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Nuclear collisions from 0.3 to 2 GeV/nucleon are studied in a microscopic theory based on Vlasov's self-consistent mean field and Uehling-Uhlenbeck's two-body collision term which respects the Pauli principle. The theory explains simultaneously the observed collective flow and the pion multiplicity and gives their dependence on the nuclear equation of state.
The novel momentum analysis technique introduced by Danielewicz and Odyniec can be used to detect and exhibit collective flow in the light system Ar(1800 MeV/nucleon) + KCl where the usual kinetic energy flow analysis fails. The microscopic Vlasov-Uehling-Uhlenbeck theory which includes the nuclear mean field, two-body collisions, and Pauli blocking is used to study this phenomenon. The resulting transverse momentum transfers turn out to be quite sensitive to the nuclear equation of state. From a comparison with experimental data, evidence is presented for a rather stiff nuclear equation of state. The cascade model is unable to describe the data.
The role of nonequilibrium and quantal effects in fast nucleus-nucleus collisions is studied via the Vlasov-Uehling-Uhlenbeck theory which includes the nuclear mean field dynamics, two-body collisions, and Pauli blocking. The intranuclear cascade model, where the dynamics is governed by independent NN collisions, and the Vlasov equation, where the nuclear mean field determines the collision dynamics, are also studied as reference cases. The Vlasov equation (no collision term) yields single particle distribution functions which–after the reaction–are only slightly modified in momentum space; even in central collisions, transparency is predicted. This is in agreement with the predictions of the quantal time-dependent Hartree-Fock method. In contrast, large momentum transfer is obtained when the Uehling-Uhlenbeck collision term is incorporated; then the final momentum distribution is nearly spherically symmetric in the center of mass and a well-equilibrated nuclear system is formed: the nuclei stop each other; the translational kinetic energy is transformed into randomized microscopic motion. The Vlasov-Uehling-Uhlenbeck theory is supplemented with a phase space coalescence model of fragment formation. Calculated proton spectra compare well with recent data for Ar(42, 92, and 137 MeV/nucleon) + Ca. Also the total yields of medium mass fragments are well reproduced in the present approach. The mean field dynamics without two-body collisions, on the other hand, exhibits forward peaked proton distributions, in contrast to the data. The cascade approach underpredicts the yields of low energy protons by more than an order of magnitude.
The influence of fluctuations of the shape degree of freedom in collisions of deformed nuclei with energies between 0.8 and 2.1 GeV/nucleon is analyzed on the basis of an intranuclear cascade simulation for the strongly deformed systems 46Ti+ 46Ti and 166Er+ 166Er. While there is a considerable sensitivity of the global event variables to the orientation for polarized beams and targets, this dependence disappears in the average over all orientations for impact parameter selected and integrated events. The dependence of the nuclear stopping and thermalization on the size of the system under consideration and on the bombarding energy is also investigated.
We study the recent claim that the intranuclear cascade model exhibits collective sidewards flow. 4000 intranuclear cascade simulations of the reaction Nb(400 MeV/nucleon)+Nb are performed employing bound and unbound versions of the Cugnon cascade. We show that instability of the target and projectile nuclei in the unbound cascade produces substantial spurious sidewards flow angles, for spectators as well as for participants. Once the nuclear binding is included, the peak of the flow angle distributions for the participants alone is reduced from 35° to 17°. The theoretical ‘‘data’’ are subjected to the experimental multiplicity and efficiency cuts of the plastic ball 4π electronic spectrometer system. The flow angular distributions obtained from the bound cascade—with spectators and participants subjected to the plastic ball filter—are forward peaked, in contrast to the plastic ball data. We discuss the uncertainties encountered with the application of the experimental efficiency and multiplicity filter. The influence of the Pauli principle on the flow is also discussed. The lack of flow effects in the cascade model clearly reflects the absence of the nuclear compression energy that can cause substantially larger collective sidewards motion—there is too little intrinsic pressure built up in the cascade model.
Time dependent dirac equation with relativistic mean field dynamics applied to heavy ion scattering
(1986)
We treat the relativistic propagation of nucleons coupled to scalar- and vector-meson fields in a mean-field approximation. The time-dependent Dirac and mean-meson-field equations are solved numerically in three dimensions. Collisions of 16O(300, 600, and 1200 MeV/nucleon) + 16O are studied for various impact parameters. The results are compared to other recent theoretical approaches. The calculations predict spallation, large transverse-momentum transfer, and positive-angle sidewards flow, in qualitative agreement with the data in this energy regime.
