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Observation of deuteron and antideuteron formation from resonance-decay nucleons

Acharya, S. ; Basu, S. LU orcid ; Christiansen, P. LU ; Hansen, J. LU orcid ; Iversen, K.E. LU orcid ; Nepeivoda, R. LU orcid ; Ohlson, A. LU ; Panasenko, I. LU ; Silvermyr, D. LU orcid and Staa, J. LU , et al. (2025) In Nature 648(8093). p.306-311
Abstract
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... (More)
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. © The Author(s) 2025. (Less)
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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
proton, cosmic ray, light effect, momentum, numerical model, observational method, resonance, article, diagnosis, hadron, nucleon, pion, sun, temperature, therapy
in
Nature
volume
648
issue
8093
pages
6 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:105024620989
ISSN
0028-0836
DOI
10.1038/s41586-025-09775-5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b4de1ec4-81de-4afb-809e-c2835543a67b
date added to LUP
2026-04-07 15:12:33
date last changed
2026-04-08 07:54:33
@article{b4de1ec4-81de-4afb-809e-c2835543a67b,
  abstract     = {{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. © The Author(s) 2025.}},
  author       = {{Acharya, S. and Basu, S. and Christiansen, P. and Hansen, J. and Iversen, K.E. and Nepeivoda, R. and Ohlson, A. and Panasenko, I. and Silvermyr, D. and Staa, J. and Zurlo, N.}},
  issn         = {{0028-0836}},
  keywords     = {{proton; cosmic ray; light effect; momentum; numerical model; observational method; resonance; article; diagnosis; hadron; nucleon; pion; sun; temperature; therapy}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8093}},
  pages        = {{306--311}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature}},
  title        = {{Observation of deuteron and antideuteron formation from resonance-decay nucleons}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09775-5}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41586-025-09775-5}},
  volume       = {{648}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}