arXiv subjects

Ralf Rapp

Publications and source records attributed to Ralf Rapp.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Non-perturbative Approach to Equation of State and Collective Modes of the QGP

We discuss a non-perturbative $T$-matrix approach to investigate the microscopic structure of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Utilizing an effective Hamiltonian which includes both light- and heavy-parton degrees of freedoms. The basic two-body interaction includes color-Coulomb and confining contributions in all available color channels, and is constrained by lattice-QCD data for the heavy-quark free energy. The in-medium $T$-matrices and parton spectral functions are computed selfconsistently with full account of off-shell properties encoded in large scattering widths. We apply the $T$-matrices to calculate the equation of state (EoS) for the QGP, including a ladder resummation of the Luttinger-Ward functional using a matrix-log technique to account for the dynamical formation of bound states. It turns out that the latter become the dominant degrees of freedom in the EoS at low QGP temperatures indicating a transition from parton to hadron degrees of freedom. The calculated spectral properties of one- and two-body states confirm this picture, where large parton scattering rates dissolve the parton quasiparticle structures while broad resonances start to form as the pseudocritical temperature is approached from above. Further calculations of transport coefficients reveal a small viscosity and heavy-quark diffusion coefficient.

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arXiv2017

Color Screening and Regeneration of Bottomonia in High-Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions

The production of ground-state and excited bottomonia in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions is investigated within a kinetic-rate equation approach including regeneration. We augment our previous calculations by an improved treatment of medium effects, with temperature-dependent binding energies and pertinent reaction rates, $B$-meson resonance states in the equilibrium limit near the hadronization temperature, and a lattice-QCD based equation of state for the bulk medium. In addition to the centrality dependence of the bottomonium yields we compute their transverse-momentum ($p_T$) spectra and elliptic flow with momentum-dependent reaction rates and a regeneration component based on $b$-quark spectra from a nonperturbative transport model of heavy-quark diffusion. The latter has noticeable consequences for the shape of the bottomonium $p_T$ spectra. We quantify how uncertainties in the various modeling components affect the predictions for observables. Based on this we argue that the $Υ(1S)$ suppression is a promising observable for mapping out the in-medium properties of the QCD force, while $Υ(2S)$ production can help to quantify the role of regeneration from partially thermalized $b$ quarks.

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arXiv2017

Thermal dileptons as QCD matter probes at SIS

Electromagnetic radiation is emitted during the whole course of a heavy-ion collision and can escape from the collision zone without further interactions. This makes it an ideal tool to study the properties of hot and dense QCD matter. To model the space-time evolution of the collision at SIS energies a coarse-graining approach is used to convert transport simulations into meaningful temperatures and densities. These parameters serve as input for the determination of the pertinent radiation of thermal dileptons based on an in-medium $ρ$ spectral function that describes available spectra at ultrarelativistic collision energies. The resulting excitation function of the thermal excess radiation provides a baseline for future measurements by the HADES and CBM experiments at GSI/FAIR, and experiments proposed at NICA and J-PARC.

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arXiv2017

Theoretical Perspective on Quarkonia from SPS via RHIC to LHC

The objective of this paper is to assess the current theoretical understanding of the extensive set of quarkonium observables (for both charmonia and bottomonia) that have been attained in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions over two orders of magnitude in center-of-mass energy. We briefly lay out and compare the currently employed theoretical frameworks and their underlying transport coefficients, and then analyze excitation functions of quarkonium yields to characterize the nature of the varying production mechanisms. We argue that an overall coherent picture of suppression and regeneration mechanisms emerges which enables to deduce insights on the properties of the in-medium QCD force from SPS via RHIC to LHC, and forms a basis for future quantitative studies.

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arXiv2017

In-Medium Bottomonium Production in Heavy-Ion Collisions

We study bottomonium production in heavy-ion collisions using a transport model which utilizes kinetic-rate and Boltzmann equations to calculate the energy, centrality and transverse-momentum ($p_T$) dependence of the yields. Both gluo-dissociation and inelastic parton-induced break-up including interference effects are improved over previous work by using in-medium binding energies from a thermodynamic $T$-matrix approach. A coalescence model with bottom-quark spectra from Langevin simulations is implemented to account for thermal off-equilibrium effects in the $p_T$-spectra of the regeneration contribution. We also update the equation of state for the bulk medium by extracting it from lattice-QCD results. A systematic analysis of bottomonium observables is conducted in comparison to RHIC and LHC data. In particular, the off-equilibrium bottom-quark spectra are found to play an important role in the bottomonium $p_T$ spectra.

