Hadron production and phase changes in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We study soft hadron production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions in a wide range of reaction energy, 4.8 GeV < < 200 GeV, and make predictions about yields of particles using the statistical hadronization model. In fits to experimental data, we obtain both the statistical parameters as well as physical properties of the hadron source. We identify the properties of the fireball at the critical energy threshold, 6.26 GeV < < 7.61 GeV, marking for higher energies the hadronization of an entropy-rich phase. In terms of the chemical composition, one sees a phase which at low energy is chemically under-saturated, and which turns into a chemically over-saturated state persisting up to the maximum accessible energy. Assuming that there is no change in physical mechanisms in the energy range 15 > ≥200 GeV, we use continuity of particle yields and statistical parameters to predict the hadron production at = 62.4 GeV, and obtain total yields of hadrons at = 130 GeV. We consider, in depth, the pattern we uncover within the hadronization condition, and discuss possible mechanisms associated with the identified rapid change in system properties at . We propose that the chemically over-saturated 2 + 1 flavor hadron matter system undergoes a 1st-order phase transition.     

A Non-Zero Hadronic Elliptic Flow with a Vanished Partonic Elliptic Flow in a Coalescence Scenario

The elliptic flow of a hadron is calculated using a quark coalescence model based on the quark phase space distribution produced by a free streaming locally thermalized quark in a two-dimensional transverse plane at initial time. Without assuming the quark＇s elliptic flow, it is shown that the hadron obtains a non-zero elliptic flow in this model. The elliptic flow of the hadron is shown to be sensitive to both space momentum correlation and the hadron＇s internal structure. Quark number scaling is obtained only for some special cases.     

Vector bosons in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC

Vector bosons become accessible experimental probes in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. The capabilities of the LHC experiments to perform their measurement are outlined. The focus is given to their utility to study the possible formation and properties of the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) in the most central heavy-ion collisions. Their own sensitivity (if any) to the QGP is discussed. Their interest as references to observe multiple QGP sensitive probes is justified.     

Hadron Multiplicities in Pb＋Pb Collisions at the Large Hadron Collider and Pomeron Loop Effects

We study the pseudo-rapidity distribution of hadron multiplicities of high energy Pb＋Pb collisions by using color glass condensate dynamics at LHC/ALICE in the fixed coupling case. It is found that after including the pomeron loop effects the charged hadron multiplicities at central rapidity are about 1500 for central Pb＋Pb collisions, which are significantly smaller than the saturation based calculations, ～ 1700 ÷ 2500 and compatible with that based on a study of multiplicities in the fragmentation region.     

Viscosity and thermodynamic properties of QGP in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We study the viscosity and thermodynamic properties of QGP at RHIC by employing the recently extracted equilibrium distribution functions from two hot QCD equations of state of O(g ⁵) and O(g ⁶ln (1/g)), respectively. After obtaining the temperature dependence of the energy density and the entropy density, we focus our attention on the determination of the shear viscosity for a rapidly expanding interacting plasma, as a function of temperature. We find that the interactions significantly decrease the shear viscosity. They decrease the viscosity to entropy density ratio, as well.     

Properties of baryonic,electric and strangeness chemical potentials and some of their consequences in relativistic heavy ion collisions

Analytic expressions are given for the baryonic, electric and strangeness chemical potentials which explicitly show the importance of various terms. Simple scaling relations connecting these chemical potentials are found. Applications to particle ratios and to fluctuations and related thermal properties such as the isothermal compressibility κT${\kappa }_T$ are illustrated. A possible divergence of κT${\kappa }_T$ is discussed.     

Strangeness by Thermal Model Simulation at RHIC

The local temperature effect on strangeness enhancement in relativistic heavy ion collisions is discussed in the framework of the thermal model in which the K^＋ /h^＋ ratio becomes smaller with increasing freeze-out temperature. Considering that most strangeness particles of final-state particles are from the kaon meson, the temperature effect may play a role in strangeness production in hot dense matter where a slightly different temperature distribution in different areas could be produced by jet energy loss. This phenomenon is predicted by thermal model calculation at RHIC energy. The /Ф ratio in central Au＋Au collisions at 200GeV from the thermal model depends on the freeze-out temperature obviously when γs is different. It should be one of the reasons why strangeness enhancements of and Ф are different though they include two strange quarks. These results indicate that thermodynamics is an important factor for strangeness production and the strangeness enhancement phenomenon.     

Formation of charmonium states in heavy-ion collisions and thermalization of charm

We examine the possibility to utilize in-medium charmonium formation in heavy-ion interactions at collider energy as a probe of the properties of the medium. This is possible because the formation process involves recombination of charm quarks which imprints a signal on the resulting normalized transverse momentum distribution containing information about the momentum distribution of the quarks. We have contrasted the transverse momentum spectra of J/ψ, characterized by 〈p _T ²〉, which result from the formation process in which the charm quark distributions are taken at opposite limits with regard to thermalization in the medium. The first uses charm quark distributions unchanged from their initial production in a pQCD process, appropriate if their interaction with the medium is negligible. The second uses charm quark distributions which are in complete thermal equilibrium with the transversely expanding medium, appropriate if a very strong interaction between charm quarks and medium exists. We find that the resulting 〈p _T ²〉 of the formed J/ψ should allow one to differentiate between these extremes, and that this differentiation is not sensitive to variations in the detailed dynamics of in-medium formation. We include a comparison of predictions of this model with preliminary PHENIX measurements, which indicates compatibility with a substantial fraction of in-medium formation.     

