Conservation Laws and the Multiplicity Evolution of Spectra at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

Transverse momentum distributions in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions carry considerable information about the dynamics of the hot system produced. Direct comparison with the same spectra from $p+p$ collisions has proven invaluable to identify novel features associated with the larger system, in particular, the "jet quenching" at high momentum and apparently much stronger collective flow dominating the spectral shape at low momentum. We point out possible hazards of ignoring conservation laws in the comparison of high- and low-multiplicity final states. We argue that the effects of energy and momentum conservation actually dominate many of the observed systematics, and that $p+p$ collisions may be much more similar to heavy ion collisions than generally thought.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, submitted to PRC; Figures 2,4,5,6,12 updated, Tables 1 and 3 added, typo in Tab.V fixed, appendix B partially rephrased, minor typo in Eq.B1 fixed, minor wording; references adde

Do p+p Collisions Flow at RHIC? Understanding One-Particle Distributions, Multiplicity Evolution, and Conservation Laws

Collective, explosive flow in central heavy ion collisions manifests itself in the mass dependence of $p_T$ distributions and femtoscopic length scales, measured in the soft sector ($p_T\lesssim 1$ GeV/c). Measured $p_T$ distributions from proton-proton collisions differ significantly from those from heavy ion collisions. This has been taken as evidence that p+p collisions generate little collective flow, a conclusion in line with naive expectations. We point out possible hazards of ignoring phase-space restrictions due to conservation laws when comparing high- and low-multiplicity final states. Already in two-particle correlation functions, we see clear signals of such phase-space restrictions in low-multiplicity collisions at RHIC. We discuss how these same effects, then, {\it must} appear in the single particle spectra. We argue that the effects of energy and momentum conservation actually dominate the observed systematics, and that $p+p$ collisions may be much more similar to heavy ion collisions than generally thought.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures - To appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennesse

Dense nuclear matter equation of state from heavy-ion collisions

International audienceThe nuclear equation of state (EOS) is at the center of numerous theoretical and experimental efforts in nuclear physics. With advances in microscopic theories for nuclear interactions, the availability of experiments probing nuclear matter under conditions not reached before, endeavors to develop sophisticated and reliable transport simulations to interpret these experiments, and the advent of multi-messenger astronomy, the next decade will bring new opportunities for determining the nuclear matter EOS, elucidating its dependence on density, temperature, and isospin asymmetry. Among controlled terrestrial experiments, collisions of heavy nuclei at intermediate beam energies (from a few tens of MeV/nucleon to about 25 GeV/nucleon in the fixed-target frame) probe the widest ranges of baryon density and temperature, enabling studies of nuclear matter from a few tenths to about 5 times the nuclear saturation density and for temperatures from a few to well above a hundred MeV, respectively. Collisions of neutron-rich isotopes further bring the opportunity to probe effects due to the isospin asymmetry. However, capitalizing on the enormous scientific effort aimed at uncovering the dense nuclear matter EOS, both at RHIC and at FRIB as well as at other international facilities, depends on the continued development of state-of-the-art hadronic transport simulations. This white paper highlights the essential role that heavy-ion collision experiments and hadronic transport simulations play in understanding strong interactions in dense nuclear matter, with an emphasis on how these efforts can be used together with microscopic approaches and neutron star studies to uncover the nuclear EOS