arXiv subjects

Pol Bernard Gossiaux

Publications and source records attributed to Pol Bernard Gossiaux.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Probe charmonium-nucleon interactions in high energy proton-proton collisions

We investigate charmonium production and the charmonium-nucleon correlation function in pp collisions using the EPOS4+CATS framework. For the first time, the emission source of charmonium-proton pairs is dynamically generated and found to be non-Gaussian. This enables a femtoscopic extraction of the charmonium-proton interaction directly from experimental correlation functions. Both ground and excited charmonium states are included. We find that feed-down from excited charmonium states can induce sizable modifications to the observed prompt $J/ψ$-proton correlation function, even when the correlation deviates from unity by less than one, reflecting the stronger interactions of the excited states.

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arXiv2026

From the universal Lindblad equation to Boltzmann equations: in-QGP quarkonium dynamics

Recently, a set of coupled singlet-octet universal Lindblad equations (ULEs) was derived within the framework of non-relativistic QCD (NRQCD) to describe quarkonium dynamics in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). These equations provide a unified quantum description spanning the quantum Brownian and quantum optical regimes. In this work, we further develop this framework and establish its connection with semiclassical transport. We first derive the universal Lindblad equations within the potential non-relativistic QCD (pNRQCD) effective field theory and show that they coincide with the small-dipole limit of the NRQCD ULEs. We then derive the semiclassical limit of the NRQCD ULEs, obtaining a set of coupled singlet-octet Boltzmann equations. To our knowledge, this is the first derivation of Boltzmann transport equations directly from the universal Lindblad framework. The resulting equations are valid beyond the small-dipole approximation, allowing the evolution of heavy-quark pairs from compact to widely separated configurations. Taking their small-dipole limit allows a direct comparison with the Boltzmann equations of Yao et al. [Phys. Rev. D 99, 096028 (2019)], which were derived within pNRQCD from the Davies secular equation, relying on the rotating-wave approximation (RWA). While the singlet equations are found to be in near-complete agreement, the octet equation contains an additional collision term describing transitions within the continuum of octet scattering states, which is absent from the RWA-based derivation. Finally, we derive the leading quantum correction to the singlet Boltzmann equation. Our results establish a more general and systematic theoretical foundation for the semiclassical transport description of quarkonium in the QGP.

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arXiv2026

General Lindblad equation for quarkonium evolution in a quark-gluon plasma

Accurate modelling and understanding of quarkonium production in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions requires a formalism that preserves the quantum properties of microscopic $\bar{Q}Q$ systems while treating the interaction of such pairs with the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The open quantum system approach has recently emerged as one of the most fruitful schemes to meet such requirements. However, the quantum master equations obtained so far in this context are derived assuming a strict ordering between the QGP temperature $T$ and the $\bar{Q}Q$ energy gaps ($ΔE$) of the quarkonia bound states. This limits their predictive power since, as the QGP expands and cools down, the system traverse all regimes between the quantum Brownian motion (QBM) regime for $T\gtrsim ΔE$ to the quantum optical (QO) regime for $ΔE\gtrsim T$. In this paper, we derive and present a more general non-abelian quantum master equation of the Lindblad type, which does not suffer from these limitations and thus allows to faithfully describe the quantum evolution of the $Q\bar{Q}$ pairs during the whole QGP-evolution. We also provide some illustration of the key quantities governing this equation.

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arXiv2026

Open quantum system approach to the transverse momentum broadening of a colour dipole

Using the open quantum systems formalism, we study the propagation of a quark-antiquark pair propagating through a dense QCD plasma of size $L$ and transverse momentum broadening transport coefficient $\hat q$, and we derive the Lindblad evolution equation for the density matrix of the system. We focus on the boosted regime where the opening angle $θ_{q\bar q}$ of this effective colour dipole satisfies $θ_{q\bar q}\ll 1$. In the correlation limit where the quark-antiquark relative transverse momentum $p_\perp$ is much larger than the imbalance $q_\perp$ as well as the medium typical transverse momentum scale $Q_s=\sqrt{\hat q L}$, we demonstrate that the resulting Wigner distribution displays quasi factorisation between a hard factor describing the hard splitting producing the $q\bar q$ pair and the transverse momentum imbalance $q_\perp$-distribution encoding the broadening induced by the medium. The factorisation is violated by a "colour decoherence" factor that controls the $θ_{q\bar q}$ dependence of the $q_\perp$-distribution through the ratio $θ_{q\bar q}/θ_c$, with $θ_c \sim (\hat q L^3)^{-1/2}$. The open quantum systems approach enables us to clarify the role of this critical angle $θ_c$ and its associated critical time $t_c$ in the genuine quantum decoherence of the density matrix in colour and kinematic space: in particular, $t_c$ controls both the suppression of the off-diagonal elements of the density matrix in colour space and the transition between singlet and octet states. We find, however, that colour decoherence sets in earlier than the full decoherence of the density matrix, thereby marking the onset of classical behaviour in the system. Finally, we investigate the corrections beyond the quasi-factorised picture due to the quantum diffusion term in $p_\perp$ of the Lindblad equation and we find that these corrections are mild.

