arXiv:2401.

00319v1 [nucl-ex] 30 Dec 2023

Measurements of p − Λ and d − Λ correlations in 3 GeV

Au+Au collisions at STAR

Yu Hu1,∗ for the STAR collaboration

1
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Abstract. Heavy-ion collisions provide a unique opportunity to explore

nucleon-hyperon (N-Y) interactions through two-particle correlations. The
p − Λ and d − Λ correlations shed light on both N-Y two-body and N-N-Y
three-body interactions, which is crucial for understanding neutron star proper-
ties. We present the high precision measurement of p − Λ and the first mea-
√
surement of d − Λ correlation with sNN = 3 GeV Au+Au collisions at STAR.
Using the Lednicky-Lyuboshitz formalism, we characterized emission source
size, the scattering length ( f0 ), and the effective range (d0 ) of p − Λ and d − Λ
interactions. Using the f0 and d0 extracted from two spin states in d − Λ cor-
relation, the parameters from the doublet state indicate the hypertriton binding
energy is consistent with the current average of world measurements.

1 Introduction
While the nuclear force has been studied for many decades through classical scattering exper-
iments, measuring the interactions between nucleon (N) and hyperon (Y) is found to be very
challenging. Heavy-ion collisions is a well-designed laboratory to study the properties of the
dense QCD matter. It offers us a new way to understand N-Y interactions by studying the
two-particle correlation produced in a collision [1]. The correlations reveal valuable informa-
tion about the space-time evolution of the particle-emitting source and final state interactions
involving hyperons. That’s the primary observable of interest in this proceedings.
The momentum correlation between two identified particles can be presented as follows,
P(p1 , p2 )
C(p1 , p2 ) ≡ , (1)
P(p1 ) · P(p2 )
where the p1 and p2 are the momentum of particle 1 and 2. P is the probability of finding such
particle or particle pair with that certain momentum. As for the experimental measurement,
we used the following equation to get the correlation function, which is equivalent to Eq 1.
A(k∗ )
Z
C(k∗ ) = N = d3 r∗ S (r∗ )|Ψ(r∗ , k∗ )|2 . (2)
B(k∗ )
Here the A(k∗ ) is the distribution of k∗ with both particles from the same event, B(k∗ ) is
for two particles from different events, and N is the normalization factor. k∗ is the particle
momentum in the pair rest frame. The correlation function can be expanded into the later
∗ e-mail: [email protected]
part of Eq. 2. Here the S (r∗ ) is the distribution of the relative distance of particle pairs, the
Ψ(r∗ , k∗ ) is the relative wave function of the particle pairs.
If we take a smoothness approximation for the source function and expand the wave
function in the Eq. 2. We can get

| f (k)|2 2Re f (k) Im f (k)

C(k∗ ) ≈ 1 + F(d0 ) + √ F1 (2kr0 ) − F2 (2kr0 ), (3)
2r02 πr0 r0

where,
1 1 d0 k 2
≈ + − ik. (4)
f (k) f0 2
Here the r0 is the radius parameter that defines the size of the source. In this study, the
equivalent spherical Gaussian source radius of the particle pairs (RG ), which corresponds to
the size of the emission source and r0 , is used to compare the size between two correlation
systems. f0 and d0 are the scattering length and effective range, which are the parameters to
describe the interaction between two particles. F, F1 , and F2 are the parametric equations [2].
This approach is called the Ledncky-Lyuboshitz (L-L) approach [3]. With this approach, we
can characterize the source radius and final state interaction from the measured correlation
function. For the correlation between two nonidentical particles, the system can have different
spin states. The p − Λ systems have singlet (S) and triplet (T) spin states [4], and the d − Λ
systems have doublet (D) and quartet (Q) spin states [2]. The f0 and d0 can be different in two
different systems. The effective f0 and d0 are also widely used to describe the correlations
when the statistics cannot separate two different spin states.

