Out-of-plane emission of nuclear matter in Au+Au collisions between 100 and 800 AMeV

We present new experimental results concerning the azimuthal distributions of proton-likes, light and intermediate mass fragments at midrapidity for Au(100–800 A MeV) +Au collisions measured with the FOPI phase-I detector at GSI in Darmstadt. The azimuthal distributions are investigated as a function of the collision centrality, the incident energy, the fragment charge and transverse momentum. The azimuthal anisotropy is maximum for impact parameters around 7 fm. Intermediate mass fragments present a stronger out-of-plane emission signal than light fragments and a saturation is reached for Z ⩾ 4. The azimuthal anisotropy increases with the fragment transverse momentum and decreases as the incident energy increases. The azimuthal anisotropy of Z = 2 particles investigated as a function of the scaled fragment transverse momentum follows an universal curve for bombarding energies between 250–800 A MeV. A signature for a transition from in-plane to out-of-plane emission is evidenced at the lowest beam energies.     

Quarkonium plus prompt-photon associated hadroproduction and nuclear shadowing

Quarkonium hadroproduction in association with a photon at high energies provides a probe of the dynamics of the strong interactions as it is dependent on the nuclear gluon distribution. Therefore, it could be used to constrain the behavior of the nuclear gluon distribution in proton–nucleus and nucleus–nucleus collisions. Such processes are useful to single out the magnitude of the shadowing/antishadowing effects in the nuclear parton densities. In this work we investigate the influence of nuclear effects in the production of J/ψ+γ and ?+γ and estimate the transverse momentum dependence of the nuclear modification factors. The theoretical framework considered in the J/ψ (?) production associated with a direct photon at the hadron collider is the non-relativistic QCD (NRQCD) factorization formalism.     

Target fragmentation in proton-nucleus and16O-nucleus reactions at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon

Target remnants withZ<3 from proton-nucleus and¹⁶O-nucleus reactions at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon were measured in the angular range from 30° to 160° (?1.7<η<1.3) employing the Plastic Ball detector. The excitation energy of the target spectator matter in central oxygen-induced collisions is found to be high enough to allow for complete disintegration of the target nucleus into fragments withZ<3. The average longitudinal momentum transfer per proton to the target in central collisions is considerably higher in the case of¹⁶O-induced reactions (≈300 MeV/c) than in proton-induced reactions (≈130 MeV/c). The baryon rapidity distributions are roughly in agreement with one-fluid hydrodynamical calculations at 60 GeV/nucleon¹⁶O+Au but are in disagreement at 200 GeV/nucleon, indicating the higher degree of transparency at the higher bombarding energy. Both, the transverse momenta of target spectators and the entropy produced in the target fragmentation region are compared to those attained in head-on collisions of two heavy nuclei at Bevalac energies. They are found to be comparable or do even exceed the values for the participant matter at beam energies of about 1–2 GeV/nucleon.     

Unified description of transverse momentum spectrums contributed by soft and hard processes in high-energy nuclear collisions

The transverse momentum spectrums of π ^?, π ⁺, K ^?, K ⁺, \(\bar p\) , and p produced in p-Pb collisions at √s _NN = 502 TeV measured by the CMS Collaboration and in Pb-Pb collisions at √s _NN = 2.76 TeV measured by the ALICE Collaboration are described by a two-component Erlang distribution. The first component corresponds to “soft” excitation process and contributes in the low transverse momentum region, which is contributed by 2–5 partons (sea quarks and gluons) with strong interactions. The second component corresponds to “hard” scattering process and contributes in the high transverse momentum region, which is contributed by 2 partons (valent quarks) with violent head-on collision. Each parton source contributes an exponential transverse momentum spectrum. Both the soft and hard processes result in an Erlang distribution. The transverse momentum spectrums of final-state charged particles are then described by the two-component Erlang distribution. The contribution ratio (30–40%) of the hard process extracted from nuclear collisions at the Large Hadron Collider is consistent with that (17–46%) obtained from other methods.     

Hadron production ine +e− annihilation and μ-p collisions under the assumption of longitudinal phase space dominance

Rapidity and multiplicity distributions are calculated for the hadrons produced ine ⁺e^? annihilation and deep inelastic muon-proton collisions for c.m. energies of 10 to 40 GeV. The hypothesis of longitudinal phase space dominance leads to a probability distribution which is identical to that of a grand canonical ensemble of non-interacting particles. We successfully describe experimental rapidity distributions, domains of Feynman-x scaling and scaling violations and the rapidity dependence of the mean transverse momentum. Multiplicity distributions are derived to be close to negative binomial distributions even for finite rapidity intervals. The plateau in the rapidity distribution is the origin for the negative binomial distribution in multiplicity. The mean number of hadrons of each species and the mean overall transverse momentum are the main input parameters in our calculation and are taken from experiment.     

