Hybrid approaches based on relativistic hydrodynamics and transport theory have been successfully applied for many years for the dynamical description of heavy ion collisions at ultrarelativistic energies. In this work a new viscous hybrid model empl
oying the hadron transport approach UrQMD for the early and late non-equilibrium stages of the reaction, and 3+1 dimensional viscous hydrodynamics for the hot and dense quark-gluon plasma stage is introduced. This approach includes the equation of motion for finite baryon number, and employs an equation of state with finite net-baryon density to allow for calculations in a large range of beam energies. The parameter space of the model is explored, and constrained by comparison with the experimental data for bulk observables from SPS and the phase I beam energy scan at RHIC. The favored parameter values depend on energy, but allow to extract the effective value of the shear viscosity coefficient over entropy density ratio $eta/s$ in the fluid phase for the whole energy region under investigation. The estimated value of $eta/s$ increases with decreasing collision energy, which may indicate that $eta/s$ of the quark-gluon plasma depends on baryochemical potential $mu_B$.
Many models of heavy ion collisions employ relativistic hydrodynamics to describe the system evolution at high densities. The Cooper-Frye formula is applied in most of these models to turn the hydrodynamical fields into particles. However, the number
of particles obtained from the Cooper-Frye formula is not always positive-definite. Physically negative contributions of the Cooper-Frye formula are particles that stream backwards into the hydrodynamical region. We quantify the Cooper-Frye negative contributions in a coarse-grained transport approach, which allows to compare them to the actual number of underlying particles crossing the transition hypersurface. It is found that the number of underlying inward crossings is much smaller than the one the Cooper-Frye formula gives under the assumption of equilibrium distribution functions. The magnitude of Cooper-Frye negative contributions is also investigated as a function of hadron mass, collision energy in the range $E_{rm lab} = 5-160A$ GeV, and collision centrality. The largest negative contributions we find are around 13% for the pion yield at midrapidity at $E_{rm lab} = 20A$ GeV collisions.
In most heavy ion collision simulations involving relativistic hydrodynamics, the Cooper-Frye formula is applied to transform the hydrodynamical fields to particles. In this article the so-called negative contributions in the Cooper-Frye formula are
studied using a coarse-grained transport approach. The magnitude of negative contributions is investigated as a function of hadron mass, collision energy in the range of $E_{rm lab} = 5$--$160A$ GeV, collision centrality and the energy density transition criterion defining the hypersurface. The microscopic results are compared to negative contributions expected from hydrodynamical treatment assuming local thermal equilibrium. The main conclusion is that the number of actual microscopic particles flying inward is smaller than the negative contribution one would expect in an equilibrated scenario. The largest impact of negative contributions is found to be on the pion rapidity distribution at midrapidity in central collisions. For this case negative contributions in equilibrium constitute 8--13% of positive contributions depending on collision energy, but only 0.5--4% in cascade calculation. The dependence on the collision energy itself is found to be non-monotonous with a maximum at 10-20$A$ GeV.
Recent advances in experimental techniques emphasize the usefulness of multiple scanning probe techniques when analyzing nanoscale samples. Here, we analyze theoretically dual-probe setups with probe separations in the nanometer range, i.e., in a reg
ime where quantum coherence effects can be observed at low temperatures. In a dual-probe setup the electrons are injected at one probe and collected at the other. The measured conductance reflects the local transport properties on the nanoscale, thereby yielding information complementary to that obtained with a standard one-probe setup (the local density-of-states). In this work we develop a real space Greens function method to compute the conductance. This requires an extension of the standard calculation schemes, which typically address a finite sample between the probes. In contrast, the developed method makes no assumption on the sample size (e.g., an extended graphene sheet). Applying this method, we study the transport anisotropies in pristine graphene sheets, and analyze the spectroscopic fingerprints arising from quantum interference around single-site defects, such as vacancies and adatoms. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the dual-probe setup is a useful tool for characterizing the electronic transport properties of extended defects or designed nanostructures. In particular, we show that nanoscale perforations, or antidots, in a graphene sheet display Fano-type resonances with a strong dependence on the edge geometry of the perforation.
The sign change of the slope of the directed flow of baryons has been predicted as a signal for a first order phase transition within fluid dynamical calculations. Recently, the directed flow of identified particles has been measured by the STAR coll
aboration in the beam energy scan (BES) program. In this article, we examine the collision energy dependence of directed flow $v_1$ in fluid dynamical model descriptions of heavy ion collisions for $sqrt{s_{NN}}=3-20$ GeV. The first step is to reproduce the existing predictions within pure fluid dynamical calculations. As a second step we investigate the influence of the order of the phase transition on the anisotropic flow within a state-of-the-art hybrid approach that describes other global observables reasonably well. We find that, in the hybrid approach, there seems to be no sensitivity of the directed flow on the equation of state and in particular on the existence of a first order phase transition. In addition, we explore more subtle sensitivities like e.g. the Cooper-Frye transition criterion and discuss how momentum conservation and the definition of the event plane affects the results. At this point, none of our calculations matches qualitatively the behavior of the STAR data, the values of the slopes are always larger than in the data.
Experimental advances allow for the inclusion of multiple probes to measure the transport properties of a sample surface. We develop a theory of dual-probe scanning tunnelling microscopy using a Greens Function formalism, and apply it to graphene. Sa
mpling the local conduction properties at finite length scales yields real space conductance maps which show anisotropy for pristine graphene systems and quantum interference effects in the presence of isolated impurities. The spectral signatures of the Fourier transform of real space conductance maps include characteristics that can be related to different scattering processes. We compute the conductance maps of graphene systems with different edge geometries or height fluctuations to determine the effects of non-ideal graphene samples on dual-probe measurements.
We present recent results on bulk observables and electromagnetic probes obtained using a hybrid approach based on the Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics transport model with an intermediate hydrodynamic stage for the description of heavy-i
on collisions at AGS, SPS and RHIC energies. After briefly reviewing the main results for particle multiplicities, elliptic flow, transverse momentum and rapidity spectra, we focus on photon and dilepton emission from hot and dense hadronic matter.
We investigate a (3+1)-dimensional hydrodynamic expansion of the hot and dense system created in head-on collisions of Pb+Pb/Au+Au at beam energies from $5-200A$ GeV. An equation of state that incorporates a critical end point (CEP) in line with the
lattice data is used. The necessary initial conditions for the hydrodynamic evolution are taken from a microscopic transport approach (UrQMD). We compare the properties of the initial state and the full hydrodynamical calculation with an isentropic expansion employing an initial state from a simple overlap model. We find that the specific entropy ($S/A$) from both initial conditions is very similar and only depends on the underlying equation of state. Using the chiral (hadronic) equation of state we investigate the expansion paths for both initial conditions. Defining a critical area around the critical point, we show at what beam energies one can expect to have a sizable fraction of the system close to the critical point. Finally, we emphasise the importance of the equation of state of strongly interacting matter, in the (experimental) search for the CEP.
