Wave-Function Femtometry: Hypertriton - The Ultimate Halo Nucleus

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: ALICE Collaboration
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author ALICE Collaboration
author_facet ALICE Collaboration
contents The interaction between nucleons and hyperons - baryons containing a strange quark - is key to understanding the properties of dense nuclear matter, such as that expected in the interior of neutron stars. Direct scattering experiments are hindered by the short lifetime of hyperons, prompting the study of hypernuclei - bound states of nucleons and hyperons - as an alternative approach. The lightest known hypernucleus, the hypertriton ($^3_Λ$H), is a weakly bound state composed of a proton, a neutron and a $Λ$ hyperon, and is believed to exhibit a halo-like structure with the $Λ$ being loosely bound to a deuteron core. Based on the first measurement of hypertriton production in proton-proton collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), its halo structure is confirmed. A successful description of the hypertriton production yield within the nuclear coalescence framework enables an estimation of the $Λ$ separation from the deuteron core as $9.54^{+2.67}_{-1.11}$ fm.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_07949
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Wave-Function Femtometry: Hypertriton - The Ultimate Halo Nucleus
ALICE Collaboration
Nuclear Experiment
Nuclear Theory
The interaction between nucleons and hyperons - baryons containing a strange quark - is key to understanding the properties of dense nuclear matter, such as that expected in the interior of neutron stars. Direct scattering experiments are hindered by the short lifetime of hyperons, prompting the study of hypernuclei - bound states of nucleons and hyperons - as an alternative approach. The lightest known hypernucleus, the hypertriton ($^3_Λ$H), is a weakly bound state composed of a proton, a neutron and a $Λ$ hyperon, and is believed to exhibit a halo-like structure with the $Λ$ being loosely bound to a deuteron core. Based on the first measurement of hypertriton production in proton-proton collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), its halo structure is confirmed. A successful description of the hypertriton production yield within the nuclear coalescence framework enables an estimation of the $Λ$ separation from the deuteron core as $9.54^{+2.67}_{-1.11}$ fm.
title Wave-Function Femtometry: Hypertriton - The Ultimate Halo Nucleus
topic Nuclear Experiment
Nuclear Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.07949