Nuclear-like effects in proton–proton collisions at high energy

We show that several effects considered nuclear effects are not nuclear in the sense that they do not only occur in nucleus–nucleus and hadron–nucleus collisions but, as well, they are present in hadron–hadron (proton–proton) collisions. The matter creation mechanism in hh, hA and AA collision is always the same. The p _T suppression of particles produced in large multiplicity events compared to low multiplicity events, the elliptic flow and the Cronin effect are predicted to occur in pp collisions at LHC energies as a consequence of the high density partonic medium obtained.     

Neutral transverse momentum spectra in 60 and 200A·GeV16O+nucleus and proton+nucleus reactions

Transverse momentum (p _T) distributions fo inclusive photons and neutral pions at midrapidity are measured with a lead glass calorimeter in 60 and are measured with a lead glass calorimeter in 60 and 200A·Gev¹⁶O+nucleus and and proton+nucleus reactions. Inclusive photon distributions are compared for central and peripheral reactions. The degree of centrality is determined either from the charged particle multiplicity or from the remaining projectile energy in the forward direction. Deviations from a nucleus+nucleus interaction model based upon linear extrapolation from p+p reactions are observed in central¹⁶O+Au data. The variation of theaverage transverse momentum is investigated as function of centrality. The target-mass and energy dependence of π⁰ p _T distributions are presented. For¹⁶O+Au a change of slope in these distributions is observed atp _t ≈0.8 GeV/c compatible with hydrodynamic expansion models.     

Rayleigh-like distribution of particle transverse momenta in collisions at high energies

The transverse momentum distributions of final-state particles produced in collisions at high energies are studied by using a two-component Rayleigh-like distribution. This representation is based on Liu's multisource ideal gas model which describes protons and fragments in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental data of Au-Au, Cu-Cu, d-Au, and pp collisions at the relativistic heavy ion collider energies. The experimental particle momentum distributions of p-Be collisions at 6.4, 12.3, and 17.5 GeV/c, as well as Au-Au collisions at 1.5 AGeV are well described by a model based on a single Rayleigh-like distribution of particle transverse momenta.     

Proton radioactivity at non-collective prolate shape in high spin state of Ag

We predict proton radioactivity and structural transitions in high spin state of an excited exotic nucleus near proton drip line in a theoretical framework and investigate the nature and the consequences of the structural transitions on separation energy as a function of temperature and spin. It reveals that the rotation of the excited exotic nucleus ⁹⁴Ag at excitation energies around 6.7 MeV and angular momentum near 21? generates a rarely seen prolate non-collective shape and proton separation energy becomes negative which indicates proton radioactivity in agreement with the experimental results of Mukha et al. for ⁹⁴Ag.     

Heavy ion reactions at 75–100 MeV/nucleon

Energy and momentum component distributions of singly and doubly charged particles in¹⁶O-emulsion nucleus interactions at 75–100 MeV/n are presented. The parallel momentum distributions show larger shifts than at 2 GeV/n, indicating emission from systems with mean velocities ≈0.06 c relative to the parent nuclei. Particles with intermediate rapidities have, on the average, larger transverse momenta than particles with large rapidities. The charged particle multiplicity in peripheral collisions is the same at 0.1, 0.2 and 2 GeV/n, while the difference in multiplicity for central collisions is pronounced.     

Excitation energy dependence of fragment characteristics for the photofission of 232Th

Independent and cumulative product yields were measured for the photofission of ²³²Th with bremsstrahlung with endpoint energies 6.5, 7.0, 8.0, 11.0, 12.0, and 14.0 MeV, applying γ spectrometric techniques on catcherfoils and pneumatically transported ²³²Th-samples. The independent heavy fragment yields for the fission of the ²³²Th compound nucleus at excitation energies in the vicinity of the fission barrier were deduced. Postneutron mass, isobaric charge, isotopic mass distributions, isotonic and elemental yield distributions and proton odd-even effects were obtained from these independent yields. In the mass distributions a maximum yield is observed for mass splits with heavy fragments in the region of A = 142, corresponding with a high production of Ba(Z = 56) - isotopes. A slightly increased yield is also observed for mass splits with heavy mass in the vicinity of A = 134. The latter effect increases with increasing compound nucleus excitation energy. The similarity between the mass distributions of the N = 142 fissioning systems ²³²Th, ²³⁴U and ²³⁶Pu is striking. For low excitation energy the proton odd-even effect in the element distributions amounts to 30%, while on the other hand no sizeable neutron odd-even effect could be deduced from the isotonic distributions. The proton odd-even effects remain constant up to compound nucleus excitation energies of about 7.85 MeV. For higher compound nucleus excitation energies the proton odd-even effect drops rapidly. A possible explanation of these observations in terms of pair breaking at the outer barrier is proposed.     

