Thermalization in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions. I. Parton kinetics and quark-gluon plasma formation

Journal Article · Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.46.4965· OSTI ID:6967088

Geiger, K ^[1]

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1. 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), Vol. 46:11; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
QUARK MATTER
ENERGY DENSITY
GOLD 197 REACTIONS
GOLD 197 TARGET
MANY-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
NUCLEON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE KINEMATICS
PARTICLE PRODUCTION
PARTONS
PHASE SPACE
PRECOMPOUND-NUCLEUS EMISSION
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
SPACE-TIME
STRANGENESS
SULFUR 32 REACTIONS
SULFUR 32 TARGET
TEV RANGE
BARYON-BARYON INTERACTIONS
CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
FIELD THEORIES
HADRON-HADRON INTERACTIONS
INTERACTIONS
MATHEMATICAL SPACE
MATTER
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
POSTULATED PARTICLES
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
SPACE
TARGETS
662340* - Hadron Interactions- (1992-)
662230 - Quantum Chromodynamics- (1992-)