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arXiv2016

Internal Charmonium Evolution in the Quark-Gluon Plasma

We employ a time-dependent Schrödinger equation to study the evolution of a $c\bar c$ dipole in a quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Medium effects on the heavy-quark potential in the QGP are found to significantly affect the timescales of the internal evolution of the dipole. Color-screening can enhance the overlap of the expanding wavepackage with excited states at high temperature, while it is reduced at lower temperatures where the dipole favors the formation of the charmonium ground state. We investigate the consequences of this mechanism on the double ratio of charmonium nuclear modification factors, $R_{AA}^{ψ(2S)}/R_{AA}^{J/ψ}$, in heavy-ion collisions. The impact of the transition mechanisms on this ratio turns out to be rather sensitive to the attractive strength of the potential, and to its temperature dependence.

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arXiv2016

$T$-Matrix Approach to Strongly Coupled QGP

Based on a thermodynamic $T$-matrix approach we extract the potential $V$ between two static charges in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) from fits to the pertinent lattice-QCD free energy. With suitable relativistic corrections we utilize this new potential to compute heavy-quark transport coefficients and compare the results to previous calculations using either $F$ or $U$ as potential. We then discuss a generalization of the $T$-matrix re-summation to a "matrix $\log$" re-summation of $t$-channel diagrams for the grand partition function of the QGP in the Luttinger-Ward skeleton diagram formalism. With $V$ as a non-perturbative driving kernel in the light-parton sector, we obtain the QGP equation of state from fits to lattice-QCD data. The resulting light-parton spectral functions are characterized by large thermal widths at small momenta, indicating the dissolution of quasi-particles in a strongly coupled QGP.

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arXiv2016

Psi(2S) Production at the LHC

We calculate the production of $ψ(2S)$ and the pertinent double ratio of its nuclear modification factor ($R_{\rm AA}$) over that of the $J/ψ$ in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC. Based on a transport model with temperature dependent reaction rates, a sequential regeneration pattern emerges: the larger $ψ(2S)$ width, relative to the $J/ψ$, around and below the critical temperature, implies that most of the $ψ(2S)$ states are regenerated later in the evolution of the fireball. This has noticeable consequences for the transverse-momentum ($p_T$) spectra of the regenerated charmonia. While the total yield of $ψ(2S)$ meson remains smaller than those of $J/ψ$'s, their harder $p_T$ spectra can produce a double ratio above unity for a $p_T>3$GeV cut, as applied by the CMS collaboration. A significant uncertainty in our calculations is associated with the values of the temperature where most of the $ψ(2S)$ regeneration occurs, the quantitative temperature dependence of its inelastic width.

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arXiv2016

Thermal Dileptons from Coarse-Grained Transport as Fireball Probes at SIS Energies

Utilizing a coarse-graining method to convert hadronic transport simulations of Au+Au collisions at SIS energies into local temperature, baryon and pion densities, we compute the pertinent radiation of thermal dileptons based on an in-medium $ρ$ spectral function that describes available spectra at ultrarelativistic collision energies. In particular, we analyze how far the resulting yields and slopes of the invariant-mass spectra can probe the lifetime and temperatures of the fireball. We find that dilepton radiation sets in after the initial overlap phase of the colliding nuclei of about 7 fm/c, and lasts for about 13 fm/c. This duration closely coincides with the development of the transverse collectivity of the baryons, thus establishing a direct correlation between hadronic collective effects and thermal EM radiation, and supporting a near local equilibration of the system. This fireball "lifetime" is substantially smaller than the typical 20-30 fm/c that naive considerations of the density evolution alone would suggest. We furthermore find that the total dilepton yield radiated into the invariant-mass window of $M=0.3-0.7$ GeV/$c^{2}$, normalized to the number of charged pions, follows a relation to the lifetime found earlier in the (ultra-) relativistic regime of heavy-ion collisions, and thus corroborates the versatility of this tool. The spectral slopes of the invariant-mass spectra above the $ϕ$ mass provide a thermometer of the hottest phases of the collision, and agree well with the maximal temperatures extracted from the coarse-grained hadron spectra.

