We investigate the role of the initial condition used for the hydrodynamic evolution of the system formed in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions and find that an appropriate choice motivated by the models of early-stage dynamics, specifically a simple two-dimensional Gaussian profile, leads to a uniform description of soft observables measured in the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). In particular, the transverse-momentum spectra, the elliptic-flow, and the Hanbury-Brown--Twiss correlation radii, including the ratio R_out/R_side as well as the dependence of the radii on the azimuthal angle (azHBT), are properly described. We use the perfect-fluid hydrodynamics with a realistic equation of state based on lattice calculations and the hadronic gas at high and low temperatures, respectively. We also show that the inclusion of the partonic free-streaming in the early stage allows to delay the start of the hydrodynamical description to comfortable times of the order of 1 fm/c. Free streaming broadens the initial energy-density profile, but generates the initial transverse and elliptic flow. The data may be described equally well when the hydrodynamics is started early, or with a delay due to partonic free-streaming.
New results on $ϕ$-meson production and elliptic flow $v_{2}$ measurements from RHIC 2004 run (Run-IV) have been reviewed. In addition, the di-hadron correlation function between the trigged $ϕ$ and $Ω$ and the associated soft particles was simulated. Knowledge about these results are discussed.
We report recent results from a multiphase transport (AMPT) model on the azimuthal anisotropies of particle momentum distributions in heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. These include higher-order anisotropic flows and their scaling, the rapidity dependence of anisotropic flows, and the elliptic flow of charm quarks.
The dynamics of partons, hadrons and strings in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions is analyzed within the novel Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach, which is based on a dynamical quasiparticle model for partons (DQPM) matched to reproduce recent lattice-QCD results -- including the partonic equation of state -- in thermodynamic equilibrium. The transition from partonic to hadronic degrees of freedom is described by covariant transition rates for the fusion of quark-antiquark pairs or three quarks (antiquarks), respectively, obeying flavor current-conservation, color ne…
Effects of partonic interactions in heavy ion collisions at RHIC are studied in a multiphase transport model (AMPT) that includes both initial partonic and final hadronic interactions.It is found that a large parton scattering cross section is needed to understand the measured elliptic flow of pions and two-pion correlation function.
Production and space-time evolution of heavy quarks in central and non-central heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC are studied with the partonic transport model Boltzmann Approach of MultiParton Scatterings (BAMPS). In addition to the initially created heavy quarks in hard parton scatterings during nucleon-nucleon collisions, secondary heavy quark production in the quark-gluon plasma is investigated and the sensitivity on various parameters is estimated. In BAMPS heavy quarks scatter with particles of the medium via elastic collisions, whose cross section is calculated with the running coupli…
The production and space-time evolution of charm and bottom quarks in nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC and LHC are investigated with the partonic transport model BAMPS (Boltzmann Approach of MultiParton Scatterings). Heavy quarks, produced in primary hard parton scatterings during nucleon-nucleon collisions, are sampled using the Monte Carlo event generator PYTHIA or the leading order mini-jet model in conjunction with the Glauber model, revealing a strong sensitivity on the parton distribution functions, scales, and heavy quark mass. In a comprehensive study exploring different charm masses…
Heavy quarks are a unique probe to study the medium produced in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. Within the partonic transport model Boltzmann approach to multi-parton scatterings (BAMPS) the production, energy loss and elliptic flow of heavy quarks are investigated in 3+1 dimensional simulations of the quark gluon plasma evolution. With only binary interactions between heavy quarks and particles from the medium calculated within perturbative QCD, the results on elliptic flow and the nuclear modification factor are not compatible with experimental data from RHIC and LHC. However, if th…
Heavy quark and charmonium production as well as their space-time evolution are studied in transport simulations of heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC. In the partonic transport model Boltzmann Approach of MultiParton Scatterings (BAMPS) heavy quarks can be produced in initial hard parton scatterings or during the evolution of the quark-gluon plasma. Subsequently, they interact with the medium via binary scatterings with a running coupling and a more precise Debye screening which is derived from hard thermal loop calculations, participate in the flow and lose energy. We present results of th…
Using a multiphase transport model (AMPT), which includes both initial partonic and final hadronic interactions, we study the rapidity distributions of charged particles such as protons, antiprotons, pions, and kaons in heavy ion collisions at RHIC. The theoretical results for the total charged particle multiplicity at midrapidity are consistent with those measured by the PHOBOS collaboration in central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt s$ = 56 and 130 AGeV. We find that these hadronic observables are much more sensitive to the hadronic interactions than the partonic interactions.
