A finite unbound system which is equilibrium in one reference frame is in general nonequilibrium in another frame. This is a consequence of the relative character of the time synchronization in the relativistic physics. This puzzle was a prime motivation of the Cooper--Frye approach to the freeze-out in relativistic hydrodynamics. Solution of the puzzle reveals that the Cooper--Frye recipe is far not a unique phenomenological method that meets requirements of energy-momentum conservation. Alternative freeze-out recipes are considered and discussed.
The space-time structure of the multipion system created in central relativistic heavy-ion collisions is investigated. Using the microscopic transport model UrQMD we determine the freeze-out hypersurface from equation on pion density n(t,r)=n_c. It turns out that for proper value of the critical energy density epsilon_c equation epsilon(t,r)=epsilon_c gives the same freeze-out hypersurface. It is shown that for big enough collision energies E_kin > 40A GeV/c (sqrt(s) > 8A GeV/c) the multipion system at a time moment {tau} ceases to be one connected unit but splits up into two separate spatial parts (drops), which move in opposite directions from one another with velocities which approach the speed of light with increase of collision energy. This time {tau} is approximately invariant of the collision energy, and the corresponding tau=const. hypersurface can serve as a benchmark for the freeze-out time or the transition time from the hydrostage in hybrid models. The properties of this hypersurface are discussed.
We investigate an effective relativistic equation of state at finite values of temperature and baryon chemical potential with the inclusion of the full octet of baryons, the Delta-isobars and the lightest pseudoscalar and vector meson degrees of freedom. These last particles have been introduced within a phenomenological approach by taking into account of an effective chemical potential and mass depending on the self-consistent interaction between baryons. In this framework, we study of the hadron yield ratios measured in central heavy ion collisions over a broad energy range and present the beam energy dependence of underlying dynamic quantities like the net baryon density and the energy density.
The problem of spectra formation in hydrodynamic approach to A+A collisions is considered within the Boltzmann equations. It is shown analytically and illustrated by numerical calculations that the particle momentum spectra can be presented in the Cooper-Frye form despite freeze-out is not sharp and has the finite temporal width. The latter is equal to the inverse of the particle collision rate at points $(t_{sigma}({bf r},p),{bf r})$ of the maximal emission at a fixed momentum $p$. The set of these points forms the hypersurfaces $t_sigma({bf r},p)$ which strongly depend on the values of $p$ and typically do not enclose completely the initially dense matter. This is an important difference from the standard Cooper-Frye prescription (CFp), with a common freeze-out hypersurface for all $p$, that affects significantly the predicted spectra. Also, the well known problem of CFp as for negative contributions to the spectra from non-space-like parts of the freeze-out hypersurface is naturally eliminated in this improved prescription.
The freeze-out conditions in the light (S+S) and heavy (Pb+Pb) colliding systems of heavy nuclei at 160 AGeV/$c$ are analyzed within the microscopic Quark Gluon String Model (QGSM). We found that even for the most heavy systems particle emission takes place from the whole space-time domain available for the system evolution, but not from the thin freeze-out hypersurface, adopted in fluid dynamical models. Pions are continuously emitted from the whole volume of the reaction and reflect the main trends of the system evolution. Nucleons in Pb+Pb collisions initially come from the surface region. For both systems there is a separation of the elastic and inelastic freeze-out. The mesons with large transverse momenta, $p_t$, are predominantly produced at the early stages of the reaction. The low $p_t$-component is populated by mesons coming mainly from the decay of resonances. This explains naturally the decreasing source sizes with increasing $p_t$, observed in HBT interferometry. Comparison with S+S and Au+Au systems at 11.6 AGeV/$c$ is also presented.
A QCD phase transition may reflect in a inhomogeneous decoupling surface of hadrons produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We show that due to the non-linear dependence of the particle densities on the temperature and baryon-chemical potential such inhomogeneities should be visible even in the integrated, inclusive abundances. We analyze experimental data from Pb+Pb collisions at CERN-SPS and Au+Au collisions at BNL-RHIC to determine the amplitude of inhomogeneities.