Search

The formation of hadrons is a fundamental process in nature that can be investigated at particle colliders. As several recent findings demonstrate, with $\mathrm{e^+e^-}$ collisions as a "vacuum-like" reference at one extreme, and central nucleus--nucleus as a dense, extended-size system characterized by flow and local equilibrium at the opposite extreme, different collision systems offer a lever arm that can be exploited to probe with a range of heavy-flavour hadron species the onset of various hadronization processes. In this review, we present an overview of the theoretical and experimental developments. The focus is on open-heavy-flavour measurements. The comparison with model predictions and connections among the results in electron-positron, proton--proton, proton--nucleus, nucleus--nucleus collisions are discussed. After reviewing the current state, we suggest some prospects and future developments., Comment: 119 pages, 30 figures

We propose a new fixed-target experiment for the study of electromagnetic and hard probes of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) in heavy-ion collisions at the CERN SPS. The experiment aims at performing measurements of the dimuon spectrum from threshold up to the charmonium region, and of hadronic decays of charm and strange hadrons. It is based on a muon spectrometer, which includes a toroidal magnet and six planes of tracking detectors, coupled to a vertex spectrometer, equipped with Si MAPS immersed in a dipole field. High luminosity is an essential requirement for the experiment, with the goal of taking data with 10$^6$ incident ions/s, at collision energies ranging from $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 6.3$ GeV ($E_{\rm lab}= 20$ A GeV) to top SPS energy ($\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 17.3$ GeV, $E_{\rm lab}= 158$ A GeV). This document presents the physics motivation, the foreseen experimental set-up including integration and radioprotection studies, the current detector choices together with the status of the corresponding R&D, and the outcome of physics performance studies. A preliminary cost evaluation is also carried out., Comment: Letter of Intent submitted to the CERN SPSC

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0v\b{eta}\b{eta}) is considered the best potential resource to access the absolute neutrino mass scale. Moreover, if observed, it will signal that neutrinos are their own anti-particles (Majorana particles). Presently, this physics case is one of the most important research "beyond Standard Model" and might guide the way towards a Grand Unified Theory of fundamental interactions. Since the 0v\b{eta}\b{eta} decay process involves nuclei, its analysis necessarily implies nuclear structure issues. In the NURE project, supported by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), nuclear reactions of double charge-exchange (DCE) are used as a tool to extract information on the 0v\b{eta}\b{eta} Nuclear Matrix Elements. In DCE reactions and \b{eta}\b{eta} decay indeed the initial and final nuclear states are the same and the transition operators have similar structure. Thus the measurement of the DCE absolute cross-sections can give crucial information on \b{eta}\b{eta} matrix elements. In a wider view, the NUMEN international collaboration plans a major upgrade of the INFN-LNS facilities in the next years in order to increase the experimental production of nuclei of at least two orders of magnitude, thus making feasible a systematic study of all the cases of interest as candidates for 0v\b{eta}\b{eta}.

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta}) is considered the best potential resource to determine the absolute neutrino mass scale. Moreover, if observed, it will signal that the total lepton number is not conserved and neutrinos are their own anti-particles. Presently, this physics case is one of the most important research beyond Standard Model and might guide the way towards a Grand Unified Theory of fundamental interactions. Since the \b{eta}\b{eta} decay process involves nuclei, its analysis necessarily implies nuclear structure issues. The 0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta} decay rate can be expressed as a product of independent factors: the phase-space factors, the nuclear matrix elements (NME) and a function of the masses of the neutrino species. Thus the knowledge of the NME can give information on the neutrino mass scale, if the 0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta} decay rate is measured. In the NURE project, supported by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council, nuclear reactions of double charge-exchange (DCE) will be used as a tool to extract information on the \b{eta}\b{eta} NME. In DCE reactions and \b{eta}\b{eta} decay, the initial and final nuclear states are the same and the transition operators have similar structure. Thus the measurement of the DCE absolute crosssections can give crucial information on \b{eta}\b{eta} matrix elements., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2001.09657; text overlap with arXiv:2001.09648