The parton yield, (pseudo)rapidity distribution, and transverse momentum distribution in partonic matter assumed forming in the early stage of $pp$ and nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC energy ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=200 GeV) and LHC energy ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=5.5 TeV for nucleus-nucleus, 5.5 and/or 14 TeV for $pp$) are comparatively investigated with parton and hadron cascade model PACIAE. It turned out that the different parton and anti-parton spectra approach to be similar with reaction energy increasing from RHIC to LHC. We have argued that if the partonic matter forming in Au+Au collisions at RHIC…
The nuclear modification factor $R_{AA}$ for $π_0$ production in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ AGeV is calculated, and studied at high transverse momenta $p_T$. The soft thermalized nuclear medium is described within the framework of relativistic ideal three-dimensional hydrodynamics. The energy loss of partonic jets is evaluated in the context of gluon bremsstrahlung in the thermalized partonic matter. We provide a systematic analysis of the azimuthal asymmetry of $π_0$ suppression at high $p_T$ in central and non-central collisions, at mid and forward rapidity. The determination of $R_{…
We present a short review of our results on the collectivity and the suppression pattern of charmed mesons in heavy-ion collisions based on the microscopic Hadron-String Dynamics (HSD) transport approach for different scenarios of charm interactions with the surrounding matter - the 'comover' dissociation by mesons with further recreation by D+Dbar channels and 'pre-hadronic' interaction scenarios. While at SPS energies the hadronic 'comover' absorption scenario is found to be compatible with the experimental data, the dynamics of c and cbar quarks at RHIC are dominated by partonic or 'pre-had…
A fast jet propagating through partonic matter loses energy by medium-induced gluon radiation. We propose a method to detect the energy loss of jets and the final-state interaction of the radiated gluons and the jets with the partonic medium. By embedding jets and radiated energy into a parton cascade, we find that the fate of lost jets can be studied by analyzing the momentum distribution of soft hadrons relative to the jet axis.
We use an event-by-event hydrodynamical description of the heavy-ion collision process with Glauber initial conditions to calculate the thermal emission of photons. The photon rates in the hadronic phase follow from a spectral function approach and a density expansion, while in the partonic phase they follow from the AMY perturbative rates. The calculated photon elliptic flows are lower than those reported recently by both the ALICE and PHENIX collaborations.
We estimate the survival probability of $J/ψ$ in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, using both short-distance QCD and nuclear absorption mechanism. The suppression is found to be almost 100 percent for a thermally equilibrating quark-gluon plasma. The measurement of such a huge suppression of $J/ψ$ may suggest the existence of a deconfined partonic medium, possibly a thermalised quark-gluon plasma, at RHIC.
We present an analysis of $Ω$, $Ξ$, $Λ$ and $ϕ$ spectra from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV in terms of distributions of effective constituent quarks at hadronization. Consistency in quark ratios derived from various hadron spectra provides clear evidence for hadron formation dynamics as suggested by quark coalescence or recombination models. We argue that the constituent quark distribution reflects properties of the effective partonic degrees of freedom at hadronization. Experimental data indicate that strange quarks have a transverse momentum distribution flatter than that of up…
The current status of transport theoretical models applicable to the physics of the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider is reviewed. The time evolution of microscopic reaction dynamics - from early, hard, partonic rescattering up to soft hadronic interactions close to freeze-out is analyzed and key observables linked to the different reaction stages are discussed.
