Proton and deuteron production in Au plus Au reactions at 11.6A GeV/c - art. no. 064901

Proton and deuteron distributions from 11.6A GeV/c Au + Au collisions measu red by the E802 Collaboration in experiment E-866 are presented. The invari ant yield of protons and deuterons is studied as a function of the transver se mass for different cuts of rapidity and centrality. At low m(t)-m(0) the proton and deuteron invariant spectra deviate from a single exponential sh ape. The average m(t) as function of centrality and rapidity is used to exp lore the effect of collective transverse flow in the reaction. The ratio of the deuteron to squared proton yield as a function of transverse momentum, rapidity, and centrality is used to probe the coalescence model of deutero n production. This ratio is constant as a function of rapidity only for the most central cuts and decreases with the centrality for every rapidity cut . The ratio of the differential cross section of the deuteron to the square d differential cross section of the proton, for the most central cut, is no t constant as a function of m(t)-m(0). [S0556-2813(99)04911-0].