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Paolo Alba

Publications and source records attributed to Paolo Alba.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2022

Thermal-model-based characterization of heavy-ion-collision systems at chemical freeze-out

We investigate the chemical freeze-out in heavy-ion collisions (HICs) and the impact of the hadronic spectrum on thermal model analyses. Detailed knowledge of the hadronic spectrum is still an open question, which has phenomenological consequences on the study of HICs. By varying the number of resonances included in Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) Model calculations, we can shed light on which particles may be produced. Furthermore, we study the influence of the number of states on the so-called two flavor freeze-out scenario, in which strange and light particles can freeze-out separately. We consider results for the chemical freeze-out parameters obtained from thermal model fits and from calculating net-particle fluctuations. We will show the effect of using one global temperature to fit all particles and alternatively, allowing particles with and without strange quarks to freeze-out separately.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2020

Chemical freeze-out parameters of net-kaons in heavy-ion collisions

We study chemical freeze-out parameters for heavy-ion collisions by performing two different thermal analyses. We analyze results from thermal fits for particle yields, as well as, net-charge fluctuations in order to characterize the chemical freeze-out. The Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) model is employed for both methods. By separating the light hadrons from the strange hadrons in thermal fits, we study the proposed flavor hierarchy. For the net-charge fluctuations, we calculate the mean-over-variance ratio of the net-kaon fluctuations in the HRG model at the five highest energies of the RHIC Beam Energy Scan (BES) for different particle data lists. We compare these results with recent experimental data from the STAR collaboration in order to extract sets of chemical freeze-out parameters for each list. We focused on particle lists which differ largely in the number of resonant states. By doing so, our analysis determines the effect of the amount of resonances included in the HRG model on the freeze-out conditions. Our findings have potential impact on various other models in the field of relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2019

Determination of Chemical Freeze-out Parameters from Net-kaon Fluctuations at RHIC

We calculate the mean-over-variance ratio of the net-kaon fluctuations in the Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) Model for the five highest energies of the RHIC Beam Energy Scan (BES) for different particle data lists. We compare these results with the latest experimental data from the STAR collaboration in order to extract sets of chemical freeze-out parameters for each list. We focused on the PDG2012 and PDG2016+ particle lists, which differ largely in the number of resonant states. Our analysis determines the effect of the amount of resonances included in the HRG on the freeze-out conditions.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2017

van der Waals Interactions and Hadron Resonance Gas: Role of resonance widths modeling on conserved charges fluctuations

The quantum van der Waals (QvdW) extension of the ideal hadron resonance gas (HRG) model which includes the attractive and repulsive interactions between baryons -- the QvdW-HRG model -- is applied to study the behavior of the baryon number related susceptibilities in the crossover temperature region. Inclusion of the QvdW interactions leads to a qualitatively different behavior of susceptibilities, in many cases resembling lattice QCD simulations. It is shown that for some observables, in particular for $χ_{11}^{BQ} / χ_2^B$, effects of the QvdW interactions essentially cancel out. It is found that the inclusion of the finite resonance widths leads to an improved description of $χ_2^B$, but it also leads to a worse description of $χ_{11}^{BQ} / χ_2^B$, as compared to the lattice data. On the other hand, inclusion of the extra, unconfirmed baryons into the hadron list leads to a simultaneous improvement in the description of both observables.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2017

Role of repulsive interactions in the interplay with missing strange resonances

The standard implementation of the HRG model has been shown to be unable to describe all the available data on QCD matter. Here we show the balance of repulsive and attractive hadronic interactions on QCD thermodynamics through observables both calculated by lattice simulations and measured in experiment. Attractive interactions are mediated by resonance formation, which are here implemented through extra states predicted by the Quark Model, while repulsive interactions are modelled by means of Excluded Volume (EV) effects. Informations on flavour dependent effective sizes are extracted. It is found that EV effects are present in lattice QCD thermodynamics, and are essential for a comprehensive description of higher order fluctuations of conserved charges.

hep-ph↗
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 $η/s$.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2017

The balance of attractive and repulsive hadronic interactions: the influence of hadronic spectrum and excluded volume effects on lattice thermodynamics and consequences on experiments

Repulsive hadronic interactions play a relevant role in the QCD dynamics, attractive ones being represented by resonance formation. In this study we propose different schemes in order to parameterise repulsive interactions, then being able to extract effective sizes of hadrons from fits to lattice QCD simulations. We find that allowing a difference between the strange and light sectors, strange particles are systematically smaller than light ones with equal mass. The very simple implementation of repulsive interactions would in principle allow to extract precise information about all hadronic species once corresponding lattice observables, sensitive to the species of interest, are provided. With the parameterisation which best reproduces lattice data there is also a good description of experimental yields measured by ALICE and STAR experiments.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2017

