From chemical freeze-out to critical conditions in heavy ion collisions

We compare the statistical thermodynamics of hadron resonance gas with recent LGT results at finite chemical potential. We argue that for T≤T _cthe equation of state derived from Monte-Carlo simulations of 2-quark-flavor QCD at finite chemical potential is consistent with that of a hadron resonance gas when applying the same set of approximations as used in LGT calculations. We indicate the relation of chemical freeze-out conditions obtained from a detailed analysis of particle production in heavy ion collisions with the critical conditions required for deconfinement. We argue that the position of a hadron quark-gluon boundary line in temperature chemical potential plane can be determined in terms of the resonance gas model by the condition of fixed energy density.     

Do small systems equilibrate chemically?

Considering particle production in heavy-ion collisions, a particular role has been attributed to strange particles because strangeness was predicted to be a sensitive probe of the properties of QCD matter. The statistical model is very successful in describing the chemical composition of the final state of collisions over a wide range of incident energies. However, without an additional strangeness undersaturation factor, γ_S, hadron gas models hardly reproduce the data from small colliding systems nor from reactions at the smaller collision energies. Here we investigate the influence of an alternative assumption, exact strangeness conservation in small subvolumes of the fireball, on the model predictions. Therefore, we introduce strangeness equilibrated subvolumes. The canonical strangeness suppression in these correlated clusters accounts successfully for the smaller production of strange particles. The system size dependence of the correlation volume and of the thermal parameters are presented.     

Recent applications of THERMUS

Some of the most recent applications of the statistical-thermal model package, THERMUS, are reviewed. These applications focus on fluctuation and correlation observables in an ideal particle and anti-particle gas in limited momentum space segments, as well as in a hadron resonance gas. In the case of the latter, a Monte Carlo event generator, utilising THERMUS functionality and assuming thermal production of hadrons, is discussed. The system under consideration is sampled grand canonically in the Boltzmann approximation. A re-weighting scheme is then introduced to account for conservation of charges (baryon number, strangeness, electric charge) and energy and momentum, effectively allowing for extrapolation of grand canonical results to the micro canonical limit. The approach utilised in this and other applications suggests improvements to existing THERMUS calculations.     

Net Charge Fluctuation and String Fragmentation

We present the simulation results of the net charge fluctuation in Au Au collisions at /Snn=130 GeV froma dynamic model, JPCIAE, and its revisions. The simulations are done for the quark-gluon matter, the directly producedpions, the pion matter, and the hadron matter. The simulated net charge fluctuation of the quark-gluon matter is closeto the thermal model prediction for the quark-gluon gas. However, the discrepancy exists comparing the simulated netcharge fluctuation for directly produced pions and the pion matter with the thermal model prediction for pion gas andthe resonance pion gas, respectively. The net charge fluctuation of hadron matter from default JPCIAE simulations isnearly 3.5 times larger than quark-gluon matter. A discussion is given for the net charge fluctuation as an evidence ofQGP phase transition.     

Net Charge Fluctuation and String Fragmentation

We present the simulation results of the net charge fluctuation in Au Au collisions at √Snn=130 GeV from a dynamic model, JPCIAE, and its revisions. The simulations are done for the quark-gluon matter, the directly produced pions, the pion matter, and the hadron matter. The simulated net charge fluctuation of the quark-gluon matter is close to the thermal model prediction for the quark-gluon gas. However, the discrepancy exists comparing the simulated net charge fluctuation for directly produced pions and the pion matter with the thermal model prediction for pion gas and the resonance pion gas, respectively. The net charge fluctuation of hadron matter from default JPCIAE simulations is nearly 3.5 times larger than quark-gluon matter. A discussion is given for the net charge fluctuation as an evidence of QGP phase transition.     

