Understanding RHIC Collisions: Modified QCD fragmentation vs quark coalescence from a thermalized flowing medium
Abstract
The hydrodynamic (hydro) model applied to data from the relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC) suggests that a dense QCD medium opaque to partons is formed in more-central Au-Au collisions. However, two-component spectrum analysis reveals a hard component, consistent with parton fragmentation described by pQCD, which can masquerade as "radial flow." Minimum-bias angular correlations reveal that most scattered partons survive as "minijets" even in central Au-Au collisions. Such alternative methods quantitatively describe spectrum and correlation structure via pQCD calculations. RHIC collisions appear to be dominated by parton scattering and fragmentation even in central Au-Au collisions.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1011.6351,
title = {Understanding RHIC Collisions: Modified QCD fragmentation vs quark coalescence from a thermalized flowing medium},
author = {Thomas A. Trainor},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1011.6351},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
6 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the XL International Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics (ISMD 2010), 21-25 September, University of Antwerp, Belgium