We study the diffusion of charm and beauty in the early stage of high energy nuclear collisions at RHIC and LHC energies, considering the interaction of these heavy quarks with the evolving Glasma by means of the Wong equations. In comparison with previous works, we add the longitudinal expansion as well as we estimate the effect of energy loss due to gluon radiation. We find that heavy quarks diffuse in the strong transverse color fields in the very early stage (0.2-0.3 fm/c) and this leads to a suppression at low $p_T$ and enhancement at intermediate low $p_T$. The shape of the observed nuclear suppression factor obtained within our calculations is in qualitative agreement with the experimental results of the same quantity for $D-$mesons in proton-nucleus collisions. We compute the nuclear suppression factor in nucleus-nucleus collisions as well, for both charm and beauty, finding a substantial impact of the evolving Glasma phase on these, suggesting that initialization of heavy quarks spectra in the quark-gluon plasma phase should not neglect the early evolution in the strong gluon fields., Comment: 12 pages, 8+1 figures. Discussion on the scaling of parameters from three to two colors added in Appendix. Matches published version. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1805.09617

The exploration of the phase diagram of Quantum ChromoDynamics (QCD) is carried out by studying ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. The energy range covered by the CERN SPS ($\sqrt{s_{\rm \scriptscriptstyle{NN}}} \sim$ 6-17 GeV) is ideal for the investigation of the region of the phase diagram corresponding to finite baryochemical potential ($\mu_{\rm B}$), and has been little explored up to now. We propose in this document a new experiment, NA60+, that would address several observables which are fundamental for the understanding of the phase transition from hadronic matter towards a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) at SPS energies. In particular, we propose to study, as a function of the collision energy, the production of thermal dimuons from the created system, from which one would obtain a caloric curve of the QCD phase diagram that is sensitive to the order of the phase transition. In addition, the measurement of a $\rho$-a$_1$ mixing contribution would provide conclusive insights into the restoration of the chiral symmetry of QCD. In parallel, studies of heavy quark and quarkonium production would also be carried out, addressing the measurement of transport properties of the QGP and the investigation of the onset of the deconfinement transition. The document also defines an experimental set-up which couples a vertex telescope based on monolithic active pixel sensors (MAPS) to a muon spectrometer with tracking (GEM) and triggering (RPC) detectors within a large acceptance toroidal magnet. Results of physics performance studies for most observables accessible to NA60+ are discussed, showing that the results of the experiment would lead to a significant advance of our understanding of strong interaction physics. The document has been submitted as an input to the European Particle Physics Strategy Update 2018-2020 (http://europeanstrategyupdate.web.cern.ch/)., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, submitted as an input to the European Particle Physics Strategy Update 2018-2020

The future opportunities for high-density QCD studies with ion and proton beams at the LHC are presented. Four major scientific goals are identified: the characterisation of the macroscopic long wavelength Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) properties with unprecedented precision, the investigation of the microscopic parton dynamics underlying QGP properties, the development of a unified picture of particle production and QCD dynamics from small (pp) to large (nucleus--nucleus) systems, the exploration of parton densities in nuclei in a broad ($x$, $Q^2$) kinematic range and the search for the possible onset of parton saturation. In order to address these scientific goals, high-luminosity Pb-Pb and p-Pb programmes are considered as priorities for Runs 3 and 4, complemented by high-multiplicity studies in pp collisions and a short run with oxygen ions. High-luminosity runs with intermediate-mass nuclei, for example Ar or Kr, are considered as an appealing case for extending the heavy-ion programme at the LHC beyond Run 4. The potential of the High-Energy LHC to probe QCD matter with newly-available observables, at twice larger center-of-mass energies than the LHC, is investigated., Comment: 209 pages; Report from Working Group 5 of the Workshop on the Physics of the CERN HL-LHC, and Perspectives at the HE-LHC (v2: Minor updates to text and figures. Added one author.)

The article describes the main achievements of the NUMEN project together with an updated and detailed overview of the related R&D activities and theoretical developments. NUMEN proposes an innovative technique to access the nuclear matrix elements entering the expression of the lifetime of the double beta decay by cross section measurements of heavy-ion induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions. Despite the two processes, namely neutrinoless double beta decay and DCE reactions, are triggered by the weak and strong interaction respectively, important analogies are suggested. The basic point is the coincidence of the initial and final state many-body wave-functions in the two types of processes and the formal similarity of the transition operators. First experimental results obtained at the INFN-LNS laboratory for the 40Ca(18O,18Ne)40Ar reaction at 270 MeV, give encouraging indication on the capability of the proposed technique to access relevant quantitative information. The two major aspects for this project are the K800 Superconducting Cyclotron and MAGNEX spectrometer. The former is used for the acceleration of the required high resolution and low emittance heavy ion beams and the latter is the large acceptance magnetic spectrometer for the detection of the ejectiles. The use of the high-order trajectory reconstruction technique, implemented in MAGNEX, allows to reach the experimental resolution and sensitivity required for the accurate measurement of the DCE cross sections at forward angles. However, the tiny values of such cross sections and the resolution requirements demand beam intensities much larger than manageable with the present facility. The on-going upgrade of the INFN-LNS facilities in this perspective is part of the NUMEN project and will be discussed in the article.