Studying Walecka's mean-field theory we find that one can reproduce the observed binding energy and density of nuclear matter within experimental precision in an area characterized by a line in the coupling-constant plane. A part of this line defines systems which exhibit a phase transition around Tc~200 MeV for zero baryon density. The rest corresponds to such systems where the phase transition is absent; in that case a peak appears in the specific heat around T~200 MeV. We interpret these results as indicating that the hadron phase of nuclear matter alone indicates the occurrence of an abrupt change in the bulk properties around ρV~0 and T~200 MeV.
We present a theoretical description of nuclear collisions which consists of a three-dimensional fluid-dynamical model, a chemical equilibrium breakup calculation for local light fragment (i.e., p, n, d, t, 3He, and 4He) production, and a final thermal evaporation of these particles. The light fragment cross sections and some properties of the heavy target residues are calculated for the asymmetric system Ne+U at 400 MeV/N. The results of the model calculations are compared with recent experimental data. Several observable signatures of the collective hydrodynamical processes are consistent with the present data. An event-by-event analysis of the flow patterns of the various clusters is proposed which can yield deeper insight into the collision dynamics.
Intranuclear cascade calculations and fluid dynamical predictions of the kinetic energy flow are compared for collisions of 40Ca + 40Ca and 238U + 238U. The aspect ratio, R13, as obtained from the global analysis, is independent of the bombarding energy for the intranuclear cascade model. Fluid dynamics, on the other hand, predicts a dramatic increase of R13 at medium energies Elab≲200 MeV/nucleon. In fact, R13(Elab) directly reflects the incompressibility of the nuclear matter and can be used to extract the nuclear equation of stat at high densities. Distortions of the flow tensor due to few nucleon scattering are analyzed. Possible procedures to remove this background from experimental data are discussed.
We analyze the phase structure of the nonlinear mean-field meson theory of baryonic matter (nucleons plus delta resonances). Depending on the choice of the coupling constants, we find three physically distinct phase transitions in this theory: a nucleonic liquid-gas transition in the low temperature, Tc<20 MeV, low density, ρ≃0.5ρ0, regime, a high-temperature (T≃150 MeV) finite density transition from a gas of massive hadrons to a nearly massless baryon, antibaryon plasma, and, third, a strong phase transition from the nucleonic fluid to a resonance-dominated ‘‘delta-matter’’ isomer at ρ>2ρ0 and Tc<50 MeV. All three phase transitions are of first order. It is shown that the occurrence of these different phase transitions depends critically on the coupling constants. Since the production of pions also depends strongly on the coupling constants, it is seen that the equation of state cannot be derived unambiguously from pion data.
We study the dynamics of high energy heavy ion collisions through the Vlasov-Uehling-Uhlenbeck approach. Equilibration is observed, for central collisions. It is shown that the produced entropy, the pion multiplicity, flow angle, and transverse momentum distributions saturate at the moment of maximum compression and temperature. The effects of the nuclear equation of state and the Pauli principle are investigated. For the flow angle distribution there is a 20 deg reduction of the peak flow angle due to the Pauli principle. A stiff equation of state results in a 10–20 deg increase over the soft equation of state at all energies. The transverse momentum at projectile rapidity exhibits a peak structure as a function of impact parameter b. A 40% difference between soft and hard equation of state is observed for the peak impact parameter, i.e., for intermediate multiplicities.
The final states of central Ca + Ca and Nb + Nb collisions at 400 and 1050 MeV/nucleon and at 400 and 650 MeV/nucleon, respectively, are studied with two independently developed statistical models, namely the classical microcanonical model and the quantum-statistical grand canonical model. It is shown that these models are in agreement with each other for these systems. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that there is essentially a one-to-one relationship between the observed relative abundances of the light fragments p, d, t, 3He, and α and the entropy per nucleon, for breakup temperatures greater than 30 MeV. Entropy values of 3.5–4 are deduced from high-multiplicity selected fragment yield data.
We demonstrate that momentum-dependent nuclear interactions (MDI) have a large effect on the dynamics and on the observables of high-energy heavy-ion collisions: A soft potential with MDI suppresses pion and kaon yields much more strongly than a local hard potential and results in transverse momenta intermediate between soft and hard local potentials. The collective-flow angles and the deuteron-to-proton ratios are rather insensitive to the MDI. Only simultaneous measurements of these observables can give clues on the nuclear equation of state at densities of interest for supernova collapse and neutron-star stability.
