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H. Stoecker

Publications and source records attributed to H. Stoecker.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Microscopic models and effective equation of state in nuclear collisions at FAIR energies

Two microscopic models, UrQMD and QGSM, were employed to study the formation of locally equilibrated hot and dense nuclear matter in heavy-ion collisions at energies from 11.6 AGeV to 160 AGeV. Analysis was performed for the fixed central cubic cell of volume V = 125 fm**3 and for the expanding cell which followed the growth of the central area with uniformly distributed energy. To decide whether or not the equilibrium was reached, results of the microscopic calculations were compared to that of the statistical thermal model. Both dynamical models indicate that the state of kinetic, thermal and chemical equilibrium is nearly approached at any bombarding energy after a certain relaxation period. The higher the energy, the shorter the relaxation time. Equation of state has a simple linear dependence P = a(sqrt{s})*e, where a = c_s**2 is the sound velocity squared. It varies from 0.12 \pm 0.01 at E_{lab} = 11.6 AGeV to 0.145 \pm 0.005 at E_{lab} = 160 AGeV. Change of the slope in a(sqrt{s}) behavior occurs at E_{lab} = 40 AGeV and can be assigned to the transition from baryon-rich to meson-dominated matter. The phase diagrams in the T - mu_B plane show the presence of kinks along the lines of constant entropy per baryon. These kinks are linked to the inelastic (i.e. chemical) freeze-out in the system.

hep-ph↗

New Physics at the International Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) Next to GSI

The project of the international Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR), co-located to the GSI facility in Darmstadt, has been officially started on November 7, 2007. The current plans of the facility and the planned research program will be described. An investment of about 1 billion euro will permit new physics programs in the areas of low and medium energy antiproton research, heavy ion physics complementary to LHC, as well as in nuclear structure and astrophysics. The facility will comprise about a dozen accelerators and storage rings, which will enable simultaneous operations of up to four different beams.

hep-ph↗

Proto-Neutron and Neutron Stars

The parity doublet model, containing the SU(2) multiplets including the baryons identified as the chiral partners of the nucleons is applied to neutron stars. The maximum mass for the star is calculated for different stages of the cooling taking into account finite temperature/entropy effect, trapped neutrinos and fixed baryon number. Rotation effects are also included.

astro-ph↗

Parity Doublet Model applied to Neutron Stars

The Parity doublet model containing the SU(2) multiplets including the baryons identified as the chiral partners of the nucleons is applied for neutron star matter. The chiral restoration is analyzed and the maximum mass of the star is calculated.

astro-ph↗

Charmonium dynamics in heavy ion collisions

Applying the HSD transport approach to charmonium dynamics within the 'hadronic comover model' and the 'QGP melting scenario', we show that the suppression pattern seen at RHIC cannot be explained by the interaction with baryons, comoving mesons and/or by color screening mechanism. The interaction with hadrons in the late stages of the collision (when the energy density falls below the critical) gives a sizable contribution to the suppression. On the other hand, it does not account for the observed additional charmonium dissociation and its dependence on rapidity. Together with the failure of the hadron-string models to reproduce high v2 of open charm mesons, this suggests strong pre-hadronic interaction of c-cbar with the medium at high energy densities.

nucl-th↗

Longitudinal fluid dynamics for ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions

We develop a 1+1 dimensional hydrodynamical model for central heavy-ion collisions at ultrarelativistic energies. Deviations from Bjorken's scaling are taken into account by implementing finite-size profiles for the initial energy density. The calculated rapidity distributions of pions, kaons and antiprotons in central Au+Au collisions at the c.m. energy 200 AGeV are compared with experimental data of the BRAHMS Collaboration. The sensitivity of the results to the choice of the equation of state, the parameters of initial state and the freeze-out conditions is investigated. Experimental constraints on the total energy of produced particles are used to reduce the number of model parameters. The best fits of experimental data are obtained for soft equations of state and Gaussian-like initial profiles of the energy density. It is found that initial energy densities required for fitting experimental data decrease with increasing critical temperature of the phase transition.

hep-ph↗

Charmonium dynamics in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(S)=200 GeV

The formation and suppression dynamics of J/Psi, Chi_c and Psi-Prime mesons is studied within the HSD transport approach for Au+Au reactions at the top RHIC energy of sqrt(S)=200 GeV. Two prominent models, which have been discussed for more than a decade, are incorporated, i.e. the 'hadronic comover absorption and reformation' model as well as the 'QGP threshold' scenario, and compared to available experimental data. Our studies demonstrate that both scenarios - compatible with experimental observation at SPS energies - fail severely at RHIC energies. This combined analysis - together with the underestimation of charm elliptic flow - proves that the dynamics of c, c-bar quarks are dominated by partonic interactions in the strong QGP (sQGP) and can neither be modeled by 'hadronic' interactions nor described appropriately by color screening alone.

