No Arabic abstract
We present a simple description of the energy density profile created in a nucleus-nucleus collision, motivated by high-energy QCD. The energy density is modeled as the sum of contributions coming from elementary collisions between localized charges and a smooth nucleus. Each of these interactions creates a sharply-peaked source of energy density falling off at large distances like $1/r^2$, corresponding to the two-dimensional Coulomb field of a point charge. Our model reproduces the one-point and two-point functions of the energy density field calculated in the framework of the color glass condensate effective theory, to leading logarithmic accuracy. We apply it to the description of eccentricity fluctuations. Unlike other existing models of initial conditions for heavy-ion collisions, it allows us to reproduce simultaneously the centrality dependence of elliptic and triangular flow.
We introduce the concepts of participant triangularity and triangular flow in heavy-ion collisions, analogous to the definitions of participant eccentricity and elliptic flow. The participant triangularity characterizes the triangular anisotropy of the initial nuclear overlap geometry and arises from event-by-event fluctuations in the participant-nucleon collision points. In studies using a multi-phase transport model (AMPT), a triangular flow signal is observed that is proportional to the participant triangularity and corresponds to a large third Fourier coefficient in two-particle azimuthal correlation functions. Using two-particle azimuthal correlations at large pseudorapidity separations measured by the PHOBOS and STAR experiments, we show that this Fourier component is also present in data. Ratios of the second and third Fourier coefficients in data exhibit similar trends as a function of centrality and transverse momentum as in AMPT calculations. These findings suggest a significant contribution of triangular flow to the ridge and broad away-side features observed in data. Triangular flow provides a new handle on the initial collision geometry and collective expansion dynamics in heavy-ion collisions.
This report summarizes the presentations and discussions during the Rapid Reaction Task Force Dynamics of critical fluctuations: Theory -- phenomenology -- heavy-ion collisions, which was organized by the ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI and held at GSI, Darmstadt, Germany in April 2019. We address the current understanding of the dynamics of critical fluctuations in QCD and their measurement in heavy-ion collision experiments. In addition, we outline what might be learned from studying correlations in other physical systems, such as cold atomic gases.
We study time evolution of critical fluctuations of conserved charges near the QCD critical point in the context of relativistic heavy ion collisions. A stochastic diffusion equation is employed in order to describe the diffusion property of the critical fluctuation arising from the coupling of the order parameter field to conserved charges. We show that the diffusion property gives rise to a possibility of probing the early time fluctuations through the rapidity window dependence of the second-order cumulant and correlation function of conserved charges. It is pointed out that their non-monotonic behaviors as functions of the rapidity interval are robust experimental signals for the existence of the critical enhancement around the QCD critical point.
A simple geometrical model with event-by-event fluctuations is suggested to study elliptical and triangular eccentricities in the initial state of relativistic heavy-ion collisions. This model describes rather well the ALICE and ATLAS data for Pb+Pb collisions at center-of-mass energy $sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02$~TeV per nucleon pair, assuming that the second, $v_2$, and third, $v_3$, harmonics of the anisotropic flow are simply linearly proportional to the eccentricities $varepsilon_2$ and $varepsilon_3$, respectively. We show that the eccentricity $varepsilon_3$ has a pure fluctuation origin and is substantially dependent on the size of the overlap area only, while the eccentricity $varepsilon_2$ is mainly related to the average collision geometry. Elliptic flow, therefore, is weakly dependent on the event-by-event fluctuations everywhere except of the very central collisions 0--2%, whereas triangular flow is mostly determined by the fluctuations. The scaling dependence of the magnitude of the flow harmonics on atomic number, $v_n propto A^{-1/3}$, is predicted for this centrality interval.
Discriminating hadronic molecular and multi-quark states is a long standing problem in hadronic physics. We propose here to utilize relativistic heavy ion collisions to resolve this problem, as exotic hadron yields are expected to be strongly affected by their structures. Using the coalescence model, we find that the exotic hadron yield relative to the statistical model result is typically an order of magnitude smaller for a compact multi-quark state, and larger by a factor of two or more for a loosely bound hadronic molecule. We further find that some of the newly proposed heavy exotic states could be produced and realistically measured at RHIC and LHC.