arXiv subjects

Jan Steinheimer

Publications and source records attributed to Jan Steinheimer.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

QCD equation of state at finite baryon density with fugacity expansion

We explore the QCD equation of state at finite baryon density through an expansion in baryon number fugacity, making use of the recent lattice data on the four leading Fourier coefficients of the expansion. A state-of-the-art description of the lattice data at both imaginary $μ_B$ and $μ_B = 0$ is provided by the cluster expansion model (CEM). The CEM pressure function has three temperature dependent input parameters, which we fix by parameterizing the available lattice QCD data. This results in a crossover model of the QCD equation of state at finite baryon density, which can be used in fluid dynamical simulations of heavy-ion collisions.

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arXiv2019

Equation of state for hot QCD and compact stars from a mean field approach

The thermodynamic properties of high temperature and high density QCD-matter are explored within the Chiral SU(3)-flavor parity-doublet Polyakov-loop quark-hadron mean-field model, CMF. The quark sector of the CMF model is tuned to describe the $μ_B=0$ thermodynamics data of lattice QCD. The resulting lines of constant physical variables as well as the baryon number susceptibilities are studied in some detail in the temperature/chemical potential plane. The CMF model predicts three consecutive transitions, the nuclear first-order liquid-vapor phase transition, chiral symmetry restoration, and the cross-over transition to a quark-dominated phase. All three phenomena are cross-over, for most of the $T-μ_B$-plane. The deviations from the free ideal hadron gas baseline at $μ_B=0$ and $T\approx 100-200$ MeV can be attributed to remnants of the liquid-vapor first order phase transition in nuclear matter. The chiral crossing transition determines the baryon fluctuations at much higher $μ_B\approx1.5$ GeV, and at even higher baryon densities $μ_B\approx2.4$ GeV, the behavior of fluctuations is controlled by the deconfinement cross-over. The CMF model also describe well the static properties of high $μ_B$ neutron stars as well as the new neutron star merger observations. The effective EoS presented here describes simultaneously lattice QCD results at $μ_B=0$, as well as observed physical phenomena (nuclear matter and neutron star matter) at $T\cong0$ and high densities, $μ_B>1$ GeV.

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arXiv2019

First results of EPOS-HQ model for open heavy flavor production in A-A collission at RHIC and LHC

The EPOS-HQ model is a framework designed for predicting heavy-flavor observables both in p-p, p-A and A-A collisions. It results from the integration of the MC$@_s$HQ and EPOS3 codes and should supersede predictions made with each of these two. In this contribution, we briefly present the new ingredients of the EPOS-HQ model as well as some preliminary results. From the comparison with experimental data, we derive some direction of improvement for the near future.

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arXiv2018

The QCD Phase Diagram from Statistical Model Analysis

In high multiplicity nucleus-nucleus collisions baryon-antibaryon annihilation and regeneration occur during the final hadronic expansion phase, thus distorting the initial equilibrium multiplicity ratios. We quantify the modifications employing the hybrid UrQMD transport model and apply them to the grand canonical partition functions of the Statistical Hadronization Model(SHM). We analyze minimum bias and central Pb+Pb collision data at SPS and LHC energy. We explain the Pion to Proton ratio puzzle. We also reproduce the deuteron to proton ratio at LHC energy by the SHM, and by UrQMD after attaching a phase space coalescence process. We discuss the resulting (T,$μ_{B}$) diagram.

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arXiv2018

Large proton cumulants from the superposition of ordinary multiplicity distributions

We construct a multiplicity distribution characterized by large factorial cumulants (integrated correlation functions) from a simple combination of two ordinary multiplicity distributions characterized by small factorial cumulants. We find that such a model, which could be interpreted as representing two event classes, reproduces the preliminary data for the proton cumulants measured by the STAR collaboration at $7.7$ GeV very well. This model then predicts very large values for the fifth and sixth order factorial cumulants, which can be tested in experiment.

