arXiv subjects

Jacquelyn Noronha-Hostler

Publications and source records attributed to Jacquelyn Noronha-Hostler.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

D meson sensitivity to a system size scan at LHC

Experimental measurements in pA collisions indicate no D meson suppression ($R_{\rm pPb} \sim 1$) but a surprisingly large $v_2$. To better understand these results we propose a system size scan at the LHC involving $^{16}$OO, $^{40}$ArAr, $^{129}$XeXe and $^{208}$PbPb collisions. Using Trento+ v-USPhydro+DAB-MOD to make predictions, we find that the $R_{\rm AA}$ tends towards unity when the system size is decreased, but nonetheless, in the most central collisions $v_2\{2\}$ is almost independent of the colliding system. These results are analyzed in light of path length and initial eccentricity variations.

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arXiv2019

DAB-MOD sensitivity study of heavy flavor $R_{AA}$ and azimuthal anisotropies based on beam energy, initial conditions, hadronization, and suppression mechanisms

Heavy flavor probes provide important information about the in-medium properties of the quark-gluon plasma produced in heavy-ion collisions. In this work, we investigate the effects of 2D+1 event-by-event fluctuating hydrodynamic backgrounds on the nuclear suppression factor and momentum anisotropies of heavy flavor mesons and non-photonic electrons. Using the state-of-the-art D and B mesons modular simulation code (called "DAB-MOD"), we perform a systematic comparison of different transport equations in the same background, including a few energy loss models --- with and without energy loss fluctuations --- and a relativistic Langevin model with different drag parametrizations. We present the resulting D and B mesons $R_{AA}$, $v_2$, $v_3$, and $v_4$ as well as multi-particle cumulants, in AuAu collisions at $\sqrt{s_\text{NN}}=200\, \text{GeV}$ and PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\text{NN}}=2.76 \, \text{TeV}$ and $\sqrt{s_\text{NN}}=5.02 \, \text{TeV}$, and compare them to the available experimental data. The $v_2\{4\}/v_2\{2\}$ ratio, which is known to be a powerful probe of the initial conditions and flow fluctuations in the soft sector, is also studied in the context of heavy flavor. We also investigate the correlations between the transverse anisotropies of heavy mesons and all charged particles to better understand how heavy quarks couple to the hydrodynamically expanding quark-gluon plasma. We study the influence that different initial conditions and the implementation of heavy-light quark coalescence has on our results.

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arXiv2019

Sensitivity of D meson azimuthal anisotropies to system size and nuclear structure

Recent experimental data at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) confirmed that the soft sector azimuthal anisotropies in central XeXe collisions are sensitive to deformations in the wave function of the Xenon nucleus. Additionally, the CMS experiment found that D meson flow is slightly suppressed compared to other particle species when considering quark number scaling in small systems of pPb compared to PbPb. In this talk we used the D and B Mesons Modular (DAB-MOD) code coupled to Trento+v-USPhydro to calculate the $R_{AA}$ and $v_n$'s of D mesons using different energy loss models and Langevin techniques. Comparing D mesons $R_{AA}$ and $v_n$ in PbPb to XeXe collisions it is found that in central collisions D meson azimuthal anisotropies are sensitive to details in the nuclear structure wave function of Xenon. Additionally, we find that in mid-central collisions the smaller system size of XeXe suppresses D meson flow.

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arXiv2019

Extracting the strangeness freeze-out temperature from net-Kaon data at RHIC

Using the moments of the net-kaon distribution calculated within a state of-the-art hadron resonance gas model compared to experimental data from STAR's Beam Energy Scan, we find that the extracted strange freeze-out temperature is incompatible with the light one extracted from net-proton and net-charge fluctuations. Additionally predictions for net-$Lambda$ fluctuations are made that also appear to be consistent with a higher freeze-out temperature for strange particles. This strangeness freeze-out temperature is roughly $10-15$ MeV higher than the corresponding light freeze-out temperature. We also discuss cross-susceptibilities using different identified particles, which may be a further test of this two freeze-out temperature picture. Finally, we lay out the necessary updates needed in relativistic hydrodynamic models to take into account for this two freeze-out temperature scenario and present preliminary results of $Λ$ spectra at RHIC for AuAu $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV collisions that indicate a higher freeze-out temperature is preferred.

