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J. Rizzo

Publications and source records attributed to J. Rizzo.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

Fragmentation paths in dynamical models

We undertake a quantitative comparison of multi-fragmentation reactions, as modeled by two different approaches: the Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics (AMD) and the momentum-dependent stochastic mean-field (SMF) model. Fragment observables and pre-equilibrium (nucleon and light cluster) emission are analyzed, in connection to the underlying compression-expansion dynamics in each model. Considering reactions between neutron-rich systems, observables related to the isotopic properties of emitted particles and fragments are also discussed, as a function of the parametrization employed for the isovector part of the nuclear interaction. We find that the reaction path, particularly the mechanism of fragmentation, is different in the two models and reflects on some properties of the reaction products, including their isospin content. This should be taken into account in the study of the density dependence of the symmetry energy from such collisions.

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Isospin emission and flows at high baryon density: a test of the symmetry potential

High energy Heavy Ion Collisions (HIC) are studied in order to access nuclear matter properties at high density. Particular attention is paid to the selection of observables sensitive to the poorly known symmetry energy at high baryon density, of large fundamental interest, even for the astrophysics implications. Using fully consistent transport simulations built on effective theories we test isospin observables ranging from nucleon/cluster emissions to collective flows (in particular the elliptic, squeeze out, part). The effects of the competition between stiffness and momentum dependence of the Symmetry Potential on the reaction dynamics are thoroughly analyzed. In this way we try to shed light on the controversial neutron/proton effective mass splitting at high baryon and isospin densities. New, more exclusive, experiments are suggested.

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Isospin Dynamics in Heavy Ion Collisions: from Coulomb Barrier to Quark Gluon Plasma

Heavy Ion Collisions (HIC) represent a unique tool to probe the in-medium nuclear interaction in regions away from saturation. In this report we present a selection of new reaction observables in dissipative collisions particularly sensitive to the symmetry term of the nuclear Equation of State (Iso-EoS). We will first discuss the Isospin Equilibration Dynamics. At low energies this manifests via the recently observed Dynamical Dipole Radiation, due to a collective neutron-proton oscillation with the symmetry term acting as a restoring force. At higher beam energies Iso-EoS effects will be seen in Imbalance Ratio Measurements, in particular from the correlations with the total kinetic energy loss. For fragmentation reactions in central events we suggest to look at the coupling between isospin distillation and radial flow. In Neck Fragmentation reactions important $Iso-EoS$ information can be obtained from the correlation between isospin content and alignement. The high density symmetry term can be probed from isospin effects on heavy ion reactions at relativistic energies (few AGeV range). Rather isospin sensitive observables are proposed from nucleon/cluster emissions, collective flows and meson production. The possibility to shed light on the controversial neutron/proton effective mass splitting in asymmetric matter is also suggested. A large symmetry repulsion at high baryon density will also lead to an "earlier" hadron-deconfinement transition in n-rich matter. A suitable treatment of the isovector interaction in the partonic EoS appears very relevant.

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Isospin Dynamics in Peripheral Heavy Ion Collisions at Fermi Energies

We present a detailed study of isospin dynamics in peripheral collisions at Fermi energies. We consider symmetric and mixed collisions of (124,112)Sn isotopes at 35 and 50 AMeV to study the isospin transport between the different reaction components (residues, gas and possibly intermediate mass fragments) and, in particular, the charge equilibration in the mixed system. We evaluate the effects of drift terms due to asymmetry and density gradients, which are directly related to the poorly known value and slope of the symmetry energy below saturation density. We verify the importance of an isoscalar momentum dependence of the mean field, which is found to influence the isospin transport since it changes the reaction times. We finally suggest two observables particularly sensitive to the isovector part of the nuclear equation-of-state: the correlation between isospin equilibration and kinetic energy loss for binary events, and the isospin content of the produced mid-rapidity fragments for neck fragmentation events.

