arXiv subjects

J. Aichelin

Publications and source records attributed to J. Aichelin.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2001

Thermodynamics of the 3-flavor NJL model : chiral symmetry breaking and color superconductivity

Employing an extended three flavor version of the NJL model we discuss in detail the phase diagram of quark matter. The presence of quark as well as of diquark condensates gives raise to a rich structure of the phase diagram. We study in detail the chiral phase transition and the color superconductivity as well as color flavor locking as a function of the temperature and chemical potentials of the system.

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arXiv2001

Overpopulation of $\bar Ω$ in pp collisions: a way to distinguish statistical hadronization from string dynamics

The $\barΩ/Ω$ ratio originating from string decays is predicted to be larger than unity in proton proton interactions at SPS energies ($E_{\rm lab}$=160 GeV). The anti-omega dominance increases with decreasing beam energy. This surprising behavior is caused by the combinatorics of quark-antiquark production in small and low-mass strings. Since this behavior is not found in a statistical description of hadron production in proton proton collisions, it may serve as a key observable to probe the hadronization mechanism in such collisions.

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arXiv2001

Heavy-quarkonium hadron cross section in QCD at leading twist

We compute the total cross section of a heavy quarkonium on a hadron target in leading twist QCD, including target mass corrections. Our method relies on the analytical continuation of the operator product expansion of the scattering amplitude, obtained long ago by Bhanot and Peskin. The cross section has a simple partonic form, which allows us to investigate the phenomenology of J/psi and Upsilon dissociation by both pions and protons.

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arXiv2001

Transverse flow of nuclear matter in collisions of heavy nuclei at intermediate energies

The Quantum Molecular Dynamics Model (IQMD) is used to investigate the origin of the collective transverse velocity observed in heavy ion experiments. We find that there are three contributions to this effect: initial-final state correlations, potential interactions and collisions. For a given nuclear equation of state (eos) the increase of the transverse velocity with increasing beam energy is caused by the potential part. For a given beam energy the collective transverse velocity is independent of the nuclear eos but the relative contributions of potential and collisions differ. In view of the importance of the potential interactions between the nucleons it is not evident that the similarity of the radial velocities measured for fragments at beam energies below 1 AGeV and that for mesons at beam energies above 2 AGeV is more than accidental.

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arXiv2000

Multiplicity of different hadrons in e+e-, pp, and AA collisions

Employing the recently developed neXus model, we compare the yields of different hadrons in ultra-relativistic collisions: electron-positron annihilation at 91 GeV, proton-proton scattering at 17 GeV and nucleus-nucleus collisions at 17 GeV (SPS) and 200 GeV (RHIC). Plotting the yields as a function of the hadron masses, we find very surprising results: we observe that the spectra are practically identical for e+e- at 91 GeV and central nucleus-nucleus reactions at SPS and RHIC energies, whereas the spectrum for proton-proton scattering is somewhat steeper. All have the form one expects if the particles were emitted by a canonical system which is characterized by a temperature and chemical potentials. These identical forms have, however, different origins: in e+e- and pp the exponential shape it is due to the statistical behavior of string fragmentation, which has absolutely nothing to do with thermalization, in AA it is caused by phase space. The fact that e+e- and nuclear results agree is pure coincidence. Surprisingly the results for pp and e+e- differ, although here the production mechanism is identical. In pp collisions we see directly that the string energy is very limited and hence the high mass baryons are suppressed. We conclude that it is practically impossible to draw conclusions from hadronic yields about the reaction mechanism.

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arXiv2000

Thermodynamics - a valuable approach to multifragmentation?

Since years it has been vividly debated whether multifragmentation is a thermal or a dynamical process. Recently it has been claimed \cite{toek1,po} that new data allow to decide this question. The conclusion, drawn in these papers, are, however, opposite. Whereas \cite{toek1} states that the behavior of different observables as a function of the fragment multiplicity excludes a thermal origin of the fragments in \cite{po} it has been argued that data show a first order phase transition between a liquid and a gaseous phase. It is the aim of this paper to show that both conclusions are premature. They are based on the salient assumption, that the system is sufficiently large to be susceptible to a canonical description. We will show that this is not the case. A micro canonical approach describes the data as good as dynamical calculations. Hence the quest for the physical origin of multifragmentation continues.

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arXiv2000

Multifragmentation - what the data tell us about the different models

We discuss what the presently collected data tell us about the mechanism of multifragmentation by comparing the results of two different models, which assume or show an opposite reaction scenario, with the recent high statistics $4π$ experiments performed by the INDRA collaboration. We find that the statistical multifragmentation model and the dynamical Quantum Molecular Dynamics approach produce almost the same results and agree both quite well with experiment. We discuss which observables may serve to overcome this deadlock on the quest for the reaction mechanism. Finally we proof that even if the system is in equilibrium, the fluctuation of the temperature due to the smallness of the system renders the caloric curve useless for the proof of a first order phase transition.

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arXiv2000

Energy loss and $x_2$ scaling breakdown in $J/ψ$ nuclear production

In addition to the final-state interactions, $J/ψ$ nuclear production might also be affected by parton energy loss. Using the upper limits from Drell-Yan data at SPS and Fermilab energies, we estimated energy loss contribution to $J/ψ$ production in p-A collisions. The results indicated that the effects might be sizeable at 200 GeV while remaining small at higher energies.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2000

Charmonium suppression in p-A collisions

The new high precision data on charmonium production in proton-nucleus collisions by the E866/NuSea collaboration at Fermilab allow - together with older data at lower energies - to fix a unique set of parameters for the standard production and absorption scenario of charmonium in a proton-nucleus reaction. In this scenario the c-cbar pair is formed in an octet state, emits a gluon and continues its radial expansion in a singlet state until it has reached the charmonium radius. In all three phases it can interact with the nuclear environment. We find that the lifetime of the octet state is much shorter than acceptable on physical grounds. This challenges the physical reality of the first phase in the standard scenario.

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arXiv1999

Beyond Mean Field Confrontation of Different Models with High Transverse Momentum Proton Spectra

Several models have been proposed to simulate heavy ion reactions beyond the mean field level. The lack of data in phase space regions which may be sensitive to different treatments of fluctuations made it difficult to judge these approaches. The recently published high energy proton spectra, measured in the reaction 94 AMeV Ar + Ta, allow for the first time for a comparison of the models with data. We find that these spectra are reproduced by Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD) and Boltzmann Uehling Uhlenbeck (BUU) calculations. Models like Boltzmann Langevin (BL) in which additional fluctuations in momentum space are introduced overpredict the proton yield at very high energies. The BL approach has been successfully used to describe the recently measured very subthreshold kaon production assuming that the fluctuations provide the necessary energy to overcome the threshold in two body collisions. Our new findings suggest that the very subthreshold kaon production cannot be due to two body scattering and thus remains a open problem.

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arXiv1998

On the origin of the radial flow in low energy heavy ion reactions

The average transverse energy of nucleons and intermediate mass fragments observed in the heavy ion reaction Xe(50A MeV)+Sn shows the same linear increase as a function of their mass as observed in heavy ion collisions up to the highest ene rgies available today and fits well into the systematics. At higher energies this observation has been interpreted as a sign of a strong radial flow in an otherwise thermalized system. Investigating the reaction with Quantum Molecular dynamics simulations we find in between 50A MeV and 200A MeV a change in the reaction mechanism. At 50A MeV the apparent radial flow is merely caused by an in-plane flow and Coulomb repulsion. The average transverse fragment energy does not change in the course of the reaction and is equal to the initial fragment energy due to the Fermi motion. At 200A MeV, there are two kinds of fragments: those formed from spectator matte r and those from the center of the reaction. There the transverse energy is caused by the pr essure from the compressed nuclear matter. In both cases we observe a binary event stru cture, even in central collisions. This demonstrates as well the non thermal character of the reaction. The actual process which leads to multifragmentation is rather complex and is discussed in detail.

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arXiv1998

Modelling the many-body dynamics of heavy ion collisions: Present status and future perspective

Basic problems of the semiclassical microscopic modelling of strongly interactingsystems are discussed within the framework of Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD). This model allows to study the influence of several types of nucleonic interactions on a large variety of observables and phenomena occurring in heavy ion collisions at relativistic energies.It is shown that the same predictions can be obtained with several -- numerically completely different and independently written -- programs as far as the same model parameters are employed and the same basic approximations are made. Many observables are robust against variations of the details of the model assumptions used. Some of the physical results, however, depend also on rather technical parameters like the preparation of the initial configuration in phase space. This crucial problem is connected with the description of the ground state of single nuclei,which differs among the various approaches. An outlook to an improved molecular dynamics scheme for heavy ion collisions is given.

