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J. Stachel

Publications and source records attributed to J. Stachel.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2009

Charmonium from Statistical Hadronization of Heavy Quarks -- a Probe for Deconfinement in the Quark-Gluon Plasma

We review the statistical hadronization picture for charmonium production in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions. Our starting point is a brief reminder of the status of the thermal model description of hadron production at high energy. Within this framework an excellent account is achieved of all data for hadrons built of (u,d,s) valence quarks using temperature, baryo-chemical potential and volume as thermal parameters. The large charm quark mass brings in a new (non-thermal) scale which is explicitely taken into account by fixing the total number of charm quarks produced in the collision. Emphasis is placed on the description of the physical basis for the resulting statistical hadronization model. We discuss the evidence for statistical hadronization of charmonia by analysis of recent data from the SPS and RHIC accelerators. Furthermore we discuss an extension of this model towards lower beam energies and develop arguments about the prospects to observe medium modifications of open and hidden charm hadrons. With the imminent start of the LHC accelerator at CERN, exciting prospects for charmonium production studies at the very high energy frontier come into reach. We present arguments that, at such energies, charmonium production becomes a fingerprint of deconfinement: even if no charmonia survive in the quark-gluon plasma, statistical hadronization at the QCD phase boundary of the many tens of charm quarks expected in a single central Pb-Pb collision could lead to an enhanced, rather than suppressed production probability when compared to results for nucleon-nucleon reactions scaled by the number of hard collisions in the Pb-Pb system.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2008

Statistical hadronization of charm: from FAIR to the LHC

We discuss the production of charmonium in nuclear collisions within the framework of the statistical hadronization model. We demonstrate that the model reproduces very well the availble data at RHIC. We provide predictions for the LHC energy where, dependently on the charm production cross section, a dramatically different behaviour of charmonium production as a function of centrality might be expected. We extend our predictions for charm production towards the threshold energies, where charm is expected to be measured at the future FAIR facility.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2008

Azimuthal dependence of pion source radii in Pb+Au collisions at 158 A GeV

We present results of a two-pion correlation analysis performed with the Au+Pb collision data collected by the upgraded CERES experiment in the fall of 2000. The analysis was done in bins of the reaction centrality and the pion azimuthal emission angle with respect to the reaction plane. The pion source, deduced from the data, is slightly elongated in the direction perpendicular to the reaction plane, similarly as was observed at the AGS and at RHIC.

nucl-ex↗
arXiv2008

QCD Evolution of Jets in the Quark-Gluon Plasma

The quark-gluon plasma (QGP) can be explored in relativistic heavy ion collisions by the jet quenching signature, i.e. by the energy loss of a high energy quark or gluon traversing the plasma. We introduce a novel QCD evolution formalism in the leading logarithm approximation, where normal parton radiation is interleaved with scattering on the plasma gluons occuring at a similar time scale. The idea is elaborated in two approaches. One extends the DGLAP evolution equations for fragmentation functions to include scatterings in the medium, which facilitates numerical solutions for comparison with data and provides a basis for a Monte Carlo implementation. The other approach is more general by including also the transverse momentum dependence of the jet evolution, which allows a separation of the scales also for the scattering term and provides a basis for analytical investigations. The two approaches are shown to be related and give the same characteristic softening of the jet depending on the temperature of the plasma. A substantial effect is found at the RHIC energy and is further enhanced at LHC. Systematic studies of data on the energy loss could, therefore, demonstrate the existence of the QGP and probe its properties.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2007

Charmonium and open charm production in nuclear collisions at SPS/FAIR energies and the possible influence of a hot hadronic medium

We provide predictions for charmonium and open charm production in nuclear collisions at SPS/FAIR energies within the framework of the statistical hadronization model. The increasing importance at lower energies of Lambda_c production is demonstrated and provides a challenge for future experiments. We also demonstrate that, because of the large charm quark mass and the different timescales for charm quark and charmed hadron production, possible modifications of charmed hadrons in the hot hadronic medium do not lead to measurable changes in cross sections for D-meson production. A possible influence of medium effects can be seen, however, in yields of charmonium. These effects are visible at all energies and results are presented for the energy range between charm threshold and RHIC energy.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2007

