Effect of initial-state nucleon-nucleon correlations on collective flow in ultra-central heavy-ion collisions

We investigate the effect of nucleon-nucleon correlations on the initial condition of ultra-central heavy ion collisions at LHC energies. We calculate the eccentricities of the MC-Glauber and IP-Glasma models in the 0--1% centrality class and show that they are considerably affected by the inclusion of such type of correlations. For an IP-Glasma initial condition, we further demonstrate that this effect survives the fluid-dynamical evolution of the system and can be observed in its final state azimuthal momentum anisotropy.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Thermal photon radiation in high multiplicity p+Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider

The collective behaviour of hadronic particles has been observed in high multiplicity proton-lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), as well as in deuteron-gold collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). In this work we present the first calculation, in the hydrodynamic framework, of thermal photon radiation from such small collision systems. Owing to their compact size, these systems can reach temperatures comparable to those in central nucleus-nucleus collisions. The thermal photons can thus shine over the prompt background, and increase the low $p_T$ direct photon spectrum by a factor of 2-3 in 0-1% p+Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV. This thermal photon enhancement can therefore serve as a clean signature of the existence of a hot quark-gluon plasma during the evolution of these small collision systems, as well as validate hydrodynamic behavior in small systems.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

The importance of the bulk viscosity of QCD in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions

We investigate the consequences of a nonzero bulk viscosity coefficient on the transverse momentum spectra, azimuthal momentum anisotropy, and multiplicity of charged hadrons produced in heavy ion collisions at LHC energies. The agreement between a realistic 3D hybrid simulation and the experimentally measured data considerably improves with the addition of a bulk viscosity coefficient for strongly interacting matter. This paves the way for an eventual quantitative determination of several QCD transport coefficients from the experimental heavy ion and hadron-nucleus collision programs.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Light modifications to text and figures. To be published in PR

Direct photon production and jet energy-loss in small systems

Two types of penetrating probes, direct photon and QCD jets, are investigated in the background of a small and rapidly expanding droplet of quark-gluon plasma. The additional thermal electromagnetic radiation results in a $\sim$50\% enhancement of the direct photons. In high multiplicity p+Pb collisions, jets can lose a sizeable fraction of their initial energy, leading to a charged hadron $R_\mathrm{pA}$ of $\sim$0.8 at a transverse momentum around 10\,GeV. Those two proposed measurements can help understand the apparent collective behaviour observed in small collision systems.Comment: 4 pages. Contribution to the Proceedings of Quark Matter 2015, Kobe, Japa

Electromagnetic radiation as a probe of the initial state and of viscous dynamics in relativistic nuclear collisions

The penetrating nature of electromagnetic signals makes them suitable probes to explore the properties of the strongly-interacting medium created in relativistic nuclear collisions. We examine the effects of the initial conditions and shear relaxation time on the spectra and flow coefficients of electromagnetic probes, using an event-by-event 3+1D viscous hydrodynamic simulation (MUSIC).Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures; v2: minor improvements to tex

Extracting the bulk viscosity of the quark-gluon plasma

We investigate the implications of a nonzero bulk viscosity coefficient on the azimuthal momentum anisotropy of ultracentral relativistic heavy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. We find that, with IP-Glasma initial conditions, a finite bulk viscosity coefficient leads to a better description of the flow harmonics in ultracentral collisions. We then extract optimal values of bulk and shear viscosity coefficients that provide the best agreement with flow harmonic coefficients data in this centrality class.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, proceedings of the XXIV Quark Matter conference, May 19-24 2014, Darmstadt (Germany

Probing the non-equilibrium dynamics of hot and dense QCD with dileptons

It is argued that, in heavy ion collisions, thermal dileptons are good probes of the transport properties of the medium created in such events, and also of its early-time dynamics, usually inaccessible to hadronic observables. In this work we show that electromagnetic azimuthal momentum anisotropies do not only display a sensitivity to the shear relaxation time and to the initial shear-stress tensor profile, but also to the temperature dependence of the shear viscosity coefficient.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, Proceedings for Quark Matter 2014, Darmstadt, Germany, May 19-24, 201

Dilepton radiation and bulk viscosity in heavy-ion collisions

Starting from IP-Glasma initial conditions, we investigate the effects of bulk pressure on thermal dilepton production at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies. Though results of the thermal dilepton $v_2$ under the influence of both bulk and shear viscosity is presented for top RHIC energy, more emphasis is put on LHC energy where such a calculation is computed for the first time. The effects of the bulk pressure on thermal dilepton $v_2$ at the LHC are explored through bulk-induced modifications on the dilepton yield.Comment: Talk given at the 8th International Conference on Hard and Electromagnetic Probes of High-Energy Nuclear Collisions (Hard Probes 2016), September 23-27 2016, Wuhan, China; 4 pages, LaTeX, 2 PDF figure

Probing the early-time dynamics of relativistic heavy-ion collisions with electromagnetic radiation

Using 3+1D viscous relativistic fluid dynamics, we show that electromagnetic probes are sensitive to the initial conditions and to the out-of-equilibrium features of relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Within the same approach, we find that hadronic observables show a much lesser sensitivity to these aspects. We conclude that electromagnetic observables allow access to dynamical regions that are beyond the reach of soft hadronic probes.Comment: Talk given at the 6th International Conference on Hard and Electromagnetic Probes of High-Energy Nuclear Collisions (Hard Probes 2013), Nov 4-8, 2013, Stellenbosch, South Afric

The production of photons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

In this work it is shown that the use of a hydrodynamical model of heavy ion collisions which incorporates recent developments, together with updated photon emission rates greatly improves agreement with both ALICE and PHENIX measurements of direct photons, supporting the idea that thermal photons are the dominant source of direct photon momentum anisotropy. The event-by-event hydrodynamical model uses IP-Glasma initial states and includes, for the first time, both shear and bulk viscosities, along with second order couplings between the two viscosities. The effect of both shear and bulk viscosities on the photon rates is studied, and those transport coefficients are shown to have measurable consequences on the photon momentum anisotropy.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures. Augmented discussion; now also includes STAR photon data. Some typos corrected; agrees with published versio