arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Wojciech Broniowski.
It is shown how the initial azimuthally asymmetric flow develops from the free-streaming + sudden equilibration approximation to the early dynamics in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Consequences for the hydrodynamics and physical results are discussed.
We investigate an approximation to early dynamics in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, where after formation the partons are free streaming and around the proper time of 1 fm/c undergo a sudden equilibration described in terms of the Landau matching condition. We discuss physical and formal aspects of this approach. In particular, we show that initial azimuthally asymmetric transverse flow develops for non-central collisions as a consequence of the sudden equilibration. Moreover, the energy-momentum tensor from the free-streaming stage matches very smoothly to the form used in the transverse hydrodynamics, whereas matching to isotropic hydrodynamics requires a more pronounced change in the energy-momentum tensor. After the hydrodynamic phase statistical hadronization is carried out with the help of THERMINATOR. The physical results for the transverse-momentum spectra, the elliptic-flow, and the Hanbury-Brown--Twiss correlation radii, including the ratio R_out/R_side as well as the dependence of the radii on the azimuthal angle (azHBT), are properly described within our approach. The agreement is equally good for a purely hydrodynamic evolution started at an early proper time of 0.25 fm/c, or for the free streaming started at that time, followed by the sudden equilibration at tau ~1 fm/c and then by perfect hydrodynamics. Thus, the inclusion of free streaming allows us to delay the start of hydrodynamics to more realistic times of the order of 1 fm/c.
The gravitational form factor of the pion is evaluated in two chiral quark models and confronted to the recent full-QCD lattice data. We find good agreement for the case of the Spectral Quark Model, which builds in the vector-meson dominance for the charge form factor. We derive a simple relation between the gravitational and electromagnetic form factors, holding in the considered quark models in the chiral limit. The relation implies that the gravitational mean squared radius is half the electromagnetic one. We also analyze higher-order quark generalized form factors of the pion, related to higher moments in the symmetric Bjorken X-variable of the generalized parton distribution functions, and discuss their perturbative QCD evolution, needed to relate the quark-model predictions to the lattice data. The values of the higher-order quark form factors at t=0, computed on the lattice, also agree with our quark model results within the statistical and method uncertainties.
We calculate the pion pole term of the light-by-light contribution to the $g-2$ of the muon in the framework of an effective chiral quark model with instanton-like nonlocal quark--quark interaction. The full kinematic dependence of the pion-photon transition form factors is taken into account. The dependence of form factors on the pion virtuality decreases the result by about 15% in comparison to the calculation where this dependence is neglected. Further, it is demonstrated that the QCD constraints suggested by Melnikov and Vainshtein are satisfied within the model. The corresponding contributions originate from the box diagram as well from the pion-pole term. Our chiral nonlocal model result for the pion-pole light-by-light contribution to $(g-2)/2$ of the muon is $(6.3-6.7) \cdot10^{-10}$, which is in the ball park of other effective-model calculations.
Azimuthally-sensitive femtoscopy for heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC is explored within the approach consisting of the hydrodynamics of perfect fluid followed by statistical hadronization. It is found that for the RHIC initial conditions the very same framework that reproduces the standard soft observables (including the transverse-momentum spectra, the elliptic flow, and the azimuthally-averaged HBT radii) leads to a proper description of the azimuthally-sensitive femtoscopic observables - we find that the azimuthal variation of the side and out HBT radii is very well reproduced for all centralities, while the out-side correlation is somewhat too large for non-central events. Concerning the dependence of the femtoscopic parameters on kT we find that it is very well reproduced for the out and side radii, and fairly well for the long radius. The model is then extrapolated for the LHC energy. We predict the overall moderate growth of the HBT radii and the decrease of their azimuthal oscillations. Such effects are naturally caused by longer evolution times. In addition, we discuss in detail the space-time patterns of particle emission. We show that they are quite complex and argue that the overall shape seen by the femtoscopic methods cannot be easily disentangled on the basis of simple-minded arguments.
We present a construction of the pion electromagnetic form factor where the transition from large-Nc Regge vector meson dominance models with infinitely many resonances to perturbative QCD is built in explicitly. The construction is based on an appropriate assignment of residues to the Regge poles, which fulfills the constraints of the parton-hadron duality and perturbative QCD. The model contains a slowly falling off non-perturbative contribution which dominates over the perturbative QCD radiative corrections for the experimentally accessible momenta. The leading order and next-to-leading order calculations show a converging pattern which describes the available data within uncertainties, while the onset of asymptotic QCD takes place at extremely high momenta, Q ~ 10^3-10^4 GeV. The method can be straightforwardly extended to study other form factors where the perturbative QCD result is available.
Generalized vector form factors of the pion, related to the moments of the generalized parton distribution functions, are evaluated in the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model with the Pauli-Villars regularization. The lowest moments (the electromagnetic and the gravitational form factors) are compared to recent lattice data, with fair agreement. Predictions for higher-order moments are also made. Relevant features of the generalized form factors in the chiral quark models are highlighted and the role of the QCD evolution for the higher-order GFFs is stressed.
GLISSANDO is a Glauber Monte-Carlo generator for early-stages of relativistic heavy-ion collisions, written in c++ and interfaced to Root. Several models are implemented: the wounded-nucleon model, the binary collisions model, the mixed model, and the model with hot-spots. Subtleties of the distribution of nucleon in the nucleus are discussed. The original geometric distribution of sources in the transverse plane can be superimposed with a statistical distribution simulating the dispersion in the generated transverse energy in each individual collision. The program generates inter alia the fixed axes (standard) and variable-axes (participant) two-dimensional profiles of the density of sources in the transverse plane and their Fourier components. These profiles can be used in further analyses of physical phenomena, such as the the jet quenching, event-by-event hydrodynamics, or analysis of the elliptic flow and its fluctuations. Characteristics of the event (multiplicities, eccentricities, Fourier coefficients, etc.) are evaluated and stored in a file for further off-line studies. A number of scripts is provided for that purpose. Supplied variants of the code can also be used for the proton-nucleus and deuteron-nucleus collisions.
The relativistic hydrodynamics together with the single-freeze-out statistical hadronization model is used to describe the midrapidity hadron production in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC. At the highest RHIC energy our approach gives a quite satisfactory global description of soft hadronic observables including the HBT radii. With the increased initial energy, from RHIC to LHC, we expect the saturation of the pion elliptic flow and the moderate increase of the correlation radii.
Generalized Parton Distributions of the pion are evaluated in chiral quark models with the help of double distributions. As a result the polynomiality conditions are automatically satisfied. In addition, positivity constraints, proper normalization and support, sum rules, and soft pion theorems are fulfilled. We obtain explicit expressions holding at the low-energy quark-model scale, which exhibit no factorization in the t-dependence. The crucial QCD evolution of the quark-model distributions is carried out up to experimental or lattice scales. The obtained results for the Parton Distribution Function and the Parton Distribution Amplitude describe the available experimental and lattice data, confirming that the quark-model scale is low, around 320 MeV.
In the framework of various Glauber-like models we compute several correlation observables in nuclear collisions at the SPS, RHIC, and LHC energies. We analyze fluctuations of the eccentricity of the fireball created in the collision, in particular the {variable-axes} harmonic moments $ε^\ast$, as well as the fluctuations of multiplicity of charged particles. We find moderate model dependence of the scaled standard deviation $σ(ε^\ast)/ε^\ast$ on the choice of the particular Glauber model. For all considered models the values of $σ(ε^\ast)/ε^\ast$ range from $\sim$~0.5 for central collisions to $\sim$~0.3-0.4 for peripheral collisions. The results are confronted to the recent measurement of the elliptic-flow fluctuations at RHIC. We also find that the dependence of multiplicity fluctuations on the centrality of the collision is too weak to explain the measurements at the SPS energies. The magnitude of the Glauber multiplicity fluctuations increases by about 20% from the RHIC to LHC energies.
We investigate the role of the initial condition used for the hydrodynamic evolution of the system formed in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions and find that an appropriate choice motivated by the models of early-stage dynamics, specifically a simple two-dimensional Gaussian profile, leads to a uniform description of soft observables measured in the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). In particular, the transverse-momentum spectra, the elliptic-flow, and the Hanbury-Brown--Twiss correlation radii, including the ratio R_out/R_side as well as the dependence of the radii on the azimuthal angle (azHBT), are properly described. We use the perfect-fluid hydrodynamics with a realistic equation of state based on lattice calculations and the hadronic gas at high and low temperatures, respectively. We also show that the inclusion of the partonic free-streaming in the early stage allows to delay the start of the hydrodynamical description to comfortable times of the order of 1 fm/c. Free streaming broadens the initial energy-density profile, but generates the initial transverse and elliptic flow. The data may be described equally well when the hydrodynamics is started early, or with a delay due to partonic free-streaming.
We evaluate Generalized Parton Distributions of the pion in two chiral quark models: the Spectral Quark Model and the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with a Pauli-Villars regularization. We proceed by the evaluation of double distributions through the use of a manifestly covariant calculation based on the alpha representation of propagators. As a result polynomiality is incorporated automatically and calculations become simple. In addition, positivity and normalization constraints, sum rules and soft pion theorems are fulfilled. We obtain explicit formulas, holding at the low-energy quark-model scale. The expressions exhibit no factorization in the t-dependence. The QCD evolution of those parton distributions is carried out to experimentally or lattice accessible scales. We argue for the need of evolution by comparing the Parton Distribution Function and the Parton Distribution Amplitude of the pion to the available experimental and lattice data, and confirm that the quark-model scale is low, about 320 MeV.
