Searcharxiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2504.21183

Do QGP Droplets Drive Anisotropy in Small Systems? Insights from RHIC and the LHC

Roy A. Lacey
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Azimuthal anisotropy scaling functions for identified mesons and baryons are analyzed in large (Pb+Pb at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76$ and 5.02 TeV, Au+Au at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV), intermediate (Cu+Cu at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$~GeV), and small (p+Pb at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02$ and 8.16 TeV, p+Au, d+Au, and $^3$He+Au at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV) collision systems. The scaling functions' fidelity supports a hydrodynamic-like origin for anisotropies in the flow-dominated regime. Central Pb+Pb, Au+Au, and Cu+Cu reflect QGP-driven expansion with strong radial flow and significant jet quenching, while peripheral Pb+Pb and Cu+Cu exhibit hadronic-dominated dynamics. In contrast, central RHIC small systems show hadronic-dominated behavior, with strong re-scattering, negligible radial flow, and suppressed jet quenching, following the hierarchy p+Au $>$ d+Au $>$ $^3$He+Au. At the LHC, ultra-central p+Pb collisions display enhanced radial flow, reduced re-scattering, and small but nonzero jet quenching. Scaling violations at high $p_T$ reflect partial suppression of partonic energy loss. These findings demonstrate that QGP-like behavior in small systems depends sensitively on both system size and beam energy, and establish the scaling framework as a robust diagnostic of collectivity and medium properties across diverse collision conditions.

Explore related subjects

hep-exhep-phhep-thnucl-ex

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Roy A. Lacey. 2025-04-29. Do QGP Droplets Drive Anisotropy in Small Systems? Insights from RHIC and the LHC. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.21183

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Production of Light Nuclei and Hypernuclei in Heavy-Ion Collisions

We review recent STAR and ALICE measurements of light-nucleus and hypernucleus yields, femtoscopic correlations, and collective flow presented at SQM 2026. Statistical-hadronization calculations provide a useful baseline for integrated yields but do not simultaneously describe all measured light-nucleus ratios across collision energies and system sizes. For bound states with mass number $A<4$, current coalescence calculations provide a broadly consistent description of yields, femtoscopic correlations, and collective flow, although the quantitative hypertriton comparison depends on the assumed few-body wave function. The suppressed production of resonant $^{4}$Li relative to compact $^{4}$He indicates an effect of nuclear structure and late-stage dynamics. However, the quantitative model comparison also depends on the treatment of feed-down from unstable states. In high-multiplicity $p$+$p$ collisions, pion-deuteron femtoscopy further indicates that most observed (anti)deuterons are formed through nucleon fusion after strong decays of short-lived resonances. Taken together, these measurements show that production chronology and internal nuclear structure leave measurable imprints on the physics observables.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2026

Search for the process $e^+e^-\to f_1(1285)$ at the SND detector

In the experiment with the SND detector at the VEPP-2000 $e^+e^-$ collider, a search is performed for the direct production of the $C$-even $f_1(1285)$ resonance in $e^+e^-$ collisions. The analysis is based on data with an integrated luminosity of about 200 pb$^{-1}$, accumulated in the center-of-mass energy range of 1.14--1.46 GeV, of which about 72 pb$^{-1}$ were recorded near the maximum of the $f_1(1285)$ resonance. The $f_1(1285)$ production cross section at the resonance maximum $\sigma(e^+e^-\to f_1)=(31\pm 13\pm 2)$ pb and the branching fraction $B(f_1(1285)\to e^+e^-)=(3.5\pm 1.4\pm 0.3)\times 10^{-9}$ have been measured. The significance of the observation of the $e^+e^-\to f_1(1285)$ process is $2.5\sigma$. Since the significance is low, we also present the upper limits at the 90% confidence level: $\sigma(e^+e^-\to f_1)<48\mbox{ pb}$ and $B(f_1(1285)\to e^+e^-)<5.4\times 10^{-9}$.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2026

Projected Sensitivity to Slow Muonphilic Dark Matter with Accelerator Muon Beams

The nature of dark matter (DM) remains one of the most enduring open questions in modern physics, and muonphilic DM has emerged as a promising scenario that complements traditional DM candidates. Following the recently established cosmic-ray muon scattering approach, we investigate the sensitivity for probing slow muonphilic DM with accelerator muon beams. A Geant4-based simulation framework is developed, incorporating the detector geometry from the PKMu muon tomography system and a dedicated elastic $\mu$-DM scattering process. The projected sensitivity is found to be largely insensitive to both the beam energy and the transverse beam size when the beam is fully contained within the detector acceptance. For a benchmark beam intensity of $10^5/\rm{s}$, the simulated pure-muon beam surpasses the existing cosmic-ray limit of $1.61\times10^{-17}$ cm$^2$ at $m_{\rm DM}=1$ GeV within approximately 11 seconds. A realistic muon beam phase-space distribution based on simulations for the High Intensity heavy-ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) is also implemented, yielding projected limits that improve upon the cosmic-ray results by nearly two orders of magnitude in a one-day exposure. These results demonstrate that a beam-muon scattering experiment offers a robust and promising route toward significantly improved sensitivity to slow muonphilic DM.

hep-ex↗