Using Spectator Matter for Centrality Determination in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

One of the common methods to measure the centrality of nucleus-nucleus collision events consists of detecting forward spectator neutrons. Because of non-monotonic dependence of neutron numbers on centrality, other characteristics of spectator matter in 197Au–197Au collisions at NICA must be considered to improve the centrality determination. The numbers of spectator deuterons and α-particles and the forward–backward asymmetry of the numbers of free spectator nucleons were calculated with the Abrasion–Ablation Monte Carlo for Colliders (AAMCC) model as functions of event centrality. It was shown that the number of charged fragments per spectator nucleon decreases monotonically with an increase of the impact parameter, and thus can be used to estimate the collision centrality. The conditional probabilities that a given event with specific spectator characteristics belongs to a certain centrality class were calculated by means of AAMCC. Such probabilities can be used as an input to Bayesian or other machine-learning approaches to centrality determination in 197Au–197Au collisions.

Fermi-motion effect on the intermediate energy nucleus–nucleus collision

The Glauber model is modified with the Fermi-motion effect in the calculation of elastic differential cross-sections and momentum distributions of a fragment from mother nucleus. Different reaction systems at low energies are calculated with the modified Glauber model. It is found that calculations including the Fermi-motion provide a better prescription relating the model to a proper nuclear density distribution by comparing with the experimental data. On the basis of the studies, the influence of the correction on the extracted nuclear radius is quantified. The results further confirm the importance of the Fermi-motion in the nucleus–nucleus collision reactions at low energies.

16O-NUCLEUS ELASTIC SCATTERING IN THE ENERGY RANGE 300 MeV–1.503 GeV

In this work we analyze the elastic angular distribution for the scattering of 16 O from 12 C , 16 O , 28 Si , 40 Ca , 90 Zr , and 208 Pb in the energy range 300 MeV–1.503 GeV within the framework of the Coulomb modified correlation expansion for the Glauber amplitude. Our calculations involve (i) up to the two-body density term in the correlation expansion, (ii) the realistic nuclear form factors, and (iii) the high q-components of the basic (input) NN amplitude. The results are found to provide a satisfactory explanation of the data in all the cases. Moreover, we could assess the energy dependence of the NN amplitude, and the trend of its slope strengthens the need of nondiffractive behavior of the NN amplitude in the energy range under consideration. We also show that the c.m. correlations play an important role in nucleus–nucleus collision.

COLLISION THERMALIZATION OF NUCLEONS IN RELATIVISTIC HEAVY-ION COLLISIONS

We consider a possible mechanism of thermalization of nucleons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Our model belongs, to a certain degree, to the transport ones; we investigate the evolution of the system created in nucleus–nucleus collision, but we parametrize this development by the number of collisions of every particle during evolution rather than by the time variable. We based on the assumption that the nucleon momentum transfer after several nucleon–nucleon (–hadron) elastic and inelastic collisions becomes a random quantity driven by a proper distribution. This randomization results in a smearing of the nucleon momenta about their initial values and, as a consequence, in their partial isotropization and thermalization. The trial evaluation is made in the framework of a toy model. We show that the proposed scheme can be used for extraction of the physical information from experimental data on nucleon rapidity distribution.

PROSPECTS OF MEDIUM TOMOGRAPHY USING 2-, 3- AND 4-PARTICLE CORRELATIONS FOR A (SEMI)-HARD TRIGGER

Hard partons propagating through hot and dense matter lose energy, leading to the observed depletion of hard hadron spectra in nucleus nucleus collision as compared to scaled proton proton collisions. This lost energy has to be redistributed in the medium due to the conservation of energy, which is manifest in the pT dependence of the angular correlation pattern of hadrons associate with a (semi-) hard trigger. While at low pT a splitting of a broad peak is observed, at high pT the structure shows vacuum width, albeit with reduced yield. This sugests a transfer of energy from hard partons to a collectively recoiling medium. We present a systematic study of these phenomena using a realistic medium evolution and a Monte-Carlo simulation of the experimental trigger and show what information about the medium can be derived from multiparticle correlations.