No Arabic abstract
We identify the major physics milestones in the development of strange hadrons as an observable for both the formation of quark-gluon plasma, and of the ensuing explosive disintegration of deconfined matter fireball formed in relativistic heavy ion collisions at 160--20A GeV. We describe the physical properties of QGP phase and show agreement with the expectations based on an analysis of hadron abundances. We than also demonstrate that the m_t shape of hadron spectra is in qualitative agreement with the sudden breakup of a supercooled QGP fireball.
A Comparative study of the strengths and weakness of the models of fireball formation namely the statistical model of Ramanathan et.al (Physical Review C 70, 027903, 2004) and the approximation schemes of Kapusta et. al (Physical Review D 46, 1379, 1992) and its subsequent improved variants is made. The way to complement the various approximation schemes, in order to enhance their utility in the phenomenological analysis of QGP data that are expected from ongoing URHIC experiments, is suggested. The calculations demonstrate a striking QCD behaviour of the surface tension of the QGP droplet resulting in its increase with temperature, which is due to the confining nature of QCD forces at the surface and the interface surface tension varies as the cube of the transition temperature which is in conformity with the results of Lattice QCD simulations.
We construct the density of states for quarks and gluons using the `Thomas - Fermi model for atoms and the `Bethe model for nucleons as templates. With parameters to take care of the plasma (hydrodynamical) features of the QGP with a thermal potential for the interaction, we find a window in the parametric space of the model where observable QGP droplets of $ sim $ 5 fm radius can occur with transition temperature in the range 140 MeV to 250 MeV. By matching with the expectations of Lattice Gauge estimates of the QGP-hadron transitions, we can further narrow the window, thereby restricting the allowed values of the flow-parameters of the model.
We investigate the properties of the QCD matter across the deconfinement phase transition in the scope of the parton-hadron string dynamics (PHSD) transport approach. We present here in particular the results on the electromagnetic radiation, i.e. photon and dilepton production, in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. By comparing our calculations for the heavy-ion collisions to the available data, we determine the relative importance of the various production sources and address the possible origin of the observed strong elliptic flow $v_2$ of direct photons. We argue that the different centrality dependence of the hadronic and partonic sources for direct photon production in nucleus-nucleus collisions can be employed to shed some more light on the origin of the photon $v_2$ puzzle. While the dilepton spectra at low invariant mass show in-medium effects like an enhancement from multiple baryonic resonance formation or a collisional broadening of the vector meson spectral functions, the dilepton yield at high invariant masses (above 1.1 GeV) is dominated by QGP contributions for central heavy-ion collisions at ultra-relativistic energies. This allows to have an independent view on the parton dynamics via their electromagnetic massive radiation.
A review of earlier fluid dynamical calculations with QGP show a softening of the directed flow while with hadronic matter this effect is absent. The effect shows up in the reaction plane as enhanced emission which is orthogonal to the directed flow. Thus, it is not shadowed by the deflected projectile and target. As both of these flow components are in the reaction plane these form an enhanced elliptic flow pattern. Recent experimental data at 11 AGeV and above show the same softening, hinting at QGP formation.
I review recent developments in the phenomenological study of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) transport properties based on a personal selection of results that were presented at Quark Matter 2019. The constraints on the temperature dependence of QGP shear and bulk viscosity are summarized. I discuss new theory advancements towards more realistic 3D dynamical simulations of heavy-ion collisions at finite baryon density. The challenges and opportunities of applying hydrodynamics to small collision systems are highlighted.