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We make predictions for the kaon interferometry measurements in Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). A first order phase transition from a thermalized Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) to a gas of hadrons is assumed for the transport calculations. The fraction of kaons that are directly emitted from the phase boundary is considerably enhanced at large transverse momenta K T ~ 1 GeV/c. In this kinematic region, the sensitivity of the R out/R side ratio to the QGP-properties is enlarged. Here, the results of the 1-dimensional correlation analysis are presented. The extracted interferometry radii, depending on K-Theta, are not unusually large and are strongly affected by momentum resolution effects.
We present calculations of two-pion and two-kaon correlation functions in relativistic heavy ion collisions from a relativistic transport model that includes explicitly a first-order phase transition from a thermalized quark-gluon plasma to a hadron gas. We compare the obtained correlation radii with recent data from RHIC. The predicted R_side radii agree with data while the R_out and R_long radii are overestimated. We also address the impact of in-medium modifications, for example, a broadening of the rho-meson, on the correlation radii. In particular, the longitudinal correlation radius R_long is reduced, improving the comparison to data.
The relaxation of hot nuclear matter to an equilibrated state in the central zone of heavy-ion collisions at energies from AGS to RHIC is studied within the microscopic UrQMD model. It is found that the system reaches the (quasi)equilibrium stage for the period of 10-15 fm/c. Within this time the matter in the cell expands nearly isentropically with the entropy to baryon ratio S/A = 150 - 170. Thermodynamic characteristics of the system at AGS and at SPS energies at the endpoints of this stage are very close to the parameters of chemical and thermal freeze-out extracted from the thermal fit to experimental data. Predictions are made for the full RHIC energy square root s = 200$ AGeV. The formation of a resonance-rich state at RHIC energies is discussed.
Compelling evidence for the creation of a new form of matter has been claimed to be found in Pb+Pb collisions at SPS. We discuss the uniqueness of often proposed experimental signatures for quark matter formation in relativistic heavy ion collisions. It is demonstrated that so far none of the proposed signals like J/psi meson production/suppression, strangeness enhancement, dileptons, and directed flow unambigiously show that a phase of deconfined matter has been formed in SPS Pb+Pb collisions. We emphasize the need for systematic future measurements to search for simultaneous irregularities in the excitation functions of several observables in order to come close to pinning the properties of hot, dense QCD matter from data.
We calculate the Gaussian radius parameters of the pion-emitting source in high energy heavy ion collisions, assuming a first order phase transition from a thermalized Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) to a gas of hadrons. Such a model leads to a very long-lived dissipative hadronic rescattering phase which dominates the properties of the two-pion correlation functions. The radii are found to depend only weakly on the thermalization time tau i, the critical temperature T c (and thus the latent heat), and the specific entropy of the QGP. The dissipative hadronic stage enforces large variations of the pion emission times around the mean. Therefore, the model calculations suggest a rapid increase of R out/R side as a function of K T if a thermalized QGP were formed.
The equilibration of hot and dense nuclear matter produced in the central cell of central Au+Au collisions at RHIC (sqrt s = 200 A GeV) energies is studied within a microscopic transport model. The pressure in the cell becomes isotropic at t approx 5 fm/c after beginning of the collision. Within the next 15 fm/c the expansion of matter in the cell proceeds almost isentropically with the entropy per baryon ratio S/A approx 150, and the equation of state in the (P,epsilon) plane has a very simple form, P=0.15 epsilon. Comparison with the statistical model of an ideal hadron gas indicates that the time t approx 20 fm/c may be too short to reach the fully equilibrated state. Particularly, the creation of long-lived resonance-rich matter in the cell decelerates the relaxation to chemical equilibrium. This resonance-abundant state can be detected experimentally after the thermal freeze-out of particles.
The equilibration of hot and dense nuclear matter produced in the central region in central Au+Au collisions at square root s = 200A GeV is studied within the microscopic transport model UrQMD. The pressure here becomes isotropic at t approx 5 fm/c. Within the next 15 fm/c the expansion of the matter proceeds almost isentropically with the entropy per baryon ratio S/A approx 150. During this period the equation of state in the (P, epsilon)-plane has a very simple form, P = 0.15 epsilon. Comparison with the statistical model (SM) of an ideal hadron gas reveals that the time of approx 20 fm/c may be too short to attain the fully equilibrated state. Particularly, the fractions of resonances are overpopulated in contrast to the SM values. The creation of such a long-lived resonance-rich state slows down the relaxation to chemical equilibrium and can be detected experimentally.
The yields of strange particles are calculated with the UrQMD model for p,Pb(158 AGeV)Pb collisions and compared to experimental data. The yields are enhanced in central collisions if compared to proton induced or peripheral Pb+Pb collisions. The enhancement is due to secondary interactions. Nevertheless, only a reduction of the quark masses or equivalently an increase of the string tension provides an adequate description of the large observed enhancement factors (WA97 and NA49). Furthermore, the yields of unstable strange resonances as the Lambda star(1520) resonance or the phi meson are considerably affected by hadronic rescattering of the decay products.
