arXiv subjects

H. Oeschler

Publications and source records attributed to H. Oeschler.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2004

Spinodal decomposition, nuclear fog and two characteristic volumes in thermal multifragmentation

Thermal multifragmentation of hot nuclei is interpreted as the nuclear liquid-fog phase transition inside the spinodal region. The experimental data for p(8.1GeV) + Au collisions are analyzed within the framework of the statistical multifragmentation model (SMM) for the events with emission of at least two IMFs. It is found that the partition of hot nuclei is specified after expansion to a volume equal to Vt = (2.6+-0.3) Vo, with Vo as the volume at normal density. However, the freeze-out volume is found to be twice as large: Vf = (5+-1) Vo.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2004

On the chemical equilibration of strangeness-exchange reaction in heavy-ion collisions

The strangeness-exchange reaction pi + Y -> K- + N is shown to be the dynamical origin of chemical equilibration for K- production in heavy-ion collisions up to beam energies of 10 A GeV. The hyperons occurring in this process are produced associately with K+ in baryon-baryon and meson-baryon interactions. This connection is demonstrated by the ratio K-/K+ which does not vary with centrality and shows a linear correlation with the yield of pions per participant. At incident energies above AGS this correlation no longer holds due to the change in the production mechanism of kaons.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2004

Two characteristic volumes in thermal nuclear multifragmentation

The paper is devoted to the experimental determination of the space-time characteristics for the target multifragmentation in p(8.1GeV) + Au collisions. The experimental data on the fragment charge distribution and kinetic energy spectra are analyzed within the framework of the statistical multifragmentation model. It is found that the partition of hot nuclei is specified after expansion of the target spectator to a volume equal to Vt = (2.9 +- 0.2) Vo, with Vo as the volume at normal density. However, the freeze-out volume is found to be Vf = (11 +- 3) Vo. At freeze-out, all the fragments are well separated and only the Coulomb force should be taken into account. The results are in accordance with a scenario of spinodal disintegration of hot nuclei.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2003

Multifragmentation and nuclear phase transitions (liquid-fog and liquid-gas)

Thermal multifragmentation of hot nuclei is interpreted as the nuclear liquid-fog phase transition. The charge distributions of the intermediate mass fragments produced in p(3.6 GeV) + Au and p(8.1 GeV) + Au collisions are analyzed within the statistical multifragmentation model with the critical temperature for the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition Tc as a free parameter. The analysis presented here provides strong support for a value of Tc > 15 MeV.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2003

First evidence for different freeze-out conditions for kaons and antikaons observed in heavy-ion collisions

Differential production cross sections of K- and K+ mesons have been measured in Ni+Ni and Au+Au collisions at a beam energy of 1.5 AGeV. The K-/K+ ratio is found to be nearly constant as a function of the collision centrality and system size. The spectral slopes and the polar emission pattern differ for K- and K+ mesons. These observations indicate that K+ mesons decouple earlier from the fireball than K- mesons.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2003

Near-threshold production of the multi-strange $Ξ^-$ hyperon

The yield for the multi-strange $Ξ^{-}$ hyperon has been measured in 6 AGeV Au+Au collisions via reconstruction of its decay products $π^{-}$ and $Λ$, the latter also being reconstructed from its daughter tracks of $π^{-}$ and p. The measurement is rather close to the threshold for $Ξ^{-}$ production and therefore provides an important test of model predictions. The measured yield for $Ξ^{-}$ and $Λ$ are compared for several centralities. In central collisions the $Ξ^{-}$ yield is found to be in excellent agreement with statistical and transport model predictions, suggesting that multi-strange hadron production approaches chemical equilibrium in high baryon density nuclear matter.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2003

Coulomb dissociation of 8B and the low-energy cross section of the 7Be(p,gamma)8B solar fusion reaction

An exclusive measurement of the Coulomb breakup of 8B into 7Be+p at 254 A MeV allowed to study the angular correlations of the breakup particles. These correlations demonstrate clearly that E1 multipolarity dominates and that E2 multipolarity can be neglected. By using a simple single-particle model for 8B and treating the breakup in first-order perturbation theory, we extract a zero-energy S factor of S-(17)(0) = 18.6 +- 1.2 +- 1.0 eV b.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2003

Critical Temperature for the Nuclear Liquid-Gas Phase Transition

The charge distribution of the intermediate mass fragments produced in p (8.1 GeV) + Au collisions is analyzed in the framework of the statistical multifragmentation model with the critical temperature for the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition $T_c$ as a free parameter. It is found that $T_c=20\pm3$ MeV (90% CL).

