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.     

Clusterisation and isospin effects in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies

We study the multifragmentation phenomenon in heavy-ion collisions by varying the spatial constraint criterion in minimum spanning tree (MST) clusterisation procedure. Within the framework of isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics (IQMD) model, the role of isospin-dependent spatial constraint, i.e. iso-MST version, is investigated on different fragment observables in various isobaric pair of reaction systems varying in the entrance channel isospin (N / Z) content. The fragment observables such as persistence, gain, average yield of free nucleons, light and intermediate mass fragments are slightly sensitive to the isospin-dependent spatial constraint criterion particularly in heavier reaction systems. For a given isobaric pair of reaction systems, the fragment production, however, remains indifferent to isospin content of the colliding nuclei.     

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.     

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.     

Photon production in heavy-ion collisions at SPS energies

Single photon spectra in heavy-ion collisions at SPS energies are studied in the relativistic transport model that incorporates self-consistently the change of hadron masses in dense matter. We separate the total photon spectrum into “background” arising from the radiative decays of π⁰ and η mesons, and the “thermal” one from other sources. For the latter we include contributions from radiative decays of ρ, ω, η′, and a₁, radiative decays of baryon resonances, as well as two-body processes such as ππ → ργ and πρ → πγ. It is found that more than 95% of all photons come from the decays of π⁰ and η mesons, while the thermal photons account for less than 5% of the total photon yield. The thermal photon spectra in our calculations with either free or in-medium meson masses do not exceed the upper bound set by the experimental measurement of the WA80 Collaboration.     

Probing the strange quark condensate by di-electrons from φ-meson decays in heavy-ion collisions at SIS energies

QCD sum rules predict that the change of the strange quark condensate 〈ˉss〉 in hadron matter at finite baryon density causes a shift of the peak position of the di-electron spectra from φ-meson decays. Due to the expansion of hadron matter in heavy-ion collisions, the φ peak suffers a smearing governed by the interval of density in the expanding fireball, which appears as an effective broadening of the di-electron spectrum in the φ region. The emerging broadening is sensitive to the in-medium change of 〈ˉss〉. This allows to probe directly in-medium modifications of 〈ˉss〉 via di-electron spectra in heavy-ion collisions at SIS energies with HADES. Received: 22 November 2002 / Accepted: 30 January 2003 / Published online: 29 April 2003     

Nuclear shadowing and heavy-ion collisions at high energies

Nuclear shadowing effects for quarks and gluons are calculated using information on diffractive deep inelastic scattering on a nucleon. Role of these effects in interactions of hadrons and nuclei with nuclei at high energies is investigated. A decrease in particle densities for heavy-ion collisions in comparison with the Glauber model is predicted and nuclear modification factors are calculated. Distributions of gluons in nuclei are used to predict suppression of heavy quarkonia. The parameter-free calculation of J/ψ in DAu and AuAu collisions is in a good agreement with recent RHIC data. Predictions for heavy quarkonia suppression in heavy-ion collisions at LHC are formulated.     

Isospin effect in peripheral heavy-ion collisions at Fermi energies

The isospin effect in peripheral heavy-ion collisions was thoroughly investigated within the framework of the Lanzhou quantum molecular dynamics (LQMD) transport model. A coalescence approach was used to recognize the primary fragments formed in nucleus-nucleus collisions. The secondary decay process of these fragments was described using the statistical code GEMINI. The production mechanism and isospin effect of the projectile-like and target-like fragments were analyzed using the combined approach. It was found that the isospin migration from the high-isospin density to the low-density matter occurred in the neutron-rich nuclear reactions, i.e., ⁴⁸Ca+²⁰⁸Pb, ⁸⁶Kr+⁴⁸Ca/²⁰⁸Pb/¹²⁴Sn, ¹³⁶Xe+²⁰⁸Pb, ¹²⁴Sn+¹²⁴Sn, and ¹³⁶Xe+¹³⁶Xe. A hard symmetry energy was available for creating the neutron-rich fragments, particularly in the medium-mass region. The isospin effect of the neutron-to-proton (n/p) ratio of the complex fragments was reduced when the secondary decay process was included. However, a soft symmetry energy enhanced the n/p ratio of the light particles, particularly at kinetic energies greater than 15 MeV/nucleon.     

Coherent photon production in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies

We have studied photon production in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies in the Molecular Dynamics approach, where the radiation amplitudes have been derived from the many-body dynamics in the classical bremsstrahlung formalism. This concept allows for a comparison of cross sections obtained by coherent and incoherent summation of amplitudes. The numerical results show a significant enhancement of the coherent cross section for photon energies below 40 MeV due to the dynamical influence of the nuclear mean field.     

Nonextensive statistical effects in the quark-gluon plasma formation at relativistic heavy-ion collisions energies

We investigate the relativistic equation of state of hadronic matter and quark-gluon plasma at finite temperature and baryon density in the framework of the non-extensive statistical mechanics, characterized by power-law quantum distributions. We impose the Gibbs conditions on the global conservation of baryon number, electric charge and strangeness number. For the hadronic phase, we study an extended relativistic mean-field theoretical model with the inclusion of strange particles (hyperons and mesons). For the quark sector, we employ an extended MIT-Bag model. In this context we focus on the relevance of non-extensive effects in the presence of strange matter.     

