Joachim Hansen
SMARTHEP PhD student ESR10
First Measurement of A = 4 Hypernuclei and Antihypernuclei at the LHC
Author
Summary, in English
In this Letter, the first evidence of the (Formula presented) antihypernucleus is presented, along with the first measurement at the LHC of the production of (anti)hypernuclei with mass number (Formula presented), specifically (Formula presented) and (Formula presented). In addition, the antiparticle-to-particle ratios for both hypernuclei ((Formula presented) and (Formula presented)) are shown, which are sensitive to the baryochemical potential of the strongly interacting matter created in heavy-ion collisions. The results are obtained from a data sample of central Pb-Pb collisions, collected during the 2018 LHC data taking at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of (Formula presented). The yields measured for the average of the charge-conjugated states are found to be (Formula presented) for the (Formula presented) and (Formula presented) for the (Formula presented), and the measured antiparticle-to-particle ratios are in agreement with unity. The presence of (Formula presented) and (Formula presented) excited states is expected to strongly enhance the production yield of these hypernuclei. The yield values exhibit a combined deviation of (Formula presented) from the theoretical ground-state-only expectation, while the inclusion of the excited states in the calculations leads to an agreement within (Formula presented) with the present measurements. Additionally, the measured (Formula presented) and (Formula presented) masses are compatible with the world-average values within the uncertainties. © 2025 CERN, for the ALICE Collaboration.
Department/s
- Particle and nuclear physics
Publishing year
2025
Language
English
Publication/Series
Physical Review Letters
Volume
134
Issue
16
Document type
Article
Publisher
American Physical Society
Topic
- Subatomic Physics
Keywords
- heavy ion
- A-center
- Center-of-mass energies
- Data sample
- Excited-states
- Heavy-ion collisions
- Hypernuclei
- Mass numbers
- Measurements of
- Particle ratios
- Pb-Pb collisions
- article
- controlled study
- electric potential
- human
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0031-9007