arXiv subjects

H. Petersen

Publications and source records attributed to H. Petersen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2017

Three-fluid Hydrodynamics-based Event Simulator Extended by UrQMD final State interactions (THESEUS) for FAIR-NICA-SPS-BES/RHIC energies

We present a new event generator based on the three-fluid hydrodynamics (3FH) approach, followed by a particlization at the hydrodynamic decoupling surface and a subsequent UrQMD afterburner stage based on the microscopic UrQMD transport model that accounts for hadronic final state interactions. First results for Au+Au collisions are presented. The following topics are addressed: the directed flow, transverse-mass spectra, as well as rapidity distributions of protons, pions and kaons for two model equations of state, one with a first-order phase transition, the other with a crossover transition. Preliminary results on the femtoscopy are also discussed. We analyze the accuracy of reproduction of the 3FH results by the new event generator and the effect of the subsequent UrQMD afterburner stage.

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arXiv2017

Different Realizations of Cooper-Frye Sampling with Conservation Laws

Approaches based on viscous hydrodynamics for the hot and dense stage and hadronic transport for the final dilute rescattering stage are successfully applied to the dynamic description of heavy ion reactions at high beam energies. One crucial step in such hybrid approaches is the so called particlization, the transition between the hydrodynamic description to microscopic degrees of freedom. For this purpose, individual particles are sampled on the Cooper-Frye hypersurface. In this work, 4 different realizations of sampling algorithms are compared, where three of them incorporate global conservation laws of quantum numbers in each event. The algorithms are compared within two types of scenarios: simple "box" hypersurface consisting of only one static cell and a typical particlization hypersurface for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 200$ GeV. For all algorithms the mean multiplicities (or particle spectra) remain unaffected by global conservation laws in the case of large volumes. In contrast, the fluctuations of the particle numbers are affected considerably. The fluctuations of the newly developed SPREW algorithm based on exponential weights and the recently suggested SER algorithm based on ensemble rejection are smaller than without conservation laws and agree with the expectation from the canonical ensemble. The previously applied mode sampling algorithm produces dramatically larger fluctuations, than it is expected in the corresponding microcanonical ensemble, and therefore should be avoided in fluctuation studies. This study might be of interest for investigations of particle fluctuations and correlations, e.g. the suggested signatures for a phase transition or a critical endpoint, in hybrid approaches that are affected by global conservation laws.

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arXiv2017

Shear viscosity of a hadron gas and influence of resonance lifetimes on relaxation time

We address a discrepancy between different computations of $η/s$ (shear viscosity over entropy density) of hadronic matter. Substantial deviations of this coefficient are found between transport approaches mainly based on resonance propagation with finite lifetime and other (semi-analytical) approaches with energy-dependent cross-sections, where interactions do not introduce a timescale. We provide an independent extraction of this coefficient by using the newly-developed SMASH (Simulating Many Accelerated Strongly interacting Hadrons) transport code, which is an example of a mainly resonance-based approach. We compare the results from SMASH with numerical solutions of the Boltzmann equation for simple systems using the Chapman-Enskog expansion, as well as previous results in the literature. Our conclusion is that the hadron interaction via resonance formation/decay strongly affects the transport properties of the system, resulting in significant differences in $η/s$ with respect to other approaches where binary collisions dominate. We argue that the relaxation time of the system ---which characterizes the shear viscosity--- is determined by the interplay between the mean-free time and the lifetime of resonances. We show how an artificial shortening of the resonance lifetimes, or the addition of a background elastic cross section nicely interpolate between the two discrepant results.

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arXiv2017

Systematic errors in transport calculations of shear viscosity using the Green-Kubo formalism

The purpose of this study is to provide a reproducible framework in the use of the Green-Kubo formalism to extract transport coefficients. More specifically, in the case of shear viscosity, we investigate the limitations and technical details of fitting the auto-correlation function to a decaying exponential. This fitting procedure is found to be applicable for systems interacting both through constant and energy-dependent cross-sections, although this is only true for sufficiently dilute systems in the latter case. We find that the optimal fit technique consists in simultaneously fixing the intercept of the correlation function and use a fitting interval constrained by the relative error on the correlation function. The formalism is then applied to the full hadron gas, for which we obtain the shear viscosity to entropy ratio.

