Light nuclei production in heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies

Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut~Received 24 August 2001; published 4 March 2002!We have measured the production of light nuclei (A<3) in 11.6 GeV/c Au-Au collisions at theBrookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron ~AGS!. The transverse mass spectra are analyzed using a ther-mal fireball model, and the yields for different particle species are discussed assuming coalescence and frag-mentation as possible production mechanisms. The wide acceptance range of the