Hydrodynamics merged with single-freeze-out statistical hadronization is used to describe the midrapidity hadron production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the highest RHIC energies and to make predictions for the LHC. Thermodynamic properties of the quark-gluon plasma are taken from lattice simulations, at low temperatures the hadron-gas equation of state is used, while in the cross-over region an interpolation between the two equations of state is constructed. The initial condition for hydrodynamics is obtained from a Glauber profile for the entropy, with the initial central temperature Ti. The conditions obtained from the hydrodynamic expansion at the freeze-out temperature Tf are used as input for the thermal event generator THERMINATOR. Basic physical observables are obtained: the transverse-momentum spectra, the elliptic flow coefficient v2, and the HBT radii. The femtoscopic observables are evaluated with the help of the two-particle method which accounts for the resonance decays and Coulomb final-state interactions. The problem of a simultaneous description of all discussed observables is addressed, with the conclusion that at the highest RHIC energies our approach gives a quite satisfactory global description of soft hadronic observables. Some discrepancies may be attributed to the absence of the final-state elastic interactions among hadrons. Extrapolating Ti to higher values allows for global predictions for soft hadronic physics at the LHC. We test Ti=400, 450, and 500 MeV, and observe the expected growth of particle multiplicities and the increase of the flow, resulting in smaller slopes of the pT-spectra. The elliptic flow of pions exhibits saturation, with v2 remaining practically constant, while the HBT radii increase moderately with Ti.
We explore the role of the gluon condensate in matching Regge models to the operator product expansion of meson correlators.
We analyze measures of the azimuthal asymmetry, in particular the participant harmonic moments, epsilon*, in a variety of Glauber-like models for the early stage of collisions at RHIC. Quantitative comparisons indicate substantial model dependence for epsilon*, reflecting different effective number of sources, while the dependence of the scaled standard deviation sigma(epsilon*)/epsilon* on the particular Glauber model is weak. For all the considered models the values of sigma(epsilon*)/epsilon* range from ~0.5 for the central collisions to ~0.3-0.4 for peripheral collisions. These values, dominated by statistics, change only by 10-15% from model to model. For central collisions and in the absence of correlations between the location of sources we obtain through the use of the central limit theorem the simple analytic formula sigma(epsilon*)/epsilon*(b=0) ~ \sqrt{4/pi-1} ~ 0.52$, independent on the collision energy, mass number, or the number of sources. We investigate the shape-fluctuation effects for jet quenching and find they are important only for very central events. Finally, we list some remarks and predictions from smooth hydrodynamics on higher flow coefficients and their fluctuations, in particular sigma(v_4)/v_4=2 sigma(v_2)/v_2.
We present a single-freeze-out model with thermal and geometric parameters dependent on the position within the fireball and use it to describe the rapidity and transverse-momentum spectra of pions, kaons, protons, and antiprotons measured at RHIC at 200 GeV} by BRAHMS. THERMINATOR is used to perform the necessary simulation, which includes all resonance decays. The result of the fit to the data is the expected growth of the baryon and strange chemical potentials with the spatial rapidityα_\parallel. The value of the baryon chemical potential at α_\parallel ~ 3 is about 200 MeV, i.e. lies in the range of the highest SPS energies. The chosen geometry of the fireball has a decreasing transverse size as the magnitude of α_\parallel is increased, which also corresponds to decreasing transverse flow. The strange chemical potential obtained from the fit to the K+/K- ratio is such that the local strangeness density in the fireball is compatible with zero. The resulting rapidity spectra of net protons are described qualitatively within the statistical approach. As a result of our study, the knowledge of the ``topography'' of the fireball is acquired, allowing for other analyses and predictions.
In the framework of the Glauber approach we analyze the shape parameters of the early-formed system and their event-by-event fluctuations. We test a variety of models: the conventional wounded nucleon model, a model admixing binary collisions to the wounded nucleons, a model with hot spots, as well as the hot-spot model where the deposition of energy occurs with a superimposed probability distribution. We look in detail at the so-called participant multipole moments, obtained by an averaging procedure where in each event the system is translated to its center of mass and aligned with the major principal axis of the ellipse of inertia. Quantitative comparisons indicate substantial relative effects for eccentricity in variants of Glauber models. On the other hand, the dependence of the scaled standard deviation of the participant eccentricity on the chosen model is weak. For all models the values range from about 0.5 for the central collisions to about 0.3-0.4 for peripheral collisions, both for the gold-gold and copper-copper collisions. They are dominated by statistics and change only by 10-15% from model to model. We provide an approximate analytic expansion for the multipole moments and their fluctuations given in terms of the fixed-axes moments. For central collisions and in the absence of correlations it gives the simple formula for the scaled standard deviation of the participant eccentricity: sqrt(4/pi-1). Similarly, we obtain expansions for the radial profiles of the multipole distributions. We investigate the relevance of the shape-fluctuation effects for jet quenching and find them important only for very central events. Finally, we argue how smooth hydro leads to the known result v_4 ~ v_2^2, and further to the prediction Delta v_4/v_4 = 2 Delta v_2/v_2.