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arXiv2016

Open Heavy Flavor in QCD Matter and in Nuclear Collisions

We review the experimental and theoretical status of open heavy-flavor (HF) production in high-energy nuclear collisions at RHIC and LHC. We first overview the theoretical concepts and pertinent calculations of HF transport in QCD matter, including perturbative and non-perturbative approaches in the quark-gluon plasma, effective models in hadronic matter, as well as implementations of heavy-quark (HQ) hadronization. This is followed by a brief discussion of bulk evolution models for heavy-ion collisions and initial conditions for the HQ distributions which are needed to calculate HF spectra in comparison to observables. We then turn to a discussion of experimental data that have been collected to date at RHIC and LHC, specifically for the nuclear suppression factor and elliptic flow of semileptonic HF decays, D mesons, non-prompt $J/ψ$ from B-meson decays, and b-jets. Model comparisons to HF data are conducted with regards to extracting the magnitude, temperature and momentum-dependence of HF transport coefficients from experiment.

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arXiv2015

Thermal photon emission from the pi-rho-omega system

We investigate thermal photon emission rates in hot hadronic matter from a system consisting of pi, rho, and omega mesons. The rates are calculated using both relativistic kinetic theory with Born diagrams as well as thermal field theory at the two-loop level. This enables us to cross-check our calculations and to manage a pole contribution that arises in the Born approximation corresponding to the omega -> pi^0 gamma radiative decay. After implementing hadronic form factors to account for finite-size corrections, we find that the resulting photo-emission rates are comparable to existing results from pi rho -> pi gamma processes in the energy regime of 1-3 GeV. We expect that our new sources will provide a non-negligible contribution to the total hadronic rates, thereby enhancing calculated thermal photon spectra from heavy-ion collisions, which could improve the description of current direct-photon data from experiment.

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arXiv2015

Physics perspectives of heavy-ion collisions at very high energy

Heavy-ion collisions at very high colliding energies are expected to produce a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) at the highest temperature obtainable in a laboratory setting. Experimental studies of these reactions can provide an unprecedented range of information on properties of the QGP at high temperatures. We report theoretical investigations of the physics perspectives of heavy-ion collisions at a future high-energy collider. These include initial parton production, collective expansion of the dense medium, jet quenching, heavy-quark transport, dissociation and regeneration of quarkonia, photon and dilepton production. We illustrate the potential of future experimental studies of the initial particle production and formation of QGP at the highest temperature to provide constraints on properties of strongly interaction matter.

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arXiv2015

Massive Yang-Mills for Vector and Axial-Vector Spectral Functions at Finite Temperature

The hadronic mechanism which leads to chiral symmetry restoration is explored in the context of the rho-pi-a_1 system using Massive Yang-Mills, a hadronic effective theory which governs their microscopic interactions. In this approach, vector and axial-vector mesons are implemented as gauge bosons of a local chiral gauge group. We have previously shown that this model can describe the experimentally measured vector and axial-vector spectral functions in vacuum. Here, we carry the analysis to finite temperatures by evaluating medium effects in a pion gas and calculating thermal spectral functions. We find that the spectral peaks in both channels broaden along with a noticeable downward mass shift in the a_1 spectral peak and negligible movement of the rho peak. The approach toward spectral function degeneracy is accompanied by a reduction of chiral order parameters, i.e., the pion decay constant and scalar condensate. Our findings suggest a mechanism where the chiral mass splitting induced in vacuum is burned off. We explore this mechanism and identify future investigations which can further test it.

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arXiv2015

Sequential Regeneration of Charmonia in Heavy-Ion Collisions

We investigate the production of psi(2S) in nuclear collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. We first address charmonium production in 200 GeV d-Au collisions at RHIC; the strong suppression of psi' mesons observed in these reactions indicates mechanisms beyond initial cold nuclear matter effects. We find that a more complete treatment of hadronic dissociation reactions leads to appreciable psi' suppression in the hadronic medium of an expanding fireball background for d-Au collisions. When implementing the updated hadronic reaction rates into a fireball for 2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions at LHC, the regeneration of psi' mesons occurs significantly later than for J/psi's. Despite a smaller total number of regenerated psi', the stronger radial flow at their time of production induces a marked enhancement of their R_{AA} relative to J/psi's in a momentum range p_t \simeq 3-6 GeV. We explore the consequences and uncertainties of this "sequential regeneration" mechanism on the R_{AA} double ratio and find that it can reproduce the trends observed in recent CMS data.

