arXiv subjects

Maximiliano Puccio

Publications and source records attributed to Maximiliano Puccio.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Canonical statistical hadronization with local baryon conservation for higher-order cumulants

We study higher-order cumulants of the conserved baryon number at the LHC within the canonical ensemble with local baryon conservation. We generalize the density correlations approach of [Phys. Rev. C 110, L061902 (2024)] to incorporate the effect of Gaussian local conservation in spatial rapidity space in cumulants up to 6th order. Gaussian local conservation improves upon the commonly employed $V_c$ approach, yielding comparable predictions at midrapidity, but marked differences for larger rapidity acceptances. Our coordinate-space results are in exact agreement with the diffusion master equation approach for all cumulant ratios up to $κ_6/κ_2$. Using the blast-wave model to apply kinematic cuts, we obtain predictions for net-proton cumulants in O--O and Pb--Pb collisions at the LHC that establish an ideal hadron gas baseline. We find that local baryon conservation alone can drive $κ_6/κ_2$ to small or even negative values in restricted acceptance, a behavior often associated with chiral criticality. The conservation baseline must therefore be carefully accounted for when interpreting upcoming LHC measurements.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Softening of the Hypertriton Transverse Momentum Spectrum in Heavy-Ion Collisions

Understanding the properties of hypernuclei helps to constrain the interaction between hyperon and nucleon, which is known to play an essential role in determining the properties of neutron stars. Experimental measurements have suggested that the hypertriton ($^3_Λ\text{H}$), the lightest hypernucleus, exhibits a halo structure with a deuteron core encircled by a $Λ$ hyperon at a distance of about 10 fm. This large $Λ-d$ distance in $^3_Λ\text{H}$ wave function is found to cause a suppressed $^3_Λ\text{H}$ yield and a softening of its transverse momentum ($p_T$) spectrum in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Within the coalescence model based on nucleons and $Λ$ hyperons from a microscopic hybrid hydro model with a hadronic afterburner for nuclear cluster production in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$= 5.02 TeV, we show how this softening of the hypertriton $p_T$ spectrum appears and leads to a smaller mean $p_T$ for $^3_Λ\text{H}$ than for helium-3 ($^3$He). The latter is opposite to the predictions from the blast-wave model which assumes that $^3_Λ\text{H}$ and $^3$He are thermally produced at the kinetic freeze-out of heavy-ion collisions. The discovered quantum mechanical softening of the (anti-)hypertriton spectrum can be experimentally tested in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at different collision energies and centralities and used to obtain valuable insights into the mechanisms for light (hyper-)nuclei production in these collisions.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2020

On coalescence as the origin of nuclei in hadronic collisions

The origin of weakly-bound nuclear clusters in hadronic collisions is a key question to be addressed by heavy-ion collision (HIC) experiments. The measured yields of clusters are approximately consistent with expectations from phenomenological statistical hadronisation models (SHMs), but a theoretical understanding of the dynamics of cluster formation prior to kinetic freeze out is lacking. The competing model is nuclear coalescence, which attributes cluster formation to the effect of final state interactions (FSI) during the propagation of the nuclei from kinetic freeze out to the observer. This phenomenon is closely related to the effect of FSI in imprinting femtoscopic correlations between continuum pairs of particles at small relative momentum difference. We give a concise theoretical derivation of the coalescence--correlation relation, predicting nuclear cluster spectra from femtoscopic measurements. We review the fact that coalescence derives from a relativistic Bethe-Salpeter equation, and recall how effective quantum mechanics controls the dynamics of cluster particles that are nonrelativistic in the cluster centre of mass frame. We demonstrate that the coalescence--correlation relation is roughly consistent with the observed cluster spectra in systems ranging from PbPb to pPb and pp collisions. Paying special attention to nuclear wave functions, we derive the coalescence prediction for hypertriton and show that it, too, is roughly consistent with the data. Our work motivates a combined experimental programme addressing femtoscopy and cluster production under a unified framework. Upcoming pp, pPb and peripheral PbPb data analysed within such a programme could stringently test coalescence as the origin of clusters.

nucl-th↗