Pressure isotropization in high energy heavy ion collisions

Dilepton Polarization as a Signature of Plasma Anisotropy

We propose the angular distribution of lepton pairs produced in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions as a probe of thermalization of the quark-gluon plasma. We focus on dileptons with invariant masses large enough that they are produced through quark-antiquark annihilation in the early stages of the collision. The angular distribution of the lepton in the rest frame of the pair then reflects the angular distribution of quark momenta. At early times, the transverse pressure of the quark-gluon plasma is larger than its longitudinal pressure as a result of the fast longitudinal expansion, which results in an oblate lepton distribution. By contrast, direct (Drell-Yan) production by quarks and antiquarks from incoming nuclei, whose momenta are essentially longitudinal, results in a prolate distribution. As the invariant mass increases, Drell-Yan gradually becomes the dominant source of dilepton production, and the lepton distribution evolves from oblate to prolate. The invariant mass at which the transition occurs is highly sensitive to the equilibration time of the quark-gluon plasma or, equivalently, the shear viscosity over entropy ratio η/s in the early stages of the collision.

Effect of Longitudinal Fluctuations of 3D Weizsäcker-Williams Field on Pressure Isotropization of Glasma

We investigate the effects of boost invariance breaking on the isotropization of pressure in the glasma, using a 3+1D glasma simulation. The breaking is attributed to spatial fluctuations in the classical color charge density along the collision axis. We present numerical results for pressure and energy density at mid-rapidity and across a wider rapidity region. It is found that, despite varying longitudinal correlation lengths, the behaviors of the pressure isotropizations are qualitatively similar. The numerical results suggest that, in the initial stage, longitudinal color electromagnetic fields develop, similar to those in the boost invariant glasma. Subsequently, these fields evolve into a dilute glasma, expanding longitudinally in a manner akin to a dilute gas. We also show that the energy density at mid-rapidity exhibits a 1/τ decay in the dilute glasma stage.

Isotropization of a Rotating and Longitudinally Expanding ϕ4 Scalar System

We study numerically the evolution of an expanding system of scalar fields. The initial configuration is non-isotropic and rotating. We calculate the energy-momentum tensor and angular momentum vector of the system. We compare the time scales associated with the isotropization of the transverse and longitudinal pressures, and the decay of the initial angular momentum. We show that even a fairly large initial angular momentum decays significantly faster than the pressure anisotropy.

Some aspects of the theory of heavy ion collisions

We review the theoretical aspects relevant in the description of high-energy heavy ion collisions, with an emphasis on the learnings about the underlying quantum chromodynamics phenomena that have emerged from these collisions.

Progress on 3+1D Glasma simulations

We review our progress on 3+1D Glasma simulations to describe the earliest stages of heavy-ion collisions. In our simulations we include nuclei with finite longitudinal extent and describe the collision process as well as the evolution of the strongly interacting gluonic fields in the laboratory frame in 3+1 dimensions using the colored particle-in-cell method. This allows us to compute the 3+1 dimensional Glasma energy-momentum tensor, whose rapidity dependence can be compared to experimental pion multiplicity data from RHIC. An improved scheme cures the numerical Cherenkov instability and paves the way for simulations at higher energies used at LHC.

Matching the Nonequilibrium Initial Stage of Heavy Ion Collisions to Hydrodynamics with QCD Kinetic Theory

High-energy nuclear collisions produce a nonequilibrium plasma of quarks and gluons which thermalizes and exhibits hydrodynamic flow. There are currently no practical frameworks to connect the early particle production in classical field simulations to the subsequent hydrodynamic evolution. We build such a framework using nonequilibrium Green's functions, calculated in QCD kinetic theory, to propagate the initial energy-momentum tensor to the hydrodynamic phase. We demonstrate that this approach can be easily incorporated into existing hydrodynamic simulations, leading to stronger constraints on the energy density at early times and the transport properties of the QCD medium. Based on (conformal) scaling properties of the Green's functions, we further obtain pragmatic bounds for the applicability of hydrodynamics in nuclear collisions.

New theories of relativistic hydrodynamics in the LHC era

The success of relativistic hydrodynamics as an essential part of the phenomenological description of heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC has motivated a significant body of theoretical work concerning its fundamental aspects. Our review presents these developments from the perspective of the underlying microscopic physics, using the language of quantum field theory, relativistic kinetic theory, and holography. We discuss the gradient expansion, the phenomenon of hydrodynamization, as well as several models of hydrodynamic evolution equations, highlighting the interplay between collective long-lived and transient modes in relativistic matter. Our aim to provide a unified presentation of this vast subject-which is naturally expressed in diverse mathematical languages-has also led us to include several new results on the large-order behaviour of the hydrodynamic gradient expansion.

