Measurements on the production and properties of light hypernuclei at STAR

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA

^* e-mail: yuanjingji@lbl.gov

Published online: 1 March 2023

Abstract

The hyperon-nucleon (Y-N) interaction, an important ingredient for the nuclear equation-of-state (EoS), remains poorly constrained. Precise measurements of hypernucei intrinsic properties and production yields in heavy-ion collisions are crucial for the understanding of their production mechanisms and the strength of the Y-N interaction. Thanks to the high statistics data taken from the STAR BES II program, a series of hypernuclei measurements are carried out at low energies. In these proceedings, we present the kinematic and centrality dependence of light hypernuclei production yields and strangeness population factor (S₃, S₄) in Au+Au collisions at √S_NN = 3 GeV. We also report the energy dependence of _Λ³H yields and S₃ at mid-rapidity from 3 to 27 GeV Au+Au collisions. Precise measurements of _Λ⁴He lifetime and _Λ³H branching ratio are also reported. These results are compared with model calculations and physics implications are discussed.