Light (anti)nuclei production with ALICE at the Large Hadron Collider
type: CreativeWork
description: Ultra-relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions (HICs) allow to reproduce the extreme conditions of temperature and energy density where the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) is formed. Based on the current cosmological picture, QGP was the state of our universe few μs after the Big Bang. Moreover, there is evidence that a degenerate state of matter with similar properties to the QGP exists in the inner core of neutron stars and other compact astrophysical objects. Heavy ion collisions produce not only hadrons (among which pions, kaons and protons are the most abundantly produced) but also composite and even fragile objects such as light nuclei (d, t, 3He, 4He) and light Λ-hypernuclei, along with their antiparticles. Their measured yields decrease strongly with increasing (anti)baryon number – the penalty factor for each additional (anti)baryon is about 300 – hence (anti)4He production is a very rare process. The production rate at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for deuterons is approximately one every one thousand p–Pb collisions corresponding to a charged-particle density of about 20. The production rate of heavier nuclei, such as 3He, is even lower (one every one million events). Hence, the study of light (anti)nuclei production is particularly challenging. At the same time, light nuclei and their antimatter counter parts are particularly interesting since the production mechanism of such loosely bound states is still under debate. (Anti)nuclei have a binding energy of the order of 1 MeV per nucleon. This value is extremely low if compared with the chemical freeze-out temperature of a nucleus-nucleus collision (Tchem ∼ 150 MeV). Hence, it is surprising to see how these loosely-bound objects like light (anti)nuclei can be produced and survive in such extreme conditions. The production of light (anti)nuclei is usually described using two classes of phenomenological models: the Statistical Hadronisation Models (SHMs) and the Coalescence models. Both classes of models describe …
abstract: Ultra-relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions (HICs) allow to reproduce the extreme conditions of temperature and energy density where the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) is formed. Based on the current cosmological picture, QGP was the state of our universe few μs after the Big Bang. Moreover, there is evidence that a degenerate state of matter with similar properties to the QGP exists in the inner core of neutron stars and other compact astrophysical objects. Heavy ion collisions produce not only hadrons (among which pions, kaons and protons are the most abundantly produced) but also composite and even fragile objects such as light nuclei (d, t, 3He, 4He) and light Λ-hypernuclei, along with their antiparticles. Their measured yields decrease strongly with increasing (anti)baryon number – the penalty factor for each additional (anti)baryon is about 300 – hence (anti)4He production is a very rare process. The production rate at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for deuterons is approximately one every one thousand p–Pb collisions corresponding to a charged-particle density of about 20. The production rate of heavier nuclei, such as 3He, is even lower (one every one million events). Hence, the study of light (anti)nuclei production is particularly challenging. At the same time, light nuclei and their antimatter counter parts are particularly interesting since the production mechanism of such loosely bound states is still under debate. (Anti)nuclei have a binding energy of the order of 1 MeV per nucleon. This value is extremely low if compared with the chemical freeze-out temperature of a nucleus-nucleus collision (Tchem ∼ 150 MeV). Hence, it is surprising to see how these loosely-bound objects like light (anti)nuclei can be produced and survive in such extreme conditions. The production of light (anti)nuclei is usually described using two classes of phenomenological models: the Statistical Hadronisation Models (SHMs) and the Coalescence models. Both classes of models describe …
author: PINTO, CHIARA
language: ita
keywords: Hadronic physics and QGP, Ultrarelativistic hadronic collisions, Experimental physics, Light (anti)nuclei production, ALICE experiment at the LHC
date published: 2022-02-03
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:34:49Z
provider: Università degli Studi di Catania
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Università degli studi di Catania

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11769/581235