arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to N. Xu.
The possibilities of unlike particle correlations for a study of particle delays and spatial shifts in relativistic heavy ion collisions are demonstrated. This report represents the unpublished Ref. [4] in the paper by S. Voloshin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 79} (1977) 4766; the report abstract was submitted to the conference Quark Matter'97.
In ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions, early stage multiple scatterings may lead to an increase of the color electric field strength. Consequently, particle production - especially heavy quark (and di-quark) production - is greatly enhanced according to the Schwinger mechanism. We test this idea via the Ultra-relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics model (UrQMD) for Au+Au collisions at the full RHIC energy ($\sqrt{s} = 200$ AGeV). Relative to p+p collisions, a factor of 60, 20 and 7 enhancement respectively, for $Ω$ ($sss$), $Ξ$ ($ss$), and $Λ$, $Σ$ ($s$) is predicted for a model with increased color electric field strength.
We present a systematic study of the kaon to pion multiplicity ratios (K+/pi+ and K-/pi-) in heavy-ion collisions from AGS to RHIC energy using the Relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (RQMD) model. The model satisfactorily describes the available experimental data on K+/pi+ and K-/pi-. Within the model, we find that the strong increase of the ratios with the number of participants is mainly due to hadronic rescattering of produced mesons with ingoing baryons and their resonances. The enhancement of K/pi in heavy-ion collisions with respect to elementary p+p interactions is larger at AGS energy than SPS energy, and decreases smoothly with bombarding energy. The total multiplicity ratios at RHIC energy are predicted by RQMD to be K+/pi+ = 0.19 and K-/pi- = 0.15.
Directed flow of antiprotons is studied in Au+Au collisions at a beam momentum of 11.5A GeV/c. It is shown that antiproton directed flow is anti-correlated to proton flow. The measured transverse momentum dependence of the antiproton flow is compared with predictions of the RQMD event generator.
For high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions, we show that a combination of space-momentum correlations characteristic of radial expansion together with the correlation between the position of a nucleon in the nucleus and its stopping, results in a very specific rapidity dependence of directed flow: a reversal of sign in the mid-rapidity region. We support our argument by RQMD model calculations for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt s$ = 200 AGeV.
The Ultra-relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics model (UrQMD) is used to study global observables in central reactions of Au+Au at $\sqrt{s}=200$ AGeV (RHIC). Strong stopping governed by massive particle production is predicted if secondary interactions are taken into account. The underlying string dynamics and the early hadronic decoupling implies only small transverse expansion rates. However, rescattering with mesons is found to act as a source of pressure leading to additional flow of baryons and kaons, while cooling down pions.
The baryon phase-space density at mid-rapidity from central heavy-ion collisions is estimated from proton spectra with interferometry and deuteron coalescence measurements. It is found that the mid-rapidity phase-space density of baryons is significantly lower at the SPS than the AGS, while those of total particles (pion + baryon) are comparable. Thermal and chemical equilibrium model calculations tend to over-estimate the phase-space densities at both energies.
We present predictions for the formation of (anti)nuclear bound states in nucleus-nucleus reactions at RHIC energies. he phase space coalescence method is used in combination with RQMD-v2.4 transport calculations to demonstrate the relevance of particle production as well as the longitudinal and transverse flow components. The formation of deuterons follows an approximate scaling law proportional to the relative freeze-out densities of nucleons and produced secondaries. For antideuterons, an additional suppression appears that is proportional to the number of nucleons, pointing toward multiple rescattering and absorption prior to freeze-out.
Using a microscopic transport model together with a coalescence after-burner, we study the formation of deuterons in Au + Au central collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200 AGeV$. It is found that the deuteron transverse momentum distributions are strongly affected by the nucleon space-momentum correlations, at the moment of freeze-out, which are mostly determined by the number of rescatterings. This feature is useful for studying collision dynamics at ultrarelativistic energies.
We present predictions for the formation of (anti)nuclear bound states in Au+Au central collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200A$ GeV. The coalescence afterburner was applied to the freeze-out phase space distributions of nucleons provided by the transport model, RQMD version 2.4. We study the sensitivity of the deuteron spectra to space-momentum correlations. It is found that the deuteron transverse momentum distributions are strongly affected by the nucleon space-momentum correlations.
