Sudden hadronization in relativistic nuclear collisions

We formulate and study a mechanical instability criterion for sudden hadronization of dense matter fireballs formed in 158A GeV Pb-Pb collisions. Considering properties of quark-gluon matter and hadron gas we obtain the phase boundary between these two phases and demonstrate that the required deep quark-gluon-plasma supercooling prior to sudden hadronization has occurred.     

Coulomb effects in relativistic nuclear collisions

We derive simple analytical formulas for Coulomb final-state interactions and apply them to the analysis of recent data on nuclear collisions. The π^?/π⁺ ratio, the π⁺ inclusive cross section, and the n/p ratio are studied. A relativistic field theoretic model is used to derive the formulas to first order in Zα. Using well-known non-perturbative results, we recast those formulas into an approximate non-perturbative form valid when finite-size effects are negligible. This allows us to calculate the important k → 0 limit. The final formulas are covariant and take into account multiple independently moving charged fragments of finite size and finite thermal expansion velocities. Our studies demonstrate analytically the complexity and importance of Coulomb distortions in nuclear collisions.     

Strong antiproton suppression in relativistic nuclear collisions

High-spin states of ¹⁸⁹ Au have been investigated through the ¹⁷⁴ Yb(¹⁹ F, 4n) reaction using in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy techniques with the “Château de Cristal“ multidetector array. An extended level scheme is proposed.     

Low mass dimuons produced in relativistic nuclear collisions

The NA60 experiment has measured low mass muon pair production in In-In collisions at 158A GeV with unprecedented precision. We show that these data are reproduced very well by a dynamical model with parameters scaled from fits to measurements of hadronic transverse mass spectra and Hanbury Brown-Twiss correlations in Pb-Pb and Pb-Au collisions at the same energy. The data are consistent with in-medium properties of rho and omega mesons at finite temperature and density as deduced from empirical forward-scattering amplitudes. Inclusion of the vacuum decay of the rho meson after freeze-out is necessary for an understanding of the mass and transverse momentum spectrum of dimuons with M less similar 0.9 GeV/c(2).     

Dissipative relativistic fluid dynamics for nuclear collisions

In the context of the Müller-Israel-Stewart second-order theory for dissipative fluids due to Grad, we analyze the effects of thermal conduction and viscosity in heavy ion collisions. We contrast the results to those of the first-order theory due to Eckart and to Landau and Lifshitz and to those of perfect (ideal) fluid due to Euler. We study the energy density and entropy density evolution of a pion gas produced in the heavy ion collisions. The truncated version of the second-order theory is used to find the dissipative quantities.     

Pulsating blobs of quark matter in relativistic nuclear collisions

The formation of hot, dense quark matter in violent high energy heavy ion collisions is discussed in a relativistic hydrodynamical model. Rapidly pulsating blobs of quark matter (treated in the bag model) are predicted to appear as a result of the expansive flow of the compressed quark matter against the contracting influence of confinement. The radial oscillations may result in pulsed matter emission.     

Elliptic flow of thermal photons in relativistic nuclear collisions

We predict the transverse momentum (p(T)) dependence of elliptic flow of thermal photons for Au + Au collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. We model the system hydrodynamically, with a thermalized quark-gluon plasma at early times followed by hadronization and decoupling. Photons are emitted throughout the expansion history. Contrary to hadron elliptic flow, which increases monotonically with p(T), the elliptic flow nu2(p(T)) of thermal photons is predicted to first rise and then fall again. Photon elliptic flow at high p(T) reflects the quark momentum anisotropy at early times when it is small, while at low p(T) it mirrors the large pion momentum anisotropy during the late hadronic emission stage. An interesting structure is predicted at intermediate p(T) approximately 0.4 GeV/c, where photon elliptic flow reflects the momenta and the (compared to pions) reduced nu2 of heavy vector mesons in the late hadronic phase.     

Pion bremsstrahlung and critical phenomena in relativistic nuclear collisions

We investigate the dependence of pion bremsstrahlung on the deceleration of the nuclei in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The vicinity of an abnormal phase in nuclear matter can lead - owing to critical N-N scattering - to faster deceleration or decreasing transparency of the nuclei. This would result in a threshold enhancement of the pion bremsstrahlung cross section, which in turn can be used to search for abnormal nuclear states experimentally.     

Strongly interacting low-viscosity matter created in relativistic nuclear collisions

Substantial collective flow is observed in collisions between large nuclei at BNL RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) as evidenced by single-particle transverse momentum distributions and by azimuthal correlations among the produced particles. The data are well reproduced by perfect fluid dynamics. A calculation of the dimensionless ratio of shear viscosity eta to entropy density s by Kovtun, Son, and Starinets within anti-de Sitter space/conformal field theory yields eta/s=variant Planck's over 2pi/4pikB, which has been conjectured to be a lower bound for any physical system. Motivated by these results, we show that the transition from hadrons to quarks and gluons has behavior similar to helium, nitrogen, and water at and near their phase transitions in the ratio eta/s. We suggest that experimental measurements can pinpoint the location of this transition or rapid crossover in QCD.     

Particle emission in the hydrodynamical description of relativistic nuclear collisions

The usual particle emission scenario used in hydrodynamics presupposes that particles instantaneously stop interacting once they reach some three dimensional surface. Here we set up a new formalism to study continuous particle emission during the whole expansion of thermalized matter. This scenario changes completely the usual interpretation of transverse momentum spectra, may help to understand data on strange particle ratios and is possible to include in hydrodynamical codes.     

The production of high-energy protons in central relativistic nuclear collisions

We extend our model of transport theory to be applicable to the inclusive production of protons with very high energy. We then consider the angular distribution of such protons, produced in a central collision of Ar on KC1 at 800 MeV per nucleon. The slight anisotropy observed in the data can be explained by a finite value of the friction constant which in turn determines the number of collisions needed for equilibrium to be reached. We also show that these data are quite sensitive to the reaction geometry and cannot be explained by the firestreak model.     

Revision of calculations for kaon production in relativistic nuclear collisions

Due to an elementary mistake in plotting the data, our previous calculations of kaon production in relativistic nuclear collisions are approximately a factor of two too small. The revised results are in good agreement with the data on total kaon yields.     

Coherent vector-meson photoproduction with nuclear breakup in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Relativistic heavy ions are copious sources of virtual photons. The large photon flux gives rise to a substantial photonuclear interaction probability at impact parameters where no hadronic interactions can occur. Multiple photonuclear interactions in a single collision are possible. In this Letter, we use mutual Coulomb excitation of both nuclei as a tag for moderate-impact-parameter collisions. We calculate the cross section for coherent vector-meson production accompanied by mutual excitation and show that the median impact parameter is much smaller than for untagged production. The vector-meson rapidity and transverse-momentum distribution are very different from untagged exclusive vector-meson production.     

Measuring shear viscosity using transverse momentum correlations in relativistic nuclear collisions

Elliptic flow measurements at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider suggest that quark-gluon fluid flows with very little viscosity compared to weak-coupling expectations, challenging theorists to explain why this fluid is so nearly "perfect." It is therefore vital to find quantitative experimental information on the viscosity of the fluid. We propose that measurements of transverse momentum fluctuations can be used to determine the shear viscosity. We use current data to estimate the viscosity-to-entropy ratio in the range from 0.08 to 0.3 and discuss how future measurements can reduce this uncertainty.