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We calculate prompt photon production in high-energy nuclear collisions. We focus on the broadening of the intrinsic transverse momenta of the partons in the initial state from nuclear e ects, and their influence on the prompt photon pt distribution. Comparing to WA98 data from Pb+Pb collisions at s = 17.4A GeV we find evidence for the presence of nuclear broadening at high pt in this hard process. Below pt < 2.7 GeV the photon distribution is due to small momentum transfer processes. At RHIC energy, s = 200A GeV, the e ect of intrinsic transverse momentum on the spectrum of prompt photons is less prominent. The region pt = 3 4 GeV would be the most promising for studying the nuclear broadening effects at that energy. Below pt = 2 3 GeV the contribution from large momentum transfers flattens out, and we expect that region to be dominated by soft contributions.
We calculate prompt photon production in high-energy nuclear collisions. We focus on the broadening of the intrinsic transverse momenta of the partons in the initial state from nuclear effects, and their influence on the prompt photon pt distribution. Comparing to WA98 data from Pb+Pb collisions at s = 17.4A GeV we find evidence for the presence of nuclear broadening at high pt in this hard process. Below pt < 2.7 GeV the photon distribution is due to small momentum transfer processes. At RHIC energy, s = 200A GeV, the e ect of intrinsic transverse momentum on the spectrum of prompt photons is less prominent. The region pt = 3 4 GeV would be the most promising for studying the nuclear broadening e ects at that energy. Below pt = 2 3 GeV the contribution from large momentum transfers flattens out, and we expect that region to be dominated by soft contributions.
A generic property of a first-order phase transition in equilibrium, and in the limit of large entropy per unit of conserved charge, is the smallness of the isentropic speed of sound in the mixed phase . A specific prediction is that this should lead to a non-isotropic momentum distribution of nucleons in the reaction plane (for energies < 40A GeV in our model calculation). On the other hand, we show that from present effective theories for low-energy QCD one does not expect the thermal transition rate between various states of the effective potential to be much larger than the expansion rate, questioning the applicability of the idealized Maxwell/Gibbs construction. Experimental data could soon provide essential information on the dynamics of the phase transition.