Highlights of the production of (anti-)(hyper-)nuclei and exotica with ALICE at the LHC

Abstract

Measurements of the production of light (anti-)nuclei and (anti-)hypernuclei have been performed in different colliding systems at the LHC, namely pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb. The results of the production in Pb–Pb collisions of light (anti-)(hyper-)nuclei follows the expectation of the thermal model, whereas the production of nuclei in pp and p–Pb collisions shows a closer agreement with the expectations from coalescence models. Both models can give predictions for the production yields of hypothetical states such as bound states of two Λ hyperons or of a Λ and a neutron, which are expected to decay weakly. These states are searched for with the ALICE apparatus. Since no signal is found, upper limits, which are significantly below the model expectations, are set. Furthermore, the most recent measurement of the lifetime of the hypertriton determined in Pb–Pb collisions at at the LHC gives a value exactly between the world average and the free lifetime. In addition, the new result is in agreement with other recent measurements in heavy-ion collisions.