Deuteron, triton, helium-3 and hypertriton production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions via stochastic multi-particle reactions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the production of light nuclei in relativistic heavy-ion collisions using a hybrid model that emphasizes the importance of multi-particle reactions during the afterburner stage, aligning well with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a stochastic multi-particle reaction approach to model light nuclei formation, highlighting the significance of the afterburner stage in heavy-ion collision simulations.

Findings

Good agreement with experimental light nuclei yields

Multi-particle reactions are crucial for accurate production modeling

The afterburner stage significantly influences light nuclei formation

Abstract

The production of light nuclei in heavy -ion collisions is an excellent probe for studying the phase diagram of quantum chromodynamics and for the search of a critical end point. In this work we apply a hybrid approach in which we study the light nuclei production in the afterburner stage of central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s}_{NN}=7.7$, 14.5 and 19.6 GeV. In this stage, light nuclei are produced dynamically in $4\leftrightarrow 2$ catalysis reactions. A comparison of the dynamic production and a coalescence approach is presented for transverse momentum spectra of deuterons, tritons, $^3\rm He$ nuclei and hypertritons and ratios of light nuclei yields. A good agreement with the experimentally measured yield of nuclei is found and we proceed to further investigate the production mechanisms of light nuclei by calculating the rates of the important channels for the formation and disintegration. We find that the afterburner stage is essential for the description of light nuclei formation in heavy-ion collisions, as light nuclei undergo a large number of interactions.