Dileptons from a Chemically Equilibrating Quark--Gluon Plasma at Finite Baryon Density

We perform a complete calculation for the dilepton production from the processes qq→ll Compton-like （qg-＋qll, qg→qU, qq→gll, gluon fusion gg→cc, annihilation qq→cc as well as multiple scattering of quarks in a chemically equilibrating quark-gluon plasma system at finite baryon density. It is found that quark-antiquark annihilation, Compton-like, gluon fusion and multiple scattering of quarks give important contribution. Moreover, the increase of the quark phase life-time with increasing initial quark chemical potential makes the dilepton yield as an increasing function of the initial quark chemical potential.     

Formation and decay of hadronic resonances in the QGP

Hadronic resonances can play a pivotal role in providing experimental evidence for partial chiral symmetry restoration in the deconfined quark–gluon phase produced at RHIC and the LHC. Their lifetimes, which are comparable to the lifetime of the partonic plasma phase, make them an invaluable tool to study medium modifications to the resonant state due to the chiral transition. In this Letter we show that the heavier, but still abundant, light and strange quark resonances K^∗$K^{\ast }$, ?, Δ   and Λ^∗${\Lambda }^{\ast }$ have large probability to be produced well within the plasma phase due to their short formation times. We demonstrate that, under particular kinematic conditions, these resonances can be formed and will decay inside the partonic state, but still carry sufficient momentum to not interact strongly with the hadronic medium after the QCD phase transition. Thus, K^∗$K^{\ast }$, ?, Δ   and Λ^∗${\Lambda }^{\ast }$ should exhibit the characteristic property modifications which can be attributed to chiral symmetry restoration, such as mass shifts, width broadening or branching ratio modifications.     

Isospin effects on squeeze-out flow in heavy-ion collisions

The squeeze-out flow in reactions of ¹²⁴Sn + ¹²⁴Sn and ¹²⁴Ba + ¹²⁴Ba at different incident energies for different impact parameters is investigated by means of an isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics model. For the first time, it is found that the more neutron-rich system (¹²⁴Sn + ¹²⁴Sn) exhibits weaker squeeze-out flow. This isospin dependence of the squeeze-out flow is shown to mainly result from the isospin dependence of nucleon-nucleon cross-section and the symmetry energy. Received: 14 March 2000 / Accepted: 29 September 2000     

Anisotropic fluid dynamics in the early stage of relativistic heavy-ion collisions

A formalism for anisotropic fluid dynamics is proposed. It is designed to describe boost-invariant systems with anisotropic pressure. Such systems are expected to be produced at the early stages of relativistic heavy-ion collisions, when the timescales are too short to achieve equal thermalization of transverse and longitudinal degrees of freedom. The approach is based on the energy–momentum and entropy conservation laws, and may be regarded as a minimal extension of the boost-invariant standard relativistic hydrodynamics of the perfect fluid. We show how the formalism may be used to describe the isotropization of the system (the transition from the initial state with no longitudinal pressure to the final state with equal longitudinal and transverse pressure).     

Low-mass dielectrons from the PHENIX experiment at RHIC

The production of the low-mass dielectrons is considered to be a powerful tool to study the properties of the hot and dense matter created in the ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We present the preliminary results on the first measurements of the low-mass dielectron continuum in Au + Au collisions and the φ-meson production measured in Au + Au and d + Au collisions at = 200GeV performed by the PHENIX experiment.     

Inclusive meson production in peripheral collisions of ultrarelativistic heavy ions

There exist several proposals to use Weizsäcker-Williams photons generated by ultrarelativistic heavy ions to produce exotic particles in γγ fusion reactions. To estimate the background conditions for such reactions we analyze various mechanisms of meson production in very peripheral collisions of ultrarelativistic heavy ions at RHIC and LHC energies. Besides the γγ fusion they include also electromagnetic γA interactions and strong nucleon-nucleon interactions in grazing AA collisions. All these processes are characterised by low multiplicities of produced particles. The γA an d AA events are simulated by corresponding Monte Carlo codes, RELDIS and FRITIOF. In each of these processes a certain fraction of pions is produced close to the mid-rapidity regionthat gives a background for the γγ events. The possibility of selecting the mesons produced in the γγ fusion events via different p _t cut procedures is demonstrated.     

Suppression of elliptic flow in a minimally viscous quark–gluon plasma

We compute the time evolution of elliptic flow in non-central relativistic heavy-ion collisions, using a (2+1$2+1$)-dimensional code with longitudinal boost-invariance to simulate viscous fluid dynamics in the causal Israel–Stewart formulation. We show that even “minimal” shear viscosity η/s=?/(4π)$\eta /s=?/(4\pi )$ leads to a large reduction of elliptic flow compared to ideal fluid dynamics, raising questions about the interpretation of recent experimental data from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.