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Jörg Aichelin

Publications and source records attributed to Jörg Aichelin.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2016

Constraining in-medium heavy-quark energy-loss mechanisms via angular correlations between heavy and light mesons

Two-particle correlations obtained from parton showers that pass the hot and dense medium of the quark gluon plasma (QGP) can be used as an alternative observable, in addition to the combination of the nuclear modification factor $R_{AA}$ and the elliptic flow $v_2$, to study the mechanisms of in-medium heavy quark energy-loss. In particular, angular correlations represent a promising tool to distinguish between energy loss due to collisional and radiative interactions of jet and medium particles. To this end, parton cascades were created in Monte-Carlo simulations, where individual particles can undergo both parton splitting as well as an effective jet-medium interaction. A first model simulates the effects of induced radiations on parton cascades. Its consequences on angular correlations of partons within jets were studied in detail, with particular focus on angular broadening. The results can be compared to a second model that effectively describes elastic scatterings of jet and medium particles.

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arXiv2016

Toward a consistent evolution of the quark-gluon plasma and heavy quarks

Heavy-quark observables in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions, like the nuclear modification factor and the elliptic flow, give insight into the mechanisms of high-momentum suppression and low-momentum thermalization of heavy quarks. Here, we present a global study of these two observables within a coupled approach of the heavy-quark propagation in a realistic fluid dynamical medium, MC@sHQ+EPOS2, and compare to experimental data from RHIC and LHC experiments. The heavy quarks scatter elastically and inelastically with the quasiparticles of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), which are represented consistently with the underlying equation of state. We examine two scenarios: first, we interpret the lattice QCD equation of state as a sum of partonic and hadronic contributions, and second, as a gas of massive partonic quasiparticles. It is observed that independent of their momentum the energy loss of heavy quarks depends strongly on how the lattice QCD equation of state is translated into degrees of freedom of the QGP.

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arXiv2015

Production of hypertritons in heavy ion collisions around the threshold of strangeness production

We use the Isospin Quantum Molecular Dynamics approach supplemented with a phase space coalescence to study the properties of the production of hypertritons. We see strong influences of the hyperon rescattering on the yields. The hypertritons show up to be quite aligned to the properties of nuclear matter underlining the necessity of rescattering to transport the hyperons to the spectator matter.

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arXiv2015

Strange meson-baryon interaction in hot and dense medium: recent progress for a road to GSI/FAIR

We report recent results on the dynamics of strange hadrons in two-body reactions relevant for near-threshold production in heavy-ion collisions at GSI/FAIR and NICA-Dubna. In particular, $\bar K N$ scattering in hot and dense nuclear matter is studied within a chiral unitary framework in coupled channels, setting up the starting point for implementations in microscopic off-shell transport approaches. We focus on the calculation of transition rates with special attention to the excitation of hyperon resonances and isospin effects. Additionally, we explore "unconventional" strangeness generation by meson-meson and meson-baryon interactions in connection with recent HADES observations of deep sub-threshold $ϕ$ and $Ξ$ production.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

Anti-strange meson-baryon interaction in hot and dense nuclear matter

We present a study of in-medium cross sections and (off-shell) transition rates for the most relevant binary reactions for strange pseudoscalar meson production close to threshold in heavy-ion collisions at FAIR energies. Our results rely on a chiral unitary approach in coupled channels which incorporates the $s$- and $p$-waves of the kaon-nucleon interaction. The formalism, which is modified in the hot and dense medium to account for Pauli blocking effects, mean-field binding on baryons, and pion and kaon self-energies, has been improved to implement full unitarization and self-consistency for both the $s$- and $p$-wave interactions at finite temperature and density. This gives access to in-medium amplitudes in several elastic and inelastic coupled channels with strangeness content $S=-1$. The obtained total cross sections mostly reflect the fate of the $Λ(1405)$ resonance, which melts in the nuclear environment, whereas the off-shell transition probabilities are also sensitive to the in-medium properties of the hyperons excited in the $p$-wave amplitudes [$Λ$, $Σ$ and $Σ^*(1385)$]. The single-particle potentials of these hyperons at finite momentum, density and temperature are also discussed in connection with the pertinent scattering amplitudes. Our results are the basis for future implementations in microscopic transport approaches accounting for off-shell dynamics of strangeness production in nucleus-nucleus collisions.