The recent attempts to extract the temperature in the late stage of medium energy (20–60 MeV/nucleon) heavy ion collisions from the yields of γ- and particle-instable fragments are discussed. The quantum statistical model is employed to demonstrate that feeding from instable states distorts the yields used for the temperature determination severely. Some particle instable fragments are only moderately affected by feeding. These selected species can still be useful for determining the temperature. The breakup temperatures of the fragment conglomerate extracted with this method are T≃4–8 MeV, much smaller than the corresponding slope factors, which indicate T∼15 MeV.
We study effects of the mean field in hot compressed nuclear matter in the context of the Vlasov Uehling-Uhlenbeck theory. The expansion of a spherical distribution at different temperatures is studied along with collisions of Nb+Nb and Au+Au at lab energies from 50 to 1050 MeV/nucleon. In both the expansion and the actual heavy ion collision simulation, a transition behavior is seen only at the lowest temperature (T<10 MeV) or bombarding energy (E=50 MeV/nucleon), where the attractive part of the mean field is able to bind the expanding matter. At the lowest energy one thus sees the formation of a central residue, whereas at higher bombarding energies there is complete disintegration of the centrally colliding nuclei. The spectrum of emitted nucleons is found to be much hotter than the kinetic energy spectrum of the central emitting region. The extracted temperature slope parameters are in agreement with recent data.
Streamer chamber data for collisions of Ar + KCl and Ar + BaI2 at 1.2 GeV/nucleon are compared with microscopic model predictions based on the Vlasov-Uehling-Uhlenbeck equation, for various density-dependent nuclear equations of state. Multiplicity distributions and inclusive rapidity and transverse momentum spectra are in good agreement. Rapidity spectra show evidence of being useful in determining whether the model uses the correct cross sections for binary collisions in the nuclear medium, and whether momentum-dependent interactions are correctly incorporated. Sideward flow results do not favor the same nuclear stiffness parameter at all multiplicities.
We demonstrate that strangeness separates in the Gibbs-phase coexistence between a baryon-rich quark-gluon plasma and hadron matter, even at T=0. For finite temperatures this is due to the associated production of kaons (containing s¯ quarks) in the hadron phase while s quarks remain in the deconfined phase. The s-s¯ separation results in a strong enhancement of the s-quark abundance in the quark phase. This mechanism is further supported by cooling and net strangeness enrichment due to the prefreezeout evaporation of pions and K+, K0, which carry away entropy and anti- strangeness from the system. Metastable droplets (i.e., stable as far as weak interactions are not regarded) of strange-quark matter (‘‘strangelets’’) can thus be formed during the phase transition. Such cool, compact, long-lived clusters could be experimentally observed by their unusually small Z/A ratio (≤0.1–0.3). Even if the strange-quark-matter phase is not stable under strong interactions, it should be observable by the delayed correlated emission of several hyperons. This would serve as a unique signature for the transient formation of a quark-gluon plasma.
We investigate the onset of multifragmentation employing an improved version of the N-body ‘‘quantum’’ molecular-dynamics approach. We study in detail the reaction 18O+197Au at 84 MeV/nucleon and find good agreement between the calculated results and the data for the double-differential proton cross section, the mass yield, the multiplicity, the kinetic energy of the fragments, and even for the kinematic correlations between intermediate mass fragments (IMF’s), which have been measured in this experiment for the first time. We observe a strong correlation between the impact parameter and both the size of the target remnant as well as the average proton multiplicity. Hence both observables can be used to determine the impact parameter experimentally. The IMF’s come from the most central collisions. The calculations confirm the experimental result that they are not emitted from an equilibrated system. Although the inclusive energy spectra look thermal, we cannot identify an impact parameter-independent isotropically emitting source. Even in central collisions global equilibrium is not observed. We find that multifragment emission at this bombarding energy is caused by a process very similar to that proposed in the macroscopic cold multifragmentation model. Thus it has a different origin than at beam energies around 1 GeV/nucleon, although the mass yield has an almost identical slope.
