Influence of the nuclear bulk properties and the MIT bag constant on the phase transition to the quark gluon plasma

We consider the influence of the bulk properties of nuclear matter, namely the ground state incompressibility and the effective nucleon mass, and of the MIT bag constant on the phase transition from hadron matter to quark gluon plasma. It is mainly the effective nucleon mass which determines the stiffness of the equation of state and therefore also the behaviour of the phase transition curves. The energy densities in the coexistence region are found to increase for finite chemical potentials and softer equations of state up to 10 GeV/fm³. For small bag constants and for softer nuclear equations of state the phase boundary exhibits unusual deformations, due to the fact that the phase transition sets in already at pressures not too far from the saturation value. Although this would increase the experimental possibility to create the QGP, it is more likely that one must regard bag constants in the range of the original MIT value as not producing a realistic behaviour of the quark-hadron matter phase transition in the context of an MIT bag equation of state for the quark side.     

Influence of shear viscosity of quark-gluon plasma on elliptic flow in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions

We investigate the influence of a temperature-dependent shear viscosity over entropy density ratio η/s on the transverse momentum spectra and elliptic flow of hadrons in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. We find that the elliptic flow in √S(NN)=200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC is dominated by the viscosity in the hadronic phase and in the phase transition region, but largely insensitive to the viscosity of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). At the highest LHC energy, the elliptic flow becomes sensitive to the QGP viscosity and insensitive to the hadronic viscosity.     

From kinetic theory to dissipative fluid dynamics

We present the results of deriving the Israel-Stewart equations of relativistic dissipative fluid dynamics from kinetic theory via Grad’s 14-moment expansion. Working consistently to second order in the Knudsen number, these equations contain several new terms which are absent in previous treatments.     

The phase transition to the quark-gluon plasma and its effect on hydrodynamic flow

It is shown that in ideal relativistic hydrodynamics a phase transition from hadron to quark and gluon degrees of freedom in the nuclear matter equation of state leads to a minimum in the excitation function of the transverse collective flow.     

Resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionisation photoelectron spectroscopy of the ClO radical: the C 2 sigma- state

A (2 + 1) one-colour resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionisation study is carried out on the C 2 sigma- state of the ClO radical in the one-photon energy range 29,500-31,250 cm-1. The ClO radical is produced by one-photon photolysis of ClO2 employing 359.2 nm photons derived from a separate laser. In this way a significant concentration of vibrationally excited ClO in its spin-orbit split X 2 pi omega (omega = 3/2 or 1/2) electronic ground state is produced. In addition to mass-resolved excitation spectra, kinetic-energy resolved photoelectron spectra for the X 3 sigma-(v+)<--C 2 sigma-(v' = 3-5) transitions are measured. These transitions are not completely Frank-Condon diagonal, and indicate a decrease in bond length on removal of the Rydberg electron from the C 2 sigma- state. In addition to an unambiguous assignment of the C 2 sigma- state, valuable information is obtained on the degree of vibrational excitation with which the nascent ClO radical is formed in the photolysis of ClO2. Analysis of the photoelectron spectra is supported by Franck-Condon calculations based on potential energy curves either from experimental spectroscopic parameters, or obtained by theoretical ab initio methods.     

Ideal nuclear fluid dynamics at ultra-relativistic energies

We investigate the reaction O+Au at 200 AGeV in an ideal relativistic (3+1)-dimensional one-fluid hydrodynamical model. We correct former calculations which contained acausal matter transport, leading to contradictions with experimental data for the baryonic rapidity distribution. We find that the corrected results are in good agreement with data, casting new light on the question of the applicability of ideal one-fluid hydrodynamics to heavy-ion collisions.     

Photoelastic determination of stresses in multiple-pin connectors

The design, fabrication, and testing of photoelastic models of double-lap, multiple-pin connectors are discussed. Interest is in the stresses in the inner laps. These stresses are determined by constructing models with photoelastic inner laps and transparent-acrylic outer laps. The connectors have two pins, in tandem, parallel to the load direction. A photoelastic-isotropic point is shown to permit the evaluation of load sharing between the two pins. A numerical scheme, utilizing the isochromatic- and isoclinic-photoelastic data and a finite-difference representation of the planestress equilibrium equations, is used to compute the stresses around the two pins. Representative stress distributions and stress-concentration factors are shown.     

Correlations of pions and kaons as a measure for delayed expansion due to the QCD phase transition

We study pion and kaon correlations in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions in a hydrodynamical model with transverse cylindrical and boost-invariant longitudinal symmetry. As a function of the initial energy density ε₀, the ratioR _out/R _side of the inverse widths of the two-particle correlation function in out- and side-direction reflects the behaviour of the lifetime of the system. The ratio shows an enhancement in the case of a delayed expansion caused by the QCD phase transition. We discuss how this time-delay signal depends on the average transverse momentum of the pair, and show that it appears particularly strong for pairs with large average transverse momentum,K _⊥～1 GeV and for initial energy densities ε₀ ? 10 ? 20 GeVfm^?3 GeVfm^?3, corresponding to nuclear collisions at RHIC.