Deuteron yields from heavy-ion collisions at energies available at the CERN Large Hadron Collider: Continuum correlations and in-medium effects

Abstract

To explain the production of light nuclei in heavy-ion collisions at extreme energies, we focus on the deuteron case. A Gibbs ensemble at chemical freeze-out is a prerequisite to investigate the nonequilibrium evolution of the expanding fireball. Quantum statistical approaches allow us to describe correlations including bound-state formation in the strongly interacting and hot system. We consider the virial approach to evaluate proton-neutron correlations. In generalization of the treatment of protons in pionic matter (pion-proton puzzle), the influence of the pion environment on deuteron-like correlations is evaluated using data for the pion-deuteron scattering phase shifts. Calculated yields for deuteron production are compared with those observed at the LHC.