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arXiv2018

Entropy production and reheating at the chiral phase transition

We study the production of entropy in the context of a nonequilibrium chiral phase transition. The dynamical symmetry breaking is modeled by a Langevin equation for the order parameter coupled to the Bjorken dynamics of a quark plasma. We investigate the impact of dissipation and noise on the entropy and explore the possibility of reheating for crossover and first-order phase transitions, depending on the expansion rate of the fluid. The relative increase in S/N is estimated to range from 10% for a crossover to 200% for a first-order phase transition at low beam energies, which could be detected in the pion-to-proton ratio as a function of beam energy.

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arXiv2018

The enhancement of $v_4$ in nuclear collisions at the highest densities signals a first order phase transition

The beam energy dependence of $v_4$ (the quadrupole moment of the transverse radial flow) is sensitive to the nuclear equation of state (EoS) in mid-central Au + Au collisions at the energy range of $3 < \sqrt{s_{NN}} < 30$ GeV, which is investigated within the hadronic transport model JAM. Different equations of state, namely, a free hadron gas, a first-order phase transition and a crossover are compared. An enhancement of $v_4$ at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}\approx 6$ GeV is predicted for an EoS with a first-order phase transition. This enhanced $v_4$ flow is driven by both the enhancement of $v_2$ as well as the positive contribution to $v_4$ from the squeeze-out of spectator particles which turn into participants due to the admixture of the strong collective flow in the shocked, compressed nuclear matter.

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arXiv2018

QCD at high density: Equation of state for nuclear collisions and neutron stars

A unified chiral mean field approach is presented for QCD thermodynamics in a wide range of temperatures and densities. The model simultaneously gives a satisfactory description of lattice QCD thermodynamics and fulfills nuclear matter and astrophysical constraints. The resulting equation of state can be incorporated in relativistic fluid-dynamical simulations of heavy-ion collisions and neutron stars mergers. Access to different regions of the QCD phase diagram can be obtained in simulations of heavy-ion data and observations of neutron star mergers.

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arXiv2018

The cumulants of the baryon number from central Au+Au collision at $E_{lab}$= 1.23 GeV$/$nucleon reveal the nuclear mean-field potentials

Fluctuations of the baryon number in relativistic heavy-ion collisions are a promising observable to explore the structure of the QCD phase diagram. The cumulant ratios in heavy ion collisions at intermediate energies ($\sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}} < 7$ GeV) have not been studied to date. We investigate the effects of mean field potential and clustering on the cumulant ratios of baryon and proton number distributions in Au+Au collisions at beam energy of 1.23 GeV$/$nucleon as measured by the HADES Collaboration at GSI. Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) and the JAM model are used to calculate the cumulants with different mean field potentials. It is found that the cumulant ratios are strongly time dependent. At the early stage, the effects of the potentials on the fluctuations of the particle multiplicity in momentum space are relatively weak. The mean fields enhance the fluctuations during the expansion stage, especially for small rapidity acceptance windows. The enhancement of cumulant ratios for free protons is strongly suppressed as compared to that for all baryons. The mean field potentials and the clustering play an important role for the measured cumulant ratios at intermediate energy.

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arXiv2018

Directed, elliptic and triangular flow of protons in Au+Au reactions at 1.23 AGeV: A theoretical analysis of the recent HADES data

Recently, the HADES experiment at GSI has provided preliminary data on the directed flow, $v_1$ elliptic flow, $v_2$ and triangular flow, $v_3$ of protons in Au+Au reactions at a beam energy of 1.23 A GeV. Here we present a theoretical discussion of these flow harmonics within the UrQMD transport approach. We show that all flow harmonics, including the triangular flow, provide a consistent picture of the expansion of the system, if potential interactions are taken into account. Investigating the dependence of the flow harmonics on the nuclear interaction potentials it is shown that especially $v_3$ can serve as a sensitive probe for the nuclear equation of state at such low energies. The triangular flow and its excitation function with respect to the reaction-plane were calculated for the first time and indicate a complex interplay of the time-evolution of the system and the initial conditions at low beam-energies. Our study also indicates a significant softening of the equation of state at beam energies above $E_{\mathrm{lab}}> 7$A GeV which can be explored by at the future FAIR facility.

