³H and ³He nuclei production in a combined thermal and coalescence framework for heavy-ion collisions in the few-GeV energy regime

A thermal model describing hadron production in heavy-ion collisions in the few-GeV energy regime is combined with the idea of nucleon coalescence to make predictions for the 3 H and 3 He nuclei production. A realistic parametrization of the freeze-out conditions is used, which reproduces well the spectra of protons and pions. It also correctly predicts the deuteron yield that agrees with the experimental value. The predicted yields of 3 H and 3 He appear to be smaller by about a factor of two compared to the experimental results. The model predictions for the spectra can be compared with future experimental data. Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. Article funded by SCOAP3 and published under licence by Chinese Physical Society and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Science and the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and IOP Publishing Ltd.