Size fluctuations of the initial source and event-by-event transverse momentum fluctuations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Journal Article · Sun Nov 15 04:00:00 EST 2009 · Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVC.80.051902· OSTI ID:21296468

Broniowski, Wojciech ^[1]; Chojnacki, Mikolaj ^[1]; Obara, Lukasz ^[2]

---

1. H. Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, PL-31342 Krakow (Poland)
2. Institute of Physics, Jan Kochanowski University, PL-25406 Kielce (Poland)

We show that the event-by-event fluctuations of the transverse size of the initial source, which follow directly from the Glauber treatment of the earliest stage of relativistic heavy-ion collisions, cause, after hydrodynamic evolution, fluctuations of the transverse flow velocity at hadronic freeze-out. This, in turn, leads to event-by-event fluctuations of the average transverse momentum, <p{sub T}>. Simulations with GLISSANDO for the Glauber phase, followed by a realistic hydrodynamic evolution and statistical hadronization carried out with THERMINATOR, lead to agreement with the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) data. In particular, the magnitude of the effect, its centrality dependence, and the weak dependence on the incident energy are properly reproduced. Our results show that the bulk of the observed event-by-event <p{sub T}> fluctuations may be explained by the fluctuations of the size of the initial source.

• OSTI ID: 21296468
• Journal Information: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Journal Name: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 80; ISSN 0556-2813; ISSN PRVCAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
BROOKHAVEN RHIC
FLUCTUATIONS
FREEZING OUT
HADRONS
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SIMULATION
TRANSVERSE MOMENTUM
VELOCITY