No Arabic abstract
We study systematically the topological charge density and the chiral density correlations in the early stage of high energy nuclear collisions: the intial condition is given by the McLerran-Venugopalan model and the evolution of the gluon fields is studied via the Classical Yang-Mills equations up to proper time $tauapprox 1$ fm/c for an $SU(2)$ evolving Glasma. Topological charge is related to the gauge invariant $bm E cdot bm B$ where $bm E$ and $bm B$ denote the color-electric and color-magnetic fields, while the chiral density is produced via the chiral anomaly of Quantum Chromodynamics. We study how the correlation lengths are related to the collision energy, and how the correlated domains grow up with proper time in the transverse plane for a boost invariant longitudinal expansion. We estimate the correlation lengths of both quantities, that after a short transient results of the order of the typical energy scale of the model, namely the inverse of the saturation scale. We estimate the proper time for the formation of a steady state in which the production of the chiral density in the transverse plane per unit rapidity slows down, as well as the amount of chiral density that would be present at the switch time between the Classical Yang-Mills evolution and the relativistic transport or hydro for the quark-gluon plasma phase.
Predictions on fluctuations of hadron production properties in central heavy ion collisions are presented. They are based on the Statistical Model of the Early Stage and extend previously published results by considering the strongly intensive measures of fluctuations. In several of the considered cases a significant change in collision energy dependence of calculated quantities as a result of the phase transition is predicted. This provides an opportunity to observe new signals of the onset of deconfinement in heavy ion collisions experiments.
We study the early stages of central pA and peripheral AA collisions. Several observables indicate that at a sufficiently large number of participant nucleons the system undergoes a transition into a new explosive regime. By defining a string-string interaction through the sigma meson exchange and performing molecular dynamics simulation, we argue that one should expect a strong collective implosion of the multi-string spaghetti state, creating significant compression of the system in the transverse plane. Another consequence is the collectivization of the sigma clouds of all strings into a chirally symmetric fireball. We find that these effects happen provided the number of strings $N_s > 30$ or so, as only such a number can compensate a small sigma-string coupling. These findings should help us to understand the subsequent explosive behavior, observed for the particle multiplicities roughly corresponding to this number of strings.
Four models for the initial conditions of a fluid dynamic description of high energy heavy ion collisions are analysed and compared. We study expectation values and event-by-event fluctuations in the initial transverse energy density profiles from Pb-Pb collisions. Specifically, introducing a Fourier-Bessel mode expansion for fluctuations, we determine expectation values and two-mode correlation functions of the expansion coefficients. The analytically solveable independent point-sources model is compared to an initial state model based on Glauber theory and two models based on the Color Glass Condensate framework. We find that the large wavelength modes of all investigated models show universal properties for central collisions and also discuss to which extent general properties of initial conditions can be understood analytically.
The interplay of quantum anomalies with magnetic field and vorticity results in a variety of novel non-dissipative transport phenomena in systems with chiral fermions, including the quark-gluon plasma. Among them is the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME) -- the generation of electric current along an external magnetic field induced by chirality imbalance. Because the chirality imbalance is related to the global topology of gauge fields, the CME current is topologically protected and hence non-dissipative even in the presence of strong interactions. As a result, the CME and related quantum phenomena affect the hydrodynamical and transport behavior of strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma, and can be studied in relativistic heavy ion collisions where strong magnetic fields are created by the colliding ions. Evidence for the CME and related phenomena has been reported by the STAR Collaboration at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at BNL, and by the ALICE Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The goal of the present review is to provide an elementary introduction into the physics of anomalous chiral effects, to describe the current status of experimental studies in heavy ion physics, and to outline the future work, both in experiment and theory, needed to eliminate the existing uncertainties in the interpretation of the data.
This is a review of the theoretical background, experimental techniques, and phenomenology of what is called the Glauber Model in relativistic heavy ion physics. This model is used to calculate geometric quantities, which are typically expressed as impact parameter (b), number of participating nucleons (N_part) and number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions (N_coll). A brief history of the original Glauber model is presented, with emphasis on its development into the purely classical, geometric picture that is used for present-day data analyses. Distinctions are made between the optical limit and Monte Carlo approaches, which are often used interchangably but have some essential differences in particular contexts. The methods used by the four RHIC experiments are compared and contrasted, although the end results are reassuringly similar for the various geometric observables. Finally, several important RHIC measurements are highlighted that rely on geometric quantities, estimated from Glauber calculations, to draw insight from experimental observables. The status and future of Glauber modeling in the next generation of heavy ion physics studies is briefly discussed.