699 research outputs found
Dynamical quark recombination in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions and the proton to pion ratio
We study quark thermal recombination as a function of energy density during
the evolution of a heavy-ion collision in a numerical model that reproduces
aspects of QCD phenomenology. We show that starting with a set of free quarks
(or quarks and antiquarks) the probability to form colorless clusters of three
quarks differs from that to form colorless clusters of quark-antiquark and that
the former has a sharp jump at a critical energy density whereas the latter
transits smoothly from the low to the high energy density domains. We interpret
this as a quantitative difference in the production of baryons and mesons with
energy density. We use this approach to compute the proton and pion spectra in
a Bjorken scenario that incorporates the evolution of these probabilities with
energy density, and therefore with proper time. From the spectra, we compute
the proton to pion ratio and compare to data at the highest RHIC energies. We
show that for a standard choice of parameters, this ratio reaches one, though
the maximum is very sensitive to the initial evolution proper time.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Three and two-hadron correlations in \sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV proton-proton and nucleus-nucleus collisions
We compare the azimuthal correlations arising from three and two hadron
production in high energy proton-proton and nucleus-nucleus collisions at
\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV, using the leading order matrix elements for two-to-three
and two-to-two parton-processes in perturbative QCD. We first compute the two
and three hadron production cross sections in mid-rapidity proton-proton
collisions. Then we consider Au + Au collisions including parton energy loss
using the modified fragmentation function approach. By examining the
geometrical paths the hard partons follow through the medium, we show that the
two away-side partons produced in two-to-three processes have in average a
smaller and a greater path length than the average path length of the away-side
parton in two-to-two processes. Therefore there is a large probability that in
the former processes one of the particles escapes while the other gets
absorbed. This effect leads to an enhancement in the azimuthal correlations of
the two-to-three with respect to the two-to-two parton-processes when comparing
to the same processes in proton-proton collisions since in average the particle
with the shortest path length looses less energy with respect to the away side
particle in two-to-two processes. We argue that this phenomenon may be
responsible for the shape of the away-side in azimuthal correlations observed
in mid-rapidity Au + Au collisions at RHIC.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Effect of hard processes on momentum correlations in and collisions
The HBT radii extracted in p-pbar and pp collisions at SPS and Tevatron show
a clear correlation with the charged particle rapidity density. We propose to
explain the correlation using a simple model where the distance from the
initial hard parton-parton scattering to the hadronization point depends on the
energy of the partons emitted. Since the particle multiplicity is correlated
with the mean energy of the partons produced we can explain the experimental
observations without invoking scenarios that assume a thermal fireball. The
model has been applied with success to the existing experimental data both in
the magnitude and the intensity of the correlation. As well, the model has been
extended to pp collisions at the LHC energy of 14 TeV. The possibilities of a
better insight into the string spatial development using 3D HBT analysis is
discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
VHMPID: a new detector for the ALICE experiment at LHC
This article presents the basic idea of VHMPID, an upgrade detector for the
ALICE experiment at LHC, CERN. The main goal of this detector is to extend the
particle identification capabilities of ALICE to give more insight into the
evolution of the hot and dense matter created in Pb-Pb collisions. Starting
from the physics motivations and working principles the challenges and current
status of development is detailed.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures. To be published in EPJ Web of Conference
Two-kaon correlations in central Pb + Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c
Two-particle interferometry of positive kaons is studied in Pb + Pb
collisions at mean transverse momenta and 0.91 GeV/c. A
three-dimensional analysis was applied to the lower data, while a
two-dimensional analysis was used for the higher data. We find that the
source size parameters are consistent with the scaling curve observed in
pion correlation measurements in the same collisions, and that the duration
time of kaon emission is consistent with zero within the experimental
sensitivity.Comment: 4 pages incl. 1 table and 3 fig's; RevTeX; accepted for publication
in PR
One and two dimensional analysis of 3pi correlations measured in Pb+Pb interactions
3pi- correlations from Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon are
presented as measured by the focusing spectrometer of the NA44 experiment at
CERN. The three-body effect is found to be stronger for PbPb than for SPb. The
two-dimensional three-particle correlation function is also measured and the
longitudinal extension of the source is larger than the transverse extension
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