We present a comparison of inclusive photon elliptic flow parameter (v_{2}) measured at RHIC and SPS high energy heavy-ion collision experiments to calculations done using the AMPT and UrQMD models. The new results discussed includes the comparison of the model calculations of photon v_{2} to corresponding measurements at the forward rapidities. We observe that the AMPT model which includes partonic interactions and quark coalescence as a mechanism of hadronization is in good agreement with the measurements even at forward rapidities (2.3 < η< 3.9) at RHIC as was previously observed for measur…
Recent experimental advances at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the large center-of-mass energies available to the heavy-ion program at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will enable strongly interacting matter at high temperatures and densities, that is, the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), to be probed in unprecedented ways. Among these exciting new probes are fully-reconstructed inclusive jets and the away-side hadron showers associated with a weakly or electromagnetically interacting boson, or, tagged jets. Full jet reconstruction provides an experimental window into the mechanisms of…
We argue that measurements of identified-particle elliptic flow in a wide energy range could shed light on the possible phase change in high-energy heavy ion collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). When the hadronization process is dominated by quark coalescence, the number-of-constituent-quark (NCQ) scaling for the identified-particle elliptic flow can serve as a probe for studying the strong interacting partonic matter. In the upcoming RHIC low-energy runs, the NCQ scaling behavior may be broken because of the change of the effective degrees of freedom of the hot dense …
In this article we investigate how the energy and momentum deposited by partonic dijets in the quark-gluon plasma may perturb the geometry-induced hydrodynamic expansion of the bulk nuclear matter created in heavy ion collisions at RHIC. The coupling between the jets and the medium is done through a source term in the energy-momentum conservation equations for ideal hydrodynamics. We concentrate our attention at mid-rapidity and solve the equations event-by-event imposing boost-invariance. For $p_T \gtrsim 1$ GeV the anisotropic flow is found to be considerably enhanced, if the dijets deposit …
To study heavy ion collisions at energies to be available from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), we have developed a transport model that includes both initial partonic and final hadronic interactions. Specifically, the parton cascade model ZPC, which uses as input the parton distribution from the HIJING model, is extended to include the quark-gluon to hadronic matter transition and also final-state hadronic interactions based on the ART model. Comparisons with SPS data and predictions for RHIC are reported.
We discuss the present collective flow signals for the phase transition to quark-gluon plasma (QGP) and the collective flow as a barometer for the equation of state (EoS). A study of Mach shocks induced by fast partonic jets propagating through the QGP is given. We predict a significant deformation of Mach shocks in central Au+Au collisions at RHIC and LHC energies as compared to the case of jet propagation in a static medium. Results of a hydrodynamical study of jet energy loss are presented.
We examine whether the breakdown in elliptic flow quark number scaling observed at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) energy scan is related to the turning off of deconfinement by testing the hypothesis that hydrodynamics and parton coalescence always apply, but are obscured, at lower energies, by variations in the widths of quark and anti-quark rapidity distribution. We find that this effect is enough to spoil quark number scaling in elliptic flow. A lack of scaling in data therefore does not signal the absence of partonic degrees of freedom and hadronization by coalescence. In a coal…
To study heavy ion collisions at energies available from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, we have developed a multi-phase transport model that includes both initial partonic and final hadronic interactions. Specifically, the parton cascade model ZPC, which uses as input the parton distribution from the HIJING model, is extended to include the quark-gluon to hadronic matter transition and also final-state hadronic interactions based on the ART model. Predictions of the model for central Au on Au collisions at RHIC are reported.
Within the framework of a multi-phase transport model, harmonic flows $v_n$ (n = 2, 3 and 4) are investigated for Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV and Pb + Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV. The event-by-event geometry fluctuations significantly contribute to harmonic flows. Triangular flow ($v_3$) originates from initial triangularity ($ε_3$) and is developed by partonic interactions. The conversion efficiency ($v_n/ε_n$) decreases with harmonic order and increases with partonic interaction cross section. A mass ordering in the low $p_T$ region and number of constitut…
QCD predicts the existence of a new partonic Yukawa phase above a critical temperature $T_c\sim 150$ MeV. I review some of the key observables which will be used in heavy ion reactions to search for this new phase at RHIC. Systematics of collective observables ($N_{ch},E_\perp)$, flow patterns, meson interferometry, jet quenching, and $J/ψ$ suppression are discussed. This talk is updated with the first data from RHIC.
