• DOI:10.1140/EPJC/S10052-015-3509-3
• Corpus ID: 53071333

Light-heavy-ion collisions: a window into pre-equilibrium QCD dynamics?

@article{Romatschke2015LightheavyionCA,
  title={Light-heavy-ion collisions: a window into pre-equilibrium QCD dynamics?},
  author={Paul Romatschke},
  journal={The European Physical Journal C},
  year={2015},
  volume={75},
  pages={1-15}
}

• P. Romatschke
• Published 16 February 2015
• Physics
• The European Physical Journal C

Relativistic collisions of light on heavy ions (p + Au at $$\sqrt{s}=7.7$$s=7.7 GeV, p + Au , d + Au ,$$^3$$3He + Au at $$\sqrt{s}=62.4$$s=62.4 GeV and 200 GeV and p + Pb ,$$^3$$3He + Pb at $$\sqrt{s}=5.02$$s=5.02 TeV) are simulated using “superSONIC”, a model that includes pre-equilibrium flow, viscous hydrodynamics and a hadronic cascade afterburner. Even though these systems have strong gradients and only consist of at most a few tens of charged particles per unit rapidity, one finds evidence that a hydrodynamic description applies to these systems. Based on these simulations, the presence of a triangular flow component in d + Au collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=200$$s=200 GeV is predicted to be similar in magnitude to that found in $$^3$$3He + Au collisions. Furthermore, the $$v_3(p_T)$$v3(pT) ratio of $$^3$$3He + Au to d + Au is found to be sensitive to the presence of pre-equilibrium flow. This would imply an experimentally accessible window into pre-equilibrium QCD dynamics using light-heavy-ion collisions.