From many body wee parton dynamics to perfect fluid: a standard model for heavy ion collisions
Raju Venugopalan
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Extended version of Plenary Talk at the 35th International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP2010), Paris, France, July 22-28, 2010. 14 pages, 9 figures
We discuss a standard model of heavy ion collisions that has emerged both from the experimental results of the RHIC program and associated theoretical developments. We comment briefly on the impact of early results of the LHC program on this picture. We consider how this standard model of heavy ion collisions could be solidified or falsified in future experiments at RHIC, the LHC and a future Electron-Ion Collider.
We construct a weak coupling, many body theory to compute parton distributions in large nuclei for $x\ll A^{-1/3}$. The wee partons are highly coherent, non--Abelian Weizsäcker--Williams fields. Radiative corrections to the classical results are discussed. The parton distributions for a single nucleus provide the initial conditions for the dynamical evolution of matter formed in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions.
Recently, the ZEUS collaboration has reported on several remarkable properties of events with a large rapidity gap in deep inelastic scattering. We suggest that the mechanism underlying these events is the scattering of electrons off lumps of wee partons inside the proton. Based on an effective lagrangian approach the $Q^2$-, $x$- and $W$-distributions are evaluated. For sufficiently small invariant mass of the detected hadronic system, the mechanism implies leading twist behaviour. The $x$- and $W$-distributions are determined by the Lipatov exponent which governs the behaviour of parton dens…
We discuss the space-time picture of scattering amplitudes with single and double ladder exchange in perturbative QCD. Particular emphasis is given to the Abramovsky Gribov Kanchelli (AGK) rules which describe the relative contributions of the diffractive dissociation and processes with other multiplicities to the elastic scattering amplitude. Inside the Pomeron Pomeron interaction vertices we find a new matrix which describes the transition from one s-cut to another and which goes beyond the original the AGK rules.
We discuss a remarkable correspondence between the description of Black Holes as highly occupied condensates of $N$ weakly interacting gravitons and that of Color Glass Condensates (CGCs) as highly occupied gluon states. In both cases, the dynamics of "wee partons" in Regge asymptotics is controlled by emergent semi-hard scales that lead to perturbative unitarization and classicalization of $2\rightarrow N$ particle amplitudes at weak coupling. In particular, they attain a maximal entropy permitted by unitarity, bounded by the inverse coupling $α$ of the respective constituents. Strikingly, th…
At the colliders RHIC and LHC, nuclei at the ultrarelativistic energies of $100$ GeV/A and $2.7$ TeV/A will be smashed together with the hope of creating an elusive and short-lived state of matter called the quark gluon plasma. The initial conditions which determine the dynamical evolution of the quark gluon matter formed in the central region after the collision depend crucially on the small $x$ component of the nuclear wavefunction before the collision. In this comment, we discuss recent work which argues that, for large nuclei, weak coupling techniques in QCD can be used to calculate the di…
Deep-inelastic diffractive scaling violations have provided fundamental insight into the QCD pomeron, suggesting a single gluon inner structure rather than that of a perturbative two-gluon bound state. This paper derives a high-energy, transverse momentum cut-off, confining solution of QCD. The pomeron, in first approximation, is a single reggeized gluon plus a ``wee parton'' component that compensates for the color and particle properties of the gluon. This solution corresponds to a supercritical phase of Reggeon Field Theory. Beginning with the multi-regge behavior of massive quark and gluon…
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…
We present a phenomenological approach (EPOS), based on the parton model, but going much beyond, and try to understand proton-proton and deuteron-gold collisions, in particular the transverse momentum results from all the four RHIC experiments. It turns out that elastic and inelastic parton ladder splitting is the key issue. Elastic splitting is in fact related to screening and saturation, but much more important is the inelastic contribution, being crucial to understand the data. We investigate in detail the rapidity dependence of nuclear effects, which is actually relatively weak in the mode…
Cluster and hypernuclei production in heavy-ion collisions is presently under active experimental and theoretical investigation. Since clusters are weekly bound objects, their production is very sensitive to the dynamical evolution of the system and its interactions. The theoretical description of cluster formation is related to the n-body problem. Here we present the novel n-body dynamical transport approach PHQMD (Parton-Hadron-Quantum-Molecular Dynamics) which is designed to provide a microscopic description of nuclear cluster and hypernucleus formation as well as of general particle produc…
The quark gluon plasma produced in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions exhibits remarkable features. It behaves like a nearly perfect liquid with a small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio and leads to the quenching of highly energetic particles. We show that both effects can be understood for the first time within one common framework. Employing the parton cascade Boltzmann Approach to Multi-Parton Scatterings (BAMPS), the microscopic interactions and the space-time evolution of the quark gluon plasma are calculated by solving the relativistic Boltzmann equation. Based on cross sect…
It is thought that the emergence of the "nightmare scenario" at the LHC could be a serious crisis for particle physics that could require radical new concepts and even a major paradigm change. A root cause may have been exaggeration of the significance of asymptotic freedom, leading to the historically profound mistake of formulating new short-distance extensions of the Standard Model while ignoring both serious infra-red problems and central elements of long-distance physics. In fact, pursuit of the uniquely unitary Critical Pomeron leads to a possible gauge theory origin for the Standard Mod…
