Covariant coalescence model for relativistically expanding systems

Abstract

We develop a covariant coalescence model for relativistically expanding fireballs formed in high-energy nuclear collisions and apply it to predict the formation rate of light nuclei and antinuclei (d,d\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}) as well as of the H dibaryon and the pentaquark ${\mathit{P}}^{0}$ in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron and the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron Accelerators. For the d\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{} and H, our predictions differ significantly from previous results based on a nonrelativistic analysis.