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arXiv2017

Beam energy scan theory: Status and open questions

The goal of heavy ion reactions at low beam energies is to explore the QCD phase diagram at high net baryon chemical potential. To relate experimental observations with a first order phase transition or a critical endpoint, dynamical approaches for the theoretical description have to be developed. In this summary of the corresponding plenary talk, the status of the dynamical modeling including the most recent advances is presented. The remaining challenges are highlighted and promising experimental measurements are pointed out.

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arXiv2017

Equilibration and freeze-out of an expanding gas in a transport approach in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric

Motivated by a recent finding of an exact solution of the relativistic Boltzmann equation in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime, we implement this metric into the newly developed transport approach Simulating Many Accelerated Strongly-interacting Hadrons (SMASH). We study the numerical solution of the transport equation and compare it to this exact solution for massless particles. We also compare a different initial condition, for which the transport equation can be independently solved numerically. Very nice agreement is observed in both cases. Having passed these checks for the SMASH code, we study a gas of massive particles within the same spacetime, where the particle decoupling is forced by the Hubble expansion. In this simple scenario we present an analysis of the freeze-out times, as function of the masses and cross sections of the particles. The results might be of interest for their potential application to relativistic heavy-ion collisions, for the characterization of the freeze-out process in terms of hadron properties.

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arXiv2017

Particle production and equilibrium properties within a new hadron transport approach for heavy-ion collisions

The microscopic description of heavy-ion reactions at low beam energies is achieved within hadronic transport approaches. In this article a new approach SMASH (Simulating Many Accelerated Strongly-interacting Hadrons) is introduced and applied to study the production of non-strange particles in heavy-ion reactions at $E_{\rm kin}=0.4-2A$ GeV. First, the model is described including details about the collision criterion, the initial conditions and the resonance formation and decays. To validate the approach, equilibrium properties such as detailed balance are presented and the results are compared to experimental data for elementary cross sections. Finally results for pion and proton production in C+C and Au+Au collisions is confronted with HADES and FOPI data. Predictions for particle production in $π+A$ collisions are made.

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arXiv2016

Event simulation based on three-fluid hydrodynamics for collisions at energies available at the Dubna Nuclotron-based Ion Collider Facility and at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Darmstadt

We present a new event generator based on the three-fluid hydrodynamics approach for the early stage of the collision, followed by a particlization at the hydrodynamic decoupling surface to join to a microscopic transport model, UrQMD, to account for hadronic final state interactions. We present first results for nuclear collisions of the FAIR/NICA energy scan program (Au+Au collisions, $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=4-11$ GeV). We address the directed flow of protons and pions as well as the proton rapidity distribution for two model EoS, one with a first order phase transition the other with a crossover type softening at high densities. The new simulation program has the unique feature that it can describe a hadron-to-quark matter transition which proceeds in the baryon stopping regime that is not accessible to previous simulation programs designed for higher energies.

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arXiv2016

Effects of EoS in viscous hydro+cascade model for the RHIC Beam Energy Scan

A state-of-the-art 3+1 dimensional cascade + viscous hydro + cascade model vHLLE+UrQMD has been applied to heavy ion collisions in RHIC Beam Energy Scan range $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=7.7\dots 200$ GeV. Based on comparison to available experimental data it was estimated that an effective value of shear viscosity over entropy density ratio $η/s$ in hydrodynamic stage has to decrease from $η/s=0.2$ to $0.08$ as collision energy increases from $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 7.7$ to $39$ GeV, and to stay at $η/s=0.08$ for $39\le\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}\le200$ GeV. In this work we show how an equation of state with first order phase transition affects the hydrodynamic evolution at those collision energies and changes the results of the model as compared to "default scenario" with a crossover type EoS from chiral model.