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arXiv2015

The Hot QCD White Paper: Exploring the Phases of QCD at RHIC and the LHC

The past decade has seen huge advances in experimental measurements made in heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and more recently at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These new data, in combination with theoretical advances from calculations made in a variety of frameworks, have led to a broad and deep knowledge of the properties of thermal QCD matter. Increasingly quantitative descriptions of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) created in these collisions have established that the QGP is a strongly coupled liquid with the lowest value of specific viscosity ever measured. However, much remains to be learned about the precise nature of the initial state from which this liquid forms, how its properties vary across its phase diagram and how, at a microscopic level, the collective properties of this liquid emerge from the interactions among the individual quarks and gluons that must be visible if the liquid is probed with sufficiently high resolution. This white paper, prepared by the Hot QCD Writing Group as part of the U.S. Long Range Plan for Nuclear Physics, reviews the recent progress in the field of hot QCD and outlines the scientific opportunities in the next decade for resolving the outstanding issues in the field.

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arXiv2015

An in-Medium Heavy-Quark Potential from the $Q\bar{Q}$ Free Energy

We investigate the problem of extracting a static potential between a quark and its antiquark in a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) from lattice-QCD computations of the singlet free energy, $F_{Q\bar{Q}}(r)$. We utilize the thermodynamic $T$-matrix formalism to calculate the free energy from an underlying potential ansatz resummed in ladder approximation. Imaginary parts of both $Q\bar Q$ potential-type and single-quark selfenergies are included as estimated from earlier results of the $T$-matrix approach. We find that the imaginary parts, and in particular their (low-) energy dependence, induce marked deviations of the (real part of the) potential from the calculated free energy. When fitting lattice results of the latter, the extracted potential is characterized by significant long-range contributions from remnants of the confining force. We briefly discuss consequences of this feature for the heavy-quark transport coefficient in the QGP.

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arXiv2014

Universal Parametrization of Thermal Photon Rates in Hadronic Matter

Electromagnetic (EM) radiation off strongly interacting matter created in high-energy heavy-ion collisions (HICs) encodes information on the high-temperature phases of nuclear matter. Microscopic calculations of thermal EM emission rates are usually rather involved and not readily accessible to broad applications in models of the fireball evolution which are required to compare to experimental data. An accurate and universal parametrization of the microscopic calculations is thus key to honing the theory behind the EM spectra. Here we provide such a parametrization for photon emission rates from hadronic matter, including the contributions from in-medium rho mesons (which incorporate effects from anti-/baryons), as well as Bremsstrahlung from pi-pi scattering. Individual parametrizations for each contribution are numerically determined through nested fitting functions for photon energies from 0.2 to 5 GeV in chemically equilibrated matter of temperatures 100-180 MeV and baryon chemical potentials 0-400 MeV. Special care is taken to extent the parameterizations to chemical off-equilibrium as encountered in HICs after chemical freezeout. This provides a functional description of thermal photon rates within a 20% variation of the microscopically calculated values.

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arXiv2014

Thermal Dileptons as Fireball Thermometer and Chronometer

Thermal dilepton radiation from the hot fireballs created in high-energy heavy-ion collisions provides unique insights into the properties of the produced medium. We first show how the predictions of hadronic many-body theory for a melting $ρ$ meson, coupled with QGP emission utilizing a modern lattice-QCD based equation of state, yield a quantitative description of dilepton spectra in heavy-ion collisions at the SPS and the RHIC beam energy scan program. We utilize these results to systematically extract the excess yields and their invariant-mass spectral slopes to predict the excitation function of fireball lifetimes and (early) temperatures, respectively. We thereby demonstrate that future measurements of these quantities can yield unprecedented information on basic fireball properties. Specifically, our predictions quantify the relation between the measured and maximal fireball temperatures, and the proportionality of excess yields and total lifetime. This information can serve as a "caloric" curve to search for a first-order QCD phase transition, and to detect non-monotonous lifetime variations possibly related to critical phenomena.

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