Constraining the production mechanism of light (anti-)nuclei in small systems with ALICE at the LHC: Parallel Session - Small systems III

Abstract

The large samples of high-quality data collected at the LHC by the ALICE Collaboration allow for a systematic study of light (anti-)nuclei production in pp collisions at s=5,7and13TeV and in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02TeV. The excellent performance of the Inner Tracking System, Time-Projection Chamber and Time-Of-Flight detectors provide a clear identification and separation of primary produced light (anti-)nuclei from secondaries. The results on deuteron and 3He production as a function of multiplicity in pp and p–Pb collisions are shown. The goal is to study whether the production of (anti-)nuclei in small systems is better described by the coalescence model or by the statistical hadronisation model. The main observables for testing the production mechanisms are the coalescence parameter BA and the ratio between the transverse-momentum integrated yields of nuclei and protons, d/p, 3He/p and 3H/p. These observables are studied as a function of the event multiplicity and compared with the predictions of theoretical models.