We investigate the hydrodynamical flow of nuclear matter in a conical-shock-wave scenario of a central, asymmetric heavy-ion collision. This work is motivated by a suggestion of Chapline and Granik that the creation of a deconfined phase of quarks and gluons behind the shock will appreciably increase the deflection angle of the matter flow. We employ several hadron matter equations of state recently suggested to solve the conical-shock-wave problem and compare the results with a calculation using the bag equation of state. We find that large differences in the deflection angle obtained in the rest frame of the shock vanish in the laboratory system. However, a signature for the deconfinement transition may be the transverse momentum of the matter flow, which is up to a factor of 2 larger for the quark-gluon plasma. Thus, an excitation function of the mean transverse momentum would show an increase at a certain bombarding energy, signaling the onset of the deconfinement transition.
We study the transition from fusion-fission phenomena at about 20 MeV/nucleon multifragmentation at 100–200 MeV/nucleon in the reaction 16O+80Br employing the quantum molecular dynamics model. The time evolution of the density and mass distribution, the charged-particle multiplicity, and spectra as well as angular distributions of light particles are investigated. The results exhibit the transition of the disassembly mechanism, but no sharp change is found. The results are in good agreement with recently measured 4-Pi data.
Inclusive neutron spectra were measured at 0°, 4°, 8°, 15°, 30°, and 42° from Nb-Nb and Au-Au collisions at 800 MeV/nucleon. A peak that originates from neutron evaporation from the projectile appears in the spectra at angles out to 8°. The shapes and magnitudes of the spectra are compared with those calculated from models of nucleus-nucleus collisions. The differential cross sections for Au-Au collisions are about four times those for Nb-Nb collisions. The predictions of the Vlasov-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (VUU) and QMD theories agree with the angular distributions of the differential cross sections except at small angles; the VUU prediction overestimates the angular distributions from a few degrees to about 20°, whereas the QMD prediction underestimates the angular distributions below 8°. The Firestreak model overestimates the angular distribution for Nb-Nb collisions and underestimates it for Au-Au collisions. Also, the VUU and QMD models agree with the measured double-differential cross sections in more angular and energy regions than the Firestreak and intranuclear cascade models; however, none of the models can account for the peaks at small angles (θ≤15°).
Within a relativistic mean-field theory (RMFT) experimental data on the single-particle spectra of lambda hypernuclei are well reproduced. It is shown that the coupling constants cannot be fixed unambiguously from the single-particle spectra. The stability and structure of multi-lambda hypernuclei is explored on the basis of the RMFT using the coupling constants as determined from the observed single lambda hypernuclear levels. It is predicted that multistrange nuclei exhibit an enhanced interaction radius, which further increases in the case of finite temperatures. We suggest that multi-lambda hypernuclei could be produced in high-energy heavy ions and observed in secondary noncharge-changing reactions. The equation of state of lambda matter and the possibility of pure lambda droplets are also discussed.
Shock discontinuities around the confinement-deconfinement transition in baryon-rich dense matter
(1989)
Nuclear transport models are important tools for interpretation of many heavy-ion experiments and are essential in efforts to probe the nuclear equation of state. In order to fulfill these roles, the model predictions should at least agree with observed single-particle-inclusive momentum spectra; however, this agreement has recently been questioned. The present work compares the Vlasov-Uehling-Uhlenbeck model to data for mass-symmetric systems ranging from 12C+12C to 139La+139La, and we find good agreement within experimental uncertainties at 0.4A and 0.8A GeV. For currently available data, these uncertainties are too large to permit effective nucleon-nucleon scattering cross sections in the nuclear medium to be extracted at a useful level of precision.
Nuclear transport models including density- and momentum-dependent mean-field effects are compared to intranuclear-cascade models and tested on recent data on inclusive p-like cross sections for 800A-MeV La+La. We find a remarkable agreement between most model calculations but a systematic disagreement with the measured yield at 20°, possibly indicating a need for modification of nuclear transport properties at high densities.