Some questions arising in the application of the thermal model to hadron production in heavy ion collisions are studied. We do so by applying the thermal model of hadron production to particle yields calculated by the microscopic transport model RQMD(v2.3). We study the bias of incomplete information about the final hadronic state on the extraction of thermal parameters.It is found that the subset of particles measured typically in the experiments looks more thermal than the complete set of stable particles. The hadrons which show the largest deviations from thermal behaviour in RQMD(v2.3) are the multistrange baryons and antibaryons. We also looked at the influence of rapidity cuts on the extraction of thermal parameters and found that they lead to different thermal parameters and larger disagreement between the RQMD yields and the thermal model.
Directed flow of deuterons, tritons, $^3$He, and $^4$He is studied in Au+Au collisions at a beam momentum of about 10.8 $A$ GeV/c. Flow of all particles is analyzed as a function of transverse momentum for different centralities of the collision. The directed flow signal, $v_1(p_t)$, is found to increase with particle mass. This mass dependence is strongest in the projectile rapidity region.
Motivated by the recent experimental observations, we discuss the freeze-out properties of the fireball created in central heavy ion collisions. We find that the freeze-out conditions, like temperature, velocity gradient near center of the fireball, are similar for different colliding systems and beam energies. This means that the transverse flow is stronger in the collisions of heavy nuclei than that of the light ones.
The predictions of event anisotropy parameters from transport model RQMD are compared with the recent experimental measurements for 158$A$ GeV Pb+Pb collisions. Using the same model, we study the time evolution of event anisotropy at 2$A$ GeV and 158$A$ GeV for several colliding systems. For the first time, both momentum and configuration space information are studied using the Fourier analysis of the azimuthal angular distribution. We find that, in the model, the initial geometry of the collision plays a dominant role in determining the anisotropy parameters.
Recently reported transverse momentum distributions of strange hadrons produced in Pb(158AGeV) on Pb collisions and corresponding results from the relativistic quantum molecular dynamics (RQMD) approach are examined. We argue that the experimental observations favor a scenario in which multi-strange hadrons are formed and decouple from the system rather early at large energy densities (around 1 GeV/fm$^3$). The systematics of the strange and non-strange particle spectra indicate that the observed transverse flow develops mainly in the late hadronic stages of these reactions.
We present refits of single inclusive cross section data of mesons and baryons for central 158 $AGeV$ Pb+Pb collisions measured by the NA44 and NA49 Collaborations. In the theoretical approach we use the relativistic hydrodynamical code HYLANDER-C. We investigate several equations of state in their capability to describe the measured single inclusive momentum distributions. Based on the obtained fits we present results of the calculated Bose-Einstein correlation functions of identical pion pairs and discuss their features in comparison to measurements.
Within a hydrodynamical approach we investigate the sensitivity of single inclusive momentum spectra of hadrons in 158A GeV Pb+Pb collisions to three different equations of state of nuclear matter. Two of the equations of state are based on lattice QCD results and include a phase transition to a quark-gluon plasma. The third equation of state has been extracted from the microscopic transport code RQMD under the assumption of complete local thermalization. All three equations of state provide reasonable fits to data taken by the NA44 and NA49 Collaborations. The initial conditions before the evolution of the fireballs and the space-time evolution pictures differ dramatically for the three equations of state when the same freeze-out temperature is used in all calculations. However, the softest of the equations of state results in transverse mass spectra that are too steep in the central rapidity region. We conclude that the transverse particle momenta are determined by the effective softness of the equation of state during the fireball expansion.
We investigate the nature of the new cross term for Gaussian parameterizations of Bose-Einstein correlations of identical particles emitted from purely chaotic hadron sources formed by relativistic heavy ion collisions. We find that this additional parameter in the so-called Bertsch parameterization can be expressed in terms of a linear ``out-longitudinal'' correlation coefficient for emission of bosons and two already known ``radius'' parameters, $R_l$ and $R_o$. The linear correlation coefficient is of kinematical nature and can be used to determine the widths of longitudinal momentum distributions.