nucl-th↗

Charmonium dynamics in nucleus-nucleus collisions at SPS and FAIR energies

Charmonium production and suppression in In+In and Pb+Pb reactions at SPS energies is investigated with the HSD transport approach within the 'hadronic comover model' as well as the 'QGP threshold scenario'. The results of the transport calculations for J/Psi suppression and the Psi prime to J/Psi ratio are compared with the recent data of the NA50 and NA60 Collaborations. We find that the comover absorption model - with a single parameter |M_0|^2 for the matrix element squared for charmonium-meson dissociation - performs best with respect to all data sets. The 'threshold scenario' - within different assumptions for the melting energy densities - yields a reasonable suppression for J/Psi but fails in reproducing the Psi prime to J/Psi ratio for Pb+Pb at 158 A GeV. Predictions for Au+Au reactions are presented for a bombarding energy of 25 A GeV in the different scenarios which will allow for a clear distinction between the models from the experimental side at the future FAIR facility.

nucl-th↗

D-Dbar Correlations as a sensitive probe for thermalization in high-energy nuclear collisions

We propose to measure azimuthal correlations of heavy-flavor hadrons to address the status of thermalization at the partonic stage of light quarks and gluons in high-energy nuclear collisions. In particular, we show that hadronic interactions at the late stage cannot significantly disturb the initial back-to-back azimuthal correlations of DDbar pairs. Thus, a decrease or the complete absence of these initial correlations does indicate frequent interactions of heavy-flavor quarks and also light partons in the partonic stage, which are essential for the early thermalization of light partons.

hep-ph↗

In-medium properties of D-mesons at FAIR

We obtain the D-meson spectral density at finite temperature for the conditions of density and temperature expected at FAIR. We perform a self-consistent coupled-channel calculation taking, as a bare interaction, a separable potential model. The $Λ_c$ (2593) resonance is generated dynamically. We observe that the D-meson spectral density develops a sizeable width while the quasiparticle peak stays close to the free position. The consequences for the D-meson production at FAIR are discussed.

nucl-th↗

1+1 Dimensional Hydrodynamics for High-energy Heavy-ion Collisions

A 1+1 dimensional hydrodynamical model in the light-cone coordinates is used to describe central heavy-ion collisions at ultrarelativistic bombarding energies. Deviations from Bjorken's scaling are taken into account by choosing finite-size profiles for the initial energy density. The sensitivity of fluid dynamical evolution to the equation of state and the parameters of initial state is investigated. Experimental constraints on the total energy of produced particles are used to reduce the number of model parameters. Spectra of secondary particles are calculated assuming that the transition from the hydrodynamical stage to the collisionless expansion of matter occurs at a certain freeze-out temperature. An important role of resonances in the formation of observed hadronic spectra is demonstrated. The calculated rapidity distributions of pions, kaons and antiprotons in central Au+Au collisions at the c.m. energy 200 GeV per NN pair are compared with experimental data of the BRAHMS Collaboration. Parameters of the initial state are reconstructed for different choices of the equation of state. The best fit of these data is obtained for a soft equation of state and Gaussian-like initial profiles of the energy density, intermediate between the Landau and Bjorken limits.

hep-ph↗

DDbar Correlations probing Thermalization in High-Energy Nuclear Collisions

We propose to measure azimuthal correlations of heavy-flavor hadrons to address the status of thermalization at the partonic stage of light quarks and gluons in high-energy nuclear collisions. In particular, we show that hadronic interactions at the late stage cannot significantly disturb the initial back-to-back azimuthal correlations of DDbar pairs. Thus, a decrease or the complete absence of these initial correlations does indicate frequent interactions of heavy-flavor quarks and also light partons in the partonic stage, which are essential for the early thermalization of light partons.

nucl-ex↗

Anisotropic flow at RHIC: How unique is the number-of-constituent-quark scaling?