The quantum molecular dynamic method is used to study multifragmentation and fragment flow and their dependence on in-medium cross sections, momentum dependent interactions, and the nuclear equation of state, for collisions of 197Au+197Au and 93Nb+93Nb in the bombarding energy regime from 100 to 800A MeV. Time and impact parameter dependence of the fragment formation and their implications for the conjectured liquid-vapor phase transition are investigated. We find that the inclusive fragment mass distribution is independent of the equation of state and exhibits a power-law behavior Y(A)∼A-τ with an exponent τ≊-2.3. True multifragmentation events are found in central collisions for energies Elab∼30–200 MeV/nucleon. The associated light fragment (d,t,α) to proton ratios increase with the multiplicity of charged particles and decrease with energy, in agreement with recent experiments. The calculated absolute charged particle multiplicities, the multiplicities of intermediate mass (A>4) fragments, and their respective rapidity distributions do compare well with recent 4π data, but are quite insensitive to the equation of state. On the other hand, these quantities depend sensitively on the nucleon-nucleon scattering cross section, and can be used to determine σ experimentally. The transverse momentum flow of the complex fragments increases with the stiffness of the equation of state. Reduced (in-medium) n-n scattering cross sections reduce the fragment flow. Momentum dependent interactions increase the fragment flow. It is shown that the measured fragment flow at 200A MeV can be reproduced in the model. We find that also the increase of the px/A values with the fragment mass is in agreement with experiments. The calculated fragment flow is too small as compared to the plastic ball data, if a soft equation of state with in-medium corrections (momentum dependent interactions plus reduced cross sections) is employed. An alternative, most intriguing resolution of the puzzle about the stiffness of the equation of state could be an increase of the scattering cross sections due to precritical scattering in the vicinity of a phase transition.
The statistical model is used to illustrate the consequences of a successive binary decay mechanism as the initial nuclear excitation is pushed towards the limits of stability. The partition of the excitation energy between light and heavy fragments is explicitly calculated, as are the consequences of the decay of the primary light fragments to particle-bound residual nuclei which would be observed experimentally. The test nucleus 100 44 Ru is considered at initial excitations of 100, 200, 400, and 800 MeV. Exit channels of n, p, and α; and 100 clusters of 3 ≤ Z ≤ 20 ≤ 4, 6 ≤ A ≤ 48 are considered from all nuclides in the deexcitation cascade. The total primary and final cluster yields are shown versus Z and initial excitation. The primary versus final yields are also shown individually for 12C, 26Mg, and 48Ca. We show how multifragmentation yields will change with the excitation energy due to a successive binary decay mechanism. Measurements that may be prone to misinterpretation are discussed, as are those that should be representative of initial nucleus excitation.
Distillation and survival of strange quark matter droplets in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions
(1991)
Recently it has been suggested that rather cold droplets of absolutely stable or metastable strange-quark matter may be distilled in heavy-ion collisions during the phase transition from a baryon-rich quark-gluon plasma (QGP) to hadron matter. Here we present a model describing the hadronization of the QGP through particle emission, which is based solely on thermodynamical arguments. Pions and K+’s and K0’s carry away entropy and antistrangeness from the system, thus facilitating the cooling process and the strangelet formation. Our results are supported by revised more sophisticated rate calculations. Two rather unexpected results are obtained when this model is applied to the investigation of strangelet production. The strangeness separation mechanism and the formation process works well even for higher initial entropies per baryon, tantamount to higher bombarding energies. The surviving strangelets have a rather high strangeness content, fs∼1.2–2 [i.e., Z/A∼(-0.1)–(-0.5)]. Hence droplets of strange-quark matter with a baryon number of ∼10–30 and with a negative charge may be produced. They may serve as a unique signature for the transient formation of a quark-gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions.
Relativistic heavy ion collisions constitute a prolific source of hyperons: tens of hyperons per event are predicted at energies E≥10 GeV/nucleon, providing a scenario for the formation of metastable exotic multihypernuclear objects. They may exhibit exceptional properties: bound neutral (e.g., 4M2Λ2n, 10M2Λ8n, pure Λ droplets, 8Λ) and even negatively charged composites objects with positive baryon number (e.g., 4M2Σ-2n, 6M2Λ2Ξ-2n) could be formed in rare events. Such negative nuclei can easily be identified in a magnetic spectrometer. They could be considerably more abundant than antinuclei of the same A. We use the relativistic meson-baryon field theory—which gives an excellent description of normal nuclear and single-Λ hypernuclear properties—to calculate the rich spectrum of such exotic objects, their stability, and their structure. We also find solutions for a large variety of bound short-lived nuclei (e.g., 8M2Λ,2Σ-2p2n), which may decay strongly via formation of cascade (Ξ) particles. Multi-Ξ hypernuclei are also evaluated. A variety of potential candidates for such metastable exotic nuclei is presented. It turns out that the properties of such exotic multihypernuclear objects reveal quite similar features as the strangelet proposed as a unique signature for quark-gluon plasma formation in heavy ion collisions.
