Constraining the production mechanism of light (anti-)nuclei in small systems with ALICE at the LHC: Parallel Session - Small systems III

The large samples of high-quality data collected at the LHC by the ALICE Collaboration allow for a systematic study of light (anti-)nuclei production in pp collisions at s=5,7and13TeV and in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02TeV . The excellent performance of the Inner Tracking System, Time-Projection Chamber and Time-Of-Flight detectors provide a clear identification and separation of primary produced light (anti-)nuclei from secondaries. The results on deuteron and 3 He production as a function of multiplicity in pp and p–Pb collisions are shown. The goal is to study whether the production of (anti-)nuclei in small systems is better described by the coalescence model or by the statistical hadronisation model. The main observables for testing the production mechanisms are the coalescence parameter B A and the ratio between the transverse-momentum integrated yields of nuclei and protons, d/p, 3 He/p and 3 H/p. These observables are studied as a function of the event multiplicity and compared with the predictions of theoretical models.