7,637 research outputs found
Whitening of the Quark-Gluon Plasma
Parton-parton collisions do not neutralize local color charges in the
quark-gluon plasma as they only redistribute the charges among momentum modes.
We discuss color diffusion and color conductivity as the processes responsible
for the neutralization of the plasma. For this purpose, we first compute the
conductivity and diffusion coefficients in the plasma that is significantly
colorful. Then, the time evolution of the color density due to the conductivity
and diffusion is studied. The conductivity is shown to be much more efficient
than the diffusion in neutralizing the plasma at the scale longer than the
screening length. Estimates of the characteristic time scales, which are based
on close to global equilibrium computations, suggest that first the plasma
becomes white and then the momentum degrees of freedom thermalize.Comment: 9 pages, revised, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Chemical and kinetic equilibrations via radiative parton transport
A hot and dense partonic system can be produced in the early stage of a
relativistic heavy ion collision. How it equilibrates is important for the
extraction of Quark-Gluon Plasma properties. We study the chemical and kinetic
equilibrations of the Quark-Gluon Plasma using a radiative transport model.
Thermal and Color-Glass-Condensate motivated initial conditions are used. We
observe that screened parton interactions always lead to partial pressure
isotropization. Different initial pressure anisotropies result in the same
asymptotic evolution. Comparison of evolutions with and without radiative
processes shows that chemical equilibration interacts with kinetic
equilibration and radiative processes can contribute significantly to pressure
isotropization.Comment: Presented at 24th International Nuclear Physics Conference
(INPC2010), Vancouver, Canada, 4-9 July 201
Thermodynamics of nuclei in thermal contact
The behaviour of a di-nuclear system in the regime of strong pairing
correlations is studied with the methods of statistical mechanics. It is shown
that the thermal averaging is strong enough to assure the application of
thermodynamical methods to the energy exchange between the two nuclei in
contact. In particular, thermal averaging justifies the definition of a nuclear
temperature.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur
Final excitation energy of fission fragments
We study how the excitation energy of the fully accelerated fission fragments
is built up. It is stressed that only the intrinsic excitation energy available
before scission can be exchanged between the fission fragments to achieve
thermal equilibrium. This is in contradiction with most models used to
calculate prompt neutron emission where it is assumed that the total excitation
energy of the final fragments is shared between the fragments by the condition
of equal temperatures. We also study the intrinsic excitation-energy partition
according to a level density description with a transition from a
constant-temperature regime to a Fermi-gas regime. Complete or partial
excitation-energy sorting is found at energies well above the transition
energy.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Deconfinement transition dynamics and early thermalization in QGP
We perform SU(3) Lattice Gauge Theory simulations of the deconfinement
transition attempting to mimic conditions encountered in heavy ion collisions.
Specifically, we perform a sudden temperature quench across the deconfinement
temperature, and follow the response of the system in successive simulation
sweeps under spatial lattice expansion and temperature fall-off. In
measurements of the Polyakov loop and structure functions a robust strong
signal of global instability response is observed through the exponential
growth of low momentum modes. Development of these long range modes isotropizes
the system which reaches thermalization shortly afterwards, and enters a stage
of quasi-equilibrium expansion and cooling till its return to the confinement
phase. The time scale characterizing full growth of the long range modes is
largely unaffected by the conditions of spatial expansion and temperature
variation in the system, and is much shorter than the scale set by the interval
to return to the confinement phase. The wide separation of these two scales is
such that it naturally results in isotropization times well inside 1 fm/c.Comment: 11 pages, 8 eps figures, added references, typos correcte
Temperature dependent sound velocity in hydrodynamic equations for relativistic heavy-ion collisions
We analyze the effects of different forms of the sound-velocity function
cs(T) on the hydrodynamic evolution of matter formed in the central region of
relativistic heavy-ion collisions. At high temperatures (above the critical
temperature Tc) the sound velocity is calculated from the recent lattice
simulations of QCD, while in the low temperature region it is obtained from the
hadron gas model. In the intermediate region we use different interpolations
characterized by the values of the sound velocity at the local maximum (at T =
0.4 Tc) and local minimum (at T = Tc). In all considered cases the temperature
dependent sound velocity functions yield the entropy density, which is
consistent with the lattice QCD simulations at high temperature. Our
calculations show that the presence of a distinct minimum of the sound velocity
leads to a very long (about 20 fm/c) evolution time of the system, which is not
compatible with the recent estimates based on the HBT interferometry. Hence, we
conclude that the hydrodynamic description is favored in the case where the
cross-over phase transition renders the smooth sound velocity function with a
possible shallow minimum at Tc.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, talk given at SQM'07 Levoca, Slovaki
Evidence for a parsec scale X-ray jet from the accreting neutron star Circinus X-1
We analyzed the zero-order image of a 50 ks Chandra gratings observation of
Circinus X-1, taken in 2005 during the source's low-flux state. Circinus X-1 is
an accreting neutron star that exhibits ultra-relativistic arcsecond-scale
radio jets and diffuse arcminute-scale radio jets and lobes. The image shows a
clear excess along the general direction of the north-western counter-jet,
coincident with the radio emission, suggesting that it originates either in the
jet itself or in the shock the jet is driving into its environment. This makes
Circinus X-1 the first neutron star for which an extended X-ray jet has been
detected. The kinetic jet power we infer is significantly larger than the
minimum power required for the jet to inflate the large scale radio nebula.Comment: Added journal reference, corrected on reference and typo in labels
for Fig. 1; 5 pages, 3 figures, ApJ Letter, in pres
Thermalization vs. Isotropization & Azimuthal Fluctuations
Hydrodynamic description requires a local thermodynamic equilibrium of the
system under study but an approximate hydrodynamic behaviour is already
manifested when a momentum distribution of liquid components is not of
equilibrium form but merely isotropic. While the process of equilibration is
relatively slow, the parton system becomes isotropic rather fast due to the
plasma instabilities. Azimuthal fluctuations observed in relativistic heavy-ion
collisions are argued to distinguish between a fully equilibrated and only
isotropic parton system produced in the collision early stage.Comment: 12 pages, presented at `Correlations and Fluctuations in Relativistic
Nuclear Collisions', MIT, April 05, minor correction
How much entropy is produced in strongly coupled Quark-Gluon Plasma (sQGP) by dissipative effects?
We argue that estimates of dissipative effects based on the first-order
hydrodynamics with shear viscosity are potentially misleading because higher
order terms in the gradient expansion of the dissipative part of the stress
tensor tend to reduce them. Using recently obtained sound dispersion relation
in thermal =4 supersymmetric plasma, we calculate the effect
of these high order terms for Bjorken expansion appropriate to RHIC/LHC
collisions. A reduction of entropy production is found to be substantial, up to
an order of magnitude.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figur
- …