Stochastic time-dependent hartree-fock for heavy-ion collisions at fermi energies

We present the first application of Stochastic Time-Dependent Hartree-Fock for describing realistic heavy-ion collisions in the Fermi energy domain. We discuss the robustness of the collision scheme and show some examples of application. Presented by E. Suraud at the International Conference on “Atomic Nuclei and Metallic Clusters”, Prague, September 1–5, 1997.     

Transverse mass distributions in central heavy-ion collisions at high energies

The transverse mass spectra of protons, pions, kaons, Lambda and Antilambda produced in central nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energies are described by using one-temperature and two-temperature emission pictures. The calculated results are compared and found to be in good agreement with the experimental data of the E895, E866 and E917 Collaborations measured in central Au-Au collisions at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) energies and the NA49 Collaboration measured in central Pb-Pb collisions at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) energies. It is demonstrated that the transverse mass distributions of protons, kaons, Lambda and Antilambda, except for Lambda hyperons produced in central Pb-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV, can be described by using the one-temperature emission picture, and for pions, we need to use the two-temperature emission picture.     

Nuclear stopping and compression in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies

The nuclear stopping and the radial flow are investigated with an isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics (IQMD) model for Ni + Ni and Pb + Pb from 0.4 to and 1.2 GeV/u. The expansion velocity as well as the degree of nuclear stopping are higher in the heavier system at all energies. The ratio between the flow energy and the total available energy in center of mass of the colliding systems exhibits a positive correlation to the degree of nuclear stopping. The maximum density (ρmax${\rho }_{\max }$) achieved in the compression is comparable to the hydrodynamics prediction only if the non-zero collision time effect is taken into account in the later. Due to the partial transparency, the growing of the maximum density achieved in the central region of the fireball with the increase of beam energy becomes gradually flat in the 1 GeV/u energy regime.     

Transverse mass distributions in central heavy-ion collisions at high energies

The transverse mass spectra of protons, pions, kaons, Lambda and Antilambda produced in cen- tral nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energies are described by using one-temperature and two-temperature emission pictures. The calculated results are compared and found to be in good agreement with the experimen- tal data of the E895, E866 and E917 Collaborations measured in central Au-Au collisions at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) energies and the NA49 Collaboration measured in central Pb-Pb collisions at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) energies. It is demonstrated that the transverse mass distributions of protons, kaons, Lambda and Antilambda, except for Lambda hyperons produced in central Pb-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV, can be described by using the one-temperature emission picture, and for pions, we need to use the two-temperature emission picture.     

Partial-transparency effects in heavy-ion collisions at energies of the order of 1 GeV/nucleon

A model of heavy-ion collisions at energies E_lab ～ 1 GeV/nucleon taking into account the effects of incomplete statistical equilibrium in highly-excited nuclear matter is presented. The collision process is considered as the interaction of two flows of nucleons decelerating each other. This process is described within the framework of a relativistic kinetic approach employing the Fokker-Planck approximation. Assuming two-flow nonequilibrium the momentum distribution function is represented as a sum of two maxwellian distributions displaced by the average relative velocity of flows. Equations for time evolution of space-averaged velocities and internal energies of flows are derived. These equations contain a single model parameter, i.e. the effective deceleration length λ_d. Using the firestreak model geometry inclusive cross sections of protons and composite particles (d, t) in the reactions Ne + NaF, Ar + KCl and Ar + Pb are calculated at various values of E_lab. In contrast to the firestreak model, a complete stopping of colliding tubes in the centre-of-mass frame was not assumed in the present calculation. Composite particle spectra are calculated on the basis of the coalescence model. The theory is thoroughly compared with the experimental data. The approach suggested allows us to reproduce a two-humped structure in the rapidity distributions of the secondary particles. The experimental data analysis leads to the value λ_d = 8 fm for E_lab = 0.8 GeV/nucleon, which is in good agreement with the estimation based on experimental NN cross sections.     

A nonequilibrium equation of state in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies

A modified hydrodynamic approach using a nonequilibrium equation of state is used to describe heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies. The calculated energy spectra of protons produced in heavyion collisions are compared to experimental data and the results from calculations based on solving the Vlasov–Uehling–Uhlenbeck (VUU) kinetic equation.     

Collective flows in high-energy heavy-ion collisions at AGS and SPS energies

Proton collective flows in heavy-ion collisions from AGS ((2–11) A GeV) to SPS ((40,158) A GeV) energies are investigated in a nonequilibrium transport model with nuclear mean-field (MF). Sideward (p _x), directedv ₁, and ellipticv ₂ flows are systematically studied with different assumptions on the nuclear equation of state (EoS). We find that momentum dependence in the nuclear MF is important for understanding the proton collective flows at AGS and SPS energies. Calculated results with momentum-dependent MF qualitatively reproduce the experimental data of proton sideward, directed, and elliptic flows in an incident energy range of (2–158) A GeV This talk is based on ref. [1]