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arXiv2019

Heavy-flavor dynamics in event-by-event viscous hydrodynamic backgrounds

We investigate the effects of (2+1)d event-by-event fluctuating hydrodynamic backgrounds on the nuclear modification factor and momentum anisotropies of heavy-flavor mesons. Using the state-of-the-art D and B mesons modular simulation code (the so-called DAB-mod), updated recently with heavy-light quark coalescence, we perform a systematic comparison of different transport equations, including two energy loss models and a relativistic Langevin model with two drag parametrizations. We present the resulting D$^0$ meson $R_{AA}$, $v_2$ and $v_3$, using the multiparticle cumulant method, in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV and compare them to the latest experimental data. We investigate the $v_2\{4\}/v_2\{2\}$ ratio as a function of centrality for different initial conditions (MCKLN vs. Trento) and different system geometries and sizes (coming from Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV, spherical and prolate Xe-Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.44$ TeV).

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arXiv2019

Shrinking the Quark Gluon Plasma

In recent years the understanding on the limits of the smallest possible droplet of the Quark Gluon Plasma has been called into question. Experimental results from both the Large Hadron Collider and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider have provided hints that the Quark Gluon Plasma may be produced in systems as small as that formed in pPb or dAu collisions. Yet alternative explanations still exist from correlations arising from quarks and gluons in a color glass condensate picture. In order to resolve these two scenarios, a system size scan has been proposed at the Large Hadron Collider for collisions of ArAr and OO. Here we make predictions for a possible future run of ArAr and OO collisions at the Large Hadron Collider and study the system size dependence of a variety of flow observables. We find that linear response (from the initial conditions to the final flow harmonics) becomes more dominant in smaller systems whereas linear+cubic response can accurately predict multi-particle cumulants for a wide range of centralities in large systems.

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arXiv2018

Probing the transverse size of initial inhomogeneities with flow observables

Disentangling the effect of initial conditions and medium properties is an open question in the field of relativistic heavy ion collisions. We argue that, while one can study the impact of initial inhomogeneities by varying their size, it is important to maintain the global properties fixed. We present a method to do this. We show that many observables are insensitive to the the hot spot sizes, including integrated vn, scaled distributions of vn, symmetric cumulants, eventplane correlations, and differential vn(pT ). We find however that the factorization breaking ratio rn and sub-leading component in a Principal Component Analysis are more sensitive to the initial granularity and can be used to probe short-scale features of the initial density.

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arXiv2018

Confronting hydrodynamic predictions with Xe-Xe data

Comparing collision systems of different size, at near the same collision energy, offers us the opportunity to probe the scaling behavior and therefore the nature of the system itself. Recently, we made predictions for Xe-Xe collisions at 5.44 TeV using viscous hydrodynamic simulations, noting that the scaling from the larger Pb-Pb system is rather generic, and arguing that robust predictions can be made that do not depend on details of the model. Here we confront our predictions with measurements that were subsequently made in a short Xe-Xe run at the LHC by the ALICE, ATLAS, and CMS collaborations. We find that the predictions are largely confirmed. Of particular interest is a strong indication of a non-spherical shape for the $^{129}$Xe nucleus.

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arXiv2018

Signatures of thermalized charm quarks in all charged flow observables

A long standing question in the field of heavy-ion collisions is whether charm quarks are thermalized within the Quark Gluon Plasma. In recent years, progress in lattice QCD simulations has led to reliable results for the equation of state of a system of 2+1 flavors (up, down, and strange) and 2+1+1 flavors (up, down, strange, and charm). We find that the equation of state strongly affects differential flow harmonics and a preference is seen for thermalized charm quarks at the LHC. Predictions are also made for the event-plane correlations at RHIC AuAu $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV collisions, and the scaling of differential flow observables and factorization breaking for all charged particles at LHC PbPb $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV collisions compared to LHC XeXe $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.44$ TeV collisions, which could be useful in answering the question: are charm quarks thermalized?

