arXiv subjects

V. Greco

Publications and source records attributed to V. Greco.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Isospin Dynamics in Heavy Ion Collisions: EoS-sensitive Observables

Heavy Ion Collisions (HIC) represent a unique tool to probe the in-medium nuclear interaction in regions away from saturation and at high nucleon momenta. In this report we present a selection of reaction observables particularly sensitive to the isovector part of the interaction, i.e. to the symmetry term of the nuclear Equation of State (EoS) At low energies the behavior of the symmetry energy around saturation influences dissipation and fragment production mechanisms. Predictions are shown for deep-inelastic and fragmentation collisions induced by neutron rich projectiles. Differential flow measurements will also shed lights on the controversial neutron/proton effective mass splitting in asymmetric matter. The high density symmetry term can be derived from isospin effects on heavy ion reactions at relativistic energies (few AGeV range), that can even allow a ``direct'' study of the covariant structure of the isovector interaction in the hadron medium. Rather sensitive observables are proposed from collective flows and from pion/kaon production. The possibility of the transition to a mixed hadron-quark phase, at high baryon and isospin density, is finally suggested. Some signatures could come from an expected ``neutron trapping'' effect.

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arXiv2006

Heavy Ion Collisions at Relativistic Energies: Testing a Nuclear Matter at High Baryon and Isospin Density

We show that the phenomenology of isospin effects on heavy ion reactions at intermediate energies (few AGeV range) is extremely rich and can allow a ``direct'' study of the covariant structure of the isovector interaction in the hadron medium. We work within a relativistic transport frame, beyond a cascade picture, consistently derived from effective Lagrangians, where isospin effects are accounted for in the mean field and collision terms. Rather sensitive observables are proposed from collective flows (``differential'' flows) and from pion/kaon production ($π^-/π^+$, $K^0/K^+$ yields). For the latter point relevant non-equilibrium effects are stressed. The possibility of the transition to a mixed hadron-quark phase, at high baryon and isospin density, is finally suggested. Some signatures could come from an expected ``neutron trapping'' effect.

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arXiv2006

Testing Deconfinement at High Isospin Density

We study the transition from hadronic matter to a mixed phase of quarks and hadrons at high baryon and isospin densities reached in heavy ion collisions. We focus our attention on the role played by the nucleon symmetry energy at high density.In this respect the inclusion of a scalar isovector meson, the δ-coupling, in the Hadron Lagrangian appears rather important. We study in detail the formation of a drop of quark matter in the mixed phase, and we discuss the effects on the quark drop nucleation probability of the finite size and finite time duration of the high density region. We find that, if the parameters of quark models are fixed so that the existence of quark stars is allowed, then the density at which a mixed phase starts forming drops dramatically in the range Z/A \sim 0.3--0.4. This opens the possibility to verify the Witten-Bodmer hypothesis on absolute stability of quark matter using ground-based experiments in which neutron-rich nuclei are employed. These experiments can also provide rather stringent constraints on the Equation of State (EoS) to be used for describing the pre-Supernova gravitational collapse. Consistent simulations of neutron rich heavy ion collisions are performed in order to show that even at relatively low energies, in the few AGeV range, the system can enter such unstable mixed phase. Some precursor observables are suggested, in particular a ``neutron trapping'' effect.

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arXiv2006

Thermalization and Flow of Heavy Quarks in the Quark-Gluon Plasma

Elastic scattering of charm (c) and bottom (b) quarks via D- and B-meson resonance states in an expanding, strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma is investigated. Drag and diffusion coefficients are calculated from an effective model based on chiral symmetry and heavy-quark effective theory, and utilized in a relativistic Langevin simulation to obtain transverse-momentum spectra and elliptic flow (v_2) of c- and b-quarks. The hadronization to D- and B-mesons is described by coalescence and fragmentation, and the resulting decay-electron spectra are compared to recent RHIC data.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

Effect of space-momentum correlations on the constituent quark number scaling of hadron elliptic flows

Using models ranging from schematic one with a simple quark distribution to more realistic blast wave, we study the elliptic flow of hadrons produced from coalescence of quarks and antiquarks in the quark-gluon plasma that is formed in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. In particular, we study effects due to azimuthal anisotropy in the local transverse momentum distribution of quarks, as generated by their position-momentum correlations as a result of radial flow and/or jet quenching. We find that even if quarks have large local non-elliptic anisotropic flow, the elliptic flow of produced hadrons can still scale with their constituent quark numbers. This scaling is, however, broken if the radial flow of coalescing quarks is anisotropic and/or if the momentum dispersion of quarks inside hadrons is included.

