Nuclear coalescence from correlation functions


Abstract in English

We derive a simple formula relating the cross section for light cluster production (defined via a coalescence factor) to the two-proton correlation function measured in heavy-ion collisions. The formula generalises earlier coalescence-correlation relations found by Scheibl & Heinz and by Mrowczynski for Gaussian source models. It motivates joint experimental analyses of Hanbury Brown-Twiss (HBT) and cluster yield measurements in existing and future data sets.

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