Role of bulk viscosity in deuteron production in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions

Abstract

We use a Bayesian-calibrated multistage viscous hydrodynamic model to explore deuteron yield, mean transverse momentum and flow observables in Pb-Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. We explore theoretical uncertainty in the production of deuterons, including (i) the contribution of thermal deuterons, (ii) models for the subsequent formation of deuterons (hadronic transport vs coalescence), and (iii) the overall sensitivity of the results to the hydrodynamic model, in particular to bulk viscosity, which is often neglected in studies of deuteron production. Using physical parameters set by a comparison to only light hadron observables, we find good agreement with measurements of the mean transverse momentum 〈pT〉 and elliptic flow v2 of deuterons; however, tension is observed with experimental data for the deuteron multiplicity in central collisions. The results are found to be sensitive to each of the mentioned theoretical uncertainties, with a particular sensitivity to bulk viscosity, indicating that the latter is an important ingredient for an accurate treatment of deuteron production.1 MoreReceived 26 March 2022Accepted 7 October 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.106.064901Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasCollective flowParticle & resonance productionParticle correlations & fluctuationsQuark-gluon plasmaRelativistic heavy-ion collisionsThermal & statistical modelsTechniquesBayesian methodsNuclear PhysicsParticles & Fields