Speaker
Natasha Sharma
(University of Tennessee (US))
Description
The high collision energies reached at the LHC enable significant production
rates of light (anti-)(hyper-)nuclei in proton-proton, proton-lead and, in
particular, lead-lead collisions. The excellent particle identification capabilities
of the ALICE apparatus, based on the specific energy loss in the time
projection chamber and the velocity information from the time-of-flight
detector, allow for the detection of these (anti-)nuclei.
Furthermore, the high tracking resolution provided by the inner tracking system
enables the separation of primary nuclei from those coming from the decay of heavier systems.
This allows for the reconstruction of decays such as the hypertriton mesonic weak decay ($^3_{\Lambda}$H
$\rightarrow ^3$He + $\pi^-$), the decay of a hypothetical bound state of a $\Lambda$ with a neutron into
a deuteron and pion or the H-dibaryon decaying into a $\Lambda$, a proton and a $\pi^{-}$.
Results on the production of stable nuclei and anti-nuclei in Pb--Pb
and lighter collision systems will be presented. Hypernuclei production rates in Pb--Pb will also
be shown, together with upper limits estimated on the production of hypothetical exotica candidates.
The results will be compared with predictions for the
production in thermal (statistical) and coalescence models.
| On behalf of collaboration: | ALICE |
|---|
Primary author
Natasha Sharma
(University of Tennessee (US))
