Spectra and flow of light nuclei in relativistic heavy ion collisions at energies available at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Within the framework of the coalescence model based on the phase-space distributions of protons and neutrons generated from the iebe-vishnu hybrid model with ampt initial conditions, we study the spectra and elliptic flow of deuterons and helium-3 in relativistic heavy ion collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the CERN Larger Hadron Collider (LHC). Results from our model calculations for $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200\mathrm{GeV}$ at RHIC and Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76\mathrm{TeV}$ at the LHC are compared with available experimental data. Good agreements are generally seen between theoretical results and experimental data, except that the calculated yield of helium-3 in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76\mathrm{TeV}$ underestimates the data by about a factor of 2. Possible reasons for these discrepancies are discussed. We also make predictions on the spectra and elliptic flow of deuterons and helium-3 in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$ that are being studied at LHC.

Figure 1

Transverse momentum spectra of protons, deuterons, and helium-3 in $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200\mathrm{GeV}$ and 0–80% centrality, calculated from the iebe-vishnu hybrid model (protons) and from the coalescence model (deuterons and helium-3) using the phase-space distributions of protons and neutrons from iebe-vishnu. The data for protons, deuterons, and helium-3 are taken from the PHENIX (Refs. [21, 56]) and STAR [1] Collaborations, respectively.

Figure 2

Elliptic flow of protons, deuterons, and helium-3 in $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200\mathrm{GeV}$ and 0–80% centrality, calculated from iebe-vishnu (protons) and from the coalescence model (deuterons and helium-3). The data of protons, deuterons, and helium-3 are taken from the STAR Collaboration [22, 23].

Figure 3

Transverse momentum spectra of protons, deuterons, and helium-3 in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ and 5.02 TeV, calculated from iebe-vishnu (protons) and from the coalescence model (deuterons and helium-3). The data for protons, deuterons, and helium-3 at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ and 5.02 TeV are taken from Refs. [4, 9, 57], respectively.

Figure 4

Elliptic flow of protons, deuterons, and helium-3 in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ and 5.02 TeV, calculated from iebe-vishnu (protons) and from the coalescence model (deuterons and helium-3). The data for protons and deuterons at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76\mathrm{TeV}$ are taken from Refs. [9, 43], respectively.

Figure 5

Transverse momentum spectra of helium-3 in $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200\mathrm{GeV}$ and 0–80% centrality and in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76\mathrm{TeV}$ and 0–20% centrality, calculated from the coalescence model using the phase-space distributions of protons and neutrons from iebe-vishnu. The blue dashed-dotted line and the pink dotted line are from the coalescence processes of $p+p+n\to {}^3\mathrm{He}$ and $p+d\to {}^3\mathrm{He}$, respectively. The green solid line is the sum of these two processes. The data in $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ and Pb+Pb collisions are taken from the STAR Collaboration [1] and the ALICE Collaboration [4], respectively.