Statistical hadronization of charm quarks in ultra-relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions

We discuss the production of charmonium and open charm in nuclear collisions at SPS/FAIR energies within the framework of the statistical hadronization model. The increasing importance at lower energies of Lambda_c production is discussed and provides a challenge for future experiments. We also show that possible modifications of charmed hadrons in the hot hadronic medium do not lead to measurable changes in the cross sections for D-meson production. A possible influence of medium effects can be seen, however, in yields of charmonium. These effects are visible at all energies and results will be presented for the energy range between charm threshold and RHIC energy.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2007

Evidence for charmonium generation at the phase boundary in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions

We investigate the transition from suppression to enhancement of J/psi mesons produced in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions in the framework of the statistical hadronization model. The calculations are confronted with the most recent data from the RHIC accelerator. This comparison yields first direct evidence for generation of J/psi mesons at the phase boundary. Based on the success of this approach we make specific predictions for LHC energy.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2007

Statistical hadronization of heavy quarks in ultra-relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions

We present new results on the statistical hadronization of heavy quarks at SPS, RHIC and LHC energies. Several new aspects are considered, among them a separation of the collision geometry into a ``core'' and a ``corona'' part and an estimate of the annihilation rate of charm quark in a hot plasma, together with a critical assessment of its influence on the results. For RHIC energies we investigate the centrality dependence of J/psi production focusing on the model results for different values of the charm production cross section, including its theoretical and experimental uncertainty. We also study, within this model, the rapidity dependence of the J/psi yield. Recent RHIC data from the PHENIX experiment are well reproduced. At LHC energy, we update our model predictions for the centrality dependence of the J/psi yield and investigate as well the rapidity dependence. We also discuss the transverse momentum distributions of J/psi mesons expected from the model and provide predictions for a range of values of the expansion velocity at chemical freeze-out. Finally, we extend the model to predict Upsilon yields in Pb+Pb collisions at LHC energy.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2006

Hadron production in central nucleus-nucleus collisions at chemical freeze-out

We analyze the experimental hadron yield ratios for central nucleus-nucleus collisions in terms of thermal model calculations over a broad energy range, $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=2.7-200 GeV. The fits of the experimental data with the model calculations provide the thermal parameters, temperature and baryo-chemical potential at chemical freeze-out. We compare our results with the values obtained in other studies and also investigate more technical aspects such as a potential bias in the fits when fitting particle ratios or yields. Using parametrizations of the temperature and baryonic chemical potential as a function of energy, we compare the model calculations with data for a large variety of hadron yield ratios. We provide quantitative predictions for experiments at LHC energy, as well as for the low RHIC energy of 62.4 GeV. The relation of the determined parameters with the QCD phase boundary is discussed.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2005

e+e--pair production in Pb-Au collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

We present the combined results on electron-pair production in 158 GeV/n {Pb-Au} ($\sqrt{s}$= 17.2 GeV) collisions taken at the CERN SPS in 1995 and 1996, and give a detailed account of the data analysis. The enhancement over the reference of neutral meson decays amounts to a factor of 2.31$\pm0.19 (stat.)\pm0.55 (syst.)\pm0.69 (decays)$ for semi-central collisions (28% $σ/σ_{geo}$) when yields are integrated over $m>$ 200 MeV/$c^2$ in invariant mass. The measured yield, its stronger-than-linear scaling with $N_{ch}$, and the dominance of low pair $p_t$ strongly suggest an interpretation as {\it thermal radiation} from pion annihilation in the hadronic fireball. The shape of the excess centring at $m\approx$ 500 MeV/$c^2$, however, cannot be described without strong medium modifications of the $ρ$ meson. The results are put into perspective by comparison to predictions from Brown-Rho scaling governed by chiral symmetry restoration, and from the spectral-function many-body treatment in which the approach to the phase boundary is less explicit.

nucl-ex↗
arXiv2005

Fibered Manifolds, Natural Bundles, Structured Sets, G-Sets and all that: The Hole Story from Space Time to Elementary Particles

In this paper we review the hole argument for the space-time points and elementary particles and generalize the hole argument to include all geometric object fields and diffeomorphisms; and, by application of forgetful functors to abstract from differentiability and even continuity, the hole argument is applied to a much wider class of mathematical objects. We discuss the problem concerning the individuation of the objects in more general settings such that fibered manifolds, fibered sets and n-ary relations.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2004