高能重离子碰撞中正负荷电粒子比单事例起伏研究

用强子和弦级联模型,JPCIAE及相应的Monte Carlo事例产生器,研究相对论性核–核碰撞中有限快度区间内正负荷电粒子比单事例起伏与能量、中心度、共振态衰变及快度间隔的关系.JPCIAE模型能够较好地符合CERN/SPS能区Pb+Pb碰撞的实验结果.本文还用此模型预言了RHIC能区Au+Au碰撞和ALICE能区Pb+Pb碰撞中的正负荷电粒子比单事例起伏.可以看出碰撞能量、中心度、共振态衰变及快度间隔对正负荷电粒子比单事例起伏的影响都不大.     

Thermal gas models and particle production in heavy ion collisions

A systematic study of particle production in nuclear S–S and S–W collisions at 200 GeV/A is presented within the context of an equilibrium interacting hadron gas model. It is shown that the results for strange particle multiplicities and for non-strange baryons obtained in the NA35 and WA85 experiments can be well described in terms of the considered model.     

Strangeness enhancement and energy dependence in heavy ion collisions

The canonical statistical model analysis of strange and multistrange hadron production in central A–A relative to p–p/p–A collisions is presented over the energy range from GeV up to GeV. It is shown that the relative enhancement of strange particle yields from p–p/p–A to A–A collisions substantially increases with decreasing collision energy. It is largest at GeV, where the enhancement of and is of the order of 100, 20 and 3, respectively. In terms of the model these results are due to the canonical suppression of particle thermal phase space at lower energies, which increases with the strangeness content of the particle and with decreasing size of the collision fireball. The comparison of the model with existing data on the energy dependence of the kaon/pion ratio is also discussed. Received: 25 October 2001 / Published online: 5 July 2002     

A thermodynamical approach to hadron production ine + e − collisions

The hadron production ine ⁺ e ^? collisions is studied assuming that particles originate in a hadron gas at thermal and chemical equilibrium. The parameters of the hadron gas are determined with a fit to the average multiplicities of various hadron species measured at LEP and PEP-PETRA. A strikingly good agreement is found between the predictions of this model and data for almost all particles over a range of production rate of four orders of magnitude. The methods and assumptions of the fit are described and discussed in detail. The temperature of the hadron gas estimated from the fit is around 166 MeV at √s=91.2 GeV and 181 MeV at √s=29÷35 GeV.     

Matter–Antimatter Asymmetry in Heavy-Ion Collisions

Implementing modified phase space and distribution function in grand-canonical ensemble and taking into account the experimental acceptance, the ratios of antiparticle-to-particle over the whole range of energies are well reproduced by hadron resonance gas (HRG) model. We introduce a systematic study for antiparticle-to-particle ratios measured in various pp and AA collisions and find that the ratios of bosons and baryons get very close to unity indicating that the matter–antimatter asymmetry nearly vanishes at LHC energy. We predict that the LHC heavy-ion program will produce the same particle ratios as the pp program implying the dynamics and evolution of the system would not depend on the initial conditions.     

Particle ratios from a chiral SU(3) model

The measured particle ratios in central heavy-ion collisions are investigated within a chemical and thermal equilibrium chiral SU(3) σ?ω approach. Contrary to the commonly adopted non-interacting gas calculations, the chiral SU(3) model predicts modified effective hadron masses and effective chemical potentials in the medium and a transition to a chirally restored phase at high temperatures or chemical potentials. the influence of three different types of phase transitions is investigated. We show that the deduced freeze-out values considerably depend on the underlying model while the quality of the fit is approximately the same.     

Strange resonance production: probing chemical and thermal freeze-out in relativistic heavy ion collisions

The production and the observability of Λ(1520), K⁰(892) Φ and Δ(1232) hadron resonances in central Pb+Pb collisions at 160 A GeV is addressed. The rescattering probabilities of the resonance decay products in the evolution are studied. Strong changes in the reconstructable particle yields and spectra between chemical and thermal freeze-out are estimated. Abundances and spectra of reconstructable resonances are predicted.     

A one-dimensional model of associated production in high-energy hadron collisions

We estimate production processes in the one-dimensional approximation of the dual unitary approach to hadron collisions. Strange particle production is in satisfactory agreement with estimates from data; charmed particle production is found to be observably large.     

