Speaker
Description
Light (anti-)nuclei production in heavy-ion collisions can be described by two different mechanisms: the thermal and coalescence models. By analyzing the yields and ratios of the light (anti-)nuclei, we can gain valuable insights into their formation processes and the properties of the system at freeze-out. The enhancement in the compound ratios of light nuclei, such as $N_{t}N_{p}/N_{d}^{2}$ from the expected coalescence baseline, has been proposed as a tool to probe critical phenomena in the Quantum Chromodynamics phase diagram. In the first phase of the RHIC Beam Energy Scan (BES-I), a notable increase in the compound light nuclei yield ratio $N_{t}N_{p}/N_{d}^{2}$ was observed in the most central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 19.6 and 27 GeV, with a combined significance of 4.1$\sigma$. The larger datasets ($\sim10\times$ BES-I) collected by the STAR during the second phase of the BES program (BES-II) and improved detector capabilities are expected to provide more precise measurements.
In this talk, we will explore the centrality and energy dependence of the transverse momentum ($p_T$) spectra of $p$, $\bar p$, $d$, $\bar d$, and $^{3}He$ in Au+Au collisions across BES-II energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7 - 27 GeV. Additionally, we will report the centrality and energy dependence of the $p_{T}$ integrated yields ($dN/dy$) and the mean $p_{T}$ ($\langle p_{T} \rangle$) of light nuclei. Furthermore, we will discuss the centrality and $p_T$ dependence of the coalescence parameters, $B_{A}$, with their broader physics implications.