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arXiv2015

Estimating $η/s$ of QCD matter at high baryon densities

We report on the application of a cascade + viscous hydro + cascade model for heavy ion collisions in the RHIC Beam Energy Scan range, $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=6.3\dots200$ GeV. By constraining model parameters to reproduce the data we find that the effective(average) value of the shear viscosity over entropy density ratio $η/s$ decreases from 0.2 to 0.08 when collision energy grows from $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}\approx7$ to 39 GeV.

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arXiv2015

Estimation of the shear viscosity at finite net-baryon density from A+A collision data at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 7.7-200$ GeV

Hybrid approaches based on relativistic hydrodynamics and transport theory have been successfully applied for many years for the dynamical description of heavy ion collisions at ultrarelativistic energies. In this work a new viscous hybrid model employing the hadron transport approach UrQMD for the early and late non-equilibrium stages of the reaction, and 3+1 dimensional viscous hydrodynamics for the hot and dense quark-gluon plasma stage is introduced. This approach includes the equation of motion for finite baryon number, and employs an equation of state with finite net-baryon density to allow for calculations in a large range of beam energies. The parameter space of the model is explored, and constrained by comparison with the experimental data for bulk observables from SPS and the phase I beam energy scan at RHIC. The favored parameter values depend on energy, but allow to extract the effective value of the shear viscosity coefficient over entropy density ratio $η/s$ in the fluid phase for the whole energy region under investigation. The estimated value of $η/s$ increases with decreasing collision energy, which may indicate that $η/s$ of the quark-gluon plasma depends on baryochemical potential $μ_B$.

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arXiv2015

Systematic Investigation of Negative Cooper-Frye Contributions in Heavy Ion Collisions Using Coarse-grained Molecular Dynamics

In most heavy ion collision simulations involving relativistic hydrodynamics, the Cooper-Frye formula is applied to transform the hydrodynamical fields to particles. In this article the so-called negative contributions in the Cooper-Frye formula are studied using a coarse-grained transport approach. The magnitude of negative contributions is investigated as a function of hadron mass, collision energy in the range of $E_{\rm lab} = 5$--$160A$ GeV, collision centrality and the energy density transition criterion defining the hypersurface. The microscopic results are compared to negative contributions expected from hydrodynamical treatment assuming local thermal equilibrium. The main conclusion is that the number of actual microscopic particles flying inward is smaller than the negative contribution one would expect in an equilibrated scenario. The largest impact of negative contributions is found to be on the pion rapidity distribution at midrapidity in central collisions. For this case negative contributions in equilibrium constitute 8--13\% of positive contributions depending on collision energy, but only 0.5--4\% in cascade calculation. The dependence on the collision energy itself is found to be non-monotonous with a maximum at 10-20$A$ GeV.

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arXiv2014

Cooper-Frye Negative Contributions in a Coarse-Grained Transport Approach

Many models of heavy ion collisions employ relativistic hydrodynamics to describe the system evolution at high densities. The Cooper-Frye formula is applied in most of these models to turn the hydrodynamical fields into particles. However, the number of particles obtained from the Cooper-Frye formula is not always positive-definite. Physically negative contributions of the Cooper-Frye formula are particles that stream backwards into the hydrodynamical region. We quantify the Cooper-Frye negative contributions in a coarse-grained transport approach, which allows to compare them to the actual number of underlying particles crossing the transition hypersurface. It is found that the number of underlying inward crossings is much smaller than the one the Cooper-Frye formula gives under the assumption of equilibrium distribution functions. The magnitude of Cooper-Frye negative contributions is also investigated as a function of hadron mass, collision energy in the range $E_{\rm lab} = 5-160A$ GeV, and collision centrality. The largest negative contributions we find are around 13% for the pion yield at midrapidity at $E_{\rm lab} = 20A$ GeV collisions.

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arXiv2014

Directed flow, a signal for the phase transition in Relativistic Nuclear Collisions?

