Transverse hydrodynamics with sudden hadronization -- production of strangeness

We consider a physical scenario for ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions where, at the early stage, only transverse degrees of freedom of partons are thermalized, while the longitudinal motion is described by free streaming. When the energy density of the partonic system drops to a certain critical value, the partons hadronize and the newly formed hadronic system freezes out. This sudden change is described with the help of the Landau matching conditions followed by the simulations done with THERMINATOR. The proposed scenario reproduces well the transverse-momentum spectra, the elliptic flow coefficient v2, and the HBT radii of pions and kaons studied at RHIC (Au+Au collisions at the top beam energy). It also reproduces quite well the transverse-momentum spectra of hyperons.Comment: talk presented by WF at the Strangeness in Quark Matter Conference, Buzios, Brazil, Sept. 27 - oct. 2, 200

Early dynamics of transversally thermalized matter

We argue that the idea that the parton system created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is formed in a state with transverse momenta close to thermodynamic equilibrium and its subsequent dynamics at early times is dominated by pure transverse hydrodynamics of the perfect fluid is compatible with the data collected at RHIC. This scenario of early parton dynamics may help to solve the problem of early equilibration.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Talk given by M. Chojnacki at Quark Matter 2008, Jaipur, Indi

Single-freeze-out model for ultra relativistic heavy-ion collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76 TeV and the LHC proton puzzle

The single-freeze-out model with parametrized hypersurface and flow geometry is employed to analyze the transverse-momentum spectra of hadrons produced in the Pb+Pb collisions at the collision energy of {$\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV} at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). With the notable exception for protons and antiprotons, we find a very good agreement between the model results and the data for the measured hadron species. The additional analysis of the HBT radii of pions helps us to select, from several different types of freeze-out studied in this work, the most realistic form of the freeze-out hypersurface. We find that discrepancy ratio between the model and experiment for the proton/antiproton spectra depends on $p_T$, dropping from 2 in the soft region to 1 around $p_T=1.5$ GeV.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Hydrodynamics and perfect fluids: uniform description of soft observables in Au+Au collisions at RHIC

It is argued that the use of the initial Gaussian energy density profile for hydrodynamics leads to much better uniform description of the RHIC heavy-ion data than the use of the standard initial condition obtained from the Glauber model. With the modified Gaussian initial conditions we successfully reproduce the transverse-momentum spectra, v2, and the pionic HBT radii (including their azimuthal dependence). The emerging consistent picture of hadron production hints that a solution of the long standing RHIC HBT puzzle has been found.Comment: Talk presented by WF at the XXXVIII International Symposium on Multiparticle Physic

Transient dynamics of nonlinear magneto-optical rotation

We analyze nonlinear magneto-optical rotation (NMOR) in rubidium vapor subjected to continuously-scanned magnetic field. By varying magnetic-field sweep rate, a transition from traditionally-observed dispersive-like NMOR signals (low sweep rate) to oscillating signals (higher sweep rates) is demonstrated. The transient oscillatory behavior is studied versus light and magnetic-field parameters, revealing a strong dependence of the signals on magnetic-sweep rate and light intensity. The experimental results are supported with density-matrix calculations, which enable quantitative analysis of the effect. Fitting of the signals simulated versus different parameters with a theoretically-motivated curve reveals presence of oscillatory and static components in the signals. The components depend differently on the system parameters, which suggests their distinct nature. The investigations provide insight into dynamics of ground-state coherence generation and enable application of NMOR in detection of transient spin couplings.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, Submitted to Physical Review

Energy and system size dependence of chemical freeze-out in relativistic nuclear collisions

We present a detailed study of chemical freeze-out in p-p, C-C, Si-Si and Pb-Pb collisions at beam momenta of 158A GeV as well as Pb-Pb collisions at beam momenta of 20A, 30A, 40A and 80A GeV. By analyzing hadronic multiplicities within the statistical hadronization model, we have studied the parameters of the source as a function of the number of the participating nucleons and the beam energy. We observe a nice smooth behaviour of temperature, baryon chemical potential and strangeness under-saturation parameter as a function of energy and nucleus size. Interpolating formulas are provided which allow to predict the chemical freeze-out parameters in central collisions at centre-of-mass energies > 4.5 GeV and for any colliding ions. Specific discrepancies between data and model emerge in particle ratios in Pb-Pb collisions at SPS between 20A and 40A GeV of beam energy which cannot be accounted for in the considered model schemes.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures. References added and updated. Table correcte

Free-streaming approximation in early dynamics of relativistic heavy-ion collisions

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.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure