei production in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 3 GeV by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) spectra of protons ($p$), deuterons ($d$), tritons ($t$), $^{3}\mathrm{He}$, and $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ are measured from mid-rapidity to target rapidity for different collision centralities. We present the rapidity and centrality dependence of particle yields ($dN/dy$), average transverse momentum ($\langle p_{T}\rangle$), yield ratios ($d/p$, $t/p$,$^{3}\mathrm{He}/p$, $^{4}\mathrm{He}/p$), as well as the coalescence parameters ($B_2$, $B_3$). The 4$\pi$ yields for various particles are determined by utilizing the measured rapidity distributions, $dN/dy$. Furthermore, we present the energy, centrality, and rapidity dependence of the compound yield ratios ($N_{p} \times N_{t} / N_{d}^{2}$) and compare them with various model calculations. The physics implications of those results on the production mechanism of light nuclei and on QCD phase structure are discussed.