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.     

Scenario of instabilities driven equilibration of the quark-gluon plasma

Due to anisotropic momentum distribution the parton system produced at the early stage of relativistic heavy-ion collisions is unstable with respect to the magnetic plasma modes. The instabilities isotropize the system and thus speed up the process of its equilibration. The scenario of instabilities-driven isotropization is reviewed.     

Hadronization of expanding QGP

We discuss how the dynamics of an exploding hot fireball of quark-gluon matter impacts the actual phase transition conditions between the deconfined and confined state of matter. We survey the chemical conditions prevailing at hadronization.     

The effect of hadronization on the instabilities in an expanding parton plasma

The growth rate for instabilities in an expanding parton plasma is investigated by using a quasiparticle transport model including hadronization. The coupled Boltzmann equations for partons and pions with time dependent mean field masses and source terms are solved in the Bjorken boost invariant picture. Hadronization modifies the known instability in the parton plasma created by the mean field in two ways: In the beginning, hadronization increases the rate Γ of instability, but then Γ→ 0 when the hadronization is dominating the time evolution. Received: 11 January 1999     

Transverse-momentum distribution of J/Ψ's in Pb-Pb collisions and gluon rescattering

We study anomalous J/Ψ suppression and p _t broadening in the model of prompt gluons. The anomalous suppression can be successfully described in this model. The transverse-momentum dependence of J/Ψ suppression in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is calculated from initial-state gluon rescattering with both nucleons and prompt gluons produced in nucleon-nucleon collisions in the early phase of the reaction. It seems impossible to describe simultaneously anomalous suppression and p _t broadening in Pb-Pb collisions within the model of prompt gluons with reasonable values of the parameters. Received: 27 September 2001 / Accepted: 12 November 2002 / Published online: 17 January 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: zhuangpf@mail.singhua.edu.cn Communicated by A. Molinari     

Charm quark energy loss in QCD matter

The energy loss of heavy quarks in a quark-gluon plasma of finite size is studied within the light-cone path integral approach. A simple analytical formulation of the radiative energy loss of heavy quarks is derived. This provides a convenient way to quantitatively estimate the quark energy loss. Our results show that if the energy of a heavy quark is much larger than its mass, the radiative energy loss approaches the radiative energy loss of light quarks.     

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.     

Fast helium production in interactions of 3.7 A GeV <Superscript>24</Superscript>Mg with emulsion nuclei

We have studied the properties of the relativistic helium fragments emitted from the projectile in the interactions of ²⁴Mg ions accelerated at an energy of 3.7 A GeV with emulsion nuclei. The total, partial nuclear cross-sections and production rates of helium fragmentation channels in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions and their dependence on the mass and energy of the incident projectile nucleus are investigated. The yields of multiple helium projectile fragments disrupted from the interactions of ²⁴Mg projectile nuclei with hydrogen H, light CNO and heavy AgBr groups of target emulsion nuclei are discussed and they indicate that the breakup mechanism of the projectile seems to be independent of the target mass. Limiting fragmentation behavior of fast-moving helium fragments is observed in both the projectile and target nuclei. The multiplicity distributions of helium projectile fragments emitted in the interactions of ²⁴Mg projectile nuclei with the different target nuclei of the emulsion are well described by the KNO scaling presentation. The mean multiplicities of the different charged secondary particles, normally defined shower, grey and black ( n_s, n_g and n_b) emitted in the interactions of 3.7 A GeV ²⁴Mg with the different groups of emulsion nuclei at different ranges of projectile fragments are decreasing when the number of He fragments stripped from projectile increases. These values of n_i ( i = s, g, b and h particles) in the events where the emission of fast helium fragments were accompanied by heavy fragments having Z 3 seem to be constant as the He multiplicity increases, and exhibit a behavior independent of the He multiplicity.     

