2023/10/24 by Michael X. Zhang, Zhang, Michael X., An Gu +1
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th) #Nuclear physics research studies #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Scientific Research and Discoveries
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2310.15962
openalex publication_date 2023/10/24 · openalex created_date 2023/10/26 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We employ a coalescence model to form deuterons (\rm d), tritons (\rm t) and helium-3 (3\rm He) nuclei from a uniformly distributed volume of protons (\rm p) and neutrons (\rm n). We study the ratio N\rm t N\rm p/N\rm d2 of light nuclei yields as a function of the neutron density fluctuations. We investigate the effect of finite transverse momentum (p\rm T) acceptance on the ratio, in particular, the "extrapolation factor" (f) for the ratio as functions of the p\rm T spectral shape and the magnitude of neutron density fluctuations. It is found that f is monotonic in p\rm T spectra "temperature" parameter and neutron density fluctuation magnitude; variations in the latter are relatively small. We also examine f in realistic simulations using kinematic distributions of protons measured in heavy ion collision data. It is found that f is smooth and monotonic as a function of beam energy. We conclude that extrapolation from limited p\rm T ranges would not create, enhance, or reduce a local peak of the N\rm t N\rm p/N\rm d2 ratio in beam energy. Our study provides a necessary benchmark for light nuclei ratios as a probe of nucleon density fluctuations, an important observable in the search for the critical point of nuclear matter.