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Angular momentum conservation in heavy ion collisions at very high energy

The effects of angular momentum conservation in peripheral heavy ion collisions at very high energy are investigated. It is shown that the initial angular momentum of the quark-gluon plasma should enhance the azimuthal anisotropy of particle spectra (elliptic flow) with respect to the usual picture where only the initial geometrical eccentricity of the nuclear overlap region is responsible for the anisotropy. In hydrodynamical terms, the initial angular momentum entails a non trivial dependence of the initial longitudinal flow velocity on the transverse coordinates. This gives rise to a non-vanishing vorticity in the equations of motion which enhances the expansion rate of the supposedly created fluid compensating for the possible quenching effect of viscosity. A distinctive signature of the vorticity in the plasma is the generation of an average polarization of the emitted hadrons, for which we provide analytical expressions. These phenomena might be better observed at LHC, where the initial angular momentum density will be larger and where we envisage an increase of the elliptic flow coefficient v_2 with respect to RHIC energies.

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A new approach to solve the Boltzmann-Langevin equation for fermionic systems

We present a new method to introduce phase-space fluctuations in transport theories, corresponding to a full implementation of the Boltzmann-Langevin equation for fermionic systems. It is based on the procedure originally developed by Bauer et al. for transport codes employing the test particle method. In the new procedure, the Pauli principle is carefully checked, leading to a good reproduction of the correct fluctuations in the ``continuum limit'' ($h \to 0$). Accurate tests are carried out in one and two dimensional idealized systems, and finally results for a full 3D application are shown. We stress the reliability of this method, which can be easily plugged into existing tranport codes using test particles, and its general applicability to systems characterized by instabilities, like for instance multifragmentation processes.

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Investigation of Low-Density Symmetry Energy via Nucleon and Fragment Observables

With stochastic transport simulations we study in detail central and peripheral collisions at Fermi energies and suggest new observables, sensitive to the symmetry energy below normal density. As such we identify on one hand the isospin imbalance ratio, i.e. the relative amount of isospin equilibration in binary, peripheral reactions of nuclei with different isospin, as a function of the energy loss, which is sensitive to isospin diffusion; on the other hand the isospin asymmetry of an intermediate mass fragment (IMF) in symmetric collisions in ternary reactions, or more particularly, the ratio of the IMF to the residue asymmetry, which is sensitive to isospin migration.

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Isospin Effects on Meson Production in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

We show that the phenomenology of isospin effects on heavy ion reactions at intermediate energies (few AGeV range) is extremely rich and can allow a ``direct'' study of the covariant structure of the isovector interaction in a high density hadron medium. We work within a relativistic transport frame, beyond a cascade picture, consistently derived from effective Lagrangians, where isospin effects are accounted for in the mean field and collision terms. We show that rather sensitive observables are provided by the pion/kaon production (π^-/π^+, K^0/K^+ yields). Relevant non-equilibrium effects are stressed. The possibility of the transition to a mixed hadron-quark phase, at high baryon and isospin density, is finally suggested. Some signatures could come from an expected ``neutron trapping'' effect.

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Constraining the Symmetry Energy: A Journey in the Isospin Physics from Coulomb Barrier to Deconfinement

Heavy Ion Collisions (HIC) represent a unique tool to probe the in-medium nuclear interaction in regions away from saturation. In this work we present a selection of reaction observables in dissipative collisions particularly sensitive to the isovector part of the interaction, i.e. to the symmetry term of the nuclear Equation of State (EoS). At low energies the behavior of the symmetry energy around saturation influences dissipation and fragment production mechanisms. We will first discuss the recently observed Dynamical Dipole Radiation, due to a collective neutron-proton oscillation during the charge equilibration in fusion and deep-inelastic collisions. Important Iso-EOS effects are stressed. Reactions induced by unstable 132Sn beams appear to be very promising tools to test the sub-saturation Isovector EoS. New Isospin sensitive observables are also presented for deep-inelastic, fragmentation collisions and Isospin equilibration measurements (Imbalance Ratios). The high density symmetry term can be derived from isospin effects on heavy ion reactions at relativistic energies (few AGeV range), that can even allow a ``direct'' study of the covariant structure of the isovector interaction in the hadron medium. Rather sensitive observables are proposed from collective flows and from pion/kaon production. The possibility of the transition to a mixed hadron-quark phase, at high baryon and isospin density, is finally suggested. Some signatures could come from an expected ``neutron trapping'' effect. The importance of studying violent collisions with radioactive beams from low to relativistic energies is finally stressed.

