Hydrodynamical analysis of flow at RHIC

We use a hydrodynamical model to describe the evolution of the collision system at collision energies sqrt{s}=130 and 200 GeV. At lower sqrt{s}=130 GeV energy we compare the results obtained assuming fast or slow thermalization (thermalization times tau_0=0.6 and 4.1 fm/c, respectively) and show that slow thermalization fails to reproduce the observed anisotropy of particle distribution. At sqrt{s}=200 GeV collision energy our results show anisotropies similar to those observed at sqrt{s}=130 GeV.Comment: 5 pages, INPC 2001 conference proceedings, uses the class "aipproc

Anisotropy of flow and the order of phase transition in relativistic heavy ion collisions

Using a hydrodynamical model we study how the order of phase transition in the equation of state of strongly interacting matter affects single particle spectra, elliptic flow and higher order anisotropies in Au+Au collisions at RHIC (sqrt{s_NN}=200 GeV energy). We find that the single particle spectra are independent of the order of phase transition and that the fourth harmonic v_4(p_T) shows only a weak dependence in the p_T region where hydrodynamics is expected to work. The differential elliptic flow, v_2(p_T), of baryons shows the strongest dependence on equation of state. Surprisingly the closest fit to data was obtained when the equation of state had a strong first order phase transition and a lattice inspired equation of state fits the data as badly as a purely hadronic equation of state.Comment: A version to appear in Nuclear Physics A, a figure added where EoS is compared with actual lattice results, minor changes in discussion, 21 pages, 10 figure

Hadron Resonance Gas with Repulsive Interactions and Fluctuations of Conserved Charges

We discuss the role of repulsive baryon-baryon interactions in a hadron gas using relativistic virial expansion and repulsive mean field approaches. The fluctuations of the baryon number as well as strangeness-baryon correlations are calculated in the hadron resonance gas with repulsive interactions and compared with the recent lattice QCD results. In particular, we calculate the difference between the second and fourth order fluctuations and correlations of baryon number and strangeness, that have been proposed as probes of deconfinement. We show that for not too high temperatures these differences could be understood in terms of repulsive interactions.Comment: 12pages, 2 figures, ReVTeX, published version, unexpanded mean field results adde

Baryonic contributions to e+e- yields in a hydrodynamic model of Pb+Au collisions at the SPS

We analyze e+e- yields from matter containing baryons in addition to mesons using a hydrodynamic approach to describe Pb+Au collisions at 158 A GeV/c. We use two distinctly different e+e- production rates to provide contrast. Although the presence of baryons leads to significant enhancement of e+e- emission relative to that from mesons-only matter, the calculated results fall below the data in the range 400 < M/MeV < 600. The calculated results are, however, only 1.3-1.5 standard deviations below the data, which may not be statistically significant.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings of Quark Matter 9

Dileptons from transport and hydrodynamical models

Transport and hydrodynamical models used to describe the expansion stage of a heavy-ion collision at the CERN SPS give different dilepton spectrum even if they are tuned to reproduce the observed hadron spectra. To understand the origin of this difference we compare the dilepton emission from transport and hydrodynamical models using similar initial states in both models. We find that the requirement of pion number conservation in a hydrodynamical model does not change the dilepton emission. Also the mass distribution from the transport model indicates faster cooling and longer lifetime of the fireball.Comment: 5 pages, 2 Postscript figures, contribution to the `International Workshop XXVIII on Gross Properties of Nuclei and Nuclear Excitations', Hirschegg, Austria, January 16-22 200

Equation of state at finite baryon density based on lattice QCD

We employ the lattice QCD data on Taylor expansion coefficients to extend our previous parametrization of the equation of state to finite baryon density. When we take into account lattice spacing and quark mass dependence of the hadron masses, the Taylor coefficients at low temperature are equal to those of hadron resonance gas. Thus the equation of state is smoothly connected to the hadron resonance gas equation of state at low temperatures. We also show how the elliptic flow is affected by this equation of state at the maximum SPS energy.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Paraller talk at Quark Matter 2011, 22-28 May 2011, Annecy, Franc

Mass number scaling in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions from a hydrodynamical approach

We study the different nucleus-nucleus collisions, O+Au, S+S, S+Ag, S+Au and Pb+Pb, at the CERN-SPS energy in a one-fluid hydrodynamical approach using a parametrization based on baryon stopping in terms of the thickness of colliding nuclei. Good agreement with measured particle spectra is achieved. We deduce the mass number scaling behaviour of the initial energy density. We find that the equilibration time is nearly independent of the size of the colliding nuclei.Comment: 27 pages, figures included, submitted to European Physical Journa

Is there elliptic flow without transverse flow?

Azimuthal anisotropy of final particle distributions was originally introduced as a signature of transverse collective flow. We show that finite anisotropy in momentum space can result solely from the shape of the particle emitting source. However, by comparing the differential anisotropy to recent data from STAR collaboration we can exclude such a scenario, but instead show that the data favour strong flow as resulting from a hydrodynamical evolution.Comment: To appear in proceedings of Quark Matter 2001, 4 pages LaTeX, uses espcrc1.st