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arXiv2005

Heavy-Quark Spectra at RHIC and Resonances in the QGP

Thermalization and collective flow of charm (c) and bottom (b) quarks are evaluated from elastic parton scattering via "D"- and "B"-meson resonances in an expanding, strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma at RHIC. Pertinent drag and diffusion coefficients are implemented into a relativistic Langevin simulation to compute transverse-momentum spectra and azimuthal flow asymmetries (v_2) of c- and b-quarks. Upon hadronization (including coalescence and fragmentation) and semileptonic D- and B-decays, the resulting electron spectra (R_{AA} and v_2) are compared to recent RHIC data.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

Relativistic Transport Approach to Collective Nuclear Dynamics

The isoscalar giant monopole resonance (ISGMR) and isovector giant dipole resonance (IVGDR) in finite nuclei are studied in the framework of a relativistic transport approach. The kinetic equations are derived within an effective nucleon-meson field theory in the Relativistic Mean Field (RMF) scheme, even extended to density dependent vertices. Small amplitude oscillations are analysed using the Relativistic Vlasov (RV) approach, i.e. neglecting nucleon collision terms. The time evolution of the isoscalar monopole moment and isovector dipole moment and the corresponding Fourier power spectra are discussed. In the case of ^{208}Pb we study in detail the dependence of the monopole response on the effective mass and symmetry energy at saturation given by the used covariant effective interaction. We show that a reduced m^* and a larger a_4 can compensate the effect on the ISGMR energy centroid of a much larger compressibility modulus K_{nm}. This result is important in order to overcome the conflicting determination of the nuclear compressibility between non-relativistic and relativistic effective interactions. For the symmetry energy dynamical effects, we carefully analyze the influence of the inclusion of an effective isovector scalar channel, δ-meson field, with constant and density dependent couplings. We show the relevance of the $slope$ (or pressure) of the symmetry energy at saturation on the ISGMR and IVGDR modes for neutron-rich systems. Density dependent vertices are not much affecting our conclusions. Following as a guidance some extended dispersion relations in nuclear matter, we see two main reasons for that, the smoothness of the density dependences around saturation and the presence of compensation effects coming from rearrangement terms.

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arXiv2005

Neutron stars with isovector scalar correlations

Neutron stars with the isovector scalar $δ$-field are studied in the framework of the relativistic mean field ($RMF$) approach in a pure nucleon plus lepton scheme. The $δ$-field leads to a larger repulsion in dense neutron-rich matter and to a definite splitting of proton and neutron effective masses. Both features are influencing the stability conditions of the neutron stars. Two parametrizations for the effective nonlinear Lagrangian density are used to calculate the nuclear equation of state ($EOS$) and the neutron star properties, and compared to correlated Dirac-Brueckner results. We conclude that in order to reproduce reasonable nuclear structure and neutron star properties within a $RMF$ approach a density dependence of the coupling constants is required.

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arXiv2004

Hadron production from quark coalescence and jet fragmentation in intermediate energy collisions at RHIC

Transverse momentum spectra of pions, protons and antiprotons in Au+Au collisions at intermediate RHIC energy of $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=62$ GeV are studied in a model that includes both quark coalescence from the dense partonic matter and fragmentation of the quenched perturbative minijet partons. The resulting baryon to meson ratio at intermediate transverse momenta is predicted to be larger than that seen in experiments at higher center of mass energies.

