Transport model analysis of particle correlations in relativistic heavy ion collisions at femtometer scales

The pion source as seen through HBT correlations at RHIC energies is investigated within the UrQMD approach. We find that the calculated transverse momentum, centrality, and system size dependence of the Pratt-HBT radii $R_L$ and $R_S$ are reasonably well in line with experimental data. The predicted $R_O$ values in central heavy ion collisions are larger as compared to experimental data. The corresponding quantity $\sqrt{R_O^{2}-R_S^{2}}$ of the pion emission source is somewhat larger than experimental estimates.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, to be published in PR

Spectra, elliptic flow and azimuthally sensitive HBT radii from the Buda-Lund model for root s(NN)=200 GeV Au + Au collisions

We present calculations of elliptic flow and azimuthal dependence of correlation radii in the ellipsoidally symmetric generalization of the Buda-Lund hydrodynamic model of hadron production in high-energy nuclear collisions. We compare them to data from RHIC by simultaneous fits to azimuthally integrated invariant spectra of pions, kaons and protons-antiprotons measured by PHENIX in Au + Au reactions at center-of-mass energy of 200 AGeV. STAR data were used for azimuthally sensitive two-particle correlation function radii and for the transverse momentum dependence of the elliptic flow parameter v(2). We have found that the transverse flow is faster in the reaction plane than out of plane, which results in a reaction zone that gets slightly more elongated in-plane than out of plane. The model parameters extracted from the fits are shown and discussed

New form of matter at CERN SPS: Quark Matter but not Quark Gluon Plasma

I argue that a new form of matter is indeed seen in Pb+Pb collisions at CERN SPS. However, this Quark Matter (QM) is different from the theoretically predicted Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) because its effective degrees of freedom seem to be the massive (dressed) constituent quarks instead of almost massless quarks and gluons. The equation of state of QM is hard,the time of its rehadronization is short, while the equation of state of a QGP is soft and the time of its rehadronization is long. Other similarities and differences are also summarized.Comment: Invited review talk at the IX International Workshop on Multiparticle Production Torino 2000, full version, 18 pages, 9 figures, uses espcrc2.st

A comprehensive description of multiple observables in heavy-ion collisions at SPS

Combining and expanding on work from previous publications, a model for the evolution of ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at the CERN SPS for 158 AGeV beam energy is presented. Based on the assumption of thermalization and a parametrization of the space-time expansion of the produced matter, this model is able to describe a large set of observables including hadronic momentum spectra, correlations and abundancies, the emission of real photons, dilepton radiation and the suppression pattern of charmonia. Each of these obervables provides unique capabilities to study the reaction dynamics and taken together they form a strong and consistent picture of the evolving system. Based on the emission of hard photons, we argue that a strongly interacting, hot and dense system with temperatures above 250 MeV has to be created early in the reaction. Such a system is bound to be different from hadronic matter and likely to be a quark-gluon plasma, and we find that this assumption is in line with the subsequent evolution of the system that is reflected in other observables.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, submitted to J. Phys.

HBT: A (mostly) experimental overview

I will present a review of the field of Hanbury Brown-Twiss interferometry in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The "HBT puzzle" is explored in detail, emphasizing recent theoretical attempts to understand the persisting puzzle. I also present recent experimental results on azimuthally sensitive HBT, HBT of direct photons, and some surprises in the comparison of HBT results from p+p and Au+Au collisions at RHIC.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. Proceedings of the Quark Matter 2004 conference (Oalkland, CA, USA, January 2004

Influence of hydrodynamics on the interpretation of the high pTp_{T} hadron suppression at RHIC

A hybrid parameterization including contributions of hydrodynamics and of expectations from the spectral shape observed in p+p collisions is introduced. This parameterization can successfully describe identified hadron spectra over a wide range of $p_{T}$ in Au+Au reactions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV for all centralities. The parameters of the hydrodynamic source compare reasonably well to other attempts to describe the spectra. The description is obtained using one universal suppression factor of the hard scattering component independent of $p_{T}$ and hadron species. For the fit results obtained the observed nuclear modification factor for the different particles converges to a universal suppression behavior for $p_{T} > 6 \mathrm{GeV}/c$.Comment: updated version (only typos), 16 pages, 10 figure

Phase conversion in a weakly first-order quark-hadron transition

We investigate the process of phase conversion in a thermally-driven {\it weakly} first-order quark-hadron transition. This scenario is physically appealing even if the nature of this transition in equilibrium proves to be a smooth crossover for vanishing baryonic chemical potential. We construct an effective potential by combining the equation of state obtained within Lattice QCD for the partonic sector with that of a gas of resonances in the hadronic phase, and present numerical results on bubble profiles, nucleation rates and time evolution, including the effects from reheating on the dynamics for different expansion scenarios. Our findings confirm the standard picture of a cosmological first-order transition, in which the process of phase conversion is entirely dominated by nucleation, also in the case of a weakly first-order transition. On the other hand, we show that, even for expansion rates much lower than those expected in high-energy heavy ion collisions, nucleation is very unlikely, indicating that the main mechanism of phase conversion is spinodal decomposition. Our results are compared to those obtained for a strongly first-order transition, as the one provided by the MIT bag model.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures; v2: 1 reference added, minor modifications, matches published versio

Review of HBT or Bose-Einstein correlations in high energy heavy ion collisions

A brief review is given on the discovery and the first five decades of the Hanbury Brown - Twiss effect and its generalized applications in high energy nuclear and particle physics, that includes a meta-review. Interesting and inspiring new directions are also highlighted, including for example source imaging, lepton and photon interferometry, non-Gaussian shape analysis as well as many other new directions. Existing models are compared to two-particle correlation measurements and the so-called RHIC HBT puzzle is resolved. Evidence for a (directional) Hubble flow is presented and the conclusion is confirmed by a successful description of the pseudorapidity dependence of the elliptic flow as measured in Au+Au collisions by the PHOBOS Collaboration.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, 8 sub-figures, invited plenary talk at the ICPA-QGP 2005 conference in Kolkata, Indi