Thermalization in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions. I. Parton kinetics and quark-gluon plasma formation
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 (United States)
A relativistic kinetic formulation of the time evolution of parton distributions during the early pre- equilibrium stage of nucleus-nucleus collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is presented to study the microscopic dynamics and equilibration of the system. The nuclear collision is described as a sequence of multiple hard and soft parton-parton collisions and associated parton emission and absorption processes. Important aspects for the space-time evolution of the partonic system are the balance between emissive and absorptive processes, dilated formation of gluon radiation, and the effects of soft gluon interference. The time evolution of central [sup 32]S+[sup 32]S and [sup 197]Au+[sup 197]Au collisions at RHIC ([radical][ital s] =200[ital A] GeV) is studied in complete phase space and the approach to equilibrium is investigated. The results obtained imply the formation of hot quark-gluon plasmas in these collisions with estimated equilibriation times, temperatures, and energy densities of [tau][sub eq][congruent]1.2 (1.8) fm/[ital c], [ital T][congruent]290 (325) MeV, and [epsilon][congruent]17 (31) GeV/fm[sup 3] for [sup 32]S+[sup 32]S ([sup 197]Au+[sup 197]Au). The consequences of such rather high temperatures and energy densities should be clear quark-gluon plasma signatures, observable in the production of charm, strangeness, direct photons, and dileptons.
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-87ER40328
- OSTI ID:
- 6967088
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States) Vol. 46:11; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
662340* -- Hadron Interactions-- (1992-)
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BARYON-BARYON INTERACTIONS
CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY DENSITY
ENERGY RANGE
FIELD THEORIES
GOLD 197 REACTIONS
GOLD 197 TARGET
HADRON-HADRON INTERACTIONS
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
INTERACTIONS
MANY-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
MATHEMATICAL SPACE
MATTER
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE KINEMATICS
PARTICLE PRODUCTION
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
PARTONS
PHASE SPACE
POSTULATED PARTICLES
PRECOMPOUND-NUCLEUS EMISSION
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
QUARK MATTER
SPACE
SPACE-TIME
STRANGENESS
SULFUR 32 REACTIONS
SULFUR 32 TARGET
TARGETS
TEV RANGE