We present a new type of flow analysis, based on a particle-pair correlation function, in which there is no need for an event-by-event determination of the reaction plane. Consequently, the need to correct for dispersion in an estimated reaction plane does not arise. Our method also offers the option to avoid any influence from particle misidentification. Using this method, streamer chamber data for collisions of Ar+KCl and Ar+BaI2 at 1.2 GeV/nucleon are compared with predictions of a nuclear transport model.
A quasiclassical Pauli potential is used to simulate the Fermi motion of nucleons in a molecular dynamical simulation of heavy ion collisions. The thermostatic properties of a Fermi gas with and without interactions are presented. The inclusion of this Pauli potential into the quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) approach yields a model with well defined fermionic ground states, which is therefore also able to give the excitation energies of the emitted fragments. The deexcitation mechanisms (particle evaporation and multifragmentation) of the new model are investigated. The dynamics of the QMD with Pauli potential is tested by a wide range of comparisons of calculated and experimental double-differential cross sections for inclusive p-induced reactions at incident energies of 80 to 160 MeV. Results at 256 and 800 MeV incident proton energy are presented as predictions for completed experiments which are as yet unpublished.
Stopping power and thermalization in relativistic heavy ion collisions is investigated employing the quantum molecular dynamics approach. For heavy systems stopping of the incoming nuclei is predicted, independent of the energy. The influence of the quantum effects and their increasing importance at low energies, is demonstrated by inspection of the mean free path of the nucleons and the n-n collision number. Classical models, which neglect these effects, overestimate the stopping and the thermalization as well as the collective flow and squeeze out. The sensitivity of the transverse and longitudinal momentum transfer to the in-medium cross section and to the pressure is investigated.
Experimental results are presented on the charge, velocity, and angular distributions of intermediate mass fragments (IMFs) for the reaction Fe+Au at bombarding energies of 50 and 100 MeV/nucleon. Results are compared to the quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) model and a modified QMD which includes a Pauli potential and follows the subsequent statistical decay of excited reaction products. The more complete model gives a good representation of the data and suggests that the major source of IMFs at large angles is due to multifragmentation of the target residue.
Strange hadronic matter
(1993)
In an extended mean field theory, we find a large class of bound multistrange objects, formed from combinations of {p,n,Λ,Ξ0,Ξ-} baryons, which are stable against strong decay. We predict a maximal binding energy per baryon of EB/A≊-21 MeV, strangeness per baryon fs≊1.2, charge per baryon fq≊-0.1 to 0, and baryon density 2.5–3 times that of ordinary nuclei. For A≥6, we obtain stable combinations involving only {Λ,Ξ0,Ξ-} hyperons.
Strong correlations between baryon stopping in the projectile rapidity hemisphere and target excitation have been found in the light-ion-induced reactions at the BNL Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) (E814 group). Results in the framework of the relativistic molecular dynamics approach (RQMD) describe recent E814 data quite well. We discuss the RQMD results together with proton and pion data from the E802 group near midrapidity. They have raised the question of whether partial transparency could be seen in these experiments. The RQMD results indicate strong transverse baryon flow in central Si+Au collisions after the projectile has been stopped in the target.
We present a calculation of antiproton yields in Si+Al and Si+Au collisions at 14.5A GeV in the framework of the relativistic quantum molecular dynamics approach (RQMD). Multistep processes lead to the formation of high-mass flux tubes. Their decay dominates the initial antibaryon yield. However, the subsequent annihilation in the surrounding baryon-rich matter suppresses the antiproton yield considerably: Two-thirds of all antibaryons are annihilated even for the light Si+Al system. Comparisons with preliminary data of the E802 experiment support this analysis.
Accurate impact parameter determination in a heavy-ion collision is crucial for almost all further analysis. We investigate the capabilities of an artificial neural network in that respect. First results show that the neural network is capable of improving the accuracy of the impact parameter determination based on observables such as the flow angle, the average directed inplane transverse momentum and the difference between transverse and longitudinal momenta. However, further investigations are necessary to discover the full potential of the neural network approach.
