We propose a new method, i.e., an exclusive quark combination model + an inclusive hadron recombination model, to study different production sources of light nuclei in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We take deuterons and 3 He produced in Pb-Pb collisions at √ s NN = 2.76 TeV as examples to present contributions of different production sources by studying their rapidity densities dN/dy, yield ratios and transverse momentum (p T ) spectra just after the hadronization as well as at the final kinetic freeze-out. We find that: only very small fractions of d and 3 He are created just after the hadronization; nucleons from ∆ resonance decays make a much larger contribution to the regeneration of light nuclei at the hadronic phase stage, and this contribution takes about 79% and 92% for d and 3 He, respectively, observed at the final kinetic freeze-out. We also find that yield ratios d/p, 3 He/p and 3 He/d are good observables to probe contributions for light nuclei from different production sources, and provide a natural explanation for constant values of d/p and 3 He/p as a function of the averaged charged multiplicity measured by the ALICE Collaboration. PACS numbers: 25.75.Ag, 25.75.Dw, 25.75.-q I. INTRODUCTIONThe production of light nuclei in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is of importance for many issues in nuclear physics and particle physics. It not only can help to understand the mechanism of cluster formation in the interior of the fireball of a heavy-ion collision but also can serve as an effective probe of the fireball freeze-out properties [1][2][3][4][5]. Experimental measurements of light nuclei have been extensively executed at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) [6-10], at relatively low-energy collisions such as those obtained by the NA49 Collaboration at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) [11][12][13][14][15], and more recently at the very high energy reactions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) [16][17][18][19]. An interesting phenomenon observed at LHC is that the ratio d/p in Pb-Pb collisions is larger by a factor of about 2.2 than that in pp collisions while ratios of identified hadrons such as p/π and Λ/K 0 S , etc., do not show significant differences between Pb-Pb and pp collisions [16,20]. Up to now, there is no satisfied understanding for such phenomenon.Presently, there are two kinds of production mechanisms used to describe light nucleus formation in theory. One is the thermal model [21][22][23] and the other is the recombination/coalescence model [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. In the recombination/coalescence model, light nuclei can be formed by coalescence of nucleons produced just after the hadronization and/or those from resonance decays. Since the binding energies of light nuclei are very small (∼ a few MeV), final-state coalescence, i.e., nucleons recombining into light nuclei at a final stage of the hadronic phase evolution (at the final kinetic freeze-out), is commonly adopted in different recombination/coalescence models [28][29][30][31]. In fact, light nuclei can b...