2 Correlation function and discussions

The STAR (Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC) detector at RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider)
has collected many collision energies and systems over the two decades. For this study,
we analyzed about 250M Au+Au collision events at center of mass energies per nucleon
√
pair, sNN = 3 GeV which were collected in 2018 under the Fixed Target setup. We use the
Time Projection Chamber (TPC) and the Time of Flight (ToF) detector to identify the pions
(π), protons (p), and deuterons (d). We reconstructed the Λ with the KFParticle package [5]
using the π and p.
For the p − Λ correlation measurement, we selected the pT from 0.5 GeV/c to 2 GeV/c
for both p and reconstructed Λ. We measured the correlation function in three rapidity ranges
(−0.5 to 0, −0.75 to −0.5, and −1 to −0.75), and three different centralities (0-10%, 10-20%,
and 20-60%). The measured functions are corrected based on particle purity, feed-down
contributions, track splitting effect, track merging effect, and momentum smearing effect.
The examples of corrected correlation functions in −0.5 < y < 0 for different centralities are
shown in Figure 1. We applied a simultaneous fit to data in three different centralities and
three different rapidities. The f0 and d0 are assumed to be the same for different centralities
and rapidities, while the RG are assumed to be different for different centralities and rapidities
in the fitting. We got the spin-averaged f0 = 2.32+0.12 +2.7
−0.11 fm and d0 = 3.5−1.3 fm.
For the d − Λ correlation measurement, we used the d selected in 0.6 GeV/c to 3 GeV/c,
Λ in 0.4 GeV/c to 2.2 GeV/c for the pT , and from -1 to 0 for the rapidity range. The mea-
surements are corrected for particle purity, track splitting, and merging effect. The 3Λ H con-
tamination (3Λ H → d + p + π− ) is also subtracted due to the indistinguishable experimental
p + π− contribution to the Λ reconstruction. Evaluation with the measured 3Λ H yields show
4 ∼ 8% of the d −Λ entries come from 3Λ H decay at k∗ < 100 MeV/c in 10-20% centrality [6].
The corrected d − Λ correlation functions are shown in Figure 2. A simultaneous fit to data
Figure 1. p − Λ correlation measured in −0.5 < y < 0, and 0.5 < pT < 2 GeV. The purple band shows
the spin-averaged fitting results.

in different centralities is shown in purple color. The fitting indicates f0 (D) = −20+3
−3 fm,
d0 (D) = 3+2 +2 +1
−1 fm, f0 (Q) = 16−1 fm, and d0 (Q) = 2−1 fm.

Figure 2. d − Λ correlation measured in −1 < y < 0. The purple band shows the spin-separated fit for
both D and Q states.

The left plot of Figure 3 shows the RG extracted from the correlation functions. We
successfully separated the emission source from the final state interaction. The observed
RG is larger in more central collisions than the peripheral collisions. We also observed at a
certain centrality, the RG for d −Λ correlation is slightly smaller than for the p−Λ correlation.
These observations generally agree with our naive collision dynamics pictures that the central
collision creates a bigger source, and if all the particles are produced at the same moment, the
heavier particles fly slower so that the corresponding equivalent source is smaller for d − Λ.
The right-side plot of Figure 3 shows the 1σ, 2σ, and 3σ contour of the f0 and d0 for
both systems. The green solid points show the theory predictions of the f0 and d0 for S and
T states in p − Λ [4], and the purple points show the theory predicted D and Q states for
d − Λ [2]. The constraint of the d0 is weaker because it characterizes the second order effect
as shown in Eq. 4. The larger magnitude f0 in d − Λ indicates a much stronger correlation
and larger cross-section than the p − Λ. The negative f0 (D) indicates a bound state for d − Λ
systems which is the 3Λ H.
Using f0 (D), d0 (D), and the Bethe formula from Effective Range Expansion (ERE), we
could estimate the 3Λ H binding energy. We got 3Λ H BΛ = [0.04, 0.33] (MeV) at 95% CL. The
result is consistent with the current world average [7]. This measurement provides us with a
new way to constrain the 3Λ H structure.
Figure 3. Left: Spherical Gaussian source of pairs (RG ); Right: scattering length ( f0 ) and effective
range (d0 ) with 1σ, 2σ, and 3σ from p − Λ and d − Λ correlations. The parameters are estimated using
the Ledncky-Lyuboshitz (L-L) approach. Bezier smooth is applied to the right side contour plot for
d − Λ correlation to improve the visibility.

3 Summary
√
The p − Λ correlation function is measured using the sNN = 3 GeV Au+Au collisions
from RHIC Beam Energy Scan II. The d − Λ correlation is measured for the first time in the
experiment. The emission source is successfully separated from the final state interactions.
The RG is larger in central than peripheral collision, and slightly smaller in d − Λ correlation
than p − Λ correlation. The spin-averaged f0 and d0 is extracted to be 2.32+0.12 −0.11 fm and
3.5+2.7
−1.3 fm in p − Λ correlation. The effective fit showed f0 (D) = −20 +3
−3 fm, d +2
0 (D) = 3−1
fm, f0 (Q) = 16+2−1 fm, and d0 (Q) = 2+1
−1 fm in d − Λ correlation. This measurement indicates
the 3Λ H binding energy to be 0.04 to 0.33 MeV at 95% CL, which provides a new method to
study the hypernuclei structure in the heavy-ion collision experiment.

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