Chiral phase transition at finite temperature in the linear sigma model

We study the chiral phase transition at finite temperature in the linear sigma model by employing a self-consistent Hartree approximation. This approximation is introduced by imposing self-consistency conditions on the effective meson mass equations which are derived from the finite temperature one-loop effective potential. It is shown that in the limit of vanishing pion mass, namely when the chiral symmetry is exact, the phase transition becomes a weak first order accompanying a gap in the order parameter as a function of temperature. This is caused by the long range fluctuations of meson fields whose effective masses become small in the transition region. It is shown, however, that with an explicit chiral symmetry breaking term in the Lagrangian which generates the realistic finite pion mass the transition is smoothed out irrespective of the choice of coupling strength. Recieved: 19 September 1997 / Revised version: 30 October 1997     

Correlations of neutral and charged particles in 40Ar- 58Ni reaction at 77 MeV/u

The measurement of the two-particle correlation function for different particle species allows to obtain information about the development of the particle emission process: the space-time properties of emitting sources and the emission time sequence of different particles. The single-particle characteristics and two-particle correlation functions for neutral and charged particles registered in forward direction are used to determine that the heavy fragments (deuterons and tritons) are emitted in the first stage of the reaction (pre-equilibrium source) while the majority of neutrons and protons originates from the long-lived quasi-projectile. The emission time sequence of protons, neutrons and deuterons has been obtained from the analysis of non-identical particle correlation functions.     

Fluctuations and correlations in STAR

The study of correlations and fluctuations can provide evidence for the production of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Various theories predict that the production of a QGP phase in relativistic heavy-ion collisions could produce significant event-by-event correlations and fluctuations in transverse momentum, multiplicity, etc. Some of the recent results using STAR at RHIC will be presented along with results from other experiments at RHIC. The focus is on forward-backward multiplicity correlations, balance function, charge and transverse-momentum fluctuations, and correlations.     

Influence of chaos on the fusion enhancement by electron screening

We compute by numerical integration of the Dirac equation the number of quark-antiquark pairs produced in the classical color fields of colliding ultrarelativistic nuclei. Results for the dependence of the number of quarks on the strength of the background field, the quark mass and time are presented. We also perform several tests of our numerical method. While the number of qˉ pairs is parametrically suppressed in the coupling constant, we find that in this classical field model it could even be compatible with the thermal ratio to the number of gluons.     

The directed flow maximum near cs = 0

We investigate the excitation function of quark-gluon plasma formation and of directed in-plane flow of nucleons in the energy range of the BNL-AGS and for the E ^kin _Lab = 40A GeV Pb + Pb collisions performed recently at the CERN-SPS. We employ the three-fluid model with dynamical unification of kinetically equilibrated fluid elements. Within our model with first-order phase transition at high density, droplets of QGP coexisting with hadronic matter are produced already at BNL-AGS energies, E ^kin _Lab≃ 10A GeV. A substantial decrease of the isentropic velocity of sound, however, requires higher energies, E ^kin _Lab≃ 40A GeV. We show the effect on the flow of nucleons in the reaction plane. According to our model calculations, kinematic requirements and EoS effects work hand-in-hand at E ^kin _Lab = 40A GeV to allow the observation of the dropping velocity of sound via an increase of the directed flow around midrapidity as compared to top BNL-AGS energy. Received: 7 May 2000 / Accepted: 2 August 2000     

Quark deconfinement in neutron star cores

Whether or not the deconfined quark phase exists in neutron star cores is an open question. We use two realistic effective quark models, the three-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model and the modified quark-meson coupling model, to describe the neutron star matter. We show that the modified quark-meson coupling model, which is fixed by reproducing the saturation properties of nuclear matter, can be consistent with the experimental constraints from nuclear collisions. After constructing possible hybrid equations of state (EOSes) with an unpaired or color superconducting quark phase with the assumption of the sharp hadron-quark phase transition, we discuss the observational constraints from neutron stars on the EOSes. It is found that the neutron star with pure quark matter core is unstable and the hadronic phase with hyperons is denied, while hybrid EOSes with a two-flavor color superconducting phase or unpaired quark matter phase are both allowed by the tight and most reliable constraints from two stars Ter 5 I and EXO 0748-676. And the hybrid EOS with an unpaired quark matter phase is allowed even compared with the tightest constraint from the most massive pulsar star PSR J0751+1807.     