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Probing the nuclear EOS with fragment production

We discuss fragmentation mechanisms and isospin transport occurring in central collisions between neutron rich systems at Fermi energies. In particular, isospin effects are analyzed looking at the correlations between fragment isotopic content and kinematical properties. Simulations are based on an approximate solution of the Boltzmann-Langevin (BL) equation. An attempt to solve the complete BL equation, by introducing full fluctuations in phase space is also discussed.

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Isospin Dynamics in Heavy Ion Collisions: EoS-sensitive Observables

Heavy Ion Collisions (HIC) represent a unique tool to probe the in-medium nuclear interaction in regions away from saturation and at high nucleon momenta. In this report we present a selection of reaction observables particularly sensitive to the isovector part of the interaction, i.e. to the symmetry term of the nuclear Equation of State (EoS) At low energies the behavior of the symmetry energy around saturation influences dissipation and fragment production mechanisms. Predictions are shown for deep-inelastic and fragmentation collisions induced by neutron rich projectiles. Differential flow measurements will also shed lights on the controversial neutron/proton effective mass splitting in asymmetric matter. The high density symmetry term can be derived from isospin effects on heavy ion reactions at relativistic energies (few AGeV range), that can even allow a ``direct'' study of the covariant structure of the isovector interaction in the hadron medium. Rather sensitive observables are proposed from collective flows and from pion/kaon production. The possibility of the transition to a mixed hadron-quark phase, at high baryon and isospin density, is finally suggested. Some signatures could come from an expected ``neutron trapping'' effect.

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Comparison of dynamical multifragmentation models

Multifragmentation scenarios, as predicted by antisymmetrized molecular dynamics (AMD) or momentum-dependent stochastic mean-field (BGBD) calculations are compared. While in the BGBD case fragment emission is clearly linked to the spinodal decomposition mechanism, i.e. to mean-field instabilities, in AMD many-body correlations have a stronger impact on the fragmentation dynamics and clusters start to appear at earlier times. As a consequence, fragments are formed on shorter time scales in AMD, on about equal footing of light particle pre-equilibrium emission. Conversely, in BGBD pre-equilibrium and fragment emissions happen on different time scales and are related to different mechanisms.

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Fast nucleon emission as a probe of the isospin momentum dependence

In this article we investigate the structure of the non-local part of the symmetry term, that leads to a splitting of the effective masses of protons and neutrons in asymmetric matter. Based on microscopic transport simulations we suggest some rather sensitive observables in collisions of neutron-rich (unstable) ions at intermediate ($RIA$) energies. In particular we focus the attention on pre-equilibrium nucleon emissions. We discuss interesting correlations between the N/Z content of the fast emitted particles and their rapidity or transverse momentum, that show a nice dependence on the prescription used for the effective mass splitting.

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On the splitting of nucleon effective masses at high isospin density: reaction observables

We review the present status of the nucleon effective mass splitting $puzzle$ in asymmetric matter, with controversial predictions within both non-relativistic $and$ relativistic approaches to the effective in medium interactions. Based on microscopic transport simulations we suggest some rather sensitive observables in collisions of asymmetric (unstable) ions at intermediate ($RIA$) energies: i) Energy systematics of Lane Potentials; ii) Isospin content of fast emitted nucleons; iii) Differential Collective Flows. Similar measurements for light isobars (like $^3H-^3He$) could be also important.

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Transport properties of isospin effective mass splitting

We investigate in detail the momentum dependence ($MD$) of the effective in medium Nucleon-Nucleon ($NN$) interaction in the isovector channel. We focus the discussion on transport properties of the expected neutron-proton ($n/p$) effective mass splitting at high isospin density. We look at observable effects from collective flows in Heavy Ion Collisions ($HIC$) of charge asymmetric nuclei at intermediate energies. Using microscopic kinetic equation simulations nucleon transverse and elliptic collective flows in $Au+Au$ collisions are evaluated. In spite of the reduced charge asymmetry of the interacting system interesting $isospin-MD$ effects are revealed. Good observables, particularly sensitive to the $n/p$-mass splitting, appear to be the differences between neutron and proton flows. The importance of more exclusive measurements, with a selection of different bins of the transverse momenta ($p_t$) of the emitted particles, is stressed. In more inclusive data a compensation can be expected from different $p_t$-contributions, due to the microscopic $isospin-MD$ structure of the nuclear mean field in asymmetric matter.

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