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arXiv2004

Reaction Dynamics with Exotic Beams

We review the new possibilities offered by the reaction dynamics of asymmetric heavy ion collisions, using stable and unstable beams. We show that it represents a rather unique tool to probe regions of highly Asymmetric Nuclear Matter ($ANM$) in compressed as well as dilute phases, and to test the in-medium isovector interaction for high momentum nucleons. The focus is on a detailed study of the symmetry term of the nuclear Equation of State ($EOS$) in regions far away from saturation conditions but always under laboratory controlled conditions. Thermodynamic properties of $ANM$ are surveyed starting from nonrelativistic and relativistic effective interactions. In the relativistic case the role of the isovector scalar $δ$-meson is stressed. The qualitative new features of the liquid-gas phase transition, "diffusive" instability and isospin distillation, are discussed. The results of ab-initio simulations of n-rich, n-poor, heavy ion collisions, using stochastic isospin dependent transport equations, are analysed as a function of beam energy and centrality. The isospin dynamics plays an important role in all steps of the reaction, from prompt nucleon emissions to the final fragments. The isospin diffusion is also of large interest, due to the interplay of asymmetry and density gradients. In relativistic collisions, the possibility of a direct study of the covariant structure of the effective nucleon interaction is shown. Results are discussed for particle production, collective flows and iso-transparency. Perspectives of further developments of the field, in theory as well as in experiment, are presented.

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arXiv2004

Quark Coalescence for Charmed Mesons in Ultrarelativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

We investigate effects of charm-quark interactions in a Quark-Gluon Plasma on the production of $D$ and $J/ψ$ mesons in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Employing a previously constructed coalescence model that successfully reproduces the transverse momentum ($p_T$) spectra and elliptic flow ($v_2(p_T)$) of light hadrons at RHIC from underlying light-quark distributions at the phase transition temperature $T_c$, $D$-meson and $J/ψ$ $p_T$ spectra are evaluated. For the charm-quark distributions, we consider two limiting scenarios: (i) {\em no} rescattering, corresponding to perturbative QCD spectra and (ii) {\em complete} thermalization including transverse expansion. With the $D$-meson spectra acquiring a minimal $v_2$ inherited from their light-quark content, the corresponding semileptonic decay spectra of single electrons are found to practically preserve the $v_2$ of the parent particles, exhibiting marked differences between the pQCD and thermal scenarios for $p_T\ge 1$ GeV. Likewise, the $p_T$-spectra and yields of $J/ψ$'s differ appreciably in the two scenarios.

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arXiv2004

Effect of resonance decays on hadron elliptic flows

The influence of resonance decays on the elliptic flows of stable hadrons is studied in the quark coalescence model. Although difference between the elliptic flow of pions from resonance decays, except the rho meson, and that of directly produced pions is appreciable, those for other stable hadrons are small. Since there are more pions from the decays of rho mesons than from other resonances, including resonance decays can only account partially the deviation of final pion elliptic flow from the observed scaling of hadron elliptic flows, i.e., the hadron elliptic flow per quark is the same at same transverse momentum per quark. The remaining deviation can be explained by including the effect due to the quark momentum distribution inside hadrons.

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arXiv2004

Pentaquark baryon production at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

Production of pentaquark $Θ^+$ baryons in central relativistic heavy ion collisions is studied in a kinetic model. Assuming that a quark-gluon plasma is produced in the collisions, we first determine the number of $Θ^+$ produced from the quark-gluon plasma using a parton coalescence model, and then take into consideration its production and absorption in subsequent hadronic matter via the reactions $KN\leftrightarrowΘ$, $KN\leftrightarrowπΘ$, and $\piN\leftrightarrow\bar KΘ$. We find that although the final $Θ^+$ number is affected by hadronic interactions, it remains sensitive to the initial number of $Θ^+$ produced from the quark-gluon plasma, particularly in the case of a small $Θ^+$ width as imposed by the $K^+N$ and $K^+d$ scattering data. Because of small baryon chemical potential in the hot dense matter produced in these collisions, the number of produced anti-$Θ$ is only slightly smaller than that of $Θ^+$.