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arXiv2017

Hydrodynamic predictions for 5.44 TeV Xe+Xe collisions

We argue that relativistic hydrodynamics is able to make robust predictions for soft particle production in Xe+Xe collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The change of system size from Pb+Pb to Xe+Xe provides a unique opportunity to test the scaling laws inherent to fluid dynamics. Using event-by-event hydrodynamic simulations, we make quantitative predictions for several observables: mean transverse momentum, anisotropic flow coefficients, and their fluctuations. Results are shown as function of collision centrality.

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arXiv2017

Study of the sensitivity of observables to hot spot size in heavy ion collisions

An open question in the field of heavy-ion collisions is to what extent the size of initial inhomogeneities in the system affects measured observables. Here we present a method to smooth out these inhomogeneities with minimal effect on global properties, in order to quantify the effect of short-range features of the initial state. We show a comparison of hydrodynamic predictions with original and smoothened initial conditions for four models of initial conditions and various observables. Integrated observables (integrated $v_n$, scaled $v_n$ distributions, normalized symmetric cumulants, event-plane correlations) as well as most differential observables ($v_n(p_T)$) show little dependence on the inhomogeneity sizes, and instead are sensitive only to the largest-scale geometric structure. However other differential observables such as the flow factorization ratio and sub-leading principal components are more sensitive to the granularity and could be a good tool to probe the short-scale dynamics of the initial stages of a heavy-ion collision, which are not currently well understood.

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arXiv2017

Effect of the QCD equation of state and strange hadronic resonances on multiparticle correlations in heavy ion collisions

The QCD equation of state at zero baryon chemical potential is the only element of the standard dynamical framework to describe heavy ion collisions that can be directly determined from first principles. Continuum extrapolated lattice QCD equations of state have been computed using 2+1 quark flavors (up/down and strange) as well as 2+1+1 flavors to investigate the effect of thermalized charm quarks on QCD thermodynamics. Lattice results have also indicated the presence of new strange resonances that not only contribute to the equation of state of QCD matter but also affect hadronic afterburners used to model the later stages of heavy ion collisions. We investigate how these new developments obtained from first principles calculations affect multiparticle correlations in heavy ion collisions. We compare the commonly used equation of state S95n-v1, which was constructed using what are now considered outdated lattice results and hadron states, to the current state-of-the-art lattice QCD equations of state with 2+1 and 2+1+1 flavors coupled to the most up-to-date hadronic resonances and their decays. New hadronic resonances lead to an enhancement in the hadronic spectra at intermediate $p_T$. Using an outdated equation of state can directly affect the extraction of the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio, $η/s$, of the quark-gluon plasma and results for different flow observables. The effects of the QCD equation of state on multiparticle correlations of identified particles are determined for both AuAu $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV and PbPb $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV collisions. New insights into the $v_2\{2\}$ to $v_3\{2\}$ puzzle in ultracentral collisions are found. Flow observables of heavier particles exhibit more non-linear behavior regardless of the assumptions about the equation of state, which may provide a new way to constrain the temperature dependence of $η/s$.

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arXiv2017

Critical point in the phase diagram of primordial quark-gluon matter from black hole physics

Strongly interacting matter undergoes a crossover phase transition at high temperatures $T\sim 10^{12}$ K and zero net-baryon density. A fundamental question in the theory of strong interactions, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), is whether a hot and dense system of quarks and gluons displays critical phenomena when doped with more quarks than antiquarks, where net-baryon number fluctuations diverge. Recent lattice QCD work indicates that such a critical point can only occur in the baryon dense regime of the theory, which defies a description from first principles calculations. Here we use the holographic gauge/gravity correspondence to map the fluctuations of baryon charge in the dense quark-gluon liquid onto a numerically tractable gravitational problem involving the charge fluctuations of holographic black holes. This approach quantitatively reproduces ab initio results for the lowest order moments of the baryon fluctuations and makes predictions for the higher order baryon susceptibilities and also for the location of the critical point, which is found to be within the reach of heavy ion collision experiments.

