We present an analysis of hadronic multiplicities measured in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt s_{NN} = 2.76 TeV as a function of the collision centrality within the statistical hadronization model. Evidence is found of a dependence of the chemical freeze-ou
t temperature as a function of centrality, with a slow rise from central to peripheral collisions, which we interpret as an effect of post-hadronization inelastic scatterings. Using correction factors calculated by means of a simulation based on the UrQMD model, we are able to obtain a significant improvement in the statitical model fit quality and to reconstruct the primordial chemical equilibrium configuration. This is characterized by a nearly constant temperature of about 164 MeV which we interpret as the actual hadronization temperature.
This paper provides an overview of the possible role of Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QDC) for neutron stars and strange stars. The fundamental degrees of freedom of QCD are quarks, which may exist as unconfined (color superconducting) particles in the co
res of neutron stars. There is also the theoretical possibility that a significantly large number of up, down, and strange quarks may settle down in a new state of matter known as strange quark matter, which, by hypothesis, could be more stable than atomic nuclei. In the latter case new classes of self-bound, color superconducting objects, ranging from strange quark nuggets to strange quark stars, should exist. The properties of such objects will be reviewed along with the possible existence of deconfined quarks in neutron stars. Implications for observational astrophysics are pointed out.
It is well known from numerous experiments that nuclear multifragmentation is a dominating mechanism for production of intermediate-mass fragments in nucleus-nucleus collisions at energies above 100 A MeV. In this paper we investigate the validity an
d performance of the Fermi break-up model and the statistical multifragmentation model implemented as parts of the Geant4 toolkit. We study the impact of violent nuclear disintegration reactions on the depth-dose profiles and yields of secondary fragments for beams of light and medium-weight nuclei propagating in extended media. Implications for ion-beam cancer therapy and shielding from cosmic radiation are discussed.
Event-by-event fluctuations of the kaon to pion number ratio in nucleus-nucleus collisions are studied within the statistical hadron-resonance gas model (SM) for different statistical ensembles and in the Hadron-String-Dynamics (HSD) transport approa
ch. We find that the HSD model can qualitatively reproduce the measured excitation function for the $K/pi$ ratio fluctuations in central Au+Au (or Pb+Pb) collisions from low SPS up to top RHIC energies. Substantial differences in the HSD and SM results are found for the fluctuations and correlations of the kaon and pion numbers. These predictions impose a challenge for future experiments.
Dilepton production in $pp$ and $Au+Au$ nucleus-nucleus collisions at $sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV as well as in $In+In$ and $Pb+Au$ at 158 A$cdot$GeV is studied within the microscopic HSD transport approach. A comparison to the data from the PHENIX Collabora
tion at RHIC shows that standard in-medium effects of the $rho, omega$ vector mesons - compatible with the NA60 data for $In+In$ at 158 A$cdot$GeV and the CERES data for $Pb+Au$ at 158 A$cdot$GeV - do not explain the large enhancement observed in the invariant mass regime from 0.2 to 0.5 GeV in $Au+Au$ collisions at $sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV relative to $pp$ collisions.
The hadronization of an expanding partonic fireball is studied within the Parton-Hadron-Strings Dynamics (PHSD) approach which is based on a dynamical quasiparticle model (DQPM) matched to reproduce lattice QCD results in thermodynamic equilibrium. A
part from strong parton interactions the expansion and development of collective flow is found to be driven by strong gradients in the parton mean-fields. An analysis of the elliptic flow $v_2$ demonstrates a linear correlation with the spatial eccentricity $epsilon$ as in case of ideal hydrodynamics. The hadronization occurs by quark-antiquark fusion or 3 quark/3 antiquark recombination which is described by covariant transition rates. Since the dynamical quarks become very massive, the formed resonant pre-hadronic color-dipole states ($qbar{q}$ or $qqq$) are of high invariant mass, too, and sequentially decay to the groundstate meson and baryon octets increasing the total entropy. This solves the entropy problem in hadronization in a natural way. Hadronic particle ratios turn out to be in line with those from a grandcanonical partition function at temperature $T approx 170$ MeV.
We study the long wavelength shear modes (Tkachenko waves) of triangular lattices of singly quantized vortices in neutron star interiors taking into account the mutual friction between the superfluid and the normal fluid and the shear viscosity of th
e normal fluid. The set of Tkachenko modes that propagate in the plane orthogonal to the spin vector are weakly damped if the coupling between the superfluid and normal fluid is small. In strong coupling, their oscillation frequencies are lower and are undamped for small and moderate shear viscosities. The periods of these modes are consistent with the observed ~100-1000 day variations in spin of PSR 1828-11.
We show that the magnetization in color-flavor locked superconductors can be so strong that homogeneous quark matter becomes metastable for a wide range of magnetic field values. This indicates that magnetic domains or other type of magnetic inhomoge
neities can be present in the quark cores of magnetars.
We study the spatial distributions of $beta^+$-activity produced by therapeutic beams of $^3$He and $^{12}$C ions in various tissue-like materials. The calculations were performed within a Monte Carlo model for Heavy-Ion Therapy (MCHIT) based on the
GEANT4 toolkit. The contributions from $^{10,11}$C, $^{13}$N, $^{14,15}$O, $^{17,18}$F and $^{30}$P positron-emitting nuclei were calculated and compared with experimental data obtained during and after irradiation. Positron emitting nuclei are created by $^{12}$C beam in fragmentation reactions of projectile and target nuclei. This leads to a $beta^+$-activity profile characterised by a noticeable peak located close to the Bragg peak in the corresponding depth-dose distribution. On the contrary, as the most of positron-emitting nuclei are produced by $^3$He beam in target fragmentation reactions, the calculated total $beta^+$-activity during or soon after the irradiation period is evenly distributed within the projectile range. However, we predict also the presence of $^{13}$N, $^{14}$O, $^{17,18}$F created in charge-transfer reactions by low-energy $^3$He ions close to the end of their range in several tissue-like media. The time evolution of $beta^+$-activity profiles was investigated for both kinds of beams. Due to the production of $^{18}$F nuclide the $beta^+$-activity profile measured 2 or 3 hours after irradiation with $^{3}$He ions will have a distinct peak correlated with the maximum of depth-dose distribution. We found certain advantages of low-energy $^{3}$He beams over low-energy proton beams for reliable PET monitoring during particle therapy of shallow located tumours. In this case the distal edge of $beta^+$-activity distribution from $^{17}$F nuclei clearly marks the range of $^{3}$He in tissues.
In this brief note, we determine the fluctuations of the initial eccentricity in heavy-ion collisions caused by fluctuations of the nucleon configurations. This is done via a Monte-Carlo implementation of a Color Glass Condensate $k_t$-factorization
approach. The eccentricity fluctuations are found to nearly saturate elliptic flow fluctuations measured recently at RHIC. Extrapolations to LHC energies are shown.