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2003

What determines the $K^-$ multiplicity at energies around 1-2 AGeV?

In heavy ion reactions at energies around 1-2 AGeV the measured $K^-$ yields appear rather high as compared to pp collisions as shown by the KaoS collaboration. Employing IQMD simulations, we show that this is caused by the fact that the dominant production channel is not $BB\to BBK^+K^-$ but the mesonic $Λ(Σ) π\to K^-B$ reaction. Because the $Λ$ ($Σ$) stem from the reaction $BB \to Λ(Σ) K^+ B$, the $K^+$ and the $K^-$ yield are strongly correlated, i.e. the $K^-/K^+$ ratio occurs to be nearly independent of the impact parameter as found experimentally. $K^-$ are continuously produced but also very quickly reabsorbed leading to an almost identical rate for production and reabsorption. The final $K^-$ yield is strongly influenced by the $K^+N$ (due to their production via the $Λ(Σ)$) but very little by the $K^-$N potential.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2002

Comparative Study of Multifragmentation of Gold Nuclei Induced by Relativistic Protons, $^4$He, and $^{12}$C

Multiple emission of intermediate-mass fragments has been studied for the collisions of p, $^4$He and $^{12}$C on Au with the $4π$ setup FASA. The mean IMF multiplicities (for the events with at least one IMF) are saturating at the value of $2.2\pm0.2$ for the incident energies above 6 GeV. The observed IMF multiplicities cannot be described in a two-stage scenario, a fast cascade followed by a statistical multifragmentation. Agreement with the measured IMF multiplicities is obtained by introducing an intermediate phase and modifying empirically the excitation energies and masses of the remnants. The angular distributions and energy spectra from the p-induced collisions are in agreement with the scenario of ``thermal'' multifragmentation of a hot and diluted target spectator. In the case of $^{12}$C+Au(22.4 GeV) and $^4$He(14.6 GeV)+Au collisions, deviations from a pure thermal break-up are seen in the energy spectra of the emitted fragments, which are harder than those both from model calculations and from the measured ones for p-induced collisions. This difference is attributed to a collective flow.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2001

Strange Particle Production from SIS to LHC

>1A review of meson emission in heavy ion collisions at incident energies from SIS up to collider energies is presented. A statistical model assuming chemical equilibrium and local strangeness conservation (i.e. strangeness conservation per collision) explains most of the observed features. Emphasis is put onto the study of $K^+$ and $K^-$ emission at low incident energies. In the framework of this statistical model it is shown that the experimentally observed equality of $K^+$ and $K^-$ rates at ``threshold-corrected'' energies $\sqrt{s} - \sqrt{s_{th}}$ is due to a crossing of two excitation functions. Furthermore, the independence of the $K^+$ to $K^-$ ratio on the number of participating nucleons observed between SIS and RHIC is consistent with this model. It is demonstrated that the $K^-$ production at SIS energies occurs predominantly via strangeness exchange and this channel is approaching chemical equilibrium. The observed maximum in the $K^+/π^+$ excitation function is also seen in the ratio of strange to non-strange particle production. The appearance of this maximum around 30 $A\cdot$GeV is due to the energy dependence of the chemical freeze-out parameters $T$ and $μ_B$.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2001

Conservation Laws and Particle Production in Heavy Ion Collisions

We discuss the role of the conservation laws related with U(1) internal symmetry group in the statistical model description of particle productions in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. We derive and show the differences in particle multiplicities in the canonical and the grand canonical formulation of quantum number conservation. The time evolution and the approach to chemical equilibrium in the above ensembles is discussed in terms of kinetic master equation. The application of the statistical model to the description of (multi)strange particle yields at GSI/SIS and the SPS energies is also presented.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Maximum Relative Strangeness Content in Heavy Ion Collisions Around 30 A.GeV

