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.     

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.     

Proton-proton and deuteron-deuteron correlations in interactions of relativistic helium nuclei with protons

The reactions⁴Hep pp+X,³Hep pp+X and⁴Hep ddp have been investigated and the correlation function has been measured for protons and deuterons with small relative momenta. Strong positive correlation has been observed for protons related mainly to the final state interactions in¹S₀ state. The root mean square radius of the proton source calculated from the correlation function has been found to be equal to (1.7±0.3) fm and (2.1±0.3) fm for⁴He and³He respectively. It agrees with the known radii of these nuclei.We would like to thank Dr R. Lednicky for discussion, helpful suggestions and for making available the computer program that calculates the theoreticalpp correlation function. The authors also thank Dr D.H. Boal for providing the results of the two-deuteron correlation function calculations.     

Tracking high energy heavy-ion interactions with nuclear emulsion

EMU01 experiments tracking high energy heavy-ion interactions with nuclear emulsion detectors are performed at the BNL AGS and the CERN SPS. Some unique measurements are presented. As an illustration impact parameter selections, projectile fragmentation and particle production are discussed. Recent results from gold nucleus reactions at 11 A GeV are given.     

Quarkochemistry in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

The time necessary to achieve the equilibrium ratio of strange to non-strange quarks in heavy-ion reactions is estimated in the framework of perturbative QCD. It is found, in the present approximation, to be much larger than the total collision time of even a central U + U collision at E_lab=2.1 GeV/nucleon bombarding energy.     

Forward-backward multiplicity correlations of pions and protons for different temperature events in heavy-ion interactions

A comparison of transverse momentum (P _T) distribution of the alpha particles emitted as projectile fragments from¹²C-emulsion interaction at 4.5 A GeV/c with double Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution yields two temperatures in the projectile fragmentation region, i.e., 10 MeV and 40 MeV with different reaction mechanisms, thereby giving rise to two classes of events. This work presents a detailed study of the multiplicity characteristics for pions and protons emitted in both forward and backward hemispheres in these two classes of events. The results show some interesting features in these two classes.     

Anomalons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

By reviewing experimental results from many anomalon searches, one can reasonably conclude that anomalons, if they exist, are preferentially produced in peripheral collisions, signified by low values of N_h and δZ. For Z ≥ 3, the experimental picture about the existence of anomalons is not very clear at this moment. In the Z = 2 case, however, there are reasonably convincing indications that anomalons do seem to be present in fragments produced by light projectile nuclei such as ¹²C.     

Factorization in relativistic heavy-ion scattering

We have calculated the total cross sections for relativistic nucleus-nucleus scattering in the Glauber theory and conclude that there will be no factorization, due to the short-range nature of nucleon-nucleon interaction as compared to the sizes of the colliding nuclei.     

Intermittency in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Corrected scaled-factorial-moments are calculated for the multiplicity distributions of shower particles in different phase spaces. An intermittency power-law is observed in the central collisions of³²S and¹⁶O at 200A GeV,¹⁶O at 60A GeV and²⁸Si at 14.5A GeV in nuclear emulsion.     

Cold nuclear matter effects on dijet productions in relativistic heavy-ion reactions at LHC

We investigate the cold nuclear matter (CNM) effects on dijet productions in high-energy nuclear collisions at LHC with the next-to-leading order perturbative QCD. The nuclear modifications for dijet angular distributions, dijet invariant mass spectra, dijet transverse momentum spectra and dijet momentum imbalance due to CNM effects are calculated by incorporating EPS, EKS, HKN and DS parametrization sets of parton distributions in nucleus. It is found that dijet angular distributions and dijet momentum imbalance are insensitive to the initial-state CNM effects and thus provide optimal tools to study the final-state hot QGP effects such as jet quenching. On the other hand, the invariant mass spectra and the transverse momentum spectra of dijet are generally enhanced in a wide region of the invariant mass or transverse momentum due to CNM effects with a feature opposite to the expected suppression because of the final-state parton energy loss effect in the QGP. The difference of EPS, EKS, HKN and DS parametrization sets of nuclear parton distribution functions is appreciable for dijet invariant mass spectra and transverse momentum spectra at p+Pb collisions, and becomes more pronounced for those at Pb+Pb reactions.     

Observing B-violation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Under certain situations, partons formed in heavy-ion collision experiments may expand out forming a shell-like structure. The partons in the outer shell subsequently hadronize, leaving a bubble of pure deconfined vacuum for a first-order quark-hadron phase transition. The bubble collapses and may eventually decay into particles which may thermalize to temperatures exceeding the electroweak transition temperature (100 GeV) at LHC. This will lead to the possibility of unsuppressed electroweak baryon number violating processes.     