We report on broadly based systematic investigations of the modeling components for open heavy-flavor diffusion and energy loss in strongly interacting matter in their application to heavy-flavor observables in high-energy heavy-ion collisions, conducted within an EMMI Rapid Reaction Task Force framework. Initial spectra including cold-nuclear-matter effects, a wide variety of space-time evolution models, heavy-flavor transport coefficients, and hadronization mechanisms are scrutinized in an effort to quantify pertinent uncertainties in the calculations of nuclear modification factors and elliptic flow of open heavy-flavor particles in nuclear collisions. We develop procedures for error assessments and criteria for common model components to improve quantitative estimates for the (low-momentum) heavy-flavor diffusion coefficient as a long-wavelength characteristic of QCD matter as a function of temperature, and for energy loss coefficients of high-momentum heavy-flavor particles., Comment: 78 pages, 29 figures, report on an EMMI Rapid Reaction Task Force; v2: small revision, accepted for publication in Nucl. Phys. A

We present results about photons production in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The main novelty of our study is the calculation of the contribution of the early stage photons to the photon spectrum. The initial stage is modeled by an ensemble of classical gluon fields which decay to a quark-gluon plasma via the Schwinger mechanism, and the evolution of the system is studied by coupling classical field equations to relativistic kinetic theory; photons production is then computed by including the pertinent collision processes into the collision integral. We find that the contribution of the early stage photons to the direct photon spectrum is substantial for $p_T \approx 2$ GeV and higher, the exact value depending on the collision energy; therefore we identify this part of the photon spectrum as the sign of the early stage. Moreover, the amount of photons produced during the early stage is not negligible with respect to those produced by a thermalized quark-gluon plasma: we support the idea that there is no dark age in relativistic heavy ion collisions., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures. Matches published version

This is an overview of the main theoretical developments presented at SQM2016 held in Berkeley, California (USA) in June 2015., Comment: 6 pages, no figures

This document was prepared by the community that is active in Italy, within INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare), in the field of ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The experimental study of the phase diagram of strongly-interacting matter and of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) deconfined state will proceed, in the next 10-15 years, along two directions: the high-energy regime at RHIC and at the LHC, and the low-energy regime at FAIR, NICA, SPS and RHIC. The Italian community is strongly involved in the present and future programme of the ALICE experiment, the upgrade of which will open, in the 2020s, a new phase of high-precision characterisation of the QGP properties at the LHC. As a complement of this main activity, there is a growing interest in a possible future experiment at the SPS, which would target the search for the onset of deconfinement using dimuon measurements. On a longer timescale, the community looks with interest at the ongoing studies and discussions on a possible fixed-target programme using the LHC ion beams and on the Future Circular Collider., Comment: 99 pages, 56 figures

We employ a relativistic transport theory to describe the fireball expansion of the matter created in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions (uRHICs). Developing an approach to fix locally the shear viscosity to entropy density $\eta/s$, we study the impact of a temperature dependent $\eta/s(T)$ on the build-up of the elliptic flow, $v_2$, a measure of the angular anisotropy in the particle production. Beam Energy Scan from $\sqrt{s_{NN}}= \rm 62.4 GeV$ at RHIC up to 2.76 TeV at LHC has shown that the $v_2(p_T)$ as a function of the transverse momentum $p_T$ appears to be nearly invariant with energy. We show that such a surprising behavior is determined by a rise and fall of $\eta/s(T)$ with a minimum at $T\sim T_c$, as one would expect if the matter undergoes a phase transition or a cross-over. This provides an evidence for phase transition occurring in the uRHIC's and a first constraint on the temperature dependence of $\eta/s$. In particular, a constant $\eta/s$ at all temperatures or a too strong T-dependence would cause a breaking of the scaling of $v_2(p_T)$ with the energy., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

