Probing the dynamics of ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:5832615

von Gersdorff, H R

The stopping and scaling hydrodynamical regimes for relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions are presented and contrasted. Longitudinal boost invariant transverse hydrodynamics with a first order phase transition is shown to lead to pure quark-gluon plasma lifetimes of the order of 10 fm/c and mixed phases of the order of 50 fm/c for U + U ultrarelativistic collisions. Direct comparisons between theory and experiment are made for nucleus-nucleus collisions (cosmic ray data) and also for high-multiplicity fluctuations of pp collisions, by calculating the correlation between the mean transverse momentum and the multiplicity per unit rapidity. Pseudorapidity distributions are shown to be approximately Gaussian in shape at AGS and CERN energies. Quantitatively, the widths are consistent with Landau's hydrodynamical model and inconsistent with a spherical fireball model and with Bjorken's hydrodynamical scaling model. There are no statistically significant correlations in azimuthal angle of the observed charged secondaries. Analysis of the two-particle pseudorapidity correlation functions and of the pseudorapidity gap distributions provide no evidence of significant cluster production. The data is consistent with a Monte Carlo simulation based on independent emission of the secondary particles. Using the method of scaled factorial moments an intermittent behavior of the fluctuations was observed in both proton and oxygen beam interactions with AgBr at 200 GeV/n. The p{sub T} distributions are calculated using the longitudinal boost invariant transverse hydrodynamics and compared to S + S collisions at 200 GeV/n. The medium and high p{sub T} parts of the distribution can be reproduced within the context of a collective flow arising from a mixed phase, whereas the low p{sub T} component of the distribution cannot be explained by this hypothesis.

• Research Organization: Minnesota Univ., Duluth, MN (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5832615
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

653003* -- Nuclear Theory-- Nuclear Reactions & Scattering
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ABSORPTION
ACTINIDES
BARYON-BARYON INTERACTIONS
CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CORRELATION FUNCTIONS
CORRELATIONS
DYNAMICS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY RANGE
FIREBALL MODEL
FLUID MECHANICS
FUNCTIONS
GEV RANGE
HADRON-HADRON INTERACTIONS
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
HYDRODYNAMIC MODEL
HYDRODYNAMICS
INTERACTIONS
KINETICS
LIFETIME
LINEAR MOMENTUM
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATTER
MECHANICS
METALS
NONMETALS
NUCLEAR REACTION KINETICS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE MODELS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PROTON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS
PROTON-PROTON INTERACTIONS
QUARK MATTER
REACTION KINETICS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
STATISTICAL MODELS
SULFUR
THERMODYNAMIC MODEL
TRANSVERSE MOMENTUM
URANIUM