Photons from anisotropic Quark-Gluon-Plasma

We calculate medium photons due to Compton and annihilation processes in an anisotropic media. The effects of time-dependent momentum-space anisotropy of {\em Quark-Gluon-Plasma} (QGP) on the medium photon production are discussed. Such an anisotropy can results from the initial rapid longitudinal expansion of the matter, created in relativistic heavy ion collisions. A phenomenological model for the time-dependence of the parton hard momentum scale, $p_{hard}(\tau)$, and anisotropy parameter, $\xi(\tau)$, has been used to describe the plasma space-time evolution. We find significant dependency of photon yield on the isotropization time ($\tau_{iso}$). It is shown that the introduction of early time momentum-space anisotropy can enhance the photon production by a factor of $10 (1.5)$ (in the central rapidity region) for {\em free streaming} ({\em collisionally-broadened}) {\em interpolating} model if we assume fixed initial condition. On the other hand, enforcing the fixed final multiplicity significantly reduces the enhancement of medium photon production.Comment: 15 pages, 19 figures, few refs added, one new paragraph is added in introduction, published in Physical Rev.

Measuring the isotropization time of quark-gluon plasma from direct photons at energies available at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)

We calculate transverse momentum distribution of direct photons from various sources by taking into account the initial state momentum anisotropy of {\em Quark-Gluon-Plasma} (QGP) and late stage transverse flow effects. The total photon yield, calculated for various combinations of initial conditions, transition temperatures, is then compared with the recent measurement of photon transverse momentum distribution by the PHENIX collaboration. It is shown that the presence of such an anisotropy can describe the PHENIX photon data better than the isotropic case. We show that the isotropization time thus extracted remains of the order of 1 fm/c and is almost insensitive to the initial conditions used.Comment: 12 pages, 11 eps figure

Nuclear modification factor in an anisotropic {\em Quark-Gluon-Plasma}

We calculate the nuclear modification factor ($R_{AA}$) of light hadrons by taking into account the initial state momentum anisotropy of the quark gluon plasma (QGP) expected to be formed in relativistic heavy ion collisions. Such an anisotropy can result from the initial rapid longitudinal expansion of the matter. A phenomenological model for the space time evolution of the anisotropic QGP is used to obtain the time dependence of the anisotropy parameter $\xi$ and the hard momentum scale, $p_{\rm hard}$. The result is then compared with the PHENIX experimental data to constrain the isotropization time scale, $\tau_{\rm iso}$ for fixed initial conditions (FIC). It is shown that the extracted value of $\tau_{\rm iso}$ lies in the range $0.5 \leq \tau_{\rm iso} \leq 1.5$. However, using fixed final multiplicity (FFM) condition does not lead to any firm conclusion about the extraction of the isotropization time. The present calculation is also extended to contrast with the recent measurement of nuclear modification factor by ALICE collaboration at $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ TeV. It is argued that in the present approach, the extraction of $\tau_{\rm iso}$ at this energy is uncertain and, therfore, refinement of the model is necessary. The sensitivity of the results on the initial conditions has been discussed. We also present the nuclear modification factor at LHC energies with $\sqrt{s} = 5.5$ TeV.Comment: 18 pages, 9 eps figures, Accepted for publication in Physical Review