Photon emission in Pb+Pb collisions at SpS and LHC

Yield of direct photons in Pb+Pb collisions at SpS and LHC energy is evaluated with emphasis on estimate of possible uncertainty. Possibility of experimental observation of direct photons at LHC is discussed. Predictions of several models at SpS energy are compared with experimental data.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figure

Direct emission of light mesons from quark-gluon plasma surface

On the basis of hydrodynamic model of evolution of heavy ion collision we consider emission of $\pi,K,\eta,\rho,\omega,K^*$ mesons directly from the surface of quark-gluon plasma, with accounting of their absorption by surrounding plasma hadronic gas. We evaluate upper and lower limits on yields of these direct mesons in Pb+Pb collision at 158 AGeV (SpS) and 3150+3150 AGeV (LHC), and find, that even in the case of the lowest yield, direct $\eta$ and heavier mesons dominate at LHC energy at soft $p_t$ ($p_t\le 0.5 GeV/c$). This enhancement of the low $p_t$ meson production can be considered as a quark-gluon plasma signature.Comment: Submitted to PR

Thermal Radiation from Au + Au Collisions at \sqrt{s} = 200 GEV/A Energy

The transverse momentum distribution of the direct photons measured by the PHENIX collaboration in $Au + Au$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV/A has been analyzed. It has been shown that the data can be reproduced reasonably well assuming a deconfined state of thermalized quarks and gluons with initial temperature more than the transition temperature for deconfinement inferred from lattice QCD. The value of the initial temperature depends on the equation of state of the evolving matter. The sensitivities of the results on various input parameters have been studied. The effects of the modifications of hadronic properties at non-zero temperature have been discussed.Comment: minor modifications in the text, accepted for publicatio

1+1 Dimensional Hydrodynamics for High-energy Heavy-ion Collisions

A 1+1 dimensional hydrodynamical model in the light-cone coordinates is used to describe central heavy-ion collisions at ultrarelativistic bombarding energies. Deviations from Bjorken's scaling are taken into account by choosing finite-size profiles for the initial energy density. The sensitivity of fluid dynamical evolution to the equation of state and the parameters of initial state is investigated. Experimental constraints on the total energy of produced particles are used to reduce the number of model parameters. Spectra of secondary particles are calculated assuming that the transition from the hydrodynamical stage to the collisionless expansion of matter occurs at a certain freeze-out temperature. An important role of resonances in the formation of observed hadronic spectra is demonstrated. The calculated rapidity distributions of pions, kaons and antiprotons in central Au+Au collisions at the c.m. energy 200 GeV per NN pair are compared with experimental data of the BRAHMS Collaboration. Parameters of the initial state are reconstructed for different choices of the equation of state. The best fit of these data is obtained for a soft equation of state and Gaussian-like initial profiles of the energy density, intermediate between the Landau and Bjorken limits.Comment: 43 pages, 27 figure

Quark-Gluon Matter

A concise review of the experimental and phenomenological progress in high-energy heavy-ion physics over the past few years is presented. Emphasis is put on measurements at BNL-RHIC and CERN-SPS which provide information on fundamental properties of QCD matter at extreme values of temperature, density and low-x. The new opportunities accessible at the LHC, which may help clarify some of the current open issues, are also outlined.Comment: Minor changes to text. New refs. included. Updated figures with final dat