UCLA

We report the systematic measurement of protons and light nuclei production in Au+Au collisions at sNN=3GeV by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The transverse momentum (pT) spectra of protons (p), deuterons (d), tritons (t), He3, and He4 have been measured from midrapidity to target rapidity for different collision centralities. We present the rapidity and centrality dependence of particle yields (dN/dy), average transverse momentum (〈pT〉), yield ratios (d/p, t/p,He3/p, He4/p), as well as the coalescence parameters (B2, B3). The 4π yields for various particles are determined by utilizing the measured rapidity distributions, dN/dy. Furthermore, we present the energy, centrality, and rapidity dependence of the compound yield ratios (Np×Nt/Nd2) and compare them with various model calculations. The physics implications of these results on the production mechanism of light nuclei and the QCD phase structure are discussed.