Observation of light nuclei at ALICE and the X(3872) conundrum

The new data reported by ALICE on the production of light nuclei with p(1) less than or similar to 0 GeV in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV are used to compute an order-of-magnitude estimate of the expected production cross sections of light nuclei in proton-proton collisions at high transverse momenta. We compare the hypertriton, helium-3, and deuteron production cross sections to that of X(3872), measured in prompt pp collisions by CMS. The results we find suggest a different production mechanism for the X(3872), making questionable any loosely bound molecule interpretation.