Search for: All records

At low to moderate collision energies where the parton formation time τ F is not small compared to the nuclear crossing time, the finite nuclear thickness significantly affects the energy density ϵ( t ) and net conserved-charge densities such as the net-baryon density n B ( t ) produced in heavy ion collisions. As a result, at low to moderate energies the trajectory in the QCD phase diagram is also affected by the finite nuclear thickness. Here, we first discuss our semi-analytical model and its results on ϵ( f ), n R ( t ), n Q ( t ), and n s ( t ) in central Au+Au collisions. We then compare the T ( t ), μ B ( t ), μ Q ( t ), and μ S ( t ) extracted with the ideal gas equation of state (EoS) with quantum statistics to those extracted with a lattice QCD-based EoS. We also compare the T -μ B trajectories with the RHIC chemical freezeout data. Finally, we discuss the effect of transverse flow on the trajectories. 

The finite nuclear thickness affects the energy density (t) and conserved-charge densities such as the net-baryon density nB(t) produced in heavy ion collisions. While the effect is small at high collision energies where the Bjorken energy density formula for the initial state is valid, the effect is large at low collision energies, where the nuclear crossing time is not small compared to the parton formation time. The temperature T(t) and chemical potentials µ(t) of the dense matter can be extracted from the densities for a given equation of state (EOS). Therefore, including the nuclear thickness is essential for the determination of the T-µB trajectory in the QCD phase diagram for relativistic nuclear collisions at low to moderate energies such as the RHIC-BES energies. In this proceeding, we will first discuss our semi-analytical method that includes the nuclear thickness effect and its results on the densities є(t), nB(t), nQ(t), and nS(t). Then, we will show the extracted T(t), µB(t), µQ(t), and µS(t) for a quark-gluon plasma using the ideal gas EOS with quantum or Boltzmann statistics. Finally, we will show the results on the T-µB trajectories in relation to the possible location of the QCD critical end point. This semi-analytical model provides a convenient tool for exploring the trajectories of nuclear collisions in the QCD phase diagram. 

The shear viscosity$$\eta $$$\eta$of a quark–gluon plasma in equilibrium can be calculated analytically using multiple methods or numerically using the Green–Kubo relation. It has been realized, which we confirm here, that the Chapman–Enskog method agrees well with the Green–Kubo result for both isotropic and anisotropic two-body scatterings. We then apply the Chapman–Enskog method to study the shear viscosity of the parton matter from a multi-phase transport model. In particular, we study the parton matter in the center cell of central and midcentral Au + Au collisions at 200AGeV and Pb + Pb collisions at 2760AGeV, which is assumed to be a plasma in thermal equilibrium but partial chemical equilibrium. As a result of using a constant Debye mass or cross section$$\sigma $$$\sigma$for parton scatterings, the$$\eta /s$$$\eta /s$ratio increases with time (as the effective temperature decreases), contrary to the trend preferred by Bayesian analysis of the experimental data or pQCD results that use temperature-dependent Debye masses. At$$\sigma =3$$$\sigma =3$mb that enables the transport model to approximately reproduce the elliptic flow data of the bulk matter, the average$$\eta /s$$$\eta /s$of the parton matter in partial equilibrium is found to be very small, between one to two times$$1/(4\pi )$$$1/\left(4\pi \right)$.

 

Although strange quarks are produced in ss¯ pairs, the ratio of Ω − to Ω¯ + is greater than one in heavy-ion collisions at lower RHIC energies. Thus the produced Ω hyperons must carry net baryon quantum numbers from the colliding nuclei. We present results of K-Ω correlations from AMPT model simulations of Au+Au collisions at √S NN = 14.6 GeV, to probe dynamics for baryon number transport to mid-rapidities at this beam energy. We use both the default and string-melting versions to illustrate how hadronization schemes of quark coalescence and string fragmentations could leave imprints on such correlations. Implications on the measurements of these correlations with the STAR experiment at RHIC will also be discussed.