In this lecture note, we discuss the global properties of nucleus-nucleus collisions. After a brief introduction to heavy-ion collisions, we introduce useful kinematics and then discuss the bulk hadron production in A+A collisions. At the end we discuss the hadronization and hadronic freeze-out in A+A collisions. We have tried to cover the topic from very fundamental arguments especially for the beginners in the field. We also give very useful formulae frequently used by experimentalists, from a first principle derivation.
The influence of the underlying nucleon-nucleon collision geometry on evaluations of the nuclear overlap function ($T_{AB}$) and number of binary collisions ($N_{coll}$) is studied. A narrowing of the spatial distribution of the hard-partons with large light-cone fraction $x$ in nucleons leads to a downward correction for $N_{coll}$ and $T_{AB}$, which in turn, results in an upward correction for the nuclear modification factor $R_{AB}$. The size of this correction is estimated for several experimentally motivated nucleon-nucleon overlap functions for hard-partons. It is found to be significan…
In proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collision experiments, one determines the centrality of a collision according to the multiplicity or energy deposited in a detector. This serves as a proxy for the true collision centrality, as defined by the impact parameter. We show that the probability distribution of impact parameter in a given bin of experiment-defined centrality can be reconstructed without assuming any specific model for the collision dynamics, in both proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus systems. The reconstruction is reliable up to about 10\% centrality, and is more accurate for nuc…
In p-p collisions the average transverse momentum is known to be correlated with the multiplicity of produced particles. The correlation is shown to survive in a superposition model of nucleus-nucleus collisions. When properly parameterized, the correlation strength appears to be independent of the collision centrality - it is the same in p-p and central A-A collisions. However, the correlation is strongly suppressed by the centrality fluctuations.
Azimuthal correlations of particles produced in nucleus-nucleus collisions at CERN SPS are discussed. The correlations quantified by the integral measure Phi are shown to be dominated by effects of collective flow.
We propose a new parametrization of the distribution of the initial eccentricity in a nucleus-nucleus collision at a fixed centrality, which we name the Elliptic Power distribution. It is a two-parameter distribution, where one of the parameters corresponds to the intrinsic eccentricity, while the other parameter controls the magnitude of eccentricity fluctuations. Unlike the previously used Bessel- Gaussian distribution, which becomes worse for more peripheral collisions, the new Elliptic Power distribution fits several Monte Carlo models of the initial state for all centralities.
We apply the successful Monte Carlo Glauber and IP-Glasma initial state models of heavy ion collisions to the much smaller size systems produced in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and deuteron- nucleus collisions. We observe a significantly greater sensitivity of the initial state geometry to details of multi-particle production in these models compared to nucleus-nucleus collisions. In particular, we find that the size of the system produced in p+A collisions is very similar to the one produced in p+p collisions, and predict comparable Hanbury-Brown-Twiss radii in the absence of flow in both sy…
According to the usual application of the sequential-suppression picture to the dynamics of heavy quarkonia in the hot medium formed in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions, quark-antiquark pairs created in a given bound or unbound state remain in that same state as the medium evolves. We argue that this scenario implicitly assumes an adiabatic evolution of the quarkonia, and we show that the validity of the adiabaticity assumption is questionable.
We perform the first study on asymmetric longitudinal decorrelations of elliptic, triangular and quadrangular flows in proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC and RHIC energies. To measure the longitudinal flow decorrelations for asymmetric collision systems, we propose a new set of rapidity-asymmetric flow decorrelation functions. Our event-by-event hydrodynamic calculations show that the flow decorrelations in proton-going direction are larger than those in nucleus-going direction. We also find that proton-nucleus collisions at RHIC have larger longitudinal flow decorrelation effects than those…
We show that the statistics of fluctuation-driven initial-state anisotropies in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions is to a large extent universal. We propose a simple parametrization for the probability distribution of the Fourier coefficient $\varepsilon_n$ in harmonic $n$, which is in good agreement with Monte-Carlo simulations. Our results provide a simple explanation for the 4-particle cumulant of triangular flow measured in Pb-Pb collisions, and for the 4-particle cumulant of elliptic flow recently measured in p-Pb collisions. Both arise as natural consequences o…
At large collision energy sqrt(s) and relatively low momentum transfer Q, one expects a new regime of Quantum Chromo-Dynamics (QCD) known as "saturation". This kinematical range is characterized by a very large occupation number for gluons inside hadrons and nuclei; this is the region where higher twist contributions are as large as the leading twist contributions incorporated in collinear factorization. In this talk, I discuss the onset of and dynamics in the saturation regime, some of its experimental signatures, and its implications for the early stages of Heavy Ion Collisions.