Dual parton model of inelasticpp-interactions and cascade breaking of string

A new cascade model of string breaking with 6 free parameters is constructed. The dual parton model of inelasticpp-collisions, which uses the supposed model of breaking of string, agrees well with the wide set of the experimental data at ISR energies, including the multiplicity, rapidity and transverse momentum distributions, the different correlations and the production cross sections of baryons, antibaryons, strange particles and resonances. For the fitted values of the free parameters, the scaling functions of the model of string breaking are similar to the hadron structure functions. The inability of the dual parton model to explain the rise of the average transverse momentum with multiplicity at the SPS collider energies is discussed.     

Experimental investigation of charge-exchange processes involving a target proton in <Superscript>16</Superscript>O<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis> collisions at a momentum of 3.25 GeV/<Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis> per nucleon

For the first time, charge-exchange processes involving a target proton in ¹⁶Op collisions at a momentum of 3.25 GeV/c per nucleon are studied under conditions of 4π geometry. New data on the mean multiplicities fragments and pions, as well as on inelastic cross sections for topological channels of the fragmentation of an oxygen nucleus in charge-exchange reactions involving a target proton that either are accompanied or are not accompanied by charge transfer to a projectile nucleus, are presented. It is shown that, in ¹⁶Op interactions at high energies, charge transfer from a target proton to a projectile nucleus proceeds predominantly via inelastic proton scattering on a neutron of the oxygen nucleus.     

Excitation Functions of Tsallis-Like Parameters in High-Energy Nucleus–Nucleus Collisions

The transverse momentum spectra of charged pions, kaons, and protons produced at mid-rapidity in central nucleus–nucleus (AA) collisions at high energies are analyzed by considering particles to be created from two participant partons, which are assumed to be contributors from the collision system. Each participant (contributor) parton is assumed to contribute to the transverse momentum by a Tsallis-like function. The contributions of the two participant partons are regarded as the two components of transverse momentum of the identified particle. The experimental data measured in high-energy AA collisions by international collaborations are studied. The excitation functions of kinetic freeze-out temperature and transverse flow velocity are extracted. The two parameters increase quickly from ≈3 to ≈10 GeV (exactly from 2.7 to 7.7 GeV) and then slowly at above 10 GeV with the increase of collision energy. In particular, there is a plateau from near 10 GeV to 200 GeV in the excitation function of kinetic freeze-out temperature.     

Helicity-dependent generalized parton distributions for nonzero skewness

We investigate the helicity-dependent generalized parton distributions (GPDs) in momentum as well as transverse position (impact) spaces for the u and d quarks in a proton when the momentum transfer in both the transverse and the longitudinal directions are nonzero. The GPDs are evaluated using the light-front wave functions of a quark–diquark model for nucleon where the wave functions are constructed by the soft-wall AdS/QCD correspondence. We also express the GPDs in the boost-invariant longitudinal position space.     

Conformal approach to fluctuations in hadroproduction

We study two-photon final-states atep-colliders. In particular, we investigate the process γ+p →γ+γ+X at HERA and LEP/LHC energies with the intention of determining its measurability at these accelerators. We find that the transverse momentum distribution will be measured top _T=25 GeV/c at HERA andp _T=50 GeV/c at LEP/LHC. We find that the cross section of this process is too small for it to be a sensitive, direct probe of the gluon content of the proton and the photon. However, we find that it will supplement deep inelastic structure function investigations of the quark distributions within the proton and photon. Further, we predict that at very low transverse momenta, this process will allow the measurement of the box diagramg+g→γ+γ.     

Self-similarity of pion production in AA collisions at RHIC

Experimental data on inclusive spectra of pions produced in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC are analyzed in the framework of z-scaling. The data indicate similarity as a characteristic feature of the mechanism of pion production at high energies. It is argued that this property includes structure of the colliding objects, interaction of their constituents, and character of the fragmentation process. A microscopic scenario of nucleus interactions at a constituent level in terms of momentum fractions is developed. The centrality dependence of the shape of the scaling function Ψ(z) and the fractal dimention ? _AA of the fragmentation process is studied. Energy losses of particles in the final state as a function of the collision energy, transverse momentum, and centrality are estimated. The scale dependence of the energy losses is discussed. A decreasing tendency of specific heat of the produced medium with the system size is established. The obtained results may be exploited to search for and study new physics phenomena in pion production in pp and AA collisions at high multiplicities.     

An analysis of electron density fluctuations in air shower cores and the question of large transverse momenta

Electron density distributions in air shower cores recorded with the 32 m² neon hodoscope of the Kiel array have been analysed, looking for the existence of significant multicores which might result from large transverse momentum emission of high energy particles. The shower sizes are between 10⁴ and 5×10⁶ particles, corresponding to primary energies up to a few times 10⁷ GeV. Several spurious effects simulating multicores have been found, but there are no indications for the existence of large transverse momenta.