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arXiv2025

Quantum vs. semiclassical description of in-QGP quarkonia in the quantum Brownian regime

In this work, we explore the range of validity of the semiclassical approximation of a quantum master equation designed to describe the $c\bar{c}$ dynamics in a quark gluon plasma at various temperatures, in the quantum Brownian regime. We perform a comparative study of various properties, e.g. the charmonia yield, of the Wigner density obtained with the Lindblad equation and with the associated semiclassical Fokker-Planck equation. The semiclassical description is found to reproduce with a remarkable accuracy the results obtained through the full quantum description. We show that, to a large extent, this can be attributed to the non-unitary components of the dynamics that result from the contact of the $c\bar{c}$ subsystem with the thermal bath, leading to a rapid classicalization of the subsystem.

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arXiv2025

Correlations between heavy mesons and the creation of the charmonia, bottomonia, and $B_c$ mesons in high energy $pp$ collisions

The different QCD processes, which can produce a heavy quark-antiquark ($Q\bar Q$) pair, induce different correlations between the heavy quarks. Employing the EPOS4HQ event generator we study the consequences of these correlations and compare the calculation with experimental results on open and hidden heavy flavour mesons, measured in proton-proton (pp) collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. We find that the measured correlations between heavy mesons are a direct image of the different production mechanisms, which contribute also in a different way to the transverse momentum distribution of open and hidden heavy flavour mesons. The latter are calculated in a Wigner density approach which also enables to reproduce quantitatively the measured $B_c$ spectra. This agreement allows conclusions on the spatial distribution of the heavy quark creation processes.

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arXiv2025

Heavy flavor correlations and Quarkonia production in high energy pp collisions in the EPOS4 framework

In QCD, the production of heavy quark-antiquark pairs can proceed through different mechanisms, each imprinting characteristic correlations between the heavy quarks. In this work, we use the EPOS4 event generator to study how these correlations affect quarkonium production in pp collisions. Our results demonstrate that the observed correlations between heavy mesons directly reflect the underlying production mechanisms and simultaneously shape the transverse-momentum distributions of quarkonia.

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arXiv2025

Prospective report of the French QCD community to the ESPPU 2025 with respect to the program of the LHC Run 5 and beyond and future colliders at CERN

This document summarizes the prospective physics plans of the French QCD and Heavy-Ion community, including the experimental programs at the LHC Run 5 and beyond and future colliders at CERN, within the context of the French contribution to the update of the European Strategy in Particle Physics (ESPPU 2025), as discussed in the workshop on European Strategy for Particle Physics Update 2025 organised by the QCD GdR in Oct. 2024.

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arXiv2025

Hadronization of Heavy Quarks

Heavy-flavor hadrons produced in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions are a sensitive probe for studying hadronization mechanisms of the quark-gluon-plasma. In this work, we survey how different transport models for the simulation of heavy-quark diffusion through a quark-gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions implement hadronization and how this affects final-state observables. Utilizing the same input charm-quark distribution in all models at the hadronization transition, we find that the transverse-momentum dependence of the nuclear modification factor of various charm hadron species has significant sensitivity to the hadronization scheme. In addition, the charm-hadron elliptic flow exhibits a nontrivial dependence on the elliptic flow of the hadronizing partonic medium.

