dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaThe Time-Delay Signature of Quark-Gluon-Plasma Formation in Relativistic Nuclear Collisions
| Authors | Dirk H. Rischke, Miklos Gyulassy |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | nucl-th/9606039 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/nucl-th/9606039 |
| DOI | 10.1016/0375-9474(96)00259-X |
| Journal | Nucl.Phys.A608:479-512,1996 |
Abstract
The hydrodynamic expansion of quark-gluon plasmas with spherical and longitudinally boost-invariant geometries is studied as a function of the initial energy density. The sensitivity of the collective flow pattern to uncertainties in the nuclear matter equation of state is explored. We concentrate on the effect of a possible finite width, $\Delta T \sim 0.1 T_c$, of the transition region between quark-gluon plasma and hadronic phase. Although slow deflagration solutions that act to stall the expansion do not exist for $\Delta T > 0.08 T_c$, we find, nevertheless, that the equation of state remains sufficiently soft in the transition region to delay the propagation of ordinary rarefaction waves for a considerable time. We compute the dependence of the pion-interferometry correlation function on $\Delta T$, since this is the most promising observable for time-delayed expansion. The signature of time delay, proposed by Pratt and Bertsch, is an enhancement of the ratio of the inverse width of the pion correlation function in out-direction to that in side-direction. One of our main results is that this generic signature of quark-gluon plasma formation is rather robust to the uncertainties in the width of the transition region. Furthermore, for longitudinal boost-invariant geometries, the signal is likely to be maximized around RHIC energies, $\sqrt{s} \sim 200$ AGeV.
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"abstract": "The hydrodynamic expansion of quark-gluon plasmas with spherical and\nlongitudinally boost-invariant geometries is studied as a function of the\ninitial energy density. The sensitivity of the collective flow pattern to\nuncertainties in the nuclear matter equation of state is explored. We\nconcentrate on the effect of a possible finite width, $\\Delta T \\sim 0.1 T_c$,\nof the transition region between quark-gluon plasma and hadronic phase.\nAlthough slow deflagration solutions that act to stall the expansion do not\nexist for $\\Delta T \u003e 0.08 T_c$, we find, nevertheless, that the equation of\nstate remains sufficiently soft in the transition region to delay the\npropagation of ordinary rarefaction waves for a considerable time. We compute\nthe dependence of the pion-interferometry correlation function on $\\Delta T$,\nsince this is the most promising observable for time-delayed expansion. The\nsignature of time delay, proposed by Pratt and Bertsch, is an enhancement of\nthe ratio of the inverse width of the pion correlation function in\nout-direction to that in side-direction. One of our main results is that this\ngeneric signature of quark-gluon plasma formation is rather robust to the\nuncertainties in the width of the transition region. Furthermore, for\nlongitudinal boost-invariant geometries, the signal is likely to be maximized\naround RHIC energies, $\\sqrt{s} \\sim 200$ AGeV.",
"arxiv_id": "nucl-th/9606039",
"authors": [
"Dirk H. Rischke",
"Miklos Gyulassy"
],
"categories": [
"nucl-th"
],
"doi": "10.1016/0375-9474(96)00259-X",
"journal_ref": "Nucl.Phys.A608:479-512,1996",
"title": "The Time-Delay Signature of Quark-Gluon-Plasma Formation in Relativistic Nuclear Collisions",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/nucl-th/9606039"
},
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