Towards transport theory of hadron gases

An important role of hadron resonances for determining the characteristics of hadron gases is argued. A kinetic theory model of hadron gas is developed. A classical, nonquantum, distribution function of a resonance is defined with the help of the profile function being an analogue of the mass shell delta function of stable particles. The Boltzmann equation is generalized to include the resonance decay and resonance formation processes. To determine the unknown profile function, the transition rates are assumed to satisfy the bilateral normalization or the detailed balance condition. The profile function is expressed through the resonance formation cross section and the decay width. The H-theorem is proved, and it is shown that the form of the equilibrium distribution function of a resonance coincides with that of a stable particle. Macroscopic equilibrium characteristics are studied. Significance of the resonance mass smearing effect is demonstrated.     

Statistical hadronization model and transverse momentum spectra of hadrons in high energy collisions

A detailed analysis of transverse momentum spectra of several identified hadrons in high energy collisions within the canonical framework of the statistical model of hadronization is performed. The study of particle momentum spectra requires an extension of the statistical model formalism used to handle particle multiplicities, which is described in detail starting from a microcanonical treatment of single hadronizing clusters. Also, a new treatment of extra strangeness suppression is presented which is based on the enforcement of fixed numbers of pairs in the primary hadrons. The considered center-of-mass energies range from to 30 GeV in hadronic collisions ( and Kp) and from 15 to 35 GeV in collisions. The effect of the decay chain following hadron generation is accurately and exhaustively taken into account by a newly proposed numerical method. The exact conservation at low energy and the increasing hard parton emission at high energy bound the validity of the presently taken approach within a limited center-of-mass energy range. However, within this region, a clear consistency is found between the temperature parameter extracted from the present analysis and that obtained from fits to average hadron multiplicities in the same collision systems. This finding indicates that in the hadronization process the production of different particle species and their momentum spectra are two closely related phenomena governed by one parameter. Received: 31 October 2001 / Published online: 15 February 2002     

Thermal hadron production in pp and p\bar p collisions

It is shown that the hadron production in high energy pp and $p\bar p$ collisions, calculated by assuming that particles originate in hadron gas fireballs at thermal and partial chemical equilibrium, agrees very well with the data. The temperature of the hadron gas fireballs, determined by fitting hadron abundances, does not seem to depend on the centre of mass energy, having a nearly constant value of about 170 MeV. This value is in agreement with that obtained in e⁺e^?collisions and supports a universal hadronization mechanism in all kinds of reactions consisting in a parton-hadron transition at critical values of temperature and pressure.     

Forward gluon production in hadron–hadron scattering with pomeron loops

We discuss new physical phenomena expected in particle production in hadron–hadron collisions at high energy, as a consequence of pomeron loop effects in the evolution equations for the color glass condensate. We focus on gluon production in asymmetric, ‘dilute–dense’, collisions: a dilute projectile scatters off a dense hadronic target, whose gluon distribution is highly evolved. This situation is representative for particle production in proton–proton collisions at forward rapidities (say, at LHC) and admits a dipole factorization similar to that of deep inelastic scattering (DIS). We show that at sufficiently large forward rapidities, where the pomeron loop effects become important in the evolution of the target wavefunction, gluon production is dominated by ‘black spots’ (saturated gluon configurations) up to very large values of the transverse momentum, well above the average saturation momentum in the target. In this regime, the produced gluon spectrum exhibits diffusive scaling, so like DIS at sufficiently high energy.     

Hard thermal photon production in relativistic heavy ion collisions

The recent status of hard thermal photon production in relativistic heavy ion collisions is reviewed and the current rates are presented with emphasis on corrected bremsstrahlung processes in the quark–gluon plasma (QGP) and quark–hadron duality. Employing Bjorken hydrodynamics with an EOS supporting the phase transition from QGP to hot hadron gas (HHG), thermal photon spectra are computed. For SPS 158 GeV Pb + Pb collisions, comparison with other theoretical results and the WA98 direct photon data indicates significant contributions due to prompt photons. Extrapolating the presented approach to RHIC and LHC experiments, predictions of the thermal photon spectrum show a QGP outshining the HHG in the high-p_T-region.