(Anti)nucleosynthesis in heavy-ion collisions and (anti)nuclei as "baryonmeter" of the collision

Abstract

The production mechanism of light (anti)nuclei in heavy-ion collisions has been extensively studied experimentally and theoretically. Two competing (anti)nucleosynthesis models are typically used to describe light (anti)nuclei yields and their ratios to other hadrons in heavy-ion collisions: the statistical hadronization model (SHM) and the nucleon coalescence model. The possibility to distinguish these phenomenological models calls for new experimental observables. Given their large baryon number, light (anti)nuclei have a high sensitivity to the baryon chemical potential ($\mu_{\rm B}$) of the system created in the collision. In this talk, the first measurement of event-by-event antideuteron number fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions is presented and compared with expectations of the SHM and coalescence model. In addition, the antinuclei-to-nuclei ratios are used to obtain a measurement of $\mu_{\rm B}$ in heavy-ion collisions with unprecedented precision.