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arXiv2024

System size dependence of energy loss and correlations of heavy mesons at LHC energies

We study the system size dependence of heavy quark (HQ) observables at a center of mass energy of $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV to explore whether it can provide further constraints on the physical processes which are involved: energy loss of HQs in the quark gluon plasma (QGP), hadronization and hadronic rescattering. We use the EPOS4HQ approach to study p-p and 0-10\% central O-O, Ar-Ar, Kr-Kr and Pb-Pb reactions and investigate in detail the momentum change of heavy quarks from creation until their detection as part of a hadron as well as the enhancement of heavy baryon production at low $p_T$. We investigate furthermore the origin and the system size dependence of the azimuthal correlations between the heavy quark $Q$ and the heavy antiquark $\bar Q$ and how one can bypass the problem that correlations are washed out due to the combinatorial background. We conclude that a systematic study of the system size dependence of the momentum loss allows to separate the momentum loss due to the passage through the QGP from the momentum change due to hadronization and the $Q\bar Q$ correlations allow to gain inside into the different pQCD processes in which the heavy quarks are created.

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arXiv2024

Heavy flavour hadron production in relativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC in EPOS4HQ

Employing the recently developed EPOS4HQ event generator, we study the production of different heavy-flavor mesons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. The transverse momentum spectra, yield ratio, nuclear modification factor, and elliptic flow can be well described in the EPOS4HQ framework. We furthermore analyze the processes which modify these observables as compared to $pp$ collisions and are at the origin of the experimentally determined nuclear modification factor $R_{AA}$.

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arXiv2024

Quarkonium dynamics in the quantum Brownian regime with non-abelian quantum master equations

We present numerical solutions in a one-dimensional setting of quantum master equations that have been recently derived. We focus on the dynamics of a single heavy quark-antiquark pair in a Quark-Gluon Plasma in thermal equilibrium, in the so-called quantum Brownian regime where the temperature of the plasma is large in comparison with the spacing between the energy levels of the $Q\bar{Q}$ system. The one-dimensional potential used in the calculations has been adjusted so as to produce numbers that are relevant for the phenomenology of the charmonium. The equations are solved using different initial states and medium configurations. Various temperature regimes are studied and the effects of screening and collisions thoroughly analyzed. Technical features of the equations are analyzed. The contributions of the different operators that control the evolution are discussed as a function of the temperature. Some phenomenological consequences are addressed.

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arXiv2024

Bottomonium production in pp and heavy-ion collisions

We study bottomonium $b\bar b$ production in pp collisions as well as in heavy-ion collisions, using a quantal density matrix approach. The initial bottom (anti)quarks are provided by the PYTHIA event generator. We solve the Schrödinger equation for the $b\bar b$ pair, identifying the potential with the free energy, calculated with lattice QCD, to obtain the temperature dependent $b\bar b$ density matrix as well as the dissociation temperature. The formation of bottomonium is given by projection of the bottomonium density matrix onto the density matrix of the system. With this approach we describe the rapidity and transverse momentum distribution of the $Υ$(nS) in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=$ 5.02 TeV extending a similar calculation for the charmonium states \cite{Song:2017phm}. We employ the Remler formalism to study the $b\bar b$ production in heavy ion collisions in which the heavy quarks scatter elastically with partons from the quark gluon plasma (QGP). The elastic scattering of heavy (anti)quark in QGP is realized by the dynamical quasi-particle model (DQPM) and the expanding QGP is modeled by PHSD. We find that a reduction to 10 \% of the scattering cross section for a (anti)bottom quark with a QGP parton reproduces the experimental data. This suggests that due to color neutrality the scattering cross section of the small $b\bar b$ system with a parton is considerably smaller than twice the bottom-parton scattering cross section.

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arXiv2024

Heavy flavor as a probe of hot QCD matter produced in proton-proton collisions

The creation of a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) is expected in heavy ion collisions. It came as a surprise that proton-proton collisions at ultrarelativistic energies show as well a ``QGP-like'' behavior and signs of the creation of a fluid, although the corresponding system size is not more than a few cubic femtometers. Even more surprisingly, also heavy flavor particles seem to be part of the fluid or at least interact with it. In this paper, we will investigate in a quantitative way this ``collective behavior'' of heavy flavor, by employing the newly developed EPOS4HQ approach, which has proven to be compatible with basic experimental data of light flavor hadrons. We will investigate all observables, which may manifest collectivity, as particle spectra, elliptic flow, baryon-to-meson ratios, and two-particle correlations, and compare the results with experimental data. We will try to disentangle initial state effects, those being due to interactions between charm quarks and plasma partons, and final state effects (hadronization).

