The Influence of High Multiplicities at RHIC on the Gamov Factor

The corrections for two-pion correlations due to electromagnetic final-state interactions at high secondary multiplicities are investigated. The analysis is performed by solving the Schr\"odinger equation with a potential which is dictated by the multi-particle environment. Two different post-freeze-out scenarios are examined. First, for a uniformly spread environment of secondary particles, a screened Coulomb potential is exploited. It is shown that the presence of a static and uniform post-freeze-out medium results in a noticeable deviation from the standard Gamov factor. However, after going to a more realistic model of an expanding pion system, this conclusion changes drastically. We argue that the density of the secondary pions n_\pi(t,R), where R is a distance from the fireball, is bounded from above by n_\pi(t,R)\le const/R^2 for all times t. Then, a two-particle scalar potential which is found as a solution of the Maxwell equation for non-uniform medium replaces the screened one. Even this upper limit does not result in an essential deviation from the Gamov correction.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, minor text corrections are mad

J/ψJ/\psi Photoproduction and the Gluon Structure of the Nucleon

Using short distance QCD methods based on the operator product expansion, we calculate the $J/\psi$ photoproduction cross section in terms of the gluon distribution function of the nucleon. Comparing the result with data, we show that experimental behaviour of the cross section correctly reflects the $x$-dependence of the gluon distribution obtained from deep inelastic scattering.Comment: 8 pages, latex, 4 figure

New Signals of Quark-Gluon-Hadron Mixed Phase Formation

Here we present several remarkable irregularities at chemical freeze-out which are found using an advanced version of the hadron resonance gas model. The most prominent of them are the sharp peak of the trace anomaly existing at chemical freeze-out at the center of mass energy 4.9 GeV and two sets of highly correlated quasi-plateaus in the collision energy dependence of the entropy per baryon, total pion number per baryon, and thermal pion number per baryon which we found at the center of mass energies 3.8-4.9 GeV and 7.6-10 GeV. The low energy set of quasi-plateaus was predicted a long time ago. On the basis of the generalized shock-adiabat model we demonstrate that the low energy correlated quasi-plateaus give evidence for the anomalous thermodynamic properties inside the quark-gluon-hadron mixed phase. It is also shown that the trace anomaly sharp peak at chemical freeze-out corresponds to the trace anomaly peak at the boundary between the mixed phase and quark gluon plasma. We argue that the high energy correlated quasi-plateaus may correspond to a second phase transition and discuss its possible origin and location. Besides we suggest two new observables which may serve as clear signals of these phase transformations.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, new signals of QGP formation are suggeste