Directed flow of baryons from high-energy heavy-ion collisions

The collective motion of nucleons from high-energy heavy-ion collisions is analyzed within a relativistic two-fluid model for different equations of state (EoS). As function of beam energy the theoretical slope parameter F _y of the differential directed flow is in good agreement with experimental data, when calculated for the QCD-consistent EoS described by the statistical mixed-phase model. Within this model, which takes the deconfinement phase transition into account, the excitation function of the directed flow (P _x ) turns out to be a smooth function in the whole range from SIS till SPS energies. This function is close to that for pure hadronic EoS and exhibits no minimum predicted earlier for a two-phase bag-model EoS. Attention is also called to a possible formation of nucleon antiflow (F _y < 0) at energies ? 100 A·GeV.     

A flow paradigm in heavy-ion collisions

The success of hydrodynamics in high energy heavy-ion collisions leads to a flow paradigm, to understand the observed features of harmonic flow in terms of the medium collective expansion with respect to initial state geometrical properties. In this review, we present some essential ingredients in the flow paradigm, including the hydrodynamic modeling, the characterization of initial state geometry and the medium response relations. The extension of the flow paradigm to small colliding systems is also discussed.     

Collective flow in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

A brief introduction is given to the field of collective flow, currently being investigated experimentally at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider, Brookhaven National Laboratory. It is followed by an outline of the work that I have been doing in this field, in collaboration with Nicolas Borghini and Jean-Yves Ollitrault.     

Nuclear dynamics at the geometry of vanishing flow in heavy-ion collisions

We study the time evolution and mass dependence of various quantities (such as average and maximum central density, collision dynamics, participant spectator matter, and average and maximum temperature) at the geometry of vanishing flow (GVF) throughout the mass range between 80 and 262 units. We find that the reaction time at 100 MeV/nucleon of the geometry of vanishing flow is smaller for lighter nuclei compared to heavier ones. All the quantities can be parameterized by a power law dependence. The maximal values of corresponding quantities are also shifted accordingly.     

Systematics of elliptic flow in heavy-ion collisions

We analyze elliptic flow from SIS to RHIC energies systematically in a realistic dynamical cascade model. We compare our results with the recent data from STAR and PHOBOS collaborations on elliptic flow of charged particles at midrapidity in Au+ Au collisions at RHIC. In the analysis of elliptic flow at RHIC energy, we find a good fitting with data at 1.5 times a scaling factor to our model, which characterizes that the model is required to have extra pressure generated from the subsequent parton scattering after the initial minijet production. In energy dependence of elliptic flow, we notice re-hardening nature at RHIC energies. Both these two observations would probably imply the possible formation of quark-gluon plasma.     

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     

Photon physics at ultrarelativistic-energy heavy-ion collisions

Photons are discussed as potential probes of the dynamics of nucleus-nucleus reactions at ultrarelativistic energies. The signals conveyed by photons produced in the early partonic phase of the collision are explored. The discussion is illustrated by presently existing calculations which include photon production during the entire duration of the collision.     

Pion-production in heavy-ion collisions at SIS energies

We investigate the production of pions in heavyion collisions in the energy range of 1–2 GeV/A. The dynamics of the nucleus-nucleus collisions is described by a set of coupled transport equations of the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck type for baryons and mesons. Besides theN(938) and theΔ(1232) we also take into account nucleon resonances up to masses of 1.95 GeV/c² as well asπ-,η- andρ-mesons. We study in detail the influence of the higher baryonic resonances and the 2π-production channels (NN→NNππ) on the pion spectra in comparison toπ ^? data fromAr+KCl collisions at 1.8 GeV/A andπ ⁰-data forAu+Au at 1.0GeV/A. We, furthermore, present a detailed comparison of differential pion angular distributions with the BEVALAC data forAr+KCl at 1.8 GeV/A. The general agreement obtained indicates that the overall reaction dynamics is well described by our novel transport approach.     

Multi-strange-quark states at ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We examine the possibility of producing and evidencing exotic strange matter (strangelets and metastable multi-hypernuclear objects, MEMO’s), including also pure hyperonic bound states ((ΛΛ)_b, (ξΛ)_b), at RHIC and LHC. Simulations are presented to estimate the sensitivity of the STAR and ALICE experiments to the detection of these objects, focusing mainly on metastable short-lived (weak decaying) strange dibaryons, with a particular emphasis on theH-dibaryon, a six quark-bag bound state (uuddss).     

Testing Dirac-Brueckner models in collective flow of heavy-ion collisions

We investigate differential in-plane and out-of-plane flow observables in heavy-ion reactions at intermediate energies from 0.2-2 AGeV within the framework of relativistic BUU transport calculations. The mean field is based on microscopic Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (DB) calculations. We apply two different sets of DB predictions, those of ter Haar and Malfliet and more recent ones from the Tübingen group, which are similar in general but differ in details. The latter DB calculations exclude spurious contributions from the negative-energy sector to the mean field which results in a slightly softer equation of state and a less repulsive momentum dependence of the nucleon-nucleus potential at high densities and high momenta. For the application to heavy-ion collisions in both cases non-equilibrium features of the phase space are taken into account on the level of the effective interaction. The systematic comparison to experimental data favours the less repulsive and softer model. Relative to non-relativistic approaches one obtains larger values of the effective nucleon mass. This produces a sufficient amount of repulsion to describe the differential flow data reasonably well. Received: 8 January 2001 / Accepted: 12 November 2001     

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.     

Antiproton production in heavy-ion collisions at subthreshold energies

Within the framework of the Lanzhou quantum molecular dynamics model,the deep subthreshold antiproton production in heavy-ion collisions has been investigated thoroughly.The elastic scattering,annihilation and charge exchange reactions associated with antiproton channels are implemented in the model.The attractive antiproton potential extracted from the G-parity transformation of nucleon selfenergies reduces the threshold energies in meson-baryon and baryon-baryon collisions,and consequently enhances the antiproton yields to some extent.The calculated invariant spectra are consistent with the available experimental data.The primordial antiproton yields increase with the mass number of the colliding system.However,annihilation reactions reduce the antiproton production which becomes independent of the colliding partners.Anti-flow phenomena of antiprotons correlated with the mean field potential and annihilation mechanism is found by comparing them with the proton flows.Possible experiments at the high-intensity heavy-ion accelerator facility(HIAF) in China are discussed.     

Relativistic effects in heavy-ion collisions at SIS energies

The covariant and non-covariant Quantum Molecular Dynamics models are applied to investigate possible relativistic effects in heavy ion collisions at SIS energies. These relativistic effects which arise due to the full covariant treatment of the dynamics are studied at bombarding energiesE _lab=50, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1750 and 2000 MeV/nucl. A wide range of the impact parameter fromb=0 fm tob=10 fm is also considsered. In the present study, five systems¹²C-¹²C,¹⁶O-¹⁶O,²⁰Ne-²⁰Ne,²⁸Si-²⁸Si and⁴⁰Ca-⁴⁰Ca are investigated. The full covariant treatment at low energies shows quite good agreement with the corresponding non-covariant whereas at higher energies it shows less stopping and hence less thermal equilibrium as compared to the non-covariant approach. The collisions dynamics is less affected. The density using RQMD rises and drops faster than with QMD. The relativistic effects show some influence on the resonance matter production. Overall, the relativistic effects at SIS energies (≦2000 MeV/nucl.) are less significant.     

Non-equilibrium processes in heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies

We use transport theory to describe the inclusive cross sections for protons and pions produced in collisions between two identical heavy ions at an energy of 800 MeV per particle. In addition to the nucleonic we take the Δ-degree of freedom into account. Thus we consider a two-component system whose distributions in transverse momentum and rapidity we describe by two coupled Fokker-Planck equations. These transport equations contain the one-nucleon knock-out process as initial condition. In the limit of large interaction times they lead to thermal equilibrium (fireball) distributions. For light nuclei the interaction time is not large enough for equilibrium to be reached. A recent experiment for two colliding carbon nuclei at 800 MeV per nucleon shows evidence of nonequilibrium effects. We compare our calculations with experimental data for ¹²C on ¹²C and Ne on NaF at 800 MeV/N.