A current goal of relativistic heavy ion collisions experiments is the search for a Color Glass Condensate as the limiting state of QCD matter at very high density. In viscous hydrodynamics simulations, a standard Glauber initial condition leads to estimate $4\pi \eta/s \sim 1$, while a Color Glass Condensate modeling leads to at least a factor of 2 larger $\eta/s$. Within a kinetic theory approach based on a relativistic Boltzmann-like transport simulation, we point out that the out-of-equilibrium initial distribution proper of a Color Glass Condensate reduces the efficiency in building-up the elliptic flow. Our main result at RHIC energy is that the available data on $v_2$ are in agreement with a $4\pi \eta/s \sim 1$ also for Color Glass Condensate initial conditions, opening the possibility to describe self-consistently also higher order flow, otherwise significantly underestimated, and to pursue further the search for signatures of the Color Glass Condensate., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. // Title changed, some discussion added, main conclusions unchanged. Version accepted for publication on Phys. Lett. B

The elliptic-flow ratio of neutrons with respect to protons in reactions of neutron rich heavy-ions systems at intermediate energies has been proposed as an observable sensitive to the strength of the symmetry term in the nuclear Equation Of State (EOS) at supra-saturation densities. The recent results obtained from the existing FOPI/LAND data for $^{197}$Au+$^{197}$Au collisions at 400 MeV/nucleon in comparison with the UrQMD model allowed a first estimate of the symmetry term of the EOS but suffer from a considerable statistical uncertainty. In order to obtain an improved data set for Au+Au collisions and to extend the study to other systems, a new experiment was carried out at the GSI laboratory by the ASY-EOS collaboration in May 2011., Comment: Talk given by P. Russotto at the 11th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (NN2012), San Antonio, Texas, USA, May 27-June 1, 2012. To appear in the NN2012 Proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS)

The shear viscosity $\eta$ has been calculated by using the Green-Kubo relation in the framework of a partonic transport approach solved at cascade level. We compare the numerical results for $\eta$ obtained from the Green-Kubo correlator with the analytical formulas in both the Relaxation Time Approximation (RTA) and the Chapman-Enskog approximation (CE). We investigate and emphasize the differences between the isotropic and anisotropic cross sections and between the massless and massive particles. We show that in the range of temperature explored in a Heavy Ion collision and for pQCD-like cross section the RTA significantly underestimates the viscosity by about a factor of 2-3, while a good agreement is found between the CE approximation and Gree-Kubo relation already at first order of approximation. The agreement with the CE approximation supplies an analytical formula that allows to develop kinetic transport theory at fixed shear viscosity to entropy density ratio, $\eta/s$. This open the possibility to explore dissipative non-equilibrium evolution of the distribution functions vs T-dependent $\eta/s$ and particle momenta in the dynamics of the Quark-Gluon Plasma created in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures

We study the evolution of the quark-gluon composition of the plasma created in ultra-Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions (uRHIC's) employing a partonic transport theory that includes both elastic and inelastic collisions plus a mean fields dynamics associated to the widely used quasi-particle model. The latter, able to describe lattice QCD thermodynamics, implies a "chemical" equilibrium ratio between quarks and gluons strongly increasing as $T\rightarrow T_c$, the phase transition temperature. Accordingly we see in realistic simulations of uRHIC's a rapid evolution from a gluon dominated initial state to a quark dominated plasma close to $T_c$. The quark to gluon ratio can be modified by about a factor of $\sim 20$ in the bulk of the system and appears to be large also in the high $p_T$ region. We discuss how this aspect, often overflown, can be important for a quantitative study of several key issues in the QGP physics: shear viscosity, jet quenching, quarkonia suppression. Furthermore a bulk plasma made by more than $80\%$ of quarks plus antiquarks provides a theoretical basis for hadronization via quark coalescence., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, version published in Phys.Lett. B724 (2013) 296