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arXiv2018

Cluster Expansion Model for QCD Baryon Number Fluctuations: No Phase Transition at $μ_B / T < π$

A Cluster Expansion Model (CEM), representing a relativistic extension of Mayer's cluster expansion, is constructed to study baryon number fluctuations in QCD. The temperature dependent first two coefficients, corresponding to the partial pressures in the baryon number $B = 1$ and $B = 2$ sectors, are the only model input, which we fix by recent lattice data at imaginary baryochemical potential. All other coefficients are constructed in terms of the first two and required to match the Stefan-Boltzmann limit at $T \to \infty$. The CEM allows calculations of the baryon number susceptibilities $χ_k^B$ to arbitrary order. We obtain excellent agreement with available lattice data for the baryon fluctuation measures $χ_2^B$, $χ_4^B$, $χ_6^B$ and predict higher order susceptibilities, that are not yet available from Lattice QCD. The calculated susceptibilities are then used to extract the radius of convergence of the Taylor expansion of the pressure. The commonly used ratio test fails due to the non-trivial asymptotic behavior of the Taylor coefficients. At the same time, a more elaborate estimator provides finite convergence radii at all temperatures and in agreement with the singularities of Padé approximants. The associated singularities lie in the complex $μ_B/T$-plane and appear smoothly connected to the Roberge-Weiss transition at high temperatures and imaginary chemical potential. No evidence for a phase transition at $μ_B / T \lesssim π$ is found.

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arXiv2018

Nuclear interactions and net-proton number fluctuations in heavy ion collisions at the SIS18 accelerator

The effect of nuclear interactions on measurable net-proton number fluctuations in heavy ion collisions at the SIS18/GSI accelerator is investigated. The state of the art UrQMD model including interaction potentials is employed. It is found that the nuclear forces enhance the baryon number cumulants, as predicted from grand canonical thermodynamical models. The effect however is smeared out for proton number fluctuations due to iso-spin randomization and global baryon number conservation, which decreases the cumulant ratios. For a rapidity acceptance window larger than $Δy> 0.4$ the effects of global baryon number conservation dominate and all cumulant ratios are significantly smaller than 1.

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arXiv2018

Testing Charm Quark Equilibration in Ultra-High Energy Heavy Ion Collisions with Fluctuations

Recent lattice QCD data on higher order susceptibilities of Charm quarks provide the opportunity to explore Charm quark equilibration in the early quark gluon plasma (QGP) phase. Here, we propose to use the lattice data on second and fourth order net Charm susceptibilities to infer the Charm quark equilibration temperature and the corresponding volume, in the early QGP stage, via a combined analysis of experimentally measured multiplicity fluctuations. Furthermore, the first perturbative results for the second and fourth order Charm quark susceptibilities and their ratio are presented.

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arXiv2018

Broadening of the chiral critical region in a hydrodynamically expanding medium

We investigate higher cumulants of the sigma field as the chiral order parameter at the QCD phase transition. We derive a thermodynamic expression for the skewness and kurtosis from susceptibilities and use these to determine $Sσ$ and $κσ^2$ for the sigma field in equilibrium. In a next step, we study the behavior of these cumulants in both an equilibrated static medium and an expanding medium resembling the hydrodynamic stage of a heavy-ion collision. For the latter one, we find a significant broadening of the critical region.