Azimuthal correlations of pions are studied with the quantum molecular dynamics model. Pions are preferentially emitted perpendicular to the reaction plane. Our analysis shows that this anisotropy is dominated by pion absorption on the spectator matter in the reaction plane. Pions emitted perpendicular to the reaction plane undergo less rescattering than those emitted in the reaction plane and might therefore be more sensitive to the early hot and dense reaction phase.
We study dilepton production from a quark-gluon plasma of given energy density at finite quark chemical potential μ and find that the dilepton production rate is a strongly decreasing function of μ. Therefore, the signal to background ratio of dileptons from a plasma created in a heavy-ion collision may decrease significantly.
Viscous hydrodynamic calculations of high energy heavy-ion collisions (Nb-Nb and Au-Au) from 200 to 800 MeV/nucleon are presented. The resulting baryon rapidity distributions, the in-plane transverse momentum transfer (bounce-off), and the azimuthal dependence of the midrapidity particles (off-plane squeeze out) compare well with Plastic Ball data. We find that the considered observables are sensitive both to the nuclear equation of state and to the nuclear shear viscosity η. Transverse momentum distributions indicate a high shear viscosity (η≊60 MeV/fm2 c) in the compression zone, in agreement with nuclear matter estimates. The bulk viscosity ζ influences only the entropy production during the expansion stage; collective observables like flow and dN/dY do not depend strongly on ζ. The recently observed off-plane (φ=90°) squeeze-out, which is found in the triple-differential rapidity distribution, exhibits the strongest sensitivity to the nuclear equation of state. It is demonstrated that for very central collisions, b=1 fm, the squeeze-out is visible even in the double-differential cross section. This is experimentally accessible by studying azimuthally symmetric events, as confirmed recently by data of the European 4π detector collaboration at Gesellchaft für Schwerionforschung Darmstadt.
If density isomers exist they can be detected by measuring the excitation function of subthreshold kaon production. When the system reaches the density where the density isomer has influence on the equation of state (which depends on the beam energy and on the optical potential), we observe a jump in the cross section of the kaons whereas other observables change little. Above threshold Λ¯’s or p¯’s may be used to continue the search. This is the result of microscopic Boltzman-Uehling-Uhlenbeck calculations.
This a review of the present status of heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies. The main goal of heavy-ion physics in this energy regime is to shed some light on the nuclear equation of state (EOS), hence we present the basic concept of the EOS in nuclear matter as well as of nuclear shock waves which provide the key mechanism for the compression of nuclear matter. The main part of this article is devoted to the models currently used for describing heavy-ion reactions theoretically and to the observables useful for extracting information about the EOS from experiments. A detailed discussion of the flow effects with a broad comparison with the avaible data is presented. The many-body aspects of such reactions are investigated via the multifragmentation break up of excited nuclear systems and a comparison of model calculations with the most recent multifragmentation experiments is presented.
In the framework of the relativistic quantum dynamics approach we investigate antiproton observables in Au-Au collisions at 10.7A GeV. The rapidity dependence of the in-plane directed transverse momentum p(y) of p's shows the opposite sigh of the nucleon flow, which has indeed recently been discovered at 10.7A GeV by the E877 group. The "antiflow" of p's is also predicted at 2A GeV and at 160 A GeV and appears at all energies also for pi's and K's. These predicted p anticorrelations are a direct proof of strong p annihilation in massive heavy ion reactions.
The quantum statistical model (QSM) is used to calculate nuclear fragment distributions in chemical equilibrium. Several observable isotopic effects are predicted for intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. It is demonstrated that particle ratios for different systemsdo not depend on the breakup density-the only free parameter in our model.The importance of entropy measurements is discussed. Specific particle ratios for the system Au-Au are predicted, which can be used to determine the chemical potentials of the hot midrapidity fragment source in nearly central heavy ion collisions. Pacs-Nr. 25.70 Pq
The Monte Carlo parton string model for multiparticle production in hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energies is described. An adequate choice of the parameters in the model gives the possibility of recovering the main results of the dual parton model, with the advantage of treating both hadron and nuclear interactions on the same footing, reducing them to interactions between partons. Also the possibility of considering both soft and hard parton interactions is introduced.
The properties of pions from the hot and dense reaction stage of relativistic heavy ion collisions are investigated with the quantum molecular dynamics model. Pions originating from this reaction stage stem from resonance decay with enhanced mass. They carry high transverse momenta. The calculation shows a direct correlation between high pt pions, early freeze-out times and high freeze-out densities.