Enhanced antiproton production in Pb(160 AGeV)+Pb reactions: evidence for quark gluon matter?
(2000)
The centrality dependence of the antiproton per participant ratio is studied in Pb(160 AGeV)+Pb reactions. Antiproton production in collisions of heavy nuclei at the CERN/SPS seems considerably enhanced as compared to conventional hadronic physics, given by the antiproton production rates in pp and antiproton annihilation in p p reactions. This enhancement is consistent with the observation of strong in-medium effects in other hadronic observables and may be an indication of partial restoration of chiral symmetry.
REVTEX, 27 pages incl. 10 figures and 3 tables; Phys. Rev. C (in press) Journal-ref: Phys.Rev. C62 (2000) 064906. We study the local equilibrium in the central V = 125 fm3 cell in heavy-ion collisions at energies from 10.7 A GeV (AGS) to 160 A GeV (SPS) calculated in the microscopic transport model. In the present paper the hadron yields and energy spectra in the cell are compared with those of infinite nuclear matter, as calculated within the same model. The agreement between the spectra in the two systems is established for times t >= 10 fm/c in the central cell. The cell results do not deviate noticeably from the infinite matter calculations with rising incident energy, in contrast to the apparent discrepancy with predictions of the statistical model (SM) of an ideal hadron gas. The entropy of this state is found to be very close to the maximum entropy, while hadron abundances and energy spectra differ significantly from those of the SM.
The centrality dependence of (multi-)strange hadron abundances is studied for Pb(158 AGeV)Pb reactions and compared to p(158 GeV)Pb collisions. The microscopic transport model UrQMD is used for this analysis. The predicted Lambda/pi-, Xi-/pi- and Omega-/pi- ratios are enhanced due to rescattering in central Pb-Pb collisions as compared to peripheral Pb-Pb or p-Pb collisions. A reduction of the constituent quark masses to the current quark masses m_s \sim 230 MeV, m_q \sim 10 MeV, as motivated by chiral symmetry restoration, enhances the hyperon yields to the experimentally observed high values. Similar results are obtained by an ad hoc overall increase of the color electric field strength (effective string tension of kappa=3 GeV/fm). The enhancement depends strongly on the kinematical cuts. The maximum enhancement is predicted around midrapidity. For Lambda's, strangeness suppression is predicted at projectile/target rapidity. For Omega's, the predicted enhancement can be as large as one order of magnitude. Comparisons of Pb-Pb data to proton induced asymmetric (p-A) collisions are hampered due to the predicted strong asymmetry in the various rapidity distributions of the different (strange) particle species. In p-Pb collisions, strangeness is locally (in rapidity) not conserved. The present comparison to the data of the WA97 and NA49 collaborations clearly supports the suggestion that conventional (free) hadronic scenarios are unable to describe the observed high (anti-)hyperon yields in central collisions. The doubling of the strangeness to nonstrange suppression factor, gamma_s \approx 0.65, might be interpreted as a signal of a phase of nearly massless particles.
Relativistic hadron-hadron collisions in the ultra-relativistic quantum molecular dynamics model
(1999)
Hadron-hadron collisions at high energies are investigated in the Ultra- relativistic-Quantum-Molecular-Dynamics approach. This microscopic trans- port model describes the phenomenology of hadronic interactions at low and intermediate energies ( s < 5 GeV) in terms of interactions between known hadrons and their resonances. At higher energies, s > 5 GeV, the excitation of color strings and their subsequent fragmentation into hadrons dominates the multiple production of particles in the UrQMD model. The model shows a fair overall agreement with a large body of experimental h-h data over a wide range of h-h center-of-mass energies. Hadronic reaction data with higher precision would be useful to support the use of the UrQMD model for relativistic heavy ion collisions.
Local equilibrium in heavy ion collisions. Microscopic model versus statistical model analysis
(1999)
The assumption of local equilibrium in relativistic heavy ion collisions at energies from 10.7 AGeV (AGS) up to 160 AGeV (SPS) is checked in the microscopic transport model. Dynamical calculations performed for a central cell in the reaction are compared to the predictions of the thermal statistical model. We find that kinetic, thermal and chemical equilibration of the expanding hadronic matter are nearly approached late in central collisions at AGS energy for t >= 10 fm/c in a central cell. At these times the equation of state may be approximated by a simple dependence P ~= (0.12-0.15) epsilon. Increasing deviations of the yields and the energy spectra of hadrons from statistical model values are observed for increasing energy, 40 AGeV and 160 AGeV. These violations of local equilibrium indicate that a fully equilibrated state is not reached, not even in the central cell of heavy ion collisions at energies above 10 AGeV. The origin of these findings is traced to the multiparticle decays of strings and many-body decays of resonances.
