Clustering of the four-nucleon system at kinetic freezeout conditions is studied using path-integral Monte Carlo techniques. This method seeks to improve upon previous calculations which relied on approximate semiclassical methods or few-body quantum mechanics. Estimates are given for the decay probabilities of the 4N system into various light nuclei decay channels and the strength of spatial correlations is characterized. Additionally, a simple model is presented to describe the impact of this clustering on nucleon multiplicity distributions. The effects of a possible modification of the inter-nucleon interaction due to the close critical line (and hypothetical QCD critical point) on the clustering are also studied.
The new monte-carlo generator of heavy ion collisions, DCM-SMM, based on Dubna Cascade Model (DCM-QGSM) and Statistical Multifragmentation Model (SMM) is described. The model aimed to generate particle--nucleus and nucleus--nucleus collisions at a wide range of energy was created to provide the computer simulation support to new experimental facilities BMN and MPD at the accelerator complex NICA. It can simulate the production of both light particles and nuclear fragments and hyperfragments on the event by event basis.
We develop a combined hydro-kinetic approach which incorporates a hydrodynamical expansion of the systems formed in textit{A}+textit{A} collisions and their dynamical decoupling described by escape probabilities. The method corresponds to a generalized relaxation time ($tau_{text{rel}}$) approximation for the Boltzmann equation applied to inhomogeneous expanding systems; at small $tau_{text{rel}}$ it also allows one to catch the viscous effects in hadronic component - hadron-resonance gas. We demonstrate how the approximation of sudden freeze-out can be obtained within this dynamical picture of continuous emission and find that hypersurfaces, corresponding to a sharp freeze-out limit, are momentum dependent. The pion $m_{T}$ spectra are computed in the developed hydro-kinetic model, and compared with those obtained from ideal hydrodynamics with the Cooper-Frye isothermal prescription. Our results indicate that there does not exist a universal freeze-out temperature for pions with different momenta, and support an earlier decoupling of higher $p_{T}$ particles. By performing numerical simulations for various initial conditions and equations of state we identify several characteristic features of the bulk QCD matter evolution preferred in view of the current analysis of heavy ion collisions at RHIC energies.
Path integral Monte Carlo approach is used to study the coupled quantum dynamics of the electron and nuclei in hydrogen molecule ion. The coupling effects are demonstrated by comparing differences in adiabatic Born--Oppenheimer and non-adiabatic simulations, and inspecting projections of the full three-body dynamics onto adiabatic Born--Oppenheimer approximation. Coupling of electron and nuclear quantum dynamics is clearly seen. Nuclear pair correlation function is found to broaden by 0.040 a_0 and average bond length is larger by 0.056 a_0. Also, non-adiabatic correction to the binding energy is found. Electronic distribution is affected less, and therefore, we could say that the adiabatic approximation is better for the electron than for the nuclei.
It is argued that the experimentally observed baryon stopping may indicate (within the present experimental uncertainties) a non-monotonous behaviour as a function of the incident energy of colliding nuclei. This can be quantified by a midrapidity reduced curvature of the net-proton rapidity spectrum. The above non-monotonous behaviour reveals itself as a zig-zag irregularity in the excitation function of this curvature. The three-fluid dynamic calculations with a hadronic equation of state (EoS) fail to reproduce this irregularity. At the same time, the same calculations with an EoS involving a first-order phase transition into the quark-gluon phase do reproduce this zig-zag behaviour, however only qualitatively.
I argue that perturbative scattering of quarks and gluons are incompatible with lattice and heavy ion data on QGP properties. The non-perturbative mechanisms for quasiparticle rescattering and quark production are briefly discussed, as well as experiments needed to measure matter anisotropy and quark density at early stages of the collisions.