The hydrodynamic (hydro) model has been extensively applied to heavy ion data from the relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC). Results are interpreted to conclude that a dense QCD medium nearly opaque to most partons, a strongly-coupled quark-gluon plasma (sQGP), is formed in more-central Au-Au collisions. The sQGP may have a very small viscosity (``perfect liquid''). However, other analysis methods provide contradictory evidence. Two-component analysis of single-particle hadron spectra reveals a spectrum hard component consistent with a parton fragment distribution described by pQCD which can…
We consider the prompt photon production in pp collisions using, within the framework of perturbative QCD, a non-Gaussian distribution for the transverse momentum distribution of the partons inside the proton. Our description adopts the widely used in the literature factorization of the partonic momentum distribution into longitudinal and transverse components. It is argued that the non-Gaussian distribution of the intrinsic transverse momenta of the partons is dictated by the asymptotic freedom as well as the 3D confinement of the partons in the proton. To make this association more transpare…
Large elliptic flow at RHIC seems to indicate that ideal hydrodynamics provides a good description of Au-Au collisions, at least at the maximum RHIC energy. The medium formed has been interpreted as a nearly perfect (low-viscosity) liquid, and connections have been made to gravitation through string theory. Recently, claimed observations of large flow fluctuations comparable to participant eccentricity fluctuations seem to confirm the ideal hydro scenario. However, determination of the azimuth quadrupole with 2D angular autocorrelations, which accurately distinguish ``flow'' (quadrupole) from …
We study inclusive $B$-meson production in $pp$ collisions at the LHC and compare experimental data with predictions of the general-mass variable-flavour-number scheme at next-to-leading order of perturbative QCD. We find almost perfect agreement provided that the factorization scale parameters and the parton distribution functions are chosen appropriately.
The hydrodynamic (hydro) model applied to heavy ion data from the relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC) in the form of single-particle spectra and correlations seems to indicate that a dense QCD medium nearly opaque to partons, a strongly-coupled quark-gluon plasma (sQGP), is formed in more-central Au-Au collisions, and that the sQGP may have a very small viscosity ("perfect liquid"). Measurements of radial and elliptic flows, with possible coalescence of "constituent quarks" to form hadrons, seem to support the conclusion. However, other measurements provide contradictory evidence. Unbiased …
The connection of the unitary Critical Pomeron to QUD - a unique massless, infra-red fixed-point, left-handed SU(5) field theory that might provide an unconventional underlying unification for the Standard Model, is discussed in the context of developments in past, present, and future multi-regge theory. The QUD bound-state S-Matrix is accessible via elaborate (non-planar) multi-regge theory. Standard Model states and interactions are replicated via massless fermion anomaly dynamics in which configurations of infra-red divergent anomalous gauge boson reggeons play a wee parton vacuum-like role…
We investigate the influence of modified nuclear parton distribution functions (PDFs) on high-pT hadron production at RHIC and LHC energies using a pQCD-improved parton model. For application at RHIC, we focus on the possible contribution of the EMC modification of the nuclear PDFs in the x > 0.3 region to the observed suppression of pi0 production at pT > 10 GeV/c in dAu collisions. We study three different parameterizations of the nuclear PDF modifications and find that they give consistent results for R_dAu(pT) for neutral pions in the region 10 GeV/c < pT < 20 GeV/c. We find that the EMC s…
The perspectives for measuring the top quark and the Higgs boson in nuclear collisions at the LHC and Future Circular Collider (FCC) are summarized. Perturbative QCD calculations at (N)NLO accuracy, including nuclear parton distribution functions, are used to determine their cross sections and visible yields after standard analysis cuts in PbPb and pPb collisions at the LHC ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.5, 8.8 TeV) and FCC ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 39, 63 TeV). In their "cleanest" decay channels, $\rm t\bar{t}\to b\bar{b} 2 \ell 2ν$ and $\rm H\to γγ, 4\ell$, about 10$^3$ ($10^5$) top-quark and 10 (10$^3$) Hig…
We investigate an approximation to early dynamics in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, where after formation the partons are free streaming and around the proper time of 1 fm/c undergo a sudden equilibration described in terms of the Landau matching condition. We discuss physical and formal aspects of this approach. In particular, we show that initial azimuthally asymmetric transverse flow develops for non-central collisions as a consequence of the sudden equilibration. Moreover, the energy-momentum tensor from the free-streaming stage matches very smoothly to the form used in the transverse …
We employ recently published cross sections for $D$-mesons with hadrons and calculate the drag and diffusion coefficients of $D$-mesons in hadronic matter as a function of the momentum of $D$-mesons as well as of the temperature of the medium. Calculating in our approach the spatial diffusion coefficient, $D_x$, at zero chemical potential we see a very smooth transition between our calculations for the hadron gas and the lattice QCD calculations. Applying the results for the transport coefficients of $D$-mesons in a Fokker-Planck equation, which describes the evolution of $D$-mesons during the…
Within a parton cascade approach we investigate the scaling of the differential elliptic flow $v_2(p_T)$ with eccentricity $ε_x$ and system size and its sensitivity to finite shear viscosity. We present calculations for shear viscosity to entropy density ratio $η/s$ in the range from $1/4π$ up to $1/π$, finding that the $v_2$ saturation value varies by about a factor 2. Scaling of $v_2(p_T)/ε_x$ is seen also for finite $η/s$ which indicates that it does not prove a perfect hydrodynamical behavior, but is compatible with a plasma at finite $η/s$. Introducing a suitable freeze-out condition, we …
