We review the recent developments on microscopic transport calculations for two-particle correlations at low relative momenta in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC.
We present calculations of two-pion and two-kaon correlation functions in relativistic heavy ion collisions from a relativistic transport model that includes explicitly a first-order phase transition from a thermalized quark-gluon plasma to a hadron gas. We compare the obtained correlation radii with recent data from RHIC. The predicted R_side radii agree with data while the R_out and R_long radii are overestimated. We also address the impact of in-medium modifications, for example, a broadening of the rho-meson, on the correlation radii. In particular, the longitudinal correlation radius R_long is reduced, improving the comparison to data.
Correlations of different azimuthal flow harmonics $v_n$ and symmetry planes $Psi_n$ can add constraints to theoretical models, and probe aspects of the system that are independent of the traditional single-harmonic measurements. Using NeXSPheRIO, a hydrodynamical model which has accurately reproduced a large set of single-harmonic correlations at RHIC, we make predictions of these new observables for 200 A GeV Au+Au Collisions, providing an important baseline for comparison to correlations of flow harmonics, which contain non-trivial information about the initial state. We also point out how to properly compare theoretical calculations to measurements using wide centrality bins and non-trivial event weighting.
The relaxation of hot nuclear matter to an equilibrated state in the central zone of heavy-ion collisions at energies from AGS to RHIC is studied within the microscopic UrQMD model. It is found that the system reaches the (quasi)equilibrium stage for the period of 10-15 fm/$c$. Within this time the matter in the cell expands nearly isentropically with the entropy to baryon ratio $S/A = 150 - 170$. Thermodynamic characteristics of the system at AGS and at SPS energies at the endpoints of this stage are very close to the parameters of chemical and thermal freeze-out extracted from the thermal fit to experimental data. Predictions are made for the full RHIC energy $sqrt{s} = 200$ AGeV. The formation of a resonance-rich state at RHIC energies is discussed.
We present measurements of three-particle correlations for various harmonics in Au+Au collisions at energies ranging from $sqrt{s_{{rm NN}}}=7.7$ to 200 GeV using the STAR detector. The quantity $langlecos(mphi_1+nphi_2-(m+n)phi_3)rangle$ is evaluated as a function of $sqrt{s_{{rm NN}}}$, collision centrality, transverse momentum, $p_T$, pseudo-rapidity difference, $Deltaeta$, and harmonics ($m$ and $n$). These data provide detailed information on global event properties like the three-dimensional structure of the initial overlap region, the expansion dynamics of the matter produced in the collisions, and the transport properties of the medium. A strong dependence on $Deltaeta$ is observed for most harmonic combinations consistent with breaking of longitudinal boost invariance. Data reveal changes with energy in the two-particle correlation functions relative to the second-harmonic event-plane and provide ways to constrain models of heavy-ion collisions over a wide range of collision energies.
Squeezed correlations of particle-antiparticle pairs, also called Back-to-Back Correlations, are predicted to appear if the hadron masses are modified in the hot and dense hadronic medium formed in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. Although well-established theoretically, the squeezed-particle correlations have not yet been searched for experimentally in high energy hadronic or heavy ion collisions, clearly requiring optimized forms to experimentally search for this effect. Within a non-relativistic treatment developed earlier we show that one promising way to search for the BBC signal is to look into the squeezed correlation function of pairs of phi-mesons at RHIC energies, plotted in terms of the average momentum of the pair, K12=(k1+k2)/2. This variables modulus, 2|K12|, is the non-relativistic limit of the variable Q_bbc, introduced herewith. The squeezing effects on the HBT correlation function are also discussed.