TY - JOUR
T1 - Observation of deuteron and antideuteron formation from resonance-decay nucleons
AU - The ALICE collaboration
AU - Zurlo, N.
AU - Zugravel, S. C.
AU - Zhu, Y.
AU - Zhu, S.
AU - Zhu, J.
AU - Zhou, Y.
AU - Zhou, D.
AU - Zhi, Y.
AU - Zherebchevskii, V.
AU - Zhao, M.
AU - Zhang, Z.
AU - Zhang, Y.
AU - Zhang, X.
AU - Zhang, S.
AU - Zhang, M.
AU - Zhang, M.
AU - Zhang, L.
AU - Zhang, C.
AU - Zhang, B.
AU - Zhalov, M.
AU - Závada, P.
AU - Zardoshti, N.
AU - Zanone, F.
AU - Zampolli, C.
AU - Zaccolo, V.
AU - Yuncu, A.
AU - Yuan, S.
AU - Yu, H.
AU - Yoon, J. H.
AU - Yoo, I. K.
AU - Yin, Z.
AU - Yi, J.
AU - Yeats, E. R.
AU - Yano, S.
AU - Yang, S.
AU - Yang, S.
AU - Yamaguchi, Y.
AU - Yadav, A. K.
AU - Yadav, A.
AU - Xu, R.
AU - Xiong, Z.
AU - Xiong, K.
AU - Wu, Y.
AU - Wu, W.
AU - Wright, J. R.
AU - Winn, M.
AU - Windelband, B.
AU - Willems, G. A.
AU - Gago, A. M.
AU - Bazo Alba, J. L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025.
PY - 2025/12/11
Y1 - 2025/12/11
N2 - High-energy hadronic collisions generate environments characterized by temperatures above 100 MeV (refs. 1,2), about 100,000 times hotter than the centre of the Sun. At present, it is therefore unclear how light (anti)nuclei with mass number A of a few units, such as the deuteron, 3He or 4He, each bound by only a few MeV, can emerge from these collisions3,4. Here, the ALICE Collaboration reports that deuteron–pion momentum correlations in proton–proton (pp) collisions provide model-independent evidence that about 90% of the observed (anti)deuterons are produced in nuclear reactions5 following the decay of short-lived resonances, such as the Δ(1232). These findings, obtained by the ALICE Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider, resolve a gap in our understanding of nucleosynthesis in ultrarelativistic hadronic collisions. Apart from offering insights on how (anti)nuclei are formed in hadronic collisions, the results can be used in the modelling of the production of light and heavy nuclei in cosmic rays6 and dark-matter decays7,8.
AB - High-energy hadronic collisions generate environments characterized by temperatures above 100 MeV (refs. 1,2), about 100,000 times hotter than the centre of the Sun. At present, it is therefore unclear how light (anti)nuclei with mass number A of a few units, such as the deuteron, 3He or 4He, each bound by only a few MeV, can emerge from these collisions3,4. Here, the ALICE Collaboration reports that deuteron–pion momentum correlations in proton–proton (pp) collisions provide model-independent evidence that about 90% of the observed (anti)deuterons are produced in nuclear reactions5 following the decay of short-lived resonances, such as the Δ(1232). These findings, obtained by the ALICE Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider, resolve a gap in our understanding of nucleosynthesis in ultrarelativistic hadronic collisions. Apart from offering insights on how (anti)nuclei are formed in hadronic collisions, the results can be used in the modelling of the production of light and heavy nuclei in cosmic rays6 and dark-matter decays7,8.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105024620989
U2 - 10.1038/s41586-025-09775-5
DO - 10.1038/s41586-025-09775-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 41372642
AN - SCOPUS:105024620989
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 648
SP - 306
EP - 311
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 8093
ER -