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arXiv2017

Event-by-event $v_n$ correlations of soft hadrons and heavy mesons in heavy ion collisions

In this paper heavy quark energy loss models are embedded in full event-by-event viscous hydrodynamic simulations to investigate the nuclear suppression factor and azimuthal anisotropy of D$^0$ mesons in PbPb collisions at 5.02 TeV in the $p_T$ range 8-40 GeV. In our model calculations, the $R_\text{AA}$ of D$^0$ mesons is consistent with experimental data from the CMS experiment. We present the first calculations of heavy flavor cumulants $v_2\{2\}$ and $v_3\{2\}$ (and also discuss $v_2\{4\}$), which is also consistent with experimental data. Event-shape engineering techniques are used to compute the event-by-event correlation between the soft hadron $v_n$ and the heavy meson $v_n$. We predict a linear correlation between these observables on an event-by-event basis.

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arXiv2017

Event-by-event $v_n$ correlations of soft hadrons and heavy mesons in heavy ion collisions

Combining event-by-event hydrodynamics with heavy quark energy loss we compute correlations between the heavy and soft sectors for elliptic and triangular flow harmonics $v_2$ and $v_3$ of D$^0$ mesons in PbPb collisions at $2.76$ TeV and $5.02$ TeV. Our results indicate that $v_3$ is strongly influenced by the fragmentation temperature and that it builds up later than $v_2$ during the evolution of the system.

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arXiv2017

Dynamical vs. equilibrium properties of the QCD phase transition: a holographic perspective

We employ an Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton (EMD) holographic model, which is known to be in good agreement with lattice results for the QCD equation of state with $(2+1)$ flavors and physical quark masses, to investigate the temperature and baryon chemical potential dependence of the susceptibilities, conductivities, and diffusion coefficients associated with baryon, electric, and strangeness conserved charges. We also determine how the bulk and shear viscosities of the plasma vary in the plane of temperature and baryon chemical potential. The diffusion of conserved charges and the hydrodynamic viscosities in a baryon rich quark-gluon plasma are found to be suppressed with respect to the zero net baryon case. The transition temperatures associated with equilibrium and non-equilibrium quantities are determined as a function of the baryon chemical potential for the first time. Because of the crossover nature of the QCD phase transition even at moderately large values of the chemical potential, we find that the transition temperatures associated with different quantities are spread in the interval between $130-200$ MeV and they all decrease with increasing baryon chemical potential.

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arXiv2017

Relative flow fluctuations as a probe of initial state fluctuations

Elliptic flow, $v_2$, and triangular flow, $v_3$, are to a good approximation linearly proportional to the corresponding spatial anisotropies of the initial density profile, $\varepsilon_2$ and $\varepsilon_3$. Using event-by-event hydrodynamic simulations, we point out when deviations from this linear scaling are to be expected. When these deviations are negligible, relative $v_n$ fluctuations are equal to relative $\varepsilon_n$ fluctuations, and one can directly probe models of initial conditions using ratios of cumulants, for instance $v_n\{4\}/v_n\{2\}$. We argue that existing models of initial conditions tend to overestimate flow fluctuations in central Pb+Pb collisions, and to underestimate them in peripheral collisions. We make predictions for $v_3\{6\}$ in noncentral Pb+Pb collisions, and for $v_3\{4\}$ and $v_3\{6\}$ in high-multiplicity p+Pb collisions.

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arXiv2017

Mixed Harmonic Correlations: Hydrodynamics Predictions at RHIC using Experimental Analysis Techniques

Correlations of different azimuthal flow harmonics $v_n$ and symmetry planes $Ψ_n$ can add constraints to theoretical models, and probe aspects of the system that are independent of the traditional single-harmonic measurements. Using NeXSPheRIO, a hydrodynamical model which has accurately reproduced a large set of single-harmonic correlations at RHIC, we make predictions of these new observables for 200 A GeV Au+Au Collisions, providing an important baseline for comparison to correlations of flow harmonics, which contain non-trivial information about the initial state. We also point out how to properly compare theoretical calculations to measurements using wide centrality bins and non-trivial event weighting.

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