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arXiv2023

Quarkonium production in high energy $pp$ collisions

We investigate the charmonium and bottomonium production in $pp$ collisions using the Wigner densities formalism. The Wigner density of the quarkonia is approximated by analytical 3-D isotropic harmonic oscillator Wigner densities with the same root-mean-square radius given by the solution of the Schrödinger equation. This approach reproduces quite well the available experimental transverse momentum and rapidity distributions.

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arXiv2023

A new Microscopic Model for $J/ψ$ Production in Heavy Ion Collisions

We present a new model for the creation of \J mesons in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions, which allows to follow the individual heavy quarks from their creation until the detector through the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), which is formed in these collisions and described by the EPOS2 event generator. The \cc quarks interact via a potential, based on results of lattice gauge calculations. The annihilation and creation of \J is described by a density matrix approach whose time evolution is studied in the expanding system. The comparison with PbPb data at $\sqrt{s}$=5.02 TeV shows that this model can describe simultaneously the nuclear modification factor $R_{AA}$ and the elliptic flow $v_2$ of the \J at low transverse momen

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arXiv2020

Benchmark of medium-induced radiative energy loss model for heavy-ion collisions

We report on a benchmark calculation of the in-medium radiative energy loss of low-virtuality jet partons within the EPOS3-Jet framework. The radiative energy loss is based on an extension of the Gunion-Bertsch matrix element for a massive projectile and a massive radiated gluon. On top of that, the coherence (LPM effect) is implemented by assigning a formation phase to the trial radiated gluons in a fashion similar to the approach in JHEP 07 (2011), 118, by Zapp, Stachel and Wiedemann. In a calculation with a simplified radiation kernel, we reproduce the radiation spectrum reported in the approach above. The radiation spectrum produces the LPM behaviour $dI/dω\proptoω^{-1/2}$ up to an energy $ω=ω_c$, when the formation length of radiated gluons becomes comparable to the size of the medium. Beyond $ω_c$, the radiation spectrum shows a characteristic suppression due to a smaller probability for a gluon to be formed in-medium. Next, we embed the radiative energy loss of low-virtuality jet partons into a more realistic "parton gun" calculation, where a stream of hard partons at high initial energy $E_\text{ini}=100$ GeV and initial virtuality $Q^2=E^2$ passes through a box of QGP medium with a constant temperature. At the end of the box evolution, the partons are hadronized using Pythia 8, and the jets are reconstructed with the FASTJET package. We find that the full jet energy loss in such scenario approaches a ballpark value reported by the ALICE collaboration. However, the calculation uses a somewhat larger value of the coupling constant $α_s$ to compensate for the missing collisional energy loss of the low-virtuality jet partons.

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arXiv2020

Traces of non-equilibrium effects, initial condition, bulk dynamics and elementary collisions in the charm observables

We study how heavy quark dynamics is affected by the nature of the bulk evolution of the QCD matter, the initial condition of the system, and the treatment of elementary interactions between heavy quarks and the surrounding medium. For the same initial condition and the same QGP expansion scenario we discuss the consequences of the assumption of a local equilibrium by comparing the consequences for the nuclear modification factor and the elliptic flows of charm quarks. For this purpose we employ the parton-hadron-string dynamics (PHSD), which is an off-shell microscopic transport approach, as well as the linearized-Boltzmann (LB) scheme obtained by coarse graining the PHSD bulk and assuming local equilibrium for the interactions of the charm quarks with the bulk. The $R_{\rm AA}$ of charm quarks stemming from the later LB approach is also compared to a genuine fluid dynamics evolution initiated by the coarse grained PHSD, which allows to further assess the consequences of reducing the full n-body dynamics. We then proceed to a systematic comparison of PHSD with MC@HQ, another transport model for heavy flavors which also relies on LB approach. In particular, we investigate the consequences for the nuclear modification factor of charm quarks if we vary separately the initial heavy quark distribution function in matter, the expansion dynamics of the QGP and the elementary interactions of heavy quarks of these models. We find that the results for both models vary significantly depending on the details of the calculation. However, both models achieve very similar predictions for key heavy quark observables for certain combinations of initial condition, bulk evolution and interactions. We conclude that this ambiguity limits our ability to determine the different properties of the system based on the current set of observables.

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