Production of light nuclei in heavy-ion collisions within a multiple-freezeout scenario

Abstract

We discuss the production of light nuclei in heavy ion collisions within a multiple freezeout scenario. Thermal parameters extracted from the fits to the observed hadron yields are used to predict the multiplicities of light nuclei. Ratios of strange to nonstrange nuclei are found to be most sensitive to the details of the chemical freezeout. The well-known disagreement between data of ${}_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}^{3}\text{H}{/}^{3}\text{He}$ and $\overline{{}_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}^{3}\text{H}{/}^{3}\text{He}}$ at $\sqrt{{s}_{NN}}=200$ GeV and models based on thermal as well as simple coalescence using a single chemical freezeout surface goes away when we let the strange and nonstrange hadrons freeze out at separate surfaces. At the CERN Large Hadron Collider energy of $\sqrt{{s}_{NN}}=2700$ GeV, multiple freezeout scenario within a thermal model provides a consistent framework to describe the yields of all measured hadrons and nuclei.