Azimuthal anisotropy at the relativistic heavy ion collider: the first and fourth harmonics

We report the first observations of the first harmonic (directed flow, v(1)) and the fourth harmonic (v(4)), in the azimuthal distribution of particles with respect to the reaction plane in Au+Au collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Both measurements were done taking advantage of the large elliptic flow (v(2)) generated at RHIC. From the correlation of v(2) with v(1) it is determined that v(2) is positive, or in-plane. The integrated v(4) is about a factor of 10 smaller than v(2). For the sixth (v(6)) and eighth (v(8)) harmonics upper limits on the magnitudes are reported.     

Azimuthal anisotropy and correlations in the hard scattering regime at RHIC

Azimuthal anisotropy (v(2)) and two-particle angular correlations of high p(T) charged hadrons have been measured in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s(NN)]=130 GeV for transverse momenta up to 6 GeV/c, where hard processes are expected to contribute significantly. The two-particle angular correlations exhibit elliptic flow and a structure suggestive of fragmentation of high p(T) partons. The monotonic rise of v(2)(p(T)) for p(T)<2 GeV/c is consistent with collective hydrodynamical flow calculations. At p(T)>3 GeV/c, a saturation of v(2) is observed which persists up to p(T)=6 GeV/c.     

Transport properties of the fluid produced at relativistic heavy-ion collider

It is by now well known that the relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC, BNL have produced a strongly interacting fluid with remarkable properties, among them the lowest ever observed ratio of the coefficient of shear viscosity to entropy density. Arguments based on ideas from the string theory, in particular the AdS/CFT correspondence, led to the conjecture — now known to be violated — that there is an absolute lower limit 1/4π on the value of this ratio. Causal viscous hydrodynamics calculations together with the RHIC data have put an upper limit on this ratio, a small multiple of 1/4π, in the relevant temperature regime. Less well-determined is the ratio of the coefficient of bulk viscosity to entropy density. These transport coefficients have also been studied non-perturbatively in the lattice QCD framework, and perturbatively in the limit of high-temperature QCD. Another interesting transport coefficient is the coefficient of diffusion which is also being studied in this context. In this paper some of these recent developments are reviewed and then the opportunities presented by the anticipated LHC data are discussed, for the general nuclear physics audience.     

Partonic effects on pion interferometry at the relativistic heavy-ion collider

Using a multiphase transport model that includes both initial partonic and final hadronic interactions, we study the pion interferometry at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider. We find that the two-pion correlation function is sensitive to the magnitude of the parton-scattering cross section, which controls the parton density at which the transition from the partonic to hadronic matter occurs. Also, the emission source of pions is non-Gaussian, leading to source radii that can be more than twice larger than the radius parameters extracted from a Gaussian fit to the correlation function.     

Exploring the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter; news from SPS and RHIC

Two experimental programs are aiming to study nuclear collisions in the energy regime in order to explore an essential part of the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. The programs are motivated by observations that indicate a phase transition to take place in this energy domain: the onset of deconfinement. The STAR collaboration proposes an energy scan in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at BNL. The ongoing program of the NA61/SHINE experiment consists of a two-dimensional energy-system size scan in nuclear and elementary collisions. The goal of both programs is to study the properties of the onset of deconfinement and to eventually discover the conjectured critical point of strongly interacting matter. A comparison of the strengths and limitations reveals the complementarity of the two programs.     

Hadronization and chirality in strongly interacting partonic matter — The future of the RHIC Program

New physics and detector concepts for a future pp and heavy ion program at the RHIC-II accelerator facility will be discussed. I will focus on hadronic observables which enable us to gain a better understanding on the hadronization from a sQGP and the chiral symmetry restoration in a sQGP. The ultimate question of how matter acquires mass can be addressed by this program in a complementary way to the Higgs search in high energy physics. The contributions of the RHIC program to the study of QCD will be discussed in detail.     

Searching for quark matter with dileptons and photons: From SPS to relativistic heavy-ion collider

The heavy-ion programme at the CERN SPS, which started back in ’86, has produced a wealth of very interesting and intriguing results in the quest for the quark-gluon plasma. The highlights of the programme on dilepton and direct photon measurements are reviewed emphasizing the most recent results obtained in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV. Prospects from RHIC are discussed.     

Possible existence of finite formation time of strongly interacting plasma in nuclear collisions at RHIC and LHC

We argue that, on the basis of recent experimental data, there is possible existence of a finite formation time of strongly interacting plasma in nuclear collisions at RHIC. To show this, we construct a simple model based on a Monte Carlo simulation of nucleus—nucleus collisions with a realistic nuclear density distribution. The most striking feature of the experimental data—an absence of absorption of high-transverse-momentum pions in the reaction-plane direction for midperipheral collisions—points to the presence of a surface zone with no absorption and strong suppression in the inner core. A natural interpretation of such a zone could be the plasma formation time T ≃ 2–3 fm/c. With this assumption, we describe the angular anisotropy of high-transverse-momentum pions with respect to the reaction plane and the centrality dependence of the nuclear modification factor in Au + Au and Cu + Cu collisions.We present predictions for LHC. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Towards a realistic equation of state of strongly interacting matter

We consider a relativistic strongly interacting Bose gas. The interaction is manifested in the off-shellness of the equilibrium distribution. The equation of state that we obtain for such a gas has the properties of a realistic equation of state of strongly interacting matter, i.e., at low temperature it agrees with the one suggested by Shuryak for hadronic matter, while at high temperature it represents the equation of state of an ideal ultrarelativistic Stefan-Boltzmann gas, implying a phase transition to an effectively weakly interacting phase.     