The elliptic flow in heavy ion collisions at RHIC is studied in a multiphase transport model. By converting the strings in the high energy density regions into partons, we find that the final elliptic flow is sensitive to the parton scattering cross section. To reproduce the large elliptic flow observed in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt s=130A$ GeV requires a parton scattering cross section of about 6 mb. We also study the dependence of the elliptic flow on the particle multiplicity, transverse momentum, and particle mass.
Using a multiphase transport model (AMPT) with both partonic and hadronic interactions, we study the multiplicity and transverse momentum distributions of charged particles such as pions, kaons and protons in central Au+Au collisions at RHIC energies. Effects due to nuclear shadowing and jet quenching on these observables are also studied. We further show preliminary results on the production of multistrange baryons from the strangeness-exchange reactions during the hadronic stage of heavy ion collisions.
The possibility of quantum entanglement leading to a seemingly thermal distribution of the initial partonic state that maps to the final hadronic state in the evolution of the deconfined phase generated in relativistic heavy ion collisions is discussed in the context of early thermalization and final state particle distributions obtained in experiments at RHIC and the LHC.
The production and space-time evolution of heavy quarks and J/psi in the quark gluon plasma is studied within the partonic transport model Boltzmann Approach to MultiParton Scatterings (BAMPS). This framework allows interactions among all partons: gluons, light quarks and heavy quarks. Heavy quarks, in particular, interact with the rest of the medium via binary scatterings with a running coupling and a more precise Debye screening which is derived from hard thermal loop calculations. We compare our results of the elliptic flow and nuclear modification factor not only to experimental data of he…
The suppression and collective flow of open and hidden heavy flavor in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions is studied with the partonic transport model Boltzmann Approach to MultiParton Scatterings (BAMPS). Charm and bottom quarks interact with the rest of the medium via elastic scatterings with an improved Debye screening and a running coupling. Heavy flavor electron data from RHIC can only be described if the cross section is multiplied with K=3.5 to mimic the contribution from radiative processes. With the same value for K we compare to elliptic flow data of D mesons at the LHC and find…
The implications of parton rearrangement processes on the dynamics of ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions have been investigated. A microscopic transport approach, namely the quark gluon string model (QGSM) which has been extended for a locally density-dependent partonic rearrangement and fusion procedure served as the tool for this investigations. The model emulates effectively the dynamics of a strongly coupled quark plasma and final hadronic interactions. Main QGSM results on anisotropic flow components v1 and v2 at top RHIC energy are compiled. Predictions for the pseudorapidity depend…
Heavy ion collisions in the low energy run at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Germany are expected to produce a quark-gluon plasma that has a finite baryon chemical potential, allowing thus the possibility to study the location of the critical endpoint in the QCD phase diagram. In this talk, using a multiphase transport model, that includes interactions in both initial partonic and final hadronic matters and the transition between these two phases of matter, we discuss the effects of partonic interactions on observables such …
In the frame work of a nuclear overlap model, we estimate the number of nucleon and quark participants in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions. We observe the number of nucleon ($N_{N-part}$)-normalized enhancement of multi-strange particles which show a monotonic increase with centrality, turns out to be a centrality independent scaling behavior when normalized to number of constituent quarks participating in the collision ($N_{q-part}$). In addition, we observe that the $N_{q-part}$-normalized enhancement, when further normalized to the strangeness content, shows a st…
We consider production of prompt photons in high energy gold-gold and deuteron-gold collisions in the forward rapidity region of RHIC ($y \sim 3.8$). In this kinematics, the projectile partons typically have large $x_{bj}$ while the target partons are mostly at very small $x_{bj}$ so that the primary partonic collisions involve valence quarks from the projectile and gluons from the target. We take the target nucleus to be a Color Glass Condensate while the projectile deuteron or nucleus is treated as a dilute system of partons. We show that the photon production cross section can be written as…