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arXiv2014

Elliptic and triangular flow of heavy flavor in heavy-ion collisions

We investigate the elliptic and the triangular flow of heavy mesons in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC. The dynamics of heavy quarks is coupled to the locally thermalized and fluid dynamically evolving quark-gluon plasma. The elliptic flow of $D$ mesons and the centrality dependence measured at the LHC is well reproduced for purely collisional and bremsstrahlung interactions. Due to the event-by-event fluctuating initial conditions from the EPOS2 model, the $D$ meson triangular flow is predicted to be nonzero at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV and $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ TeV. We study the centrality dependence and quantify the contributions stemming from flow of the light bulk event and the hadronization process. The flow coefficients as response to the initial eccentricities behave differently for heavy mesons than for light hadrons due to their inertia. Higher-order flow coefficients of heavy flavor become important in order to quantify the degree of thermalization.

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arXiv2014

Heavy-flavor azimuthal correlations of D mesons

Observables of heavy-quark azimuthal correlations in heavy-ion collisions are a new and promising tool for the investigation of the in-medium energy loss. We explore the potential of these observables to discriminate the collisional and radiative contributions within a hybrid EPOS+MC@sHQ transport approach.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

Dynamical collisional energy loss and transport properties of on- and off-shell heavy quarks in vacuum and in the Quark Gluon Plasma

In this study we evaluate the dynamical collisional energy loss of heavy quarks, their interaction rate as well as the different transport coefficients (drag and diffusion coefficients, $\hat{q}$, etc). We calculate these different quantities for i) perturbative partons (on-shell particles in the vacuum with fixed and running coupling) and ii) for dynamical quasi-particles (off-shell particles in the QGP medium at finite temperature $T$ with a running coupling in temperature as described by the dynamical quasi-particles model). We use the perturbative elastic $(q(g) Q \rightarrow q (g) Q)$ cross section for the first case, and the Infrared Enhanced Hard Thermal Loop cross sections for the second. The results obtained in this work demonstrate the effects of a finite parton mass and width on the heavy quark transport properties and provide the basic ingredients for an explicit study of the microscopic dynamics of heavy flavors in the QGP - as formed in relativistic heavy-ion collisions - within transport approaches developed previously by the authors.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

D mesons in non-central heavy-ion collisions: fluctuating vs. averaged initial conditions

The suppression of D mesons in non-central heavy-ion collisions is investigated. The anisotropy in collisions at finite impact parameter leads to an ordering of all-angle, in- and out-of-plane nuclear modification factors due to the different in-medium path lengths. Within our MC@sHQ+EPOS model of heavy-quark propagation in the QGP we demonstrate that fluctuating initial conditions lead to an effective reduction of the energy loss of heavy quarks, which is seen in a larger nuclear modification factor at intermediate and high transverse momenta. The elliptic flow at small transverse momenta is reduced.

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arXiv2013

Transport coefficients from the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model for $SU(3)_f$

We calculate the shear $η(T)$ and bulk viscosities $ζ(T)$ as well as the electric conductivity $σ_e(T)$ and heat conductivity $κ(T)$ within the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model for 3 flavors as a function of temperature as well as the entropy density $s(T)$, pressure $P(T)$ and speed of sound $c_s^2(T)$. We compare the results with other models such as the Polyakov-Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model and the dynamical quasiparticle model (DQPM) and confront these results with lattice QCD data whenever available. We find the NJL model to have a limited predictive power for the thermodynamic variables and various transport coefficients above the critical temperature whereas the PNJL model and DQPM show acceptable results for the quantities of interest.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2013

Molecular dynamics description of an expanding $q$/$\bar{q}$ plasma with the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model and applications to heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC energies

We present a relativistic molecular dynamics approach based on the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio Lagrangian. We derive the relativistic time evolution equations for an expanding plasma, discuss the hadronization cross section and how they act in such a scenario. We present in detail how one can transform the time evolution equation to a simulation program and apply this program to study the expansion of a plasma created in experiments at RHIC and LHC. We present first results on the centrality dependence of $v_2$ and of the transverse momentum spectra of pions and kaons and discuss in detail the hadronisation mechanism.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2013

Non-thermal p/pi ratio at LHC as a consequence of hadronic final state interactions

Recent LHC data on Pb+Pb reactions at sqrt(s_{NN})=2.7 TeV suggests that the p/pi is incompatible with thermal models. We explore several hadron ratios (K/pi, p/pi, Lambda/pi, Xi/pi) within a hydrodynamic model with hadronic after burner, namely UrQMD 3.3, and show that the deviations can be understood as a final state effect. We propose the p/pi as an observable sensitive on whether final state interactions take place or not. The measured values of the hadron ratios do then allow to gauge the transition energy density from hydrodynamics to the Boltzmann description. We find that the data can be explained with transition energy densities of 840 +- 150 MeV/fm^3.

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arXiv2011

$K^{+}$ and $K^{-}$ potentials in hadronic matter can be observed

We aim to show that K+ and K- spectra at low transverse momentum measured in light symmetric systems at around 2AGeV depend strongly on the K potential. The ratio of the spectra can allow therefore for a direct determination of the strength of the K+ as well as that of the K- potential in a hadronic environment.

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arXiv2011

Strangeness Production close to Threshold in Proton-Nucleus and Heavy-Ion Collisions

We discuss strangeness production close to threshold in p+A and A+A collision. Comparing the body of available K+, K0, K-, and Lambda data with the IQMD transport code and for some key observables as well with the HSD transport code, we find good agreement for the large majority of the observables. The investigation of the reaction with help of these codes reveals the complicated interaction of the strange particles with hadronic matter which makes strangeness production in heavy-ion collisions very different from that in elementary interactions. We show how different strange particle observables can be used to study the different facets of this interaction (production, rescattering and potential interaction) which finally merge into a comprehensive understanding of these interactions. We identify those observables which allow for studying (almost) exclusively one of these processes to show how future high precision experiments can improve our quantitative understanding. Finally, we discuss how the K+ multiplicity can be used to study the hadronic equation of state.

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arXiv2007

Recent astrophysical and accelerator based results on the Hadronic Equation of State

In astrophysics as well as in hadron physics progress has recently been made on the determination of the hadronic equation of state (EOS) of compressed matter. The results are contradictory, however. Simulations of heavy ion reactions are now sufficiently robust to predict the stiffness of the (EOS) from (i) the energy dependence of the ratio of $K^+$ from Au+Au and C+C collisions and (ii) the centrality dependence of the $K^+$ multiplicities. The data are best described with a compressibility coefficient at normal nuclear matter density $κ$ around 200 MeV, a value which is usually called ``soft'' The recent observation of a neutron star with a mass of twice the solar mass is only compatible with theoretical predictions if the EOS is stiff. We review the present situation.

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arXiv2002

Is the existence of a softest point in the directed flow excitation function an unambiguous signal for the creation of a quark-gluon plasma?

The excitation function of the in-plane directed flow of nucleons is studied within a non-equilibrium transport approach. It is demonstrated that a local minimum in the excitation function of the directed flow develops, which is not related to a transition into a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) phase. It is a consequence of the dynamical softening of the underlying equation of state, due to the onset of resonance matter and particle production. Thus, the interpretation of this minimum as a 'smoking gun' signature for the creation of a QGP is premature.

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