The sign change of the slope of the directed flow of baryons has been predicted as a signal for a first order phase transition within fluid dynamical calculations. Recently, the directed flow of identified particles has been measured by the STAR collaboration in the beam energy scan (BES) program. In this article, we examine the collision energy dependence of directed flow $v_1$ in fluid dynamical model descriptions of heavy ion collisions for $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=3-20$ GeV. The first step is to reproduce the existing predictions within pure fluid dynamical calculations. As a second step we investigate the influence of the order of the phase transition on the anisotropic flow within a state-of-the-art hybrid approach that describes other global observables reasonably well. We find that, in the hybrid approach, there seems to be no sensitivity of the directed flow on the equation of state and in particular on the existence of a first order phase transition. In addition, we explore more subtle sensitivities like e.g. the Cooper-Frye transition criterion and discuss how momentum conservation and the definition of the event plane affects the results. At this point, none of our calculations matches qualitatively the behavior of the STAR data, the values of the slopes are always larger than in the data.

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arXiv2013

3+1 dimensional viscous hydrodynamics at high baryon densities

We apply a 3+1D viscous hydrodynamic + cascade model to the heavy ion collision reactions with $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=6.3\dots39$ GeV. To accommodate the model for a given collision energy range, the initial conditions for hydrodynamic phase are taken from UrQMD, and the equation of state at finite baryon density is based on Chiral model coupled to the Polyakov loop. We study the collision energy dependence of pion and kaon rapidity distributions and $m_T$-spectra, as well as charged hadron elliptic flow and how shear viscosity affects them. The model calculations are compared to the data for Pb-Pb collisions at CERN SPS, as well as for Au-Au collisions in the Beam Energy Scan (BES) program energies at BNL RHIC. The data favours the value of shear viscosity $η/s\gtrsim0.2$ for this collision energy range.

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arXiv2013

Beam energy scan using a viscous hydro+cascade model

Following the experimental program at BNL RHIC, we perform a similar "energy scan" using 3+1D viscous hydrodynamics coupled to the UrQMD hadron cascade, and study the collision energy dependence of pion and kaon rapidity distributions and $m_T$-spectra, as well as charged hadron elliptic flow. To this aim the equation of state for finite baryon density from a Chiral model coupled to the Polyakov loop is employed for hydrodynamic stage. 3D initial conditions from UrQMD are used to study gradual deviation from boost-invariant scaling flow. We find that the inclusion of shear viscosity in the hydrodynamic stage of evolution consistently improves the description of the data for Pb-Pb collisions at CERN SPS, as well as of the elliptic flow measurements for Au-Au collisions in the Beam Energy Scan (BES) program at BNL RHIC. The suggested value of shear viscosity is $η/s\ge0.2$ for $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=6.3\dots39$ GeV.

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arXiv2011

Shape analysis of strongly-interacting systems: the heavy ion case

Collisions between nuclei at ultrarelativistic energies produce a color-deconfined plasma that expands explosively and rapidly reverts to the color-confined (hadronic) state. In non-central collisions, the zone of hot matter is transversely anisotropic and may be "tilted" relative to the direction of the incoming beams. As the matter cools and expands into the vacuum, the evolution of the system shape depends sensitively on the dynamical response of the plasma under extreme conditions. Two-pion intensity interferometry performed relative to the impact parameter can be used to measure the approximate final shape of the system, when pions decouple from the system. We use several transport models to illustrate the dependence of the final shape on the QCD equation of state and late-stage hadronic rescattering. The dependence of the final shape on collision energy may reveal non-trivial structures in the QCD phase diagram. Indeed, the few measurements published to date show a tantalizing behaviour in an energy region under intense experimental and theoretical scrutiny, as signatures of a first-order phase transition may appear there. We discuss strong parallels between shape studies in heavy ion collisions and those in two other strongly-coupled systems.

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arXiv2011

Hadronic and electromagnetic probes of hot and dense matter in a Boltzmann+Hydrodynamics model of relativistic nuclear collisions

We present recent results on bulk observables and electromagnetic probes obtained using a hybrid approach based on the Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics transport model with an intermediate hydrodynamic stage for the description of heavy-ion collisions at AGS, SPS and RHIC energies. After briefly reviewing the main results for particle multiplicities, elliptic flow, transverse momentum and rapidity spectra, we focus on photon and dilepton emission from hot and dense hadronic matter.

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