Comparison of heavy-ion transport simulations: Collision integral with pions and Δ resonances in a box

We compare ten transport codes for a system confined in a box, aiming at improved handling of the production of $\Delta$ resonances and pions, which is indispensable for constraining high-density symmetry energy from observables such as the $\pi^-/\pi^+$ yield ratio in heavy-ion collisions. The system in a box is initialized with nucleons at saturation density and at 60 MeV temperature. The reactions $NN\leftrightarrow N\Delta$ and $\Delta\leftrightarrow N\pi$ are implemented, but the Pauli blocking and the mean-field potential are deactivated in the present comparison. Results are compared to those from the two reference cases of a chemically equilibrated ideal gas mixture and of the rate equation. In the results of the numbers of $\Delta$ and $\pi$, deviations from the reference values are observed in many codes, and they depend significantly on the size of the time step. These deviations are tied to different ways in ordering the sequence of collisions and decays, that take place in the same time step. Better agreements are seen in the reaction rates and the number ratios among the isospin species of $\Delta$ and $\pi$. These are, however, affected by the correlations, which are absent in the Boltzmann equation, but are induced by the way particle scatterings are treated in transport calculations. The uncertainty in the transport-code predictions of the $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio for the system initialized at n/p = 1.5, after letting the existing $\Delta$ resonances decay, is found to be within a few percent, which is sufficiently small so that it does not strongly impact constraining the high-density symmetry energy from heavy-ion collisions. Most of the sources of uncertainties have been understood, and individual codes may be further improved. This investigation will be extended in the future to heavy-ion collisions to ensure the problems identified here remain under control.Comment: 36 pages, 27 figures; a new Fig. 21 and revised results from some codes, achieving improved and consistent understandin

Comparison of heavy-ion transport simulations: Collision integral in a box

Simulations by transport codes are indispensable to extract valuable physical information from heavy-ion collisions. In order to understand the origins of discrepancies among different widely used transport codes, we compare 15 such codes under controlled conditions of a system confined to a box with periodic boundary, initialized with Fermi-Dirac distributions at saturation density and temperatures of either 0 or 5 MeV. In such calculations, one is able to check separately the different ingredients of a transport code. In this second publication of the code evaluation project, we only consider the two-body collision term; i.e., we perform cascade calculations. When the Pauli blocking is artificially suppressed, the collision rates are found to be consistent for most codes (to within 1 % or better) with analytical results, or completely controlled results of a basic cascade code. In orderto reach that goal, it was necessary to eliminate correlations within the same pair of colliding particles that can be present depending on the adopted collision prescription. In calculations with active Pauli blocking, the blocking probability was found to deviate from the expected reference values. The reason is found in substantial phase-space fluctuations and smearing tied to numerical algorithms and model assumptions in the representation of phase space. This results in the reduction of the blocking probability in most transport codes, so that the simulated system gradually evolves away from the Fermi-Dirac toward a Boltzmann distribution. Since the numerical fluctuations are weaker in the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck codes, the Fermi-Dirac statistics is maintained there for a longer time than in the quantum molecular dynamics codes. As a result of this investigation, we are able to make judgements about the most effective strategies in transport simulations for determining the collision probabilities and the Pauli blocking. Investigation in a similar vein of other ingredients in transport calculations, like the mean-field propagation or the production of nucleon resonances and mesons, will be discussed in the future publications

Comparing pion production in transport simulations of heavy-ion collisions at 270A MeV under controlled conditions

International audienceWithin the Transport Model Evaluation Project (TMEP), we present a detailed study of Sn+Sn collisions at 270A MeV, which are representative reactions used to study the equation of state at suprasaturation densities. We put particular emphasis on the production of pions and $\Delta$ resonances, which have been used as probes of the nuclear symmetry energy. In this study, we prescribe a common and rather simple physical model, and follow in detail the results of 4 Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) models and 6 quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) models. We find that the nucleonic evolution of the collision and the nucleonic observables in these codes do not completely converge, but that the differences among the codes can be understood as being due to several reasons: the basic differences between BUU and QMD models in the representation of the phase-space distributions, computational differences in the mean-field evaluation, and differences in the adopted strategies for the Pauli blocking in the collision integrals. For pionic observables, we find that a higher maximum density leads to an enhanced pion yield and a reduced $\pi^-/\pi^+$ yield ratio, while a more effective Pauli blocking generally leads to a slightly suppressed pion yield and an enhanced $\pi^-/\pi^+$ yield ratio, although differences in its implementations do not have a dominating role in the differences among the codes. We specifically investigate the effect of the Coulomb force, and find that it increases the total $\pi^-/\pi^+$ yield ratio but reduces the ratio at high pion energies. Using only the results of codes that strictly follow the homework specifications, we find a convergence of the codes in the final charged pion yield ratio to less than $15\%$, while the uncertainty is expected to be reduced to about $4\%$ if the same or similar ingredients are incorporated in each code

Comparing pion production in transport simulations of heavy-ion collisions at 270A MeV under controlled conditions

International audienceWithin the Transport Model Evaluation Project (TMEP), we present a detailed study of Sn+Sn collisions at 270A MeV, which are representative reactions used to study the equation of state at suprasaturation densities. We put particular emphasis on the production of pions and $\Delta$ resonances, which have been used as probes of the nuclear symmetry energy. In this study, we prescribe a common and rather simple physical model, and follow in detail the results of 4 Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) models and 6 quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) models. We find that the nucleonic evolution of the collision and the nucleonic observables in these codes do not completely converge, but that the differences among the codes can be understood as being due to several reasons: the basic differences between BUU and QMD models in the representation of the phase-space distributions, computational differences in the mean-field evaluation, and differences in the adopted strategies for the Pauli blocking in the collision integrals. For pionic observables, we find that a higher maximum density leads to an enhanced pion yield and a reduced $\pi^-/\pi^+$ yield ratio, while a more effective Pauli blocking generally leads to a slightly suppressed pion yield and an enhanced $\pi^-/\pi^+$ yield ratio, although differences in its implementations do not have a dominating role in the differences among the codes. We specifically investigate the effect of the Coulomb force, and find that it increases the total $\pi^-/\pi^+$ yield ratio but reduces the ratio at high pion energies. Using only the results of codes that strictly follow the homework specifications, we find a convergence of the codes in the final charged pion yield ratio to less than $15\%$, while the uncertainty is expected to be reduced to about $4\%$ if the same or similar ingredients are incorporated in each code

Comparison of heavy-ion transport simulations: Mean-field dynamics in a box

Within the transport model evaluation project (TMEP) of simulations for heavy-ion collisions, the mean-field response is examined here. Specifically, zero-sound propagation is considered for neutron-proton symmetric matter enclosed in a periodic box, at zero temperature and around normal density. The results of several transport codes belonging to two families (BUU-like and QMD-like) are compared among each other and to exact calculations. For BUU-like codes, employing the test particle method, the results depend on the combination of the number of test particles and the spread of the profile functions that weight integration over space. These parameters can be properly adapted to give a good reproduction of the analytical zero-sound features. QMD-like codes, using molecular dynamics methods, are characterized by large damping effects, attributable to the fluctuations inherent in their phase-space representation. Moreover, for a given nuclear effective interaction, they generally lead to slower density oscillations, as compared to BUU-like codes. The latter problem is mitigated in the more recent lattice formulation of some of the QMD codes. The significance of these results for the description of real heavy-ion collisions is discussed