Multicomponent van der Waals equation of state: Applications in nuclear and hadronic physics

A generalization of the quantum van der Waals equation of state for a multi-component system in the grand canonical ensemble is proposed. The model includes quantum statistical effects and allows to specify the parameters characterizing repulsive and attractive forces for each pair of particle species. The model can be straightforwardly applied to the description of asymmetric nuclear matter and also for mixtures of interacting nucleons and nuclei. Applications of the model to the equation of state of an interacting hadron resonance gas are discussed.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2017

Excluded-volume effects for a hadron gas in Yang-Mills theory

When the multiplicities of particles produced in heavy-ion collisions are fitted to the hadron-resonance-gas model, excluded-volume effects play a significant role. In this work, we study the impact of such effects on the equation of state of pure Yang-Mills theory at low temperatures, comparing the predictions of the statistical model with lattice results. In particular, we present a detailed analysis of the SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills theories: we find that, for both of them, the best fits to the equilibrium thermodynamic quantities are obtained when one assumes that the volume of different glueball states is inversely proportional to their mass. The implications of these findings for QCD are discussed.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2017

Constraining the hadronic spectrum through QCD thermodynamics on the lattice

Fluctuations of conserved charges allow to study the chemical composition of hadronic matter. A comparison between lattice simulations and the Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) model suggested the existence of missing strange resonances. To clarify this issue we calculate the partial pressures of mesons and baryons with different strangeness quantum numbers using lattice simulations in the confined phase of QCD. In order to make this calculation feasible, we perform simulations at imaginary strangeness chemical potentials. We systematically study the effect of different hadronic spectra on thermodynamic observables in the HRG model and compare to lattice QCD results. We show that, for each hadronic sector, the well established states are not enough in order to have agreement with the lattice results. Additional states, either listed in the Particle Data Group booklet (PDG) but not well established, or predicted by the Quark Model (QM), are necessary in order to reproduce the lattice data. For mesons, it appears that the PDG and the quark model do not list enough strange mesons, or that, in this sector, interactions beyond those included in the HRG model are needed to reproduce the lattice QCD results.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2016

Impact of resonance regeneration and decay on the net-proton fluctuations in a hadron resonance gas

We investigate net-proton fluctuations as important observables measured in heavy-ion collisions within the hadron resonance gas (HRG) model. Special emphasis is given to effects which are a priori not inherent in a thermally and chemically equilibrated HRG approach. In particular, we point out the importance of taking into account the successive regeneration and decay of resonances below the chemical freeze-out, which lead to a randomization of the isospin of nucleons and thus to additional fluctuations in the net-proton number. We find good agreement between our model results and the recent STAR measurements of the higher-order moments of the net-proton distribution.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2015

Sensitivity of multiplicity fluctuations to freeze-out conditions in heavy ion collisions

We study the sensitivity of the higher-order moments of produced particle multiplicity distributions to the chemical freeze-out parameters in relativistic heavy ion collisions using the Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) model. We compare the obtained sensitivity level to the one extracted from the ratios of particle yields. We find that, for certain final state hadrons, the fluctuation measurements add significant information to the determination of the hadro-chemical freeze-out properties of the deconfined phase of matter obtained at RHIC and the LHC.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

Freeze-out conditions from net-proton and net-charge fluctuations at RHIC

We calculate ratios of higher-order susceptibilities quantifying fluctuations in the number of net protons and in the net-electric charge using the Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) model. We take into account the effect of resonance decays, the kinematic acceptance cuts in rapidity, pseudo-rapidity and transverse momentum used in the experimental analysis, as well as a randomization of the isospin of nucleons in the hadronic phase. By comparing these results to the latest experimental data from the STAR collaboration, we determine the freeze-out conditions from net-electric charge and net-proton distributions and discuss their consistency.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

Polyakov loop and gluon quasiparticles: a self-consistent approach to Yang-Mills thermodynamics

We present a quasiparticle model for the pure gauge sector of QCD, in which transverse quasigluons propagate in a Polyakov loop background field. By incorporating thermodynamic self-consistency in the approach, we show that our Polyakov loop extended quasiparticle model allows an accurate description of recent lattice results for all the thermodynamic quantities, including the Polyakov loop expectation value, in the deconfined phase. The related quasigluon mass exhibits a distinct temperature dependence, which is connected with the non-perturbative behavior seen in the scaled interaction measure of the pure gauge theory.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2012

Quasiparticles and $Z(N)-$ lines in Hot Yang-Mills theories

In this talk we review, the quasiparticle description of the hot Yang-Mills theories, in which the quasiparticles propagate in (and interact with) a background field related to Z(N)-lines. We compare the present description with a more common one in which the effects of the Z(N)-lines are neglected. We show that it is possible to take into account the nonperturbative effects at the confinement transition temperature even without a divergent quasiparticle mass.

hep-ph↗