Boundary and expansion effects on two-pion correlation functions in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We examine the effects that a confining boundary together with hydrodynamical expansion play on two-pion distributions in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We show that the effects arise from the introduction of further correlations due both to collective motion and the system's finite size. As is well known, the former leads to a reduction in the apparent source radius with increasing average pair momentum K. However, for small K, the presence of the boundary leads to a decrease of the apparent source radius with decreasing K. These two competing effects produce a maximum for the effective source radius as a function of K.Comment: 6 pages, 5 Eps figures, uses RevTeX and epsfi

Density and expansion effects on pion spectra in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We compute the pion inclusive momentum distribution in heavy-ion collisions at AGS energies, assuming thermal equilibrium and accounting for density and expansion effects at the time of decoupling. We compare to data on mid rapidity charged pions produced in central Au + Au collisions and find a very good agreement. The shape of the distribution at low $m_t-m$ is explained in part as an effect arising from the high mean pion density achieved in these reactions. The difference between the positive and negative pion distributions in the same region is attributed in part to the different average yields of each kind of charged pions.Comment: Minor changes, typo in Fig. 2b corrected, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Shadowing of gluons in perturbative QCD: A comparison of different models

We investigate the different perturbative QCD-based models for nuclear shadowing of gluons. We show that in the kinematic region appropriate to RHIC experiment, all models give similar estimates for the magnitude of gluon shadowing. At scales relevant to LHC, there is a sizable difference between predictions of the different models.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Size of Fireballs Created in High Energy Lead-Lead Collisions as Inferred from Coulomb Distortions of Pion Spectra

We compute the Coulomb effects produced by an expanding, highly charged fireball on the momentum distribution of pions. We compare our results to data on Au+Au at 11.6 A GeV from E866 at the BNL AGS and to data on Pb+Pb at 158 A GeV from NA44 at the CERN SPS. We conclude that the distortion of the spectra at low transverse momentum and mid-rapidity can be explained in both experiments by the effect of the large amount of participating charge in the central rapidity region. By adjusting the fireball expansion velocity to match the average transverse momentum of protons, we find a best fit when the fireball radius is about 10 fm, as determined by the moment when the pions undergo their last scattering. This value is common to both the AGS and CERN experiments.Comment: Enlarged discussion, new references added, includes new analysis of pi-/pi+ at AGS energies. 12 pages 5 figures, uses LaTex and epsfi

The Wilson renormalization group for low x physics: towards the high density regime

We continue the study of the effective action for low $x$ physics based on a Wilson renormalization group approach. We express the full nonlinear renormalization group equation in terms of the average value and the average fluctuation of extra color charge density generated by integrating out gluons with intermediate values of $x$. This form clearly exhibits the nature of the phenomena driving the evolution and should serve as the basis of the analysis of saturation effects at high gluon density at small $x$.Comment: 14 pages, late

Dilepton low pTp_T suppression as an evidence of the Color Glass Condensate

The dilepton production is investigated in proton-nucleus collisions in the forward region using the Color Glass Condensate approach. The transverse momentum distribution ($p_T$), more precisely the low $p_T$ region, where the saturation effects are expected to increase, is analyzed. The ratio between proton-nucleus and proton-proton differential cross section for RHIC and LHC energies is evaluated, showing the effects of saturation at small $p_T$, and presenting a Cronin type peak at moderate $p_T$. These features indicate the dilepton as a most suitable probe to study the properties of the saturated regime and the Cronin effect.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, replaced with the version to appear in Physical Review

Bose-Einstein condensation and chiral phase transition in linear sigma model

With the linear sigma model, we have studied Bose-Einstein condensation and the chiral phase transition in the chiral limit for an interacting pion system. A $\mu-T$ phase diagram including these two phenomena is presented. It is found that the phase plane has been divided into three areas: the Bose-Einstein condensation area, the chiral symmetry broken phase area and the chiral symmetry restored phase area. Bose-Einstein condensation can happen either from the chiral symmetry broken phase or from the restored phase. We show that the onset of the chiral phase transition is restricted in the area where there is no Bose-Einstein condensation.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Pion dispersion relation at finite density and temperature

We study the behavior of the pion dispersion relation in a pion medium at finite density and temperature. We introduce a pion chemical potential to describe the finite pion number density and argue that such description is valid during the hadronic phase of a relativistic heavy-ion collision between chemical and thermal freeze-out. We make use of an effective Lagrangian that explicitly respects chiral symmetry through the enforcement of the chiral Ward identities. The pion dispersion relation is computed through the computation of the pion self-energy in a non-perturbative fashion by giving an approximate solution to the Schwinger-Dyson equation for this self-energy. The dispersion relation is described in terms of a density and temperature dependent mass and an index of refraction which is also temperature, density as well as momentum dependent. The index of refraction is larger than unity for all values of the momentum for finite $\mu$ and $T$. We conclude by exploring some of the possible consequences for the propagation of pions through the boundary between the medium and vacuum.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 3 new references, published versio

Non-Gaussian Correlations in the McLerran-Venugopalan Model

We argue that the statistical weight function W[rho] appearing in the McLerran-Venugopalan model of a large nucleus is intrinsically non-Gaussian, even if we neglect quantum corrections. Based on the picture where the nucleus of radius R consists of a collection of color-neutral nucleons, each of radius a<<R, we show that to leading order in alpha_s and a/R only the Gaussian part of W[rho] enters into the final expression for the gluon number density. Thus, the existing results in the literature which assume a Gaussian weight remain valid.Comment: 21 pages with 4 figures (revtex