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arXiv2017

The QCD Phase Diagram from Statistical Model Analysis

Ideally, the Statistical Hadronization Model (SHM) freeze-out curve should reveal the QCD parton-hadron phase transformation line in the ($T$,$μ_B$) plane. We discuss the effects of various final state interaction phenomena, like baryon-antibaryon annihilation, core-corona effects or QCD critical point formation, which shift or deform the SHM freezeout curve. In particular, we present a method to remove the annihilation effects by quantifying them with the microscopic hadron transport model UrQMD. We further discuss the new aspects of hadronization that could be associated with the relatively broad cross-over phase transformation as predicted by lattice-QCD theory at low $μ_B$. That opens up the possibility that various observables of hadronization, e.g. hadron formation or susceptibilities of higher order (related to grand canonical fluctuations of conserved hadronic charges) may freeze out at different characteristic temperatures. This puts into question the concept of a universal \textit{(pseudo-)critical} temperature, as does the very nature of a cross-over phase transformation.

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arXiv2017

Clusters and higher moments of proton number fluctuations

Production of deuterons by coalescence has an important influence on the moments of the observed proton number distribution. Therefore, this effect must be taken into account when physics conclusions about baryon number fluctuation are drawn from the measurement of proton number fluctuations. We also show that a measurement of the third and fourth moments of the deuteron number distribution would allow to distinguish whether deuterons are produced statistically or by coalescence.

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arXiv2017

Effect of finite particle number sampling on baryon number fluctuations

The effects of finite particle number sampling on the net baryon number cumulants, extracted from fluid dynamical simulations, are studied. The commonly used finite particle number sampling procedure introduces an additional Poissonian (or multinomial if global baryon number conservation is enforced) contribution which increases the extracted moments of the baryon number distribution. If this procedure is applied to a fluctuating fluid dynamics framework one severely overestimates the actual cumulants. We show that the sampling of so called test-particles suppresses the additional contribution to the moments by at least one power of the number of test-particles. We demonstrate this method in a numerical fluid dynamics simulation that includes the effects of spinodal decomposition due to a first order phase transition. Furthermore, in the limit where anti-baryons can be ignored, we derive analytic formulas which capture exactly the effect of particle sampling on the baryon number cumulants. These formulas may be used to test the various numerical particle sampling algorithms.

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arXiv2017

Enhancement of elliptic flow can signal a first order phase transition in high energy heavy ion collisions

The beam energy dependence of the elliptic flow,$v_2$, is studied in mid-central Au+Au collisions in the energy range of $3\leq \sqrt{s_{NN}} \leq 30$ GeV within the microscopic transport model JAM. The results of three different modes of JAM are compared; cascade-,hadronic mean field-, and a new mode with modified equations of state, with a first order phase transition (1.O.P.T.) and with a crossover transition. The standard hadronic mean field suppresses $v_2$, while the inclusion of the effects of a 1.O.P.T. (and also of a crossover transition) does enhance $v_2$ at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}<30$ GeV. The enhancement or suppression of the scaled energy flow, dubbed "elliptic flow"is understood as being due to out of plane- flow, i.e. $v_2<0$, dubbed out of plane - "squeeze-out", which occurs predominantly in the early, compression stage. Subsequently, the in-plane flow dominates, in the expansion stage, $v_2 > 0$. The directed flow, dubbed "bounce- off", is an independent measure of the pressure, which quickly builds up the transverse momentum transfer in the reaction plane. When the spectator matter leaves the participant fireball region, where the highest compression occurs, a hard expansion leads to larger $v_2$. A combined analysis of the three transverse flow coefficients, radial $v_0$-, directed $v_1$- and elliptic $v_2$- flow, in the beam energy range of $3\leq\sqrt{s_{NN}}\leq10$ GeV, distinguishes the different compression and expansion scenarios: a characteristic dependence on the early stage equation of state is observed. The enhancement of both the elliptic and the transverse radial flow and the simultaneous collapse of the directed flow of nucleons offers a clear signature if 1.O.P.T. is realized at the highest baryon densities created in high energy heavy-ion collisions.

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