The two-Equation of State (Two-EoS) model is used to describe the hadron-quark phase transition in dense-hot matter formed in heavy-ion collisions. The non-linear Walecka model is used to describe the hadronic phase. For the quark phase, the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model coupled to Polyakov-Loop fields (PNJL) is used to include both the chiral and (de)confinement dynamics. The phase diagrams are derived from the Gibbs conditions and compared with the results obtained in the Hadron-NJL model without confinement. As in the Hadron-NJL case a first order transition is observed, but with a Critical-End-Point at much higher temperature, consequence of the confinement mechanism that reduces the degrees of freedom of the quark matter in proximity of the phase transition. Particular attention is devoted to the phase transition in isospin asymmetric matter. Interesting isospin effects are found at high baryon density and reduced temperatures, in fact common also to other quark models, like MIT-Bag and NJL model. Some possible observation signals are suggested to probe in Heavy-Ion Collision (HIC) experiments at intermediate energies., Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures (revtex4)

The two-Equation of State (EoS) model is used to describe the hadron-quark phase transition in asymmetric matter formed at high density in heavy-ion collisions. For the quark phase, the three-flavor Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) effective theory is used to investigate the influence of dynamical quark mass effects on the phase transition. At variance to the MIT-Bag results, with fixed current quark masses, the main important effect of the chiral dynamics is the appearance of an End-Point for the coexistence zone. We show that a first order hadron-quark phase transition may take place in the region T=(50-80)MeV and \rho_B=(2-4)\rho_0, which is possible to be probed in the new planned facilities, such as FAIR at GSI-Darmstadt and NICA at JINR-Dubna. From isospin properties of the mixed phase somepossible signals are suggested. The importance of chiral symmetry and dynamical quark mass on the hadron-quark phase transition is stressed. The difficulty of an exact location of Critical-End-Point comes from its appearance in a region of competition between chiral symmetry breaking and confinement, where our knowledge of effective QCD theories is still rather uncertain., Comment: 13 pages, 16 figures (revtex)

We introduce a transport approach at fixed shear viscosity to entropy ratio $\etas$ to study the generation of collective flows in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Transport theory supplies a covariant approach valid also at large $\etas$ and at intermediate transverse momentum $p_T$, where deviations from equilibrium is no longer negligible. Such an approach shows that at RHIC energies a temperature dependent $\etas$ enhances significantly the $v_4/v_2^2$ respect to the case of constant $\etas$. Furthermore if NJL chiral dynamics is self-consistently implemented we show that it does not modify the relation between $v_2$ and $\etas$., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of Hot Quarks 2010, 21-26 June 2010 Las Londe Les Maures; to appear in Journal of Physics: Conference Series

Heavy Ion Collisions (HIC) represent a unique tool to probe the in-medium nuclear interaction in regions away from saturation. In this report we present a selection of new reaction observables in dissipative collisions particularly sensitive to the symmetry term of the nuclear Equation of State ($Iso-EoS$). We will first discuss the Isospin Equilibration Dynamics. At low energies this manifests via the recently observed Dynamical Dipole Radiation, due to a collective neutron-proton oscillation with the symmetry term acting as a restoring force. At higher beam energies Iso-EoS effects will be seen in an Isospin Diffusion mechanism, via Imbalance Ratio Measurements, in particular from correlations to the total kinetic energy loss. For fragmentation reactions in central events we suggest to look at the coupling between isospin distillation and radial flow. In Neck Fragmentation reactions important Iso-EoS information can be obtained from fragment isospin content, velocity and alignement correlations. The high density symmetry term can be probed from isospin effects on heavy ion reactions at relativistic energies (few AGeV range), in particular for high transverse momentum selections of the reaction products. Rather isospin sensitive observables are proposed from nucleon/cluster emissions, collective flows and meson production. The possibility to shed light on the controversial neutron/proton effective mass splitting in asymmetric matter is also suggested. A large symmetry repulsion at high baryon density will also lead to an "earlier" hadron-deconfinement transition in n-rich matter. The binodal transition line of the (T,\rho_B) diagram is lowered to a region accessible through heavy ion collisions in the energy range of the new planned facilities, e.g. the FAIR/NICA projects. Some observable effects of the formation of a Mixed Phase are suggested, in particular a Neutron Trapping mechanism. The dependence of the results on a suitable treatment of the isovector part of the interaction in effective QCD Lagrangian approaches is critically discussed. We stress the interest of this study in nuclear astrophysics, in particular for supernovae explosions and neutron star structure, where the knowledge of the Iso-EoS is important at low as well as at high baryon density., Comment: 52 pages, 28 figures, topical review submitted to J. Phys. G: Nucl. Phys (IOP Latex)

