  The production of light anti- and hyper-nuclei provides unique observables to
characterise the system created in high energy proton-proton (pp),
proton-nucleus (pA) and nucleus-nucleus (AA) collisions. In particular, nuclei
and hyper-nuclei are special objects with respect to non-composite hadrons
(such as pions, kaons, protons, etc.), because their size is comparable to a
fraction or the whole system created in the collision. Their formation is
typically described within the framework of coalescence and thermal-statistical
production models. In order to distinguish between the two production
scenarios, we propose to measure the coalescence parameter B$_{A}$ for
different anti- and hyper-nuclei (that differ by mass, size and internal
wave-function) as a function of the size of the particle emitting source. The
latter can be controlled by performing systematic measurements of light
(anti-)(hyper-)nuclei in different collision systems (pp, pA, AA) and as a
function of the multiplicity of particles created in the collision. While it is
often argued that the coalescence and the thermal model approach give very
similar predictions for the production of light nuclei in heavy-ion collisions,
our study shows that large differences can be expected for hyper-nuclei with
extended wave-functions, as the hyper-triton. We compare the model predictions
with data from the ALICE experiment and we discuss perspectives for future
measurements with the upgraded detectors during the High-Luminosity LHC phase
in the next decade.