Chemical Freeze-out and the QCD Phase Transition Temperature

We argue that hadron multiplicities in central high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions are established very close to the phase boundary between hadronic and quark matter. In the hadronic picture this can be described by multi-particle collisions whose importance is strongly enhanced due to the high particle density in the phase transition region. As a consequence of the rapid fall-off of the multi-particle scattering rates the experimentally determined chemical freeze-out temperature is a good measure of the phase transition temperature.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2003

Statistical hadronization of charm in heavy-ion collisions at SPS, RHIC and LHC

We study the production of charmonia and charmed hadrons in nucleus-nucleus collisions at SPS, RHIC, and LHC energies within the framework of the statistical hadronization model. Results from this model are compared to the measured yields and centrality dependence of J/psi production at SPS and RHIC energies. We explore and contrast the centrality dependence of the production of mesons with open and hidden charm at SPS, RHIC, and LHC. The sensitivity of the results to various input parameters is analyzed in detail for RHIC energy.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2003

Particle Production in Heavy Ion Collisions

The status of thermal model descriptions of particle production in heavy ion collisions is presented. We discuss the formulation of statistical models with different implementation of the conservation laws and indicate their applicability in heavy ion and elementary particle collisions. We analyze experimental data on hadronic abundances obtained in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions, in a very broad energy range starting from RHIC/BNL ($\sqrt s=200$ A GeV), SPS/CERN ($\sqrt s\simeq 20$ A GeV) up to AGS/BNL ($\sqrt s\simeq 5$ A GeV) and SIS/GSI ($\sqrt s\simeq 2$ A GeV) to test equilibration of the fireball created in the collision. We argue that the statistical approach provides a very satisfactory description of experimental data covering this wide energy range. Any deviations of the model predictions from the data are indicated. We discuss the unified description of particle chemical freeze--out and the excitation functions of different particle species. At SPS and RHIC energy the relation of freeze--out parameters with the QCD phase boundary is analyzed. Furthermore, the application of the extended statistical model to quantitative understanding of open and hidden charm hadron yields is considered.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2002

Statistical hadronization of charm at SPS, RHIC and LHC

We study the production of charmonia and charmed hadrons for nucleus-nucleus collisions at SPS, RHIC, and LHC energies within the framework of the statistical hadronization model. Results from this model are compared to the observed centrality dependence of J/psi production at SPS energy. We further provide predictions for the centrality dependence of the production of open and hidden charm mesons at RHIC and LHC.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2001

Particle Ratios, Equilibration, and the QCD Phase Boundary

We discuss the status of thermal model descriptions of particle ratios in central nucleus-nucleus collisions at ultra-relativistic energy. An alternative to the ``Cleymans-Redlich'' interpretation of the freeze-out trajectory is given in terms of the total baryon density. Emphasis is placed on the relation between the chemical equilibration parameters and the QCD phase boundary. Furthermore, we trace the essential difference between thermal model analyses of data from collisions between elementary particles and from heavy ion collisions as due to a transition from local strangeness conservation to percolation of strangeness over large volumes, as occurs naturally in a deconfined medium. We also discuss predictions of the thermal model for composite particle production.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2001

Hadron production in Au-Au collisions at RHIC

We present an analysis of particle production yields measured in central Au-Au collisions at RHIC in the framework of the statistical thermal model. We demonstrate that the model extrapolated from previous analyses at SPS and AGS energy is in good agreement with the available experimental data at $\sqrt s=130$ GeV implying a high degree of chemical equilibration. Performing a $χ^2$ fit to the data, the range of thermal parameters at chemical freezeout is determined. At present, the best agreement of the model and the data is obtained with the baryon chemical potential $μ_B\simeq 46\pm 5$ MeV and temperature $T\simeq 174\pm 7$ MeV. More ratios, such as multistrange baryon to meson, would be required to further constrain the chemical freezeout conditions. Extrapolating thermal parameters to higher energy, the predictions of the model for particle production in Au-Au reactions at $\sqrt s=200$ GeV are also given.

hep-ph↗