Event-by-event fluctuations of mean transverse momentum in AuAu collisions in STAR experiment at relativistic heavy-ion collider

We report results on event-by-event fluctuations in mean transverse momentum in AuAu collisions at GeV measured by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The dynamical fluctuations, is found to be about 1.2 ±02% of the mean transverse momentum for particles in pseudo-rapidity range of −0.5 < η < 0.5 and for the top 6% central collisions.     

Chiral phase diagram of strongly interacting matter at finite volume

正At extremely high temperature T～200 Me V and low chemical potentialμ,the quarks and gluons get released from the nucleon and form the quark-gluon plasma(QGP)state,which is accessible in the heavy ion collisions(HIC)globally[1,2].Theoretically,ab initio lattice QCD simulation found the transition from hadrons to QGP at lowμis continuous crossover instead of phase transition.In this connection,RHIC is running the beam energy scan program to look into the territory with higherμ[3].One important goal is to determine if there is the first order phase transition as expected by many model studies and locate the critical end point(CEP)if it exists.     

Equation of state of hadron resonance gas and the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter

The equation of state of hadron resonance gas at finite temperature and baryon density is calculated taking into account finite-size effects within the excluded-volume model. Contributions of known hadrons with masses up to 2 GeV are included in the zero-width approximation. Special attention is paid to the role of strange hadrons in the system with zero total strangeness. A density-dependent mean field is added to guarantee that the nuclear matter has a saturation point and a liquid-gas phase transition. The deconfined phase is described by the bag model with lowest order perturbative corrections. The phasetransition boundaries are found by using the Gibbs conditions with the strangeness neutrality constraint. The sensitivity of the phase diagram to the hadronic excluded volume and to the parametrization of the mean-field is investigated. The possibility of strangeness-antistrangeness separation in the mixed phase is analyzed. It is demonstrated that the peaks in the K/π and Λ/π excitation functions observed at low SPS energies can be explained by a nonmonotonous behavior of the strangeness fugacity along the chemical freeze-out line. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Search for the critical point of strongly interacting matter at the CERN SPS

The study of central collisions of heavy nuclei at CERN SPS energies by NA49 provided evidence for the onset of deconfinement around 30A GeV. Theoretical considerations predict a critical point of strongly interacting matter accessible in the SPS energy range. A search for the expected fluctuations has not yet found convincing signals. The strategy and plans for the continuation of this program at the SPS by NA61 with lighter nuclei is discussed.     

Nonextensive statistical effects in the quark-gluon plasma formation at relativistic heavy-ion collisions energies

We investigate the relativistic equation of state of hadronic matter and quark-gluon plasma at finite temperature and baryon density in the framework of the non-extensive statistical mechanics, characterized by power-law quantum distributions. We impose the Gibbs conditions on the global conservation of baryon number, electric charge and strangeness number. For the hadronic phase, we study an extended relativistic mean-field theoretical model with the inclusion of strange particles (hyperons and mesons). For the quark sector, we employ an extended MIT-Bag model. In this context we focus on the relevance of non-extensive effects in the presence of strange matter.     

Properties of strongly interacting matter and the search for a mixed phase at the JINR nuclotron

A physical program is formulated for new facilities opening in Dubna for the acceleration of heavy ions with an energy up to 5A GeV. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Investigating the microscopic properties of strongly interacting matter with HADES

In the energy domain of 1?C2 GeV kinetic energy per nucleon, HADES has measured rare and penetrating probes in elementary and heavy ion collisions. Our results demonstrate that electron pair emission in C+C collisions can essentially be explained as a superposition of independent N+N collisions. HADES results on e⁺e^? production in Ar+KCl collisions, however, show a strong enhancement of the dilepton yield relative to a reference spectrum obtained from elementary nucleon-nucleon reactions, signal the onset of medium effects beyond the superposition of individual N+N collisions. Intriguing results where also obtained from the reconstruction of hadrons with open and hidden strangeness. Analyses of the experimentally obtained hadronic yields measured in Ar+KCl allows to extract the chemical freeze-out conditions in the T -??B phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. While the measured abundance of all reconstructed particles are well described assuming thermalization, the also reconstructed double strange baryon ??^? appears about ten times more abundant than expected. This result will be discussed in the context of the exploration of the nuclear matter phase diagram in the region of finite density. Further investigations to search for significant medium effects, will be followed over the coming years with an upgraded HADES detector.     

In-medium hadronization in the deconfined matter at RHIC and LHC

We study the mechanism and probability of in-medium hadronization in the deconfined medium produced in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC. We show the likelihood of color-neutral objects to be formed inside the partonic fireball and the probability of these states to escape the medium with reduced interaction strength and energy loss. We will suggest specific measurements that are sensitive to the early degrees of freedom and show predictions for these measurements at RHIC and the LHC.     

Formation time of hadrons and density of matter produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Density of matter produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions depends substantially on the spacetime evolution of the collision and on the formation time of hadrons produced. Interactions of hadrons younger than their formation time are attenuated with respect to their normal values (transparency of hadronic matter for newly formed hadrons). The system of secondary hadrons produced in a heavy-ion collision thus expands as a gas of almost non interacting particles before hadrons reach their formation time. Densities of interacting hadronic matter produced in oxygen-lead and sulphur-lead collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon are estimated as a function of the formation time of hadrons. Uncertainties in our knowledge of the critical temepratureT _c and of the formation time of hadrons τ₀ permit at present three scenarios: an optimistic one (QGP has already been produced in collisions of oxygen and sulphur with heavy ions and will be copiously produced in Lead collisions), a pessimistic one (QGP cannot be produced at 200 GeV/nucleon) and an intermediate one (QGP has not been produced in oxygen and sulphur interactions with heavy ions and will be at best produced only marginally in Pb-collisions). We find the last opinion as most probable.