The Fragmentation Region of High Energy Nucleus-Nucleus and Hadron-Nucleus Collisions

The fragmentation region of particles produced in high energy nuclear collisions provides a laboratory for studying high baryon number density systems. This talk outlines work in progress that attempts to compute properties of the matter produced in these collisions at the highest energies.

Plasmon mass scale and quantum fluctuations of classical fields on a real time lattice

Classical real-time lattice simulations play an important role in understanding non-equilibrium phenomena in gauge theories and are used in particular to model the prethermal evolution of heavy-ion collisions. Above the Debye scale the classical Yang-Mills (CYM) theory can be matched smoothly to kinetic theory. First we study the limits of the quasiparticle picture of the CYM fields by determining the plasmon mass of the system using 3 different methods. Then we argue that one needs a numerical calculation of a system of classical gauge fields and small linearized fluctuations, which correspond to quantum fluctuations, in a way that keeps the separation between the two manifest. We demonstrate and test an implementation of an algorithm with the linearized fluctuation showing that the linearization indeed works and that the Gauss’s law is conserved.

High gluon densities in heavy ion collisions

The early stages of heavy ion collisions are dominated by high density systems of gluons that carry each a small fraction x of the momenta of the colliding nucleons. A distinguishing feature of such systems is the phenomenon of 'saturation' which tames the expected growth of the gluon density as the energy of the collision increases. The onset of saturation occurs at a particular transverse momentum scale, the 'saturation momentum', that emerges dynamically and that marks the onset of non-linear gluon interactions. At high energy, and for large nuclei, the saturation momentum is large compared to the typical hadronic scale, making high density gluons amenable to a description with weak coupling techniques. This paper reviews some of the challenges faced in the study of such dense systems of small x gluons, and of the progress made in addressing them. The focus is on conceptual issues, and the presentation is both pedagogical, and critical. Examples where high gluon density could play a visible role in heavy ion collisions are briefly discussed at the end, for illustration purpose.

Evolution to the quark-gluon plasma

Theoretical studies on the early-time dynamics in the ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions are reviewed, including pedagogical introductions on the initial condition with small-[Formula: see text] gluons treated as a color glass condensate, the bottom-up thermalization scenario, plasma/glasma instabilities, basics of some formulations such as the kinetic equations and the classical statistical simulation. More detailed discussions follow to make an overview of recent developments on the fast isotropization, the onset of hydrodynamics, and the transient behavior of momentum spectral cascades.

Analytic Solution of the Boltzmann Equation in an Expanding System

For a massless gas with a constant cross section in a homogeneous, isotropically expanding spacetime we reformulate the relativistic Boltzmann equation as a set of nonlinear coupled moment equations. For a particular initial condition this set can be solved exactly, yielding the first analytical solution of the Boltzmann equation for an expanding system. The nonequilibrium behavior of this relativistic gas can be mapped onto that of a homogeneous, static nonrelativistic gas of Maxwell molecules.

Isotropization and Hydrodynamization in Weakly Coupled Heavy-Ion Collisions

We numerically solve the (2+1)-dimensional effective kinetic theory of weak coupling QCD under longitudinal expansion, relevant for early stages of heavy-ion collisions. We find agreement with viscous hydrodynamics and classical Yang-Mills simulations in the regimes where they are applicable. By choosing initial conditions that are motivated by a color-glass-condensate framework, we find that for Q_{s}=2 GeV and α_{s}=0.3 the system is approximately described by viscous hydrodynamics well before τ≲1.0 fm/c.

Coupling hydrodynamics to nonequilibrium degrees of freedom in strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma

Relativistic hydrodynamics simulations of quark-gluon plasma play a pivotal role in our understanding of heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC. They are based on a phenomenological description due to Müller, Israel, Stewart (MIS) and others, which incorporates viscous effects and ensures a well-posed initial value problem. Focusing on the case of conformal plasma we propose a generalization which includes, in addition, the dynamics of the least damped far-from-equilibrium degree of freedom found in strongly coupled plasmas through the AdS/CFT correspondence. We formulate new evolution equations for general flows and then test them in the case of N=4 super Yang-Mills plasma by comparing their solutions alongside solutions of MIS theory with numerical computations of isotropization and boost-invariant flow based on holography. In these tests the new equations reproduce the results of MIS theory when initialized close to the hydrodynamic stage of evolution, but give a more accurate description of the dynamics when initial conditions are set in the preequilibrium regime.

QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories: challenges and perspectives

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.