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.     

Strangeness production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Kaon production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is studied. Particular attention is paid to situations in which high densities are obtained, such as in the Brookhaven AGS experiments with 14.6 GeV/nucleon Si on Au. Because of the explicit chiral-symmetry breaking terms in chiral Langrangians, kaons acquire an effective mass m _K ^* which goes to zero at the critical baryon density. Well before such densities, m _K ^* is sufficiently reduced to greatly facilitate kaon production through processes like K¯K. Previous expressions for the decreasing kaon mass were arrived at by linear chiral perturbation theory. Whereas we cannot systematically proceed to higher order, we use physical models to suggest how relevant quantities will behave in higher order. We present arguments that m _K ^* effectively goes to zero in the present AGS experiments.Supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FG02-88ER40388     

Hubble-like flows in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We study the dynamical appearance of scaling solutions in relativistic hydrodynamics. The phase transition effects are included through the temperature dependent sound velocity. If a pre-equilibrium transverse flow is included in the initial conditions, then it may reach the form of the asymptotic Hubble flow, r/t, in short evolution times, 7–15 fm. The numerical solutions are found to support the freeze-out models (Blast-Wave, Buda-Lund, Cracow).     

Pion collectivity in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

The inelastic nucleon-nucleon cross section may be enhanced in the nuclear medium by pion collectivity. Empirical hamiltonians are on the borderline of strongly collective behavior, and the predicted enhancement factors range from 1–5 for various hamiltonians from the literature. An enhancement would have a substantial effect on the sideward flow in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. If this effect is present, the equation of state could be softer than in previous analyses.     

Isospin equilibration in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We study the mixing and the kinetic equilibration of projectile and target nucleons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions in the energy regime between 150 AMeV and 2 AGeV in a coupled-channel BUU (CBUU) approach. We find that equilibrium in the projectile-target degrees of freedom is in general not reached even for large systems at low energy where elastic nucleon-nucleon collisions dominate. Inelastic nucleon excitations are more favorable for equilibration and their relative abundance increases both with energy and mass. Experimentally, the projectile/target admixture can be determined by measuring the degree of isospin equilibration in isospin asymmetric nuclear collisions. For one of the most promising systems currently under investigation, ⁹⁶ ₄₄Ru +⁹⁶ ₄₀Zr, we investigate the influence of the equation of state and the inelastic in-medium cross section. Received: 23 September 1998 / Revised version: 3 December 1998     

Forward glory and the determination of the nuclear forward amplitude from heavy-ion elastic scattering

It is shown that a forward glory phenomenon is present in the elastic scattering angular distribution of heavy ions. The general properties of the glory determine the conditions under which it is possible to obtain both the amplitude and phase of the nuclear forward amplitude ?_N(0) from elastic angular distributions. Examples are given which show that even in strongly absorbing systems this amplitude is relatively large and can be easily measured. It is demonstrated that the knowledge of ?_N(0) provides a unique piece of information on the origin of the backward rise and of the resonances observed in heavy-ion-induced reactions.     

Nuclear shadowing effect in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Two complementary approaches are used in studying the nuclear shadowing effect in heavy-ion collisions at SIS/GSI beam energies within a hadronic transport model. By analysing simultaneously the average transverse momentum of nucleons and pions in the reaction plane as a function of rapidity, the shadowing effect is revealed as an anticorrelation of the average transverse momentum distributions of nucleons and pions in semicentral and peripheral collisions. While by studying the azimuthal angle distribution of pions with respect to the reaction plane, the shadowing effect appears as an azimuthal anisotropy with a preferential emission of pions perpendicular to the reaction plane. The dependence of the nuclear shadowing effect on the impact parameter and the beam energy is also studied.     

Vector meson radiation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

The (σ, ω) model in the mean-field approximation where the meson fields are treated classically, describes much of observed nuclear structure and has been employed to describe the nuclear equation of state up to the quark-gluon phase transition. The acceleration of the meson sources, for example, in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, should result in bremsstrahlung-like radiation of the meson fields. The many mesons emitted serve to justify the use of classical meson fields. The slowing of the nuclei during the collision is modeled here as a smooth transition from initial to final velocity. Under ultra-relativistic conditions, vector radiation dominates. The angular distribution of energy flux shows a characteristic shape. It appears that if the vector meson field couples to the conserved baryon current, independent of the baryonic degrees of freedom, this mechanism will contribute to the radiation seen in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The possible influence of the quark-gluon plasma is also considered.