The dynamics of partons, hadrons and strings in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions is analyzed within the novel Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach, which is based on a dynamical quasiparticle model for partons (DQPM) matched to reproduce recent lattice-QCD results - including the partonic equation of state - in thermodynamic equilibrium. The transition from partonic to hadronic degrees of freedom is described by covariant transition rates for the fusion of quark-antiquark pairs or three quarks (antiquarks), respectively, obeying flavor current-conservation, color neut…
We update the study of the total Psi and Upsilon production cross section in proton-proton collisions at RHIC energies using the QCD-based Color-Singlet (CS) Model, including next-to-leading order partonic matrix elements. We also include charm-quark initiated processes which appear at leading order in alpha_s, but which have so far been overlooked in such studies. Contrary to earlier claims, we show that the CS yield is consistent with measurements over a broad range of J/Psi rapidities. We also find that charm-quark initiated processes, including both intrinsic and sea-like charm components,…
There are several indications that an opaque partonic medium is created in energetic Au+Au collisions \sqrt{s} ~ 100 GeV/nucleon at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). At the extreme densities of ~ 10-100 times normal nuclear density reached even heavy-flavor hadrons are affected significantly. Heavy-quark observables are presented from the parton transport model MPC, focusing on the nuclear suppression pattern, azimuthal anisotropy ("elliptic flow"), and azimuthal correlations. Comparison with Au+Au data at top RHIC energy \sqrt{s} = 200 GeV indicates significant heavy quark rescatter…
We study to what extent the measured elliptic flow at RHIC constrains viscous deviations from ideal hydrodynamics. We solve a toy model where only transverse momenta are thermalized while the system undergoes longitudinal free-streaming. We show that RHIC data exclude such a model and thus require fast 3-dimensional thermalization.
Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) are thought to have produced a state of matter called the Quark-Gluon-Plasma, characterized by a very small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio $η/s$, near the lower bound predicted for that quantity by Anti-deSitter space/Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) methods. As the produced matter expands and cools, it evolves through a phase described by a hadron gas with rapidly increasing $η/s$. We calculate $η/s$ as a function of temperature in this phase and find that its value poses a challenge for viscous rel…
Strange particles have been a very important observable in the search for a deconfined state of strongly interacting matter, the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), which is expected to be formed in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. We review the main experimental observations made at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN, Geneva, and at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The large amount of recently collected data allows for a comprehensive study of strangeness production as a function of energy and system size. We review results on yields, t…
Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are thought to have produced a state of matter called the quark-gluon plasma, characterized by a very small shear-viscosity to entropy-density ratio $η/s$, near the lower bound predicted for that quantity by AdS/CFT methods. As the produced matter expands and cools, it evolves through a phase described by a hadron gas with rapidly increasing $η/s$. We calculate $η/s$ as a function of temperature in this phase both in and out of chemical equilibrium and find that its value poses a challenge for viscous relativi…
Charm elliptic flow in heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) is studied in a multiphase transport model. Assuming that the cross section for charm quark scattering with other light quarks is the same as that between light quarks, we find that both charm and light quark elliptic flows are sensitive to the value of the cross section. Compared to that of light quarks, the elliptic flow of charm quarks is smaller at low transverse momentum but approaches comparable values at high transverse momentum. Similar features are seen in the elliptic flow of charmed mesons as w…
Based on A Multi-Phase Transport (AMPT) model, we have studied the elliptic flow $v_{2}$ of $ϕ$ mesons from reconstructed $K^{+}K^{-}$ decay channel at the top Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider energy at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The dependences of $v_{2}$ on transverse momentum $p_T$ and collision centrality are presented and the rescattering effect of $ϕ$ mesons in the hadronic phase is also investigated. The results show that experimental measurement of $v_{2}$ for $ϕ$ mesons can retain the early collision information before $ϕ$ decays and that the $ϕ$ $v_2$ value obeys the constituent …
Initial conditions for quark-gluon plasma formation at $τ=0.1\fm$ are considered in lowest order perturbative QCD. Chemical composition, thermalization of the formed semihard quark-gluon system and especially implications of the new HERA parton distributions with the enhancement at small $x$ are studied. The plasma at $τ=0.1\fm$ is shown to be strongly gluon dominated both at RHIC and LHC, and a possibility for rapid thermalization of gluons at LHC is pointed out. Uncertainties in the calculations, particularly shadowing corrections to the parton distributions, are discussed. Free streaming an…
The elliptic flow splitting between particles and their antiparticles has recently been observed by the STAR Collaboration in the beam-energy scan program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. In studies based on transport models, we have found that this splitting can be explained by the different mean-field potentials acting on particles and their antiparticles in the produced baryon-rich matter. In particular, we have shown that the experimentally measured relative elliptic flow difference can help constrain the vector coupling constant in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model used in describing th…
The direct photon spectra and flow ($v_2$, $v_3$) in heavy-ion collisions at SPS, RHIC and LHC energies are investigated within a relativistic transport approach incorporating both hadronic and partonic phases -- the Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD). In the present work, four extensions are introduced compared to our previous calculations: (i) going beyond the soft-photon approximation (SPA) in the calculation of the bremsstrahlung processes $meson+meson\to meson+meson+γ$, (ii) quantifying the suppression due to the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal (LPM) coherence effect, (iii) adding the additio…
The dynamics of partonic cascades may be an important aspect for particle production in relativistic collisions of nuclei at CERN SPS and BNL RHIC energies. Within the Parton-Cascade Model, we estimate the production of single photons from such cascades due to scattering of quarks and gluons q g -> q gamma, quark-antiquark annihilation q qbar -> g gamma, or gamma gamma, and from electromagnetic brems-strahlung of quarks q -> q gamma. We find that the latter QED branching process plays the dominant role for photon production, similarly as the QCD branchings q -> q g and g -> g g play a crucial …
The space-time propagation of heavy quarks in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions is studied within the partonic transport model Boltzmann Approach of MultiParton Scatterings (BAMPS). In this model heavy quarks interact with the partonic medium via binary scatterings. The cross sections for these interactions are calculated with leading order perturbative QCD, but feature a more precise Debye screening derived within the hard thermal loop approximation and obey the running of the coupling. Within this framework the elliptic flow and the nuclear modification factor of heavy quarks are compu…
The azimuthal asymmetry of $J/ψ$ suppression in non-central heavy-ion collisions is studied within a dynamic model of $J/ψ$ suppression in a deconfined partonic medium. Within this model, $J/ψ$ suppression in heavy-ion collisions is caused mainly by the initial state nuclear absorption and dissociation via gluon-$J/ψ$ scattering in deconfined partonic medium. Only the second mechanism gives arise to azimuthal asymmetry of the final $J/ψ$ production. We demonstrate that if there is an onset of suppression by quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in the NA50 data, it must be accompanied by the non-vanishing …
We briefly recall the tremendous strides in the studies of the parton cascade model made by Klaus Geiger. Next, we argue that photons may provide confirmation of several of these ideas. Thus we know that, copious internetted partonic cascades may develop in the wake of relativistic collisions of nuclei at CERN SPS and BNL RHIC energies, We use the parton cascade model to estimate the emission of single photons generated from such cascades due to the branching of quarks $q \to q γ$, scattering of quarks and gluons, and annihilation of quarks. The formation of a hot and dense partonic matter is …
It is argued that the consistent description of the transverse-momentum spectra, elliptic flow, and the HBT radii in the relativistic heavy-ion collisions studied at RHIC may be obtained within the hydrodynamic model if one uses the Gaussian profile for the initial energy density in the transverse plane. Moreover, we show that the results obtained in the scenario with an early start of hydrodynamics (at the proper time tau0 = 0.25 fm) are practically equivalent to the results obtained in the model where the hydrodynamics is preceded by the free-streaming stage of partons (in the proper time in…
The transition from hadronic to partonic degrees of freedom in the course of a relativistic heavy-ion collision is described by the microscopic covariant Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach. Studying Pb+Pb reactions from 40 to 158 AGeV and comparing the PHSD results to those of the Hadron-String Dynamics (HSD) approach without a phase transition to the QGP, we observe that the existence of the partonic phase has a sizable influence on the transverse mass distribution of final kaons due to the repulsive partonic mean fields. Furthermore, we find a significant effect of the Q…