The $Δ$-scaling method has been applied to ultra-relativistic p+p, C+C and Pb+Pb collision data simulated using a high energy Monte Carlo package, LUCIAE 3.0. The $Δ$-scaling is found to be valid for some physical variables, such as charged particle multiplicity, strange particle multiplicity and number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions from these simulated nucleus-nucleus collisions over an extended energy ranging from $E_{lab}$ = 20 to 200 A GeV. In addition we derived information entropy from the multiplicity distribution as a function of beam energy for these collisions.
The propagation of the heavy quarks produced in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC and LHC is studied within the framework of Langevin dynamics in the background of an expanding deconfined medium described by ideal and viscous hydrodynamics. The transport coefficients entering into the relativistic Langevin equation are evaluated by matching the hard-thermal-loop result for soft collisions with a perturbative QCD calculation for hard scatterings. The heavy-quark spectra thus obtained are employed to compute the differential cross sections, the nuclear modification factors R_AA and…
A generic expression of double-parton scattering cross sections in high-energy nucleus-nucleus (A-A) collisions is derived as a function of the corresponding single-parton hard cross sections and of the A-A event centrality. We consider the case of prompt-J/psi production in lead-lead (Pb-Pb) at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and find that about 20% (35%) of the J/psi events in minimum-bias (most central) collisions contain a second J/psi from double parton interactions. In Pb-Pb at 5.5 TeV, in the absence of final-state effects, about 240 double-J/psi events are expected per unit midrapidity …
We present a study of the heavy-flavor dynamics in nucleus-nucleus collisions. The initial (hard) production of c and b quarks is taken from NLO pQCD predictions. The presence of a hot medium (a Quark Gluon Plasma described by hydrodynamics) affects the final spectra of open-charm (beauty) hadrons and their decay electrons with respect to what found in pp collisions. The propagation of c and b quarks in the plasma is based on a picture of multiple uncorrelated random collisions, described by a relativistic Langevin equation. A microscopic evaluation of the transport coefficients is provided wi…
The number of particles detected in a nucleus-nucleus collision strongly depends on the impact parameter of the collision. Therefore, multiplicity fluctuations, as well as rapidity correlations of multiplicities, are dominated by impact parameter fluctuations. We present a method based on Bayesian inference which allows for a robust reconstruction of fluctuations and correlations at fixed impact parameter. We apply the method to ATLAS data on the distribution of charged multiplicity and transverse energy. We argue that multiplicity fluctuations are smaller at large rapidity than around central…
Pion and photon production cross sections are analyzed in proton-proton and proton-nucleus collisions at energies 20 GeV < s^1/2 < 60 GeV. We separate the proton-proton and nuclear contributions to transverse-momentum broadening and suggest a new mechanism for the nuclear enhancement in the high transverse-momentum region.
We present a new model for the description of heavy-flavor hadronization in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We explore its effect on the charmed hadron yields and kinematic distributions once the latter is applied at the end of transport calculations used to simulate the propagation of heavy quarks in the deconfined fireball produced in the collision. The model is based on the formation of color-singlet clusters through the recombination of charm quarks with light antiquarks or diquarks from the same fluid cell. This local mechanism of color neutralization leads to a strong space-momentum c…
An overview is given on the experimental study of quark-gluon matter produced in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions, with emphasis on recent measurements at the Large Hadron Collider.
Simple generic expressions to compute double-parton scattering (DPS) cross sections in high-energy proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions, as a function of the corresponding single-parton cross sections, are presented. Estimates of DPS contributions are studied for two specific processes at LHC energies: (i) same-sign W-boson pair production in p-Pb, and (ii) double-J/psi production in Pb-Pb, using NLO predictions with nuclear parton densities for the corresponding single-parton cross sections. The expected DPS cross sections and event rates after typical acceptance and efficiency losse…
The transverse momentum spectra of charged particles produced in proton(deuteron)-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energies are analyzed by the Hagedorn thermal model and the standard distribution in terms of multi-component. The experimental data measured in central and peripheral gold-gold (Au-Au) and deuteron-gold ($d$-Au) collisions by the PHENIX Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), as well as in central and peripheral lead-lead (Pb-Pb) and proton-lead ($p$-Pb) collisions by the ALICE Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are fitted by the t…
The cross sections for the glueball candidates production in quasi-real photon-photon collisions and on central diffraction processes, i.e. double Pomeron exchange, in heavy ion interactions at RHIC and LHC are computed. The rates for these distinct production channels are compared and they may be a fruitful approach to the investigation of glueballs.