We have derived and solved numerically the Boltzmann-Vlasov transport equations that includes both two-body collisions and the chiral phase transition by mean of NJL-field dynamics. The scope is to understand if the field dynamics supply new genuine effects on the build-up of the elliptic flow $v_2$, a measure of the asymmetry in the momentum space, and in particular if it can affect the relation between $v_2$ and the shear viscosity to entropy ratio $\eta/s$. Solving the transport equation with a constant cross section for the condition of $Au+Au$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ AGeV it is shown a sizable suppression of $v_2$ due to the attractive nature of the field dynamics that generates the constituent mass. However the key result is that if $\eta/s$ of the system is kept fixed by an appropriate local renormalization of the cross section the $v_2$ does not depend on the details of the collisional and/or field dynamics and in particular it is not affected significantly by the chiral phase transition., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

The nuclear symmetry energy at densities above saturation density ($\rho_0\sim 0.16 fm^{-3}$) is poorly constrained theoretically and very few relevant experimental data exist. Its study is possible through Heavy Ion Collisions (HIC) at energies $E/A> 200$ MeV, particularly with beams of neutron-rich radioactive nuclei. The energy range implies that the momentum dependence of the isospin fields, i.e. the difference of the effective masses on protons and neutrons, also has to be investigated before a safe constraint on $\esy(\rho)$ is possible. We discuss the several observables which have been suggested, like $n/p$ emission and their collective flows and the ratio of meson yields with different isospin projection, $\pi^-/\pi^+$ and $K^0/K^+$. We point out several physical mechanisms that should be included in the theoretical models to allow a direct comparison to the more precise experiments which will be able to distinguish the isospin projection of the detected particles: CSR/Lanzhou, FAIR/GSI, RIBF/RIKEN, FRIB/MSU., Comment: 12 opages, 5 figures, Proceedings of IWND09 - 22-25 August 2009 Shanghai (China)

Within a covariant parton cascade, we discuss the impact of both finite shear viscosity $\eta$ and freeze-out dynamics on the elliptic flow generated at RHIC. We find that the enhancement of $\eta/s$ in the cross-over region of the QGP phase transition cannot be neglected in order to extract the information from the QGP phase. We also point out that the elliptic flow $v_2(p_T)$ for a fluid at $\eta/s \sim 0.1-0.2$ is consistent with the one needed by quark number scaling drawing a nice consistency between the nearly perfect fluid property of QGP and the coalescence process., Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of "Nucleus-Nucleus 2009" -Beijing (China), 16-21 August 2009. To be pubblished in Nucl. Phys. A

The phase transition of hadronic to quark matter at high baryon and isospin density is analyzed. Relativistic mean field models are used to describe hadronic matter, and the MIT bag model is adopted for quark matter. The boundaries of the mixed phase and the related critical points for symmetric and asymmetric matter are obtained. Due to the different symmetry term in the two phases, isospin effects appear to be rather significant. With increasing isospin asymmetry the binodal transition line of the (T,\rho_B) diagram is lowered to a region accessible through heavy ion collisions in the energy range of the new planned facilities, e.g. the FAIR/NICA projects. Some observable effects are suggested, in particular an "Isospin Distillation" mechanism with a more isospin asymmetric quark phase, to be seen in charged meson yield ratios, and an onset of quark number scaling of the meson/baryon elliptic flows. The presented isospin effects on the mixed phase appear to be robust with respect to even large variations of the poorly known symmetry term at high baryon density in the hadron phase. The dependence of the results on a suitable treatment of isospin contributions in effective QCD Lagrangian approaches, at the level of explicit isovector parts and/or quark condensates, is finally discussed., Comment: 14 two column pages, 14 figures, new results with other hadron EoS. Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.C

We attempt a unified treatment of heavy quarkonia and heavy-quark diffusion in the Quark-Gluon Plasma. Our approach is based on finite-temperature T-matrices with interaction potentials estimated from the heavy-quark internal energy computed in thermal lattice QCD (lQCD). In the charmonium sector S-wave bound states (J/\psi, \eta_c) survive up to temperatures of ~2 T_c, not inconsistent with constraints from euclidean correlation functions in lQCD. In the open-heavy flavor sector, the T-matrix interaction reduces heavy-quark diffusion substantially, leading to fair agreement with single-electron spectra at RHIC and suggestive for a small viscosity-to-entropy ratio close to T