arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Miklos Gyulassy.
We show that Mach-like azimuthal correlations of associated hadrons in the wake of heavy quark jets modeled in the AdS/CFT string drag picture originate only from the near-quark ``Head'' region. The contributions from the far zones lead only to a yield peaked in the opposite direction with respect to the trigger jet.
The observation of jet quenching and associated away--side Mach cone--like correlations at RHIC provide powerful ``external'' probes of the sQGP produced in A+A reactions, but it simultaneously raises the question where the jet energy was deposited. The nearly perfect bulk fluidity observed via elliptic flow suggests that Mach cone--like correlations may also be due to rapid local equilibration in the wake of penetrating jets. Multi-particle correlations lend further support to this possibility. However, a combined study of energy deposition and fluid response is needed. We solve numerically 3--dimensional ideal hydrodynamical equations to compute the flow correlation patterns resulting from a variety of possible energy-momentum deposition models. Mach--cone correlations are shown to depend critically on the energy and momentum deposition mechanisms. They only survive for a special limited class of energy--momentum loss models, which assume significantly less longitudinal momentum loss than energy loss per unit length. We conclude that the correct interpretation of away--side jet correlations will require improved understanding and independent experimental constraints on the jet energy--momentum loss to fluid couplings.
We discuss the information that can be deduced from a measurement of particle (hyperon or vector meson) polarization in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions. We describe the sensitivity of polarization to initial conditions, hydrodynamic evolution and mean free path, and find that the polarization observable is sensitive to all details and stages of the system's evolution. We suggest that an experimental investigation covering production plane and reaction plane polarizations, as well as the polarization of jet-associated particles in the plane defined by the jet and particle direction, can help in disentangling the factors contributing to this observable. Scans of polarization in energy and rapidity might also point to a change in the system's properties.
The success of nonviscous hydrodynamics in describing the collective flow properties of bulk low $p_\perp$ observables at RHIC has led to the claim that a novel form of {\it strongly coupled} Quark Gluon Plasma (sQGP) is created in 200 AGeV Au+Au collisions. This success depends strongly, however, on the initial conditions assumed in the calculations. In particular, agreement with data is only obtained assuming Glauber nuclear reaction plane (participant) geometry. The KLN model of Color Glass Condenstate (CGC) initial conditions require the existence of nonvanishing viscous effects. We develop an improved model of CGC that is more internally consistent between the central and diffuse edge regions. The improved model is shown to describe bulk rapidity distributions for a wide assortment of system sizes, geometries and energies. The self consistency forces a specific $\sqrt{s}$ dependence of the multiplicity which leads to surprisingly low particle production predictions for Pb+Pb collisions at LHC COM energies. These predictions are similar to those made using simple linear extrapolations of multiplicity attempted by the PHOBOS collaboration.
With the QGP opacity computed perturbatively and with the global entropy constraints imposed by the observed dNch/dy~1000, radiative energy loss alone cannot account for the observed suppression of single non-photonic electrons. Collisional energy loss is comparable in magnitude to radiative loss for both light and heavy jets. Two aspects that significantly affect the collisional energy loss are examined: the role of fluctuations, and the effect of introducing a running QCD coupling as opposed to the fixed alpha_s=0.3 used previously.
We propose a possible perturbative QCD solution to the heavy quark tomography problem posed by recent non-photonic single electron data from central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 200$ AGeV. Jet quenching theory is extended to include (1) elastic as well as (2) inelastic parton energy losses and (3) jet path length fluctuations. The three effects combine to reduce the discrepancy between theory and the data without violating the global entropy bounds from multiplicity and elliptic flow data. We also check for consistency with the pion suppression data out to 20 GeV. Fluctuations of the geometric jet path lengths and the difference between the widths of fluctuations of elastic and inelastic energy loss play essential roles in the proposed solution.
The agreement of hydrodynamic predictions of differential elliptic flow and radial flow patterns with Au+Au data is one of the main lines of evidence suggesting the nearly perfect fluid properties of the strongly coupled Quark Gluon Plasma, sQGP, produced at RHIC. We study the sensitivity of this conclusion to different hydrodynamic assumptions on chemical and thermal freezeout after the sQGP hadronizes. We show that if chemical freezeout occurs at the hadronization time, the differential elliptic flow for pions increase with proper time in the late hadronic phase until thermal freezeout and leads to a discrepancy with the data. In contrast, if both chemical and thermal equilibrium are maintained past the hadronization, then the mean pT per pion increases in a way that accidentally preserves v2(pT) from the sQGP phase in agreement with the data, but at the cost of the agreement with the hadronic yields. In order that all the data on hadronic ratios, radial flow, and differential elliptic flow be reproduced, the sQGP must expand with a minimal viscosity, η_Q, that is however even greater than the viscosity, η_H, of its hadronic corona. However, because of the large entropy density difference of the two phases of QCD matter, the larger viscosity in the sQGP phase leads to nearly perfect fluid flow while the smaller entropy density of the hadronic corona strongly hinders the applicability of Euler hydrodynamics. The ``perfect fluid'' property of the sQGP is thus not due to a sudden reduction of the viscosity at the critical temperature Tc, but to a sudden increase of the entropy density of QCD matter and is therefore an important signature of deconfinement.
Important goals of RHIC and LHC experiments with ion beams include the creation and study of new forms of matter, such as the Quark Gluon Plasma. Heavy quark production and attenuation will provide unique tomographic probes of that matter. We predict the suppression pattern of open charm and beauty in $Au+Au$ collisions at RHIC and LHC energies based on the DGLV formalism of radiative energy loss. A cancelation between effects due to the $\sqrt{s}$ energy dependence of the high $p_T$ slope and heavy quark energy loss is predicted to lead to surprising similarity of heavy quark suppression at RHIC and LHC.
High transverse momentum single (non-photonic) electrons are shown to be sensitive to the stopping power of both bottom, b, and charm, c, quarks in AA collisions. We apply the DGLV theory of radiative energy loss to predict c and b quark jet quenching and compare the FONLL and PYTHIA heavy flavor fragmentation and decay schemes. We show that single electrons in the p_T=5-10 GeV range are dominated by the decay of b quarks rather than the more strongly quenched c quarks in Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s}=200 AGeV. The {smaller} b quark energy loss, even for extreme opacities with gluon rapidity densities up to 3500, is predicted to limit the nuclear modification factor, R_{AA}, of single electrons to the range R_{AA} ~ 0.5-0.6, in contrast to previous predictions of R_{AA} ~ 0.2-0.3 based on taking only c quark jet fragmentation into account.
We discuss two special limiting forms of QCD matter which may be produced at RHIC. We conclude from the available empirical evidence that an equilibrated, but strongly coupled Quark Gluon Plasma has been made in such collisions. We also discuss the growing body of evidence that its source is a Color Glass Condensate.
The collision energy dependence of jet tomography is investigated within the GLV formalism. The emphasis is on estimating systematic uncertainties resulting from the interplay of energy loss fluctuations and the rapid increase of the parton transverse momentum slopes as sqrt{s} decreases from 200 to 62 AGeV.
Heavy quark energy loss in a hot QCD plasma is computed taking into account the competing effects due to suppression of zeroth order gluon radiation bellow the plasma frequency and the enhancement of gluon radiation due to transition energy loss and medium induced Bremsstrahlung. Heavy quark medium induced radiative energy loss is derived to all orders in opacity, $(L/λ_g)^n$. Numerical evaluation of the energy loss suggest small suppression of high $p_\perp$ charm quarks, and therefore provide a possible explanation for the null effects observed by PHENIX in the prompt electron spectrum in $Au+Au$ as $\sqrt{s}=130$ and 200 AGeV.
Three empirical lines of evidence from RHIC have converged and point to the discovery of a strongly coupled Quark Gluon Plasma. The evidence includes (1) bulk collective elliptic flow and (2) jet quenching and mono-jet production, observed in Au+Au collisions at 200 AGeV, and (3) a critical control experiment using D+Au at 200 AGeV.
Multiple initial state parton interactions in p(d)+A collisions are calculated in a Glauber-Eikonal formalism, which incorporates the competing pattern of low-pT suppression due geometrical shadowing, and a moderate-pT Cronin enhancement of hadron spectra. Dynamical shadowing effects, which are not included in the computation, may be extracted by comparing experimental data to the baseline provided by the Glauber-Eikonal model. Data for neutral pion production at midrapidity show absence of dynamical shadowing in the RHIC energy range, sqrt(s)~20-200 GeV. Recent preliminary data at forward rapidity are addressed, and their interpretation discussed.
Multiple initial state parton interactions in p(d)+Au collisions are calculated in a Glauber-Eikonal formalism. The convolution of perturbative QCD parton-nucleon cross sections predicts naturally the competing pattern of low-pT suppression due geometrical shadowing, and a moderate-pT Cronin enhancement of hadron spectra. The formal equivalence to recent classical Yang-Mills calculations is demonstrated, but our approach is shown to be more general in the large x>0.01 domain because it automatically incorporates the finite kinematic constraints of both quark and gluon processes in the fragmentation regions, and accounts for the observed spectra in elementary pp-->π+X processes in the RHIC energy range, sqrt{s} = 20-200 GeV. The Glauber-Eikonal formalism can be used as a baseline to extract the magnitude of dynamical shadowing effects from the experimental data at differente centralities and pseudo-rapidities.
Heavy quark medium induced radiative energy loss is derived to all orders in opacity, $(L/λ_g)^n$. The analytic expression generalizes the GLV opacity expansion for massless quanta to heavy quarks with mass $M$ in a QCD plasma with a gluon dispersion characterized by an asymptotic plasmon mass, $m_g=gT/\sqrt{2}$. Remarkably, we find that the general result is obtained by simply shifting all frequencies in the GLV series by $(m_g^2+x^2 M^2)/(2 x E)$. Numerical evaluation of the first order in opacity energy loss shows that both charm and bottom energy losses are much closer to the incoherent radiation limit than light partons in nuclear collisions at both RHIC and LHC energies. However, the radiation lengths of heavy quarks remain large compared to nuclear dimensions and hence high $p_T$ heavy quark production is volume rather than surface dominated.
Differential elliptic flow and particle spectra are calculated taking into account the finite transport opacity of the gluon plasma produced in Au+Au at Ecm ~ 130 A GeV at RHIC. Covariant numerical solutions of the ultrarelativistic Boltzmann equation are obtained using the MPC parton cascade technique. For typical pQCD (~3 mb) elastic cross sections, extreme initial gluon densities, dN/deta ~ 15000, are required to reproduce the elliptic flow saturation pattern reported by STAR. However, we show that the solutions depend mainly on the transport opacity, $χ=\int dz σ_tρ_g$, and thus the data can also be reproduced with dN/deta ~ 1000, but with extreme elastic parton cross sections, \~45 mb. We demonstrate that the spectra and elliptic flow are dominated by numerical artifacts unless parton subdivisions ~100-1000 are applied to retain Lorentz covariance for RHIC initial conditions.
The color dielectric modification of the gluon dispersion relation in a dense QCD medium suppresses both the soft and collinear gluon radiation associated with jet production. We compute both the longitudinal and transverse plasmon contributions to the zeroth order in opacity radiative energy loss. This QCD analog of the Ter-Mikayelian effect in QED leads to $\sim 30%$ reduction of the energy loss of high transverse momentum charm quarks produced in a QCD plasma with a characteristic Debye mass $μ\sim 0.5$ GeV.