Particle spectra and HBT radii for simulated central nuclear collisions of C+C, Al+Al, Cu+Cu, Au+Au, and Pb+Pb from Sqrt(s)=62.4-2760 GeV

We study the temperature profile, pion spectra and HBT radii in central symmetric and boost-invariant nuclear collisions using a super hybrid model for heavy-ion collisions (SONIC) combining pre-equilibrium flow with viscous hydrodynamics and late-stage hadronic rescatterings. In particular, we simulate Pb+Pb collisions at Sqrt(s)=2.76 TeV, Au+Au, Cu+Cu, Al+Al, and C+C collisions at Sqrt(s)=200 GeV and Au+Au, Cu+Cu collisions at Sqrt(s)=62.4 GeV. We find that SONIC provides a good match to the pion spectra and HBT radii for all collision systems and energies, confirming earlier work that a combination of pre-equilibrium flow, viscosity and QCD equation of state can resolve the so-called HBT puzzle. For reference, we also show p+p collisions at Sqrt(s)=7 TeV. We make tabulated data for the 2+1 dimensional temperature evolution of all systems publicly available for the use in future jet energy loss or similar studies.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables; v2: fixed typos, updated figures; v3: minor changes, matches published versio

Studies of heat source driven natural convection

Natural convection energy transport in a horizontal layer of internally heated fluid with a zero heat flux lower boundary, and an isothermal upper boundary, has been studied. Quantitative information on the time-mean temperature distribution and the fluctuating component of temperature about the mean temperature in steady turbulent convection are obtained from a small thermocouple inserted into the layer through the upper bounding plate. Data are also presented on the development of temperature at several vertical positions when the layer is subject to both a sudden increase and to a sudden decrease in power input. For changes of power input from zero to a value corresponding to a Rayleigh number much greater than the critical linear stability theory value, a slight hysteresis in temperature profiles near the upper boundary is observed between the heat-up and cool-down modes

Exact entropy of dimer coverings for a class of lattices in three or more dimensions

We construct a class of lattices in three and higher dimensions for which the number of dimer coverings can be determined exactly using elementary arguments. These lattices are a generalization of the two-dimensional kagome lattice, and the method also works for graphs without translational symmetry. The partition function for dimer coverings on these lattices can be determined also for a class of assignments of different activities to different edges.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; added results on partition function when different edges have different weights; modified abstract; added reference

Quasi-Particle Degrees of Freedom versus the Perfect Fluid as Descriptors of the Quark-Gluon Plasma

The hot nuclear matter created at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has been characterized by near-perfect fluid behavior. We demonstrate that this stands in contradiction to the identification of QCD quasi-particles with the thermodynamic degrees of freedom in the early (fluid) stage of heavy ion collisions. The empirical observation of constituent quark ``$n_q$'' scaling of elliptic flow is juxtaposed with the lack of such scaling behavior in hydrodynamic fluid calculations followed by Cooper-Frye freeze-out to hadrons. A ``quasi-particle transport'' time stage after viscous effects break down the hydrodynamic fluid stage, but prior to hadronization, is proposed to reconcile these apparent contradictions. However, without a detailed understanding of the transitions between these stages, the ``$n_q$'' scaling is not a necessary consequence of this prescription. Also, if the duration of this stage is too short, it may not support well defined quasi-particles. By comparing and contrasting the coalescence of quarks into hadrons with the similar process of producing light nuclei from nucleons, it is shown that the observation of ``$n_{q}$'' scaling in the final state does not necessarily imply that the constituent degrees of freedom were the relevant ones in the initial state.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, Updated text and figure

Asymptotic behavior of the entropy of chains placed on stripes

By using the transfer matrix approach, we investigate the asymptotic behavior of the entropy of flexible chains with $M$ monomers each placed on stripes. In the limit of high density of monomers, we study the behavior of the entropy as a function of the density of monomers and the width of the stripe, inspired by recent analytical studies of this problem for the particular case of dimers (M=2). We obtain the entropy in the asymptotic regime of high densities for chains with $M=2,..,9$ monomers, as well as for the special case of polymers, where $M\to\infty$, and find that the results show a regular behavior similar to the one found analytically for dimers. We also verify that in the low-density limit the mean-field expression for the entropy is followed by the results from our transfer matrix calculations