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arXiv1998

Hadronization and Strangeness Production in a Chirally Symmetric Nonequilibrium Model

The expansion and hadronization of a quark meson plasma is studied using an effective chiral interaction Lagrangian. The particles we consider are light as well as strange quarks, which can form pions, kaons and eta mesons via collision processes. The transport equations for the system are solved using a QMD type algorithm. We find that in chemical equilibrium at high temperatures the strange quark mass is considerably higher than the strange current quark mass and becomes even higher if we assume an initial state free of strange quarks. This leads to a considerably higher production threshold. In contrast to simpler scenarios, like thermodynamics of free quarks with their bare mass, we observe that strangeness production in a plasma is hindered and not favoured. The different particle species created during the evolution become separated in coordinate as well as in momentum space. We observe, as at CERN experiments, a larger mean momentum of kaons as compared to pions. Thus the radial collective velocity may as well originate from a plasma expansion and not necessarily from a hadronic scenario.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1998

Multifragmentation in Xe(50A MeV)+Sn Confrontation of theory and data

We compare in detail central collisions Xe(50A MeV) + Sn, recently measured by the INDRA collaboration, with the Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD) model in order to identify the reaction mechanism which leads to multifragmentation. We find that QMD describes the data quite well, in the projectile/target region as well as in the midrapidity zone where also statistical models can be and have been employed. The agreement between QMD and data allows to use this dynamical model to investigate the reaction in detail. We arrive at the following observations: a) the in medium nucleon nucleon cross section is not significantly different from the free cross section, b) even the most central collisions have a binary character, c) most of the fragments are produced in the central collisions and d) the simulations as well as the data show a strong attractive in-plane flow resembling deep inelastic collisions e) at midrapidity the results from QMD and those from statistical model calculations agree for almost all observables with the exception of ${d^2 σ\over dZdE}$. This renders it difficult to extract the reaction mechanism from midrapidity fragments only. According to the simulations the reaction shows a very early formation of fragments, even in central collisions, which pass through the reaction zone without being destroyed. The final transverse momentum of the fragments is very close to the initial one and due to the Fermi motion. A heating up of the systems is not observed and hence a thermal origin of the spectra cannot be confirmed.

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arXiv1998

Role of the experimental filter in obtaining the Arrhenius plot in multifragmentation reactions

Recently it has been argued that the linear relation between the transverse energy and the apparent probability to emit a fragment proves that the total system is in thermal equilibrium. It is shown, for a specific reaction Xe+Sn at 50 A.MeV, that the same behavior is obtained in the context of Quantum Molecular Dynamical without invoking the idea of equilibrium. The linear dependance is shown to be a detector effect.

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arXiv1998

Expansion and Hadronization of a Chirally Symmetric Quark--Meson Plasma

Using a chirally symmetric Lagrangian, which contains quarks as elementary degrees of freedom and mesons as bound states, we investigate the expansion and hadronization of a fireball, which initially contains only quarks and produces mesons by collisions. For this model, we study the time scales of expansion and thermal and chemical equilibration. We find that the expansion progresses relatively fast, leaving not necessarily enough time to establish thermal and chemical equilibrium. Mesons are produced in the bulk of the fireball rather than at a surface, at a temperature below the Mott temperature. Initial density fluctuations become amplified during the expansion. These observations challenge the applicability of hydrodynamical approaches to the expansion of a quark-gluon plasma.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1998

On the flow of kaons produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions

We investigate the different contributions to the in-plane flow of K+ mesons observed recently by the FOPI collaboration in the reaction Ni(1.93 AGeV)+Ni. Due to the kinematics of the three body phase space decay the flow of kaons produced in baryon-baryon interactions is smaller than that of the baryons in the entrance channel. On the contrary, in pi N interactions the flow of the sources and of the kaons are identical. Therefore the total kaon flow depends on the relative number of Delta N -> K+ and pi N -> K+ reactions and hence on the lifetime of the Delta, in addition to the already known dependence on the potential interaction interaction of the kaons with the nuclear environment.

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arXiv1998

Microscopic Models for Ultrarelativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

In this paper, the concepts of microscopic transport theory are introduced and the features and shortcomings of the most commonly used ansatzes are discussed. In particular, the Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) transport model is described in great detail. Based on the same principles as QMD and RQMD, it incorporates a vastly extended collision term with full baryon-antibaryon symmetry, 55 baryon and 32 meson species. Isospin is explicitly treated for all hadrons. The range of applicability stretches from $E_{lab}< 100$ MeV/nucleon up to $E_{lab}> 200$ GeV/nucleon, allowing for a consistent calculation of excitation functions from the intermediate energy domain up to ultrarelativistic energies. The main physics topics under discussion are stopping, particle production and collective flow.

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