It is shown that the ratio of strange to non-strange particle production in relativistic heavy ion collisions is expected to reach a maximum at beam energies around 30 A.GeV in the lab frame. This maximum is unique to heavy ion collisions, and has no equivalent in elementary particle collisions. The appearance of the maximum is due to the energy dependence of the chemical freeze-out parameters and is clearly seen as a pronounced peak in the Wroblewski factor as a function of the incident energy as well as in the behavior of the K+/pi+ ratio. Below 30 A.GeV strange baryons contribute strongly because of the very large value of the chemical potential muB. As the energy increases, the decrease of the baryon chemical potential coupled with only moderate increases in the associated temperature causes a decline in the relative number of strange baryons above energies of about 30 A.GeV leading to very pronounced maxima in the Lambda/pi+ and Xi-/pi+ ratios.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Transition from Thermal to Rapid Expansion in Multifragmentation of Gold Induced by Light Relativistic Projectiles

Multiple emission of intermediate-mass fragments has been studied for the collisions of p, $^4$He and $^{12}$C on Au with the $4π$ setup FASA. In the case of $^{12}$C(22.4 GeV)+Au and $^4$He(14.6 GeV)+Au collisions, the deviations from a pure thermal break-up are seen in the energy spectra of the emitted fragments: the spectra are harder than calculated and than measured in p-induced collisions. This difference is attributed to a collective flow with the expansion velocity on the surface about 0.1 $c$ (for $^{12}$C+Au collisions).

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2000

Production of Charged Pions, Kaons and Antikaons in Relativistic C+C and C+Au Collisions

Production cross sections of charged pions, kaons and antikaons have been measured in C+C and C+Au collisions at beam energies of 1.0 and 1.8 AGeV for different polar emission angles. The kaon and antikaon energy spectra can be described by Boltzmann distributions whereas the pion spectra exhibit an additional enhancement at low energies. The pion multiplicity per participating nucleon M(pi+)/A_part is a factor of about 3 smaller in C+Au than in C+C collisions at 1.0 AGeV whereas it differs only little for the C and the Au target at a beam energy of 1.8 AGeV. The K+ multiplicities per participating nucleon M(K+)/A_part are independent of the target size at 1 AGeV and at 1.8 AGeV. The K- multiplicity per participating nucleon M(K-)/A_part is reduced by a factor of about 2 in C+Au as compared to C+C collisions at 1.8 AGeV. This effect might be caused by the absorption of antikaons in the heavy target nucleus. Transport model calculations underestimate the K-/K+ ratio for C+C collisions at 1.8 AGeV by a factor of about 4 if in-medium modifications of K mesons are neglected.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2000

Evidence for a Soft Nuclear Equation-of-State from Kaon Production in Heavy Ion Collisions

The production of pions and kaons has been measured in Au+Au collisions at beam energies from 0.6 to 1.5 AGeV with the Kaon Spectrometer at SIS/GSI. The K+ meson multiplicity per nucleon is enhanced in Au+Au collisions by factors up to 6 relative to C+C reactions whereas the corresponding pion ratio is reduced. The ratio of the K+ meson excitation functions for Au+Au and C+C collisions increases with decreasing beam energy. This behavior is expected for a soft nuclear equation-of-state.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2000

First Measurement of Antikaon Phase-Space Distributions in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions at Subthreshold Beam Energies

Differential production cross sections of K$^-$ and K$^+$ mesons have been measured as function of the polar emission angle in Ni+Ni collisions at a beam energy of 1.93 AGeV. In near-central collisions, the spectral shapes and the widths of the rapidity distributions of K$^-$ and K$^+$ mesons are in agreement with the assumption of isotropic emission. In non-central collisions, the K$^-$ and K$^+$ rapidity distributions are broader than expected for a single thermal source. In this case, the polar angle distributions are strongly forward-backward peaked and the nonisotropic contribution to the total yield is about one third both for K$^+$ and K$^-$ mesons. The K$^-$/K$^+$ ratio is found to be about 0.03 independent of the centrality of the reaction. This value is significantly larger than predicted by microscopic transport calculations if in-medium modifications of K mesons are neglected.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2000

The Emission Pattern of High-Energy Pions: A New Probe for the Early Phase of Heavy Ion Collisions

The emission pattern of charged pions has been measured in Au+Au collisions at 1 GeV/nucleon incident energy. In peripheral collisions and at target rapidities, high-energy pions are emitted preferentially towards the target spectator matter. In contrast, low-energy pions are emitted predominantly in the opposite direction. The corresponding azimuthal anisotropy is explained by the interaction of pions with projectile and target spectator matter. This interaction with the spectator matter causes an effective shadowing which varies with time during the reaction. Our observations show that high-energy pions stem from the early stage of the collision whereas low-energy pions freeze out later.

nucl-ex↗