Köln 2025 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 35: Heavy-Ion Collisions and QCD Phases VI

HK 35.1: Talk

Wednesday, March 12, 2025, 17:30–17:45, HS 3 Chemie

Study of (anti)deuteron production in proton-proton collisions with ALICE at the LHC — •Rutuparna Rath for the ALICE Germany collaboration — GSI Helmholtzzentrum f u r Schwerionenforschung, GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany

The measurement of (anti)nuclei production in small collision systems, such as proton-proton (pp) collisions, provides valuable insights into the nucleosynthesis mechanisms in our Universe. Antinuclei can form through two primary processes: the interaction of cosmic rays with the interstellar medium or the decay/annihilation of dark matter candidates. The coalescence model is commonly employed to describe the production of nuclei, where light nuclei are formed from the overlap of nucleon phase-space distributions with the Wigner density of the bound state. Light (anti)nuclei have been extensively studied in small collision systems using ALICE at the LHC. In this contribution, we present results on (anti)deuteron production in pp collisions at various center-of-mass energies. The coalescence parameter, B₂ , which quantifies the probability of coalescence, is analyzed within the framework of modern coalescence models.

Furthermore, utilizing the extensive dataset collected by ALICE during Run 3, new results on (anti)deuteron production in pp collisions are reported. These measurements enable, for the first time, the determination of the coalescence parameter and source radii for the lowest energy (900 GeV) achieved yet from the LHC run in small collision systems, providing deeper constraints on their dependence on the initial state.

Keywords: pp collisions; Nuclei production; Coalescence; source radii; (Anti)deuteron