  Deuteron coalescence, during relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions, is
carried out in a model incorporating a minimal quantal treatment of the
formation of the cluster from its individual nucleons by evaluating the overlap
of intial cascading nucleon wave packets with the final deuteron wave function.
In one approach the nucleon and deuteron center of mass wave packet sizes are
estimated dynamically for each coalescing pair using its past light-cone
history in the underlying cascade, a procedure which yields a parameter free
determination of the cluster yield. A modified version employing a global
estimate of the deuteron formation probability, is identical to a general
implementation of the Wigner function formalism but can differ from the most
frequent realisation of the latter. Comparison is made both with the extensive
existing E802 data for Si+Au at 14.6 GeV/c and with the Wigner formalism. A
globally consistent picture of the Si+Au measurements is achieved. In light of
the deuteron's evident fragility, information obtained from this analysis may
be useful in establishing freeze-out volumes and help in heralding the presence
of high-density phenomena in a baryon-rich environment.