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arXiv2004

Hadronization via Coalescence

We review the quark coalescence model for hadronization in relativistic heavy ion collisions and show how it can explain the observed large baryon to meson ratio at intermediate transverse momentum and scaling of the elliptic flows of identified hadrons. We also show its predictions on higher-order anisotropic flows and discuss how quark coalescence applied to open- and hidden-charm mesons can give insight to charm quark interactions in the quark-gluon plasma and $J/Ψ$ production in heavy ion collisions.

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arXiv2003

Transport properties of isospin effective mass splitting

We investigate in detail the momentum dependence ($MD$) of the effective in medium Nucleon-Nucleon ($NN$) interaction in the isovector channel. We focus the discussion on transport properties of the expected neutron-proton ($n/p$) effective mass splitting at high isospin density. We look at observable effects from collective flows in Heavy Ion Collisions ($HIC$) of charge asymmetric nuclei at intermediate energies. Using microscopic kinetic equation simulations nucleon transverse and elliptic collective flows in $Au+Au$ collisions are evaluated. In spite of the reduced charge asymmetry of the interacting system interesting $isospin-MD$ effects are revealed. Good observables, particularly sensitive to the $n/p$-mass splitting, appear to be the differences between neutron and proton flows. The importance of more exclusive measurements, with a selection of different bins of the transverse momenta ($p_t$) of the emitted particles, is stressed. In more inclusive data a compensation can be expected from different $p_t$-contributions, due to the microscopic $isospin-MD$ structure of the nuclear mean field in asymmetric matter.

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arXiv2003

On the Lorentz structure of the symmetry energy

We investigate in detail the density dependence of the symmetry energy in a relativistic description by decomposing the iso-vector mean field into contributions with different Lorentz covariant properties. We find important effects of the iso-vector, scalar channel (i.e. $δ$-meson like) on the high density behavior of the symmetry energy. Applications to static properties of finite nuclei and to dynamic situations of heavy ion collisions are explored and related to each other. The nuclear structure studies show only moderate effects originating from the virtual $δ$ meson. At variance, in heavy ion collisions one finds important contributions on the reaction dynamics arising from the different Lorentz structure of the high density symmetry energy when a scalar iso-vector $δ$ field is introduced. Particularly interesting is the related neutron/proton effective mass splitting for nucleon transport effects and for resonance and particle production around the threshold. We show that the $δ$-like channel turns out to be essential for the production of pions, when comparing with experimental data, in particular for high momentum selections.

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arXiv2003

Isospin effects on two-nucleon correlation functions in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies

Using an isospin-dependent transport model, we study isospin effects on two-nucleon correlation functions in heavy-ion collisions induced by neutron-rich nuclei at intermediate energies. We find that these correlation functions are sensitive to the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy, but not to the incompressibility of symmetric nuclear matter and the medium dependence of nucleon-nucleon cross sections. This sensitivity is mainly due to effects of nuclear symmetry energy on the emission times of neutrons and protons as well as their relative emission sequence. We also study the variations of the symmetry energy effects on nucleon-nucleon correlations with respect to the impact parameter, incident energy, and mass number of heavy ion collisions.

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arXiv2003

Parton coalescence at RHIC

Using a covariant coalescence model, we study hadron production in relativistic heavy ion collisions from both soft partons in the quark-gluon plasma and hard partons in minijets. Including transverse flow of soft partons and independent fragmentation of minijet partons, the model is able to describe available experimental data on pion, kaon, and antiproton spectra. The resulting antiproton to pion ratio is seen to increase at low transverse momenta and reaches a value of about one at intermediate transverse momenta, as observed in experimental data at RHIC. A similar dependence of the antikaon to pion ratio on transverse momentum is obtained, but it reaches a smaller value at intermediate transverse momenta. At high transverse momenta, the model predicts that both the antiproton to pion and the antikaon to pion ratio decrease and approach those given by the perturbative QCD. Both collective flow effect and coalescence of minijet partons with partons in the quark-gluon plasma affect significantly the spectra of hadrons with intermediate transverse momenta. Elliptic flows of protons, Lambdas, and Omegas have also been evaluated from partons with elliptic flows extracted from fitting measured pion and kaon elliptic flows, and they are found to be consistent with available experimental data.

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