The transverse momentum dependence of the anisotropic flow $v_2$ for $π$, $K$, nucleon, $Λ$, $Ξ$ and $Ω$ is studied for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 200$ GeV within two independent string-hadron transport approaches (RQMD and UrQMD). Although both models reach only 60% of the absolute magnitude of the measured $v_2$, they both predict the particle type dependence of $v_2$, as observed by the RHIC experiments: $v_2$ exhibits a hadron-mass hierarchy (HMH) in the low $p_T$ region and a number-of-constituent-quark (NCQ) dependence in the intermediate $p_T$ region. The failure of the hadronic models to reproduce the absolute magnitude of the observed $v_2$ indicates that transport calculations of heavy ion collisions at RHIC must incorporate interactions among quarks and gluons in the early, hot and dense phase. The presence of an NCQ scaling in the string-hadron model results suggests that the particle-type dependencies observed in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate $p_T$ might be related to the hadronic cross sections in vacuum rather than to the hadronization process itself.

nucl-th↗

D-mesons: In-medium effects at FAIR

The $D$-meson spectral density at finite temperature is obtained within a self-consistent coupled-channel approach. For the bare meson-baryon interaction, a separable potential is taken, whose parameters are fixed by the position and width of the $Λ_c (2593)$ resonance. The quasiparticle peak stays close to the free $D$-meson mass, indicating a small change in the effective mass for finite density and temperature. Furthermore, the spectral density develops a considerable width due to the coupled-channel structure. Our results indicate that the medium modifications for the $D$-mesons in nucleus-nucleus collisions at FAIR (GSI) will be dominantly on the width and not, as previously expected, on the mass.

nucl-th↗

Particle Number Fluctuations in High Energy Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions from Microscopic Transport Approaches

Event-by-event multiplicity fluctuations in nucleus-nucleus collisions are studied within the HSD and UrQMD transport models. The scaled variances of negative, positive, and all charged hadrons in Pb+Pb at 158 AGeV are analyzed in comparison to the data from the NA49 Collaboration. We find a dominant role of the fluctuations in the nucleon participant number for the final hadron multiplicity fluctuations. This fact can be used to check different scenarios of nucleus-nucleus collisions by measuring the final multiplicity fluctuations as a function of collision centrality. The analysis reveals surprising effects in the recent NA49 data which indicate a rather strong mixing of the projectile and target hadron production sources even in peripheral collisions.

nucl-th↗

Effect of isovector-scalar meson on neutron star matter in strong magnetic fields

We study the effects of isovector-scalar meson $δ$ on the equation of state (EOS) of neutron star matter in strong magnetic fields. The EOS of neutron-star matter and nucleon effective masses are calculated in the framework of Lagrangian field theory, which is solved within the mean-field approximation. From the numerical results one can find that the $δ$-field leads to a remarkable splitting of proton and neutron effective masses. The strength of $δ$-field decreases with the increasing of the magnetic field and is little at ultrastrong field. The proton effective mass is highly influenced by magnetic fields, while the effect of magnetic fields on the neutron effective mass is negligible. The EOS turns out to be stiffer at $B < 10^{15}$G but becomes softer at stronger magnetic field after including the $δ$-field. The AMM terms can affect the system merely at ultrastrong magnetic field($B > 10^{19}$G). In the range of $10^{15}$ G -- $10^{18}$ G the properties of neutron-star matter are found to be similar with those without magnetic fields.

nucl-th↗

Probing the density dependence of the symmetry potential in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions

Based on the ultrarelativistic quantum molecular dynamics (UrQMD) model, the effects of the density-dependent symmetry potential for baryons and of the Coulomb potential for produced mesons are investigated for neutron-rich heavy ion collisions at intermediate energies. The calculated results of the $Δ^-/Δ^{++}$ and $π^{-}/π^{+}$ production ratios show a clear beam-energy dependence on the density-dependent symmetry potential, which is stronger for the $π^{-}/π^{+}$ ratio close to the pion production threshold. The Coulomb potential of the mesons changes the transverse momentum distribution of the $π^{-}/π^{+}$ ratio significantly, though it alters only slightly the $π^-$ and $π^+$ total yields. The $π^-$ yields, especially at midrapidity or at low transverse momenta and the $π^-/π^+$ ratios at low transverse momenta, are shown to be sensitive probes of the density-dependent symmetry potential in dense nuclear matter. The effect of the density-dependent symmetry potential on the production of both, K$^0$ and K$^+$ mesons, is also investigated.

nucl-th↗

Mach shocks induced by partonic jets in expanding quark-gluon plasma

We study Mach shocks generated by fast partonic jets propagating through a deconfined strongly-interacting matter. Our main goal is to take into account different types of collective motion during the formation and evolution of this matter. We predict a significant deformation of Mach shocks in central Au+Au collisions at RHIC and LHC energies as compared to the case of jet propagation in a static medium. The observed broadening of the near-side two-particle correlations in pseudorapidity space is explained by the Bjorken-like longitudinal expansion. Three-particle correlation measurements are proposed for a more detailed study of the Mach shock waves.

hep-ph↗