7 research outputs found
Hadronization in heavy ion collisions: Recombination and fragmentation of partons
We argue that the emission of hadrons with transverse momentum up to about 5
GeV/c in central relativistic heavy ion collisions is dominated by
recombination, rather than fragmentation of partons. This mechanism provides a
natural explanation for the observed constant baryon-to-meson ratio of about
one and the apparent lack of a nuclear suppression of the baryon yield in this
momentum range. Fragmentation becomes dominant at higher transverse momentum,
but the transition point is delayed by the energy loss of fast partons in dense
matter.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; v2: reference [8] added; v3: Eq.(2) corrected,
two references added, version to appear in PR
Elliptic flow of resonances at RHIC: probing final state interactions and the structure of resonances
We propose the measurement of the elliptic flow of hadron resonances at the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider as a tool to probe the amount of hadronic final
state interactions for resonances at intermediate and large transverse momenta.
This can be achieved by looking at systematic deviations of the measured flow
coefficient from the scaling law given by the quark recombination
formalism. Our method can be generalized to explore the structure of exotic
particles, such as the recently found pentaquark .Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; v2: accepted version for publication in Physical
Review C rapid communication
Hadronization in heavy ion collisions: recombination or fragmentation?
We show that hadron production in relativistic heavy ion collisions at
transverse momenta larger than 2 GeV/c can be explained by the competition of
two different hadronization mechanisms. Above 5 GeV/c hadron production can be
described by fragmentation of partons that are created perturbatively. Below 5
GeV/c recombination of partons from the dense and hot fireball dominates. This
can explain some of the surprising features of RHIC data like the constant
baryon-to-meson ratio of about one and the small nuclear suppression for
baryons between 2 to 4 GeV/c.Comment: Contribution to the 7th Conference on Strange Quark Matter (SQM
2003), submitted to J.Phys.G; 6 pages LaTeX, 4 eps figures, uses iopart.cl
Hadron production in heavy ion collisions: Fragmentation and recombination from a dense parton phase
We discuss hadron production in heavy ion collisions at RHIC. We argue that
hadrons at transverse momenta P_T < 5 GeV are formed by recombination of
partons from the dense parton phase created in central collisions at RHIC. We
provide a theoretical description of the recombination process for P_T > 2 GeV.
Below P_T = 2 GeV our results smoothly match a purely statistical description.
At high transverse momentum hadron production is well described in the language
of perturbative QCD by the fragmentation of partons. We give numerical results
for a variety of hadron spectra, ratios and nuclear suppression factors. We
also discuss the anisotropic flow v_2 and give results based on a flow in the
parton phase. Our results are consistent with the existence of a parton phase
at RHIC hadronizing at a temperature of 175 MeV and a radial flow velocity of
0.55c.Comment: 25 pages LaTeX, 18 figures; v2: some references updated; v3: some
typos fixe
Particle dependence of elliptic flow in Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV
The elliptic flow parameter () for and
has been measured at mid-rapidity in Au + Au collisions at
GeV by the STAR collaboration. The values for both
and saturate at moderate , deviating
from the hydrodynamic behavior observed in the lower region. The
saturated values and the scales where the deviation begins are
particle dependent. The particle-type dependence of shows features
expected from the hadronization of a partonic ellipsoid by coalescence of
co-moving quarks. These results will be discussed in relation to the nuclear
modification factor () which has also been measured for and
by the STAR collaboration.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Strange Quark Matter 2003 Conference (SQM 2003):
updated with 2 figures from original talk that did not appear in the journa
Early collective expansion: Relativistic hydrodynamics and the transport properties of QCD matter
Relativistic hydrodynamics for ideal and viscous fluids is discussed as a
tool to describe relativistic heavy-ion collisions and to extract transport
properties of the quark-gluon plasma from experimentally measured hadron
momentum spectra.Comment: Review article, 54 pages, 25 figure
Experimental and Theoretical Challenges in the Search for the Quark Gluon Plasma: The STAR Collaboration's Critical Assessment of the Evidence from RHIC Collisions
We review the most important experimental results from the first three years
of nucleus-nucleus collision studies at RHIC, with emphasis on results from the
STAR experiment, and we assess their interpretation and comparison to theory.
The theory-experiment comparison suggests that central Au+Au collisions at RHIC
produce dense, rapidly thermalizing matter characterized by: (1) initial energy
densities above the critical values predicted by lattice QCD for establishment
of a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP); (2) nearly ideal fluid flow, marked by
constituent interactions of very short mean free path, established most
probably at a stage preceding hadron formation; and (3) opacity to jets. Many
of the observations are consistent with models incorporating QGP formation in
the early collision stages, and have not found ready explanation in a hadronic
framework. However, the measurements themselves do not yet establish
unequivocal evidence for a transition to this new form of matter. The
theoretical treatment of the collision evolution, despite impressive successes,
invokes a suite of distinct models, degrees of freedom and assumptions of as
yet unknown quantitative consequence. We pose a set of important open
questions, and suggest additional measurements, at least some of which should
be addressed in order to establish a compelling basis to conclude definitively
that thermalized, deconfined quark-gluon matter has been produced at RHIC.Comment: 101 pages, 37 figures; revised version to Nucl. Phys.