Deconfinement transition: a three dimensional model

We present a three–dimensional model for quark matter with a density dependent quark–quark (confining) potential, which allows to describe a sort of deconfinement transition as the system evolves from a low density assembly of bound structures to a high density free Fermi gas of quarks. We consider different confining potentials, some of which successfully utilized in hadron spectroscopy. We find that a proper treatment of the many–body correlations induced by the medium is essential to disentangle the different nature of the two (hadronic and deconfined) phases of the system. For this purpose the ground state energy per particle and the pair correlation function are investigated. Received: 10 June 1998 / Revised version: 24 September 1998     

Numerical simulation of non-Abelian particle-field dynamics

Numerical 1D-3V solutions of the Wong-Yang-Mills equations with anisotropic particle momentum distributions are presented. They confirm the existence of plasma instabilities for weak initial fields and of their saturation at a level where the particle motion is affected, similar to Abelian plasmas. The isotropization of the particle momenta by strong random fields is shown explicitly, as well as their nearly exponential distribution up to a typical hard scale, which arises from scattering off field fluctuations. By variation of the lattice spacing we show that the effects described here are independent of the UV field modes near the end of the Brioullin zone.     

Two-proton small-angle correlations in central heavy-ion collisions: A beam-energy- and system-size-dependent study

Small-angle correlations of pairs of protons emitted in central collisions of Ca + Ca, Ru + Ru and Au + Au at beam energies from 400 to 1500MeV per nucleon are investigated with the FOPI detector system at SIS/GSI Darmstadt. Dependences on system size and beam energy are presented which extend the experimental data basis of pp correlations in the SIS energy range substantially. The size of the proton-emitting source is estimated by comparing the experimental data with the output of a final-state interaction model which utilizes either static Gaussian sources or the one-body phase-space distribution of protons provided by the BUU transport approach. The trends in the experimental data, i.e. system size and beam energy dependences, are well reproduced by this hybrid model. However, the pp correlation function is found rather insensitive to the stiffness of the equation of state entering the transport model calculations.     

Influence of momentum-dependent interactions on balance energy and mass dependence⋆

We aim to understand the role of momentum-dependent interactions in transverse flow as well as in its disappearance. For the present study, central collisions involving masses between 24 and 394 are considered. We find that the momentum-dependent interactions have different impact in lighter colliding nuclei compared to heavier colliding nuclei. In lighter nuclei, the contribution of the mean field towards flow is smaller compared to heavier nuclei where binary nucleon-nucleon collisions dominate the scene. The inclusion of momentum-dependent interactions also explains the energy of the vanishing flow in the ¹²C + ¹²C reaction which otherwise was not possible with the static hard equation of state. An excellent agreement of our theoretical attempt is found for balance energy with experimental data throughout the periodic table.     

Electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon

Dynamical and thermal characterizations of excited nuclear systems produced during the collisions between two heavy ions at intermediate incident energies are presented by means of a review of experimental and theoretical work performed in the last two decades. Intensity interferometry, applied to both charged particles (light particles and intermediate mass fragments) and to uncharged radiation (gamma rays and neutrons) has provided relevant information about the space-time properties of nuclear reactions. The volume, lifetime, density and relative chronology of particle emission from decaying nuclear sources have been extensively explored and have provided valuable information about the dynamics of heavy-ion collisions. Similar correlation techniques applied to coincidences between light particles and complex fragments are also presented as a tool to determine the internal excitation energy of excited primary fragments as it appears in secondary-decay phenomena.     

Energy and angular momentum sharing in dissipative collisions

Primary and secondary masses of heavy reaction products have been deduced from kinematics and E-ToF measurements, respectively, for the direct and reverse collisions of ⁹³Nb and ¹¹⁶Sn at 25 AMeV. Light charged particles have also been measured in coincidence with the heavy fragments. Direct experimental evidence of the correlation of energy-sharing with net mass transfer has been found using information from both the heavy fragments and the light charged particles. The ratio of hydrogen and helium multiplicities points to a further correlation of angular momentum sharing with net mass transfer. Received: 18 September 2000 / Accepted: 2 December 2000