An outlook on physics at the high energy frontier of nucleus-nucleus collisions is presented, on the basis of the new results presented at Quark Matter 2011 by the LHC and RHIC experiments.
Evidence for the energy threshold of creating the quark-gluon plasma in nucleus-nucleus collisions, the so-called onset of deconfinement, has been found by the energy scan program of the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS. In this paper we review the experimental and theoretical status of this phenomenon. First, the basic, qualitative ideas are presented for non-experts. Next, the latest experimental results are compared to a statistical model within which the onset of deconfinement and its signals had been predicted. Finally, alternative interpretations and open questions are discussed.
We define a set of model-independent observables which generally characterize the azimuthal dependence of two-particle correlations in nucleus-nucleus collisions. We explain how they can be analyzed, and show to what extent such analyses are model dependent. We discuss specific applications to the anisotropic flow of decaying particles, azimuthally sensitive HBT, and correlations between particles at large transverse momentum. A quantitative prediction is made for jet quenching with respect to the reaction plane.
Ultra-relativistic heavy-ions carry strong electromagnetic and nuclear fields. Interactions between these fields in peripheral nucleus-nucleus collisions can probe many interesting physics topics. This presentation will focus on coherent two-photon and photonuclear processes at RHIC. The rates for these interactions will be high. The coherent coupling of all the protons in the nucleus enhances the equivalent photon flux by a factor Z^2 up to an energy of ~3 GeV. The plans for studying coherent interactions with the STAR experiment will be discussed. Experimental techniques for separating signa…
The transverse momentum spectra of the produced hadrons have been compared to a model which is based on the assumption that a nucleus-nucleus collision is a superposition of isotropically decaying thermal sources at a given freeze out temperature. The freeze-out temperature in nucleus-nucleus collisions is fixed from the inverse slope of the transverse momentum spectra of hadrons in nucleon-nucleon collision. The successive collisions in the nuclear reaction leads to gain in transverse momentum, as the nucleons propagate in the nucleus following a random walk pattern. The average transverse ra…
The rapidity dependence of elliptic, $v_2$, and triangular, $v_3$, flow coefficients in proton-nucleus (p+A) collisions is predicted in hydrodynamics and in a multi-phase transport model (AMPT). We find that $v_n$ ($n=2,3$) on a nucleus side is significantly larger than on a proton side and the ratio between the two, $v_n^{\rm Pb}/v_n^{\rm p}$, weekly depends on the transverse momentum of produced particles.
A short overview is given on the study of hot matter produced in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions, with emphasis on recent measurements at the LHC.
An experimental overview of the energy dependence of strangeness production is presented. The strange hadrons are considered a good probe to study the QCD matter created in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. The heavy-ion experiments at SPS, RHIC, and LHC have recorded a wealth of data in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at several beam energies. In this proceeding, I discuss the invariant yield and azimuthal anisotropy measurement of strange hadrons in nucleus-nucleus collisions at SPS, RHIC, and LHC.
The measurement of Lambda^0 hyperons polarization in nucleus-nucleus collisions is considered as one of possible tools to study the phase transition. Fixed target and collider experiments are discussed for the case of Lambda^0's production from Au-Au central collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}} of several GeV.
In recent years lot of interest has been observed in the nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC energies in phenomena related to high $p_{t}$ physics \cite{ref1}. The suppression of high $p_{t}$ particles and disappearance of back-to-back jets compared to the scaling with number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions indicates that a nearly perfect liquid is produced in these collisions. Results on self shadowing of high $p_{t}$ events are presented using hadron multiplicity associated to high $p_{t}$ and unbiased events in nucleus-nucleus collisions \cite{ref2} obtained from the hijing event genera…
Electromagnetic probes are not affected by hadronization and provide direct information about the space-time evolution of high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. In particular, the measurement of thermal radiation from the quark-gluon plasma and the extraction of an effective medium temperature belong to the key objectives in heavy-ion physics. We provide a brief tour of current results and an outlook to future measurements.
The possible transition of nuclear matter to a deconfined phase in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions is explored by a systematic variation of the collision system by means of system size, beam energy and centrality of the collision all measured within the same experiment NA49 at the CERN SPS. The investigation takes advantage of the large number of hadronic observables covered over a wide phase space by the acceptance of the NA49 TPCs.
In this work we analyse the theoretical uncertainties on the predictions for the photoproduction of light vector mesons in coherent pp, pA and AA collisions at the LHC energies using the color dipole approach. In particular, we present our predictions for the rapidity distribution for rh0 and phi photoproduction and perform an analysis on the uncertainties associated to the choice of vector meson wavefunctionand the phenomenological models for the dipole cross section. Comparison is done with the recent ALICE analysis on coherent production of rho at 2.76 TeV in PbPb collisions.
This paper has been withdrawn by the authors because the formula used to fit the pion source radii accounted for only one of the two effects of finite viscosity, and because a mistake in interpreting RHIC data was discovered.
Emission of pi, K, phi and Lambda was measured in near-central C+C and Si+Si collisions at 158 AGeV beam energy. Together with earlier data for p+p, S+S and Pb+Pb, the system-size dependence of relative strangeness production in nucleus-nucleus collisions is obtained. Its fast rise and the saturation observed at about 60 participating nucleons can be understood as onset of the formation of coherent partonic subsystems of increasing size.
Nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC produce high temperature and high energy density matter which exhibits partonic degrees of freedom. We will discuss measurements of nuclear modification factors for light hadrons and non-photonic electrons from heavy quark decays, which reflect the flavor dependence of energy loss of high momentum partons traversing the dense QCD medium. The hadronization of bulk partonic matter exhibits collectivity in effective partonic degrees of freedom. Nuclear collisions at RHIC provide an intriguing environment, where many constituent quark ingredients are readily avai…
We propose a novel approach to the analysis of experimental data obtained in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions which borrows from methods developed within the context of Random Matrix Theory. It is applied to the detection of correlations in momentum distributions of emitted particles. We find good agreement between the results obtained in this way and a standard analysis based on the two-pair correlation function often used in high energy physics. The method introduced here is free from unwanted background contributions.
Multiparticle production processes in He-Li, He-C, C-C, C-Ne, C-Cu, C-Pb,, F-Mg, Mg-Mg and O-Pb collsions at energy of 3.7 GeV/nucleon obtained by use of SKM-200 and GIBS spectrometers of JINR. Collective flow phenomena (directed and elliptic flows) at this energy have been observed.
There are a large number of physics programs one can explore in electron-nucleus collisions at a future electron-ion collider. Collision geometry is very important in these studies, while the measurement for an event-by-event geometric control is rarely discussed in the prior deep inelastic scattering experiments off a nucleus. This paper seeks to provide some detailed studies on the potential of tagging collision geometries through forward neutron multiplicity measurements with a zero degree calorimeter. This type of geometry handle, if achieved, can be extremely beneficial in constraining nu…
New preliminary results on kaon and pion production in central 30AGeV Pb+Pb collisions are presented. The data are compared to data at lower and higher energies to examine the energy dependence of the kaon to pion ratios and the inverse slope parameters of kaons. The results are compared to expectations from models with and without a phase transition to the Quark Gluon Plasma.
We present the first results from the E864 collaboration on the production of antiprotons in 10% central 11.5 A GeV/c Au+Pb nucleus collisions at the Brookhaven AGS. We report invariant multiplicities for antiproton production in the kinematic region 1.4<y<2.2 and 50<p_T<300 MeV/c, and compare our data with a first collision scaling model and previously published results from the E878 collaboration. The differences between the E864 and E878 antiproton measurements and the implications for antihyperon production are discussed.
Azimuthal distributions of particles produced in nucleus-nucleus collisions are measured with respect to an estimated reaction plane which, because of finite multiplicity fluctuations, differs in general from the true reaction plane. It follows that the measured distributions do not coincide with the true ones. I propose a general method of reconstructing the Fourier coefficients of the true azimuthal distributions from the measured ones. This analysis suggests that the Fourier coefficients are the best observables to characterize azimuthal anisotropies because, unlike other observables such a…
We discuss that the QCD critical point could appear in central collisions in percolation cluster. We suggest using the nuclear transparency effect and the one of the light nuclear production to identify the critical point.
We propose a novel statistical approach to the analysis of experimental data obtained in nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energies which borrows from methods developed within the context of Random Matrix Theory. It is applied to the detection of correlations in momentum distributions of emitted particles. We find good agreement between the results obtained in this way and a standard analysis based on the method of effective mass spectra and two-pair correlation function often used in high energy physics. The method introduced here is free from unwanted background contributions.
We will present a review of selected results on strange baryon production from nucleus-nucleus collisions at the AGS, SPS and RHIC. From the AGS and SPS heavy ion physics program several intriguing aspects: centrality dependence of strangeness production, anti-hyperon yield, hyperon production enhancement and baryon number transport will be highlighted. Our discussion on RHIC results will focus on experimental probes of partonic degree of freedom. Measurements of the elliptic flow v2 and the nuclear modification factor and their distinctive particle dependence are presented as a function of tr…
The hadronic final state of central Pb+Pb collisions at 20, 30, 40, 80, and 158 AGeV has been measured by the CERN NA49 collaboration. The mean transverse mass of pions and kaons at midrapidity stays nearly constant in this energy range, whereas at lower energies, at the AGS, a steep increase with beam energy was measured. Compared to p+p collisions as well as to model calculations, anomalies in the energy dependence of pion and kaon production at lower SPS energies are observed. These findings can be explained, assuming that the energy density reached in central A+A collisions at lower SPS en…
The hadronic final state of central Pb+Pb collisions at 20, 30, 40, 80, and 158 AGeV has been measured by the CERN NA49 collaboration. The mean transverse mass of pions and kaons at midrapidity stays nearly constant in this energy range, whereas at lower energies, at the AGS, a steep increase with beam energy was measured. Compared to p+p collisions as well as to model calculations, anomalies in the energy dependence of pion and kaon production at lower SPS energies are observed. These findings can be explained, assuming that the energy density reached in central A+A collisions at lower SPS en…
A measurement of strange baryon and antibaryon production in Pb-Pb collisions has been carried out by the NA57 experiment at the CERN SPS, with 40 and 158 A GeV/c beam momentum. Results on $Λ$, $Ξ$ and $Ω$ hyperon yields at mid-rapidity in the most central 53% of Pb-Pb collisions at 40 A GeV/c are presented and compared with those obtained at higher energy, in the same collision centrality range. The $Λ$ and $Ξ^-$ yields per unit rapidity stay roughly constant while those of $Ω^-$, $\barΛ$, $\barΞ^+$ and $\barΩ^+$ increase when going to the higher SPS energy. Hyperon yields at the SPS are comp…
The multiparticle azimuthal correlations between protons and between pions in central C-Ne, Mg-Mg, C-Cu and O-Pb collisions at energy of 3.7 GeV/nucleon (Streamer Chamber experiment of JINR) have been studied. The dependence of the azimuthal correlations function on the angle between the transverse momentum vectors sums of particles emitted in forward and backward hemispheres have been studied; A detailed study of pion production in central Mg-Mg collisions have been performed by use of the Lorentz invariant variables; Comparison of the obtained experimental results with predictions of intranu…
The NA49 experiment has collected comprehensive data on particle production in nucleus-nucleus collisions over the whole SPS beam energies range, the critical energy domain where the expected phase transition to a deconfined phase is expected to occur. The latest results from Pb+Pb collisions between 20$A$ GeV and 158$A$ GeV on baryon stopping and light nuclei production as well as those for strange hyperons are presented. The measured data on $p$, $\bar{p}$, $Λ$, $\barΛ$, $Ξ^-$ and $\barΞ^+$ production were used to evaluate the rapidity distributions of net-baryons at SPS energies and to comp…
Centrality, as a geometrical property of the collision, is crucial for the physical interpretation of nucleus-nucleus and proton-nucleus experimental data. However, it cannot be directly accessed in event-by-event data analysis. Common methods for centrality estimation in A-A and p-A collisions usually rely on a single detector (either on the signal in zero-degree calorimeters or on the multiplicity in some semi-central rapidity range). In the present work, we made an attempt to develop an approach for centrality determination that is based on machine-learning techniques and utilizes informati…
Heavy quarks are produced in the early stages of nucleus-nucleus collisions and can therefore provide important insight into the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Quarkonia are proposed as crucial probes to study the QGP. The extent of the medium modification for heavy-quark quarkonium production in heavy-ion collisions is measured in terms of a nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm AA}$, defined as the quarkonium yield in heavy-ion collisions divided by the relative quarkonium cross section in pp collisions scaled by the nuclear overlap function. A possible path-length dependent quarkonium dissociation…
Inclusive pion production at high transverse momenta (p_T > 2 GeV/c) in nucleus-nucleus (A+A) collisions at CERN SPS (sqrt(s_NN)~20 GeV) is revisited and systematically compared to all existing proton-proton data in the same range of center-of-mass energies. The ratio of A+A to p+p pion cross-sections (nuclear modification factor) for 0-8% central Pb+Pb, Pb+Au and S+Au reactions does not show a strong enhancement as a function of p_T as previously found, but is consistent with scaling with the number of nucleon-nucleon (NN) collisions. Neutral pion yields per NN collision in head-on Pb+Pb reac…
