Relativistic heavy ion collisions produce nuclei-sized droplets of quark-gluon plasma whose expansion is well described by viscous hydrodynamic calculations. Over the past half decade, this formalism was also found to apply to smaller droplets closer to the size of individual nucleons, as produced in $p$$+$$p$ and $p$$+$$A$ collisions. The hydrodynamic paradigm was further tested with a variety of collision species, including $p$$+$Au, $d$$+$Au, and $^{3}$He$+$Au producing droplets with different geometries. Nevertheless, questions remain regarding the importance of pre-hydrodynamic evolution and the exact medium properties during the hydrodynamic evolution phase, as well as the applicability of alternative theories that argue the agreement with hydrodynamics is accidental. In this work we explore options for new collision geometries including $p$$+$O and O$+$O proposed for running at the Large Hadron Collider, as well as, $^{4}$He$+$Au, C$+$Au, O$+$Au, and $^{7,9}$Be$+$Au at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.
I present the motivation for studying nuclear collisions at ultrarelativistic energies which is to map the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter under very extreme conditions. The relevant experimental efforts are overviewed and problems in connecting observables with physics of the hot and dense matter are pointed out. I review the current highlights of the experimental programme: excitation functions of various quantities from the SPS which suggest a possibility of the onset of deconfinement, and the evidence of deconfined perfect fluid at RHIC.
We explore theoretical uncertainties in the hydrodynamic description of relativistic heavy-ion collisions by examining the full non-linear causality conditions and quantifying the second-order transport coefficients' role on flow observables. The causality conditions impose physical constraints on the maximum allowed values of inverse Reynolds numbers during the hydrodynamic evolution. Including additional second-order gradient terms in the Denicol-Niemi-Molnár-Rischke (DNMR) theory significantly shrinks the casual regions compared to those in the Israel-Stewart hydrodynamics. For Au+Au collis…
Beam energy scan programs in heavy-ion collisions aim to explore the QCD phase structure at high baryon density. Sensitive observables are applied to probe the signatures of the QCD phase transition and critical point in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and SPS. Intriguing structures, such as dip, peak and oscillation, have been observed in the energy dependence of various observables. In this paper, an overview is given and corresponding physics implications will be discussed for the experimental highlights from the beam energy scan programs at the STAR, PHENIX and NA61/SHINE experiments. Further…
The isospin and strangeness dimensions of the Equation of State are explored. RIA and the SIS200 accelerator at GSI will allow to explore these regions in compressed baryonic matter. $^{132}$Sn+$^{132}$Sn and $^{100}$Sn+$^{100}$Sn collisions as well as the excitation functions of $K/π$, $Λ/π$ and the centrality dependence of charmonium suppression from the UrQMD and HSD transport models are presented and compared to data. Unambiguous proof for the creation of a 'novel phase of matter' from strangeness and charm yields is not in sight.
Second Fourier harmonics of jet quenching have been thoroughly explored in the literature and shown to be sensitive to the underlying jet path-length dependence of energy loss and the differences between the mean eccentricity predicted by Glauber and CGC/KLN models of initial conditions. We compute the jet path-length dependence of energy-loss for higher azimuthal harmonics of jet-fragments in a generalized model of energy-loss for RHIC energies and find, however, that even the high-$p_T$ second moment is most sensitive to the poorly known early-time evolution during the first fm/c. Moreover, …
Using the isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics model we study the isospin effects on the disappearance of flow for the reactions of $^{58}Ni$ + $^{58}Ni$ and $^{58}Fe$ +$^{58}Fe$ as a function of impact parameter. We found good agreement between our calculations and experimentally measured energy of vanishing flow at all colliding geometries. Our calculations reproduce the experimental data within 5%(10%) at central (peripheral) geometries.
Based on rare fluctuations in strong interactions, we argue that there is a strong physical resemblance between the high multiplicity events in photo-nuclear collisions and those in $pA$ collisions, in which interesting long range collective phenomena are discovered. This indicates that the collectivity can also be studied in certain kinematic region of the upcoming Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) where the incoming virtual photon has a sufficiently long lifetime. Using a model in the Color Glass Condensate formalism, we first show that the initial state interactions can explain the recent ATLAS a…
Exploring nuclear modification using one-point energy correlator at the electron-ion collider
Duke University（杜克大学）；University of California, Los Angeles（加州大学洛杉矶分校）；Stony Brook University（纽约州立大学石溪分校）；University of Turin（都灵大学）；INFN, Section of Turin（意大利国家核物理研究所都灵分部）
$Λ$-deuteron two-particle momentum correlation functions, to be measured in high-energy heavy-ion collisions, are investigated. In particular, the question is addressed whether such correlations can serve as an additional and alternative source of information on the elementary $ΛN$ interaction. The study is performed within the Lednicky-Lyuboshits formalism, utilizing an effective range expansion for the two relevant $S$-wave $Λd$ amplitudes with parameters taken from the literature. It is found that in collisions characterized by a large emitting source the $Λd$ correlation function is predom…
A strongly interacting Quark-Gluon Plasma (sQGP) is created in the high energy heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC. Our present understanding of sQGP as a very good liquid with astonishingly low viscosity is reviewed. With the arrival of the interesting results from LHC in high-energy p+p and p+A, a new endeavour to characterize the transition from these small systems to heavy ions (A+A) is now in place, since, even the small systems showed prominent similarities to heavy ions in the rising multiplicity domains. An outlook of future possibilities for better measurements is also made at the en…
Strong magnetic fields are commonly generated in off-central relativistic heavy-ion collisions in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab and in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and have been used to probe the topological configurations of the QCD vacua. A strong magnetic field can affect the character and location of the QCD critical point, influence the QCD phases, and lead to anomalous transport of charge. To take advantage of the magnetic field as a probe of QCD at higher baryon densities, we are going to need experiments capable to scan the lower energy regi…
We propose to use transverse momentum $p_T$ distribution of $J/ψ$ production at the future Electron Ion Collider (EIC) to explore the production mechanism of heavy quarkonia in high energy collisions. We apply QCD and QED collinear factorization to the production of a $c\bar{c}$ pair at high $p_T$, and non-relativistic QCD factorization to the hadronization of the pair to a $J/ψ$. We evaluate $J/ψ$ $p_T$-distribution at both leading and next-to-leading order in strong coupling, and show that production rates for various color-spin channels of a $c\bar{c}$ pair in electron-hadron collisions are…
The collective behavior of hadrons and of electromagnetic radiation in heavy-ion collisions has been widely used to study the properties of the the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Indeed this collectivity, as measured by anisotropic flow coefficients, can be used to constrain the transport properties of QGP. The goal of this contribution is to investigate the influence of the specific bulk viscosity ($ζ/s$) on dilepton production, both at Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) and Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies. We explore the sensitivity of dileptons to dynamical features that bulk viscosity …
Anisotropic flow phenomena is a key probe of the existence of Quark-Gluon Plasma. Several new observable associated with correlations between anisotropic flow harmonics are developed, which are expected to be sensitive to the initial fluctuations and transport properties of the created matter in heavy ion collisions. I review recent developments of correlations of anisotropic flow harmonics. The experimental measurements, together with the comparisons to theoretical model calculations, open up new opportunities of exploring novel QCD dynamics in heavy-ion collisions.
Currently there exists no known way to construct the Stress-Energy Tensor $(T_{μν})$ of the produced medium in heavy ion collisions at strong coupling from purely theoretical grounds. In this paper, some steps are taken in that direction. In particular, the evolution of $T_{μν}$ at strong coupling and at high energies is being studied for early proper times $(τ)$. This is achieved in the context of the AdS/CFT duality by constructing the evolution of the dual geometry in an AdS$_5$ background. Improving the earlier works in the literature, the two incident nuclei have an impact parameter $b$ a…
We report on recent progress concerning theoretical description of event-by-event fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions. Specifically we discuss a new Cooper-Frye particlization routine -- the subensemble sampler -- which is designed to incorporate effects of global conservation laws, thermal smearing and resonance decays on fluctuation measurements in various rapidity acceptances. First applications of the method to heavy-ion collisions at the LHC energies are presented and further necessary steps to analyze fluctuations from RHIC beam energy scan are outlined.
This document provides a summary of the discussions during the recent joint QCD Town Meeting at Temple University of the status of and future plans for the research program of the relativistic heavy-ion community. A list of compelling questions is formulated, and a number of recommendations outlining the greatest research opportunities and detailing the research priorities of the heavy-ion community, voted on and unanimously approved at the Town Meeting, are presented. They are supported by a broad discussion of the underlying physics and its relation to other subfields. Areas of overlapping i…
Relativistic heavy-ion collisions and the lattice QCD Monte-Carlo simulations are important ``experimental'' tools for investigating the properties of the medium described by QCD under extreme conditions. After briefly examining their characteristics, I pick up the study of the critical points in QCD as an example of the research subjects that these two tools play complementary roles and discuss recent topics that have been achieved with the use of each tool.
We present here the system size dependence of balance energy for semi-central and peripheral collisions using quantum molecular dynamics model. For this study, the reactions of $Ne^{20}+Ne^{20}$, $Ca^{40}+Ca^{40}$, $Ni^{58}+Ni^{58}$, $Nb^{93}+Nb^{93}$, $Xe^{131}+Xe^{131}$ and $Au^{197}+Au^{197}$ are simulated at different incident energies and impact parameters. A hard equation of state along with nucleon-nucleon cross-sections between 40 - 55 mb explains the data nicely. Interestingly, balance energy follows a power law $\propto{A^τ}$ for the mass dependence at all colliding geometries. The p…
We provide a concise review on recent theory advancements towards full-fledged (3+1)D dynamical descriptions of relativistic nuclear collisions at finite baryon density. Heavy-ion collisions at different collision energies produce strongly-coupled matter and probe the QCD phase transition at the crossover, critical point, and first-order phase transition regions. Dynamical frameworks provide a quantitative tool to extract properties of hot QCD matter and map fireballs to the QCD phase diagram. Outstanding challenges are highlighted when confronting current theoretical frameworks with current a…
Exploring possible $^3_{Λ_c}\text{H}$ bound states through $pΛ_c$ femtoscopic correlations
Changzhou University of Information Technology（常州大学）；Nanjing Normal University（南京师范大学）；Nanjing University（南京大学）；Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院近代物理研究所）
We present a formulation of the initial state of heavy ion collisions that generalizes the 2+1D boost invariant IP-Glasma \cite{Schenke:2012wb} to 3+1D through JIMWLK rapidity evolution of the pre-collision Wilson lines. The rapidity dependence introduced by the JIMWLK evolution leads us to modify the initial condition for the gauge fields, and to solve Gauss' law iteratively in order to allow for temporal evolution on a 3-dimensional lattice. While the transverse physics of QGP has been studied nearly exhaustively, the effect of longitudinal fluctuations introduced by the JIMWLK evolution has…