The hypothesis of local equilibrium (LE) in relativistic heavy ion collisions at energies from AGS to RHIC is checked in the microscopic transport model. We find that kinetic, thermal, and chemical equilibration of the expanding hadronic matter is nearly reached in central collisions at AGS energy for t >_ fm/c in a central cell. At these times the equation of state may be approximated by a simple dependence P ~= (0.12-0.15) epsilon. Increasing deviations of the yields and the energy spectra of hadrons from statistical model values are observed for increasing bombarding energies. The origin of these deviations is traced to the irreversible multiparticle decays of strings and many-body (N >_ 3) decays of resonances. The violations of LE indicate that the matter in the cell reaches a steady state instead of idealized equilibrium. The entropy density in the cell is only about 6% smaller than that of the equilibrium state.
Directed and elliptic flow
(1999)
We compare microscopic transport model calculations to recent data on the directed and elliptic flow of various hadrons in 2 - 10 A GeV Au+Au and Pb (158 A GeV) Pb collisions. For the Au+Au excitation function a transition from the squeeze-out to an in-plane enhanced emission is consistently described with mean field potentials corresponding to one incompressibility. For the Pb (158 A GeV) Pb system the elliptic flow prefers in-plane emission both for protons and pions, the directed flow of protons is opposite to that of the pions, which exhibit anti-flow. Strong directed transverse flow is present for protons and Lambdas in Au (6 A GeV) Au collisions as well. Both for the SPS and the AGS energies the agreement between data and calculations is remarkable.
Dilepton spectra are calculated within the microscopic transport model UrQMD and compared to data from the CERES experiment. The invariant mass spectra in the region between 300 MeV and 600 MeV depend strongly on the mass dependence of the rho meson decay width which is not sufficiently determined by the Vector Meson Dominance model. A consistent explanation of both the recent Pb+Au data and the proton induced data can be given without additional medium effects.
Nonequilibrium models (three-fluid hydrodynamics, UrQMD, and quark molecular dynamics) are used to discuss the uniqueness of often proposed experimental signatures for quark matter formation in relativistic heavy ion collisions from the SPS via RHIC to LHC. It is demonstrated that these models - although they do treat the most interesting early phase of the collisions quite differently (thermalizing QGP vs. coherent color fields with virtual particles) -- all yield a reasonable agreement with a large variety of the available heavy ion data. Hadron/hyperon yields, including J/Psi meson production/suppression, strange matter formation, dileptons, and directed flow (bounce-off and squeeze-out) are investigated. Observations of interesting phenomena in dense matter are reported. However, we emphasize the need for systematic future measurements to search for simultaneous irregularities in the excitation functions of several observables in order to come close to pinning the properties of hot, dense QCD matter from data. The role of future experiments with the STAR and ALICE detectors is pointed out.
Local kinetic and chemical equilibration is studied for Au+Au collisions at 10.7 AGeV in the microscopic Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics model (UrQMD). The UrQMD model exhibits dramatic deviations from equilibrium during the high density phase of the collision. Thermal and chemical equilibration of the hadronic matter seems to be established in the later stages during a quasiisentropic expansion, observed in the central reaction cell with volume 125 fm3. For t > 10 fm/c the hadron energy spectra in the cell are nicely reproduced by Boltzmann distributions with a common rapidly dropping temperature. Hadron yields change drastically and at the late expansion stage follow closely those of an ideal gas statistical model. The equation of state seems to be simple at late times: P = 0.12 Epsilon. The time evolution of other thermodynamical variables in the cell is also presented.
Equilibrium properties of infinite relativistic hadron matter are investigated using the Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) model. The simulations are performed in a box with periodic boundary conditions. Equilibration times depend critically on energy and baryon densities. Energy spectra of various hadronic species are shown to be isotropic and consistent with a single temperature in equilibrium. The variation of energy density versus temperature shows a Hagedorn-like behavior with a limiting temperature of 130 +/- 10 MeV. Comparison of abundances of different particle species to ideal hadron gas model predictions show good agreement only if detailed balance is implemented for all channels. At low energy densities, high mass resonances are not relevant; however, their importance raises with increasing energy density. The relevance of these different conceptual frameworks for any interpretation of experimental data is questioned.
In this paper, the concepts of microscopic transport theory are introduced and the features and shortcomings of the most commonly used ansatzes are discussed. In particular, the Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) transport model is described in great detail. Based on the same principles as QMD and RQMD, it incorporates a vastly extended collision term with full baryon-antibaryon symmetry, 55 baryon and 32 meson species. Isospin is explicitly treated for all hadrons. The range of applicability stretches from E lab < 100$ MeV/nucleon up to E lab> 200$ GeV/nucleon, allowing for a consistent calculation of excitation functions from the intermediate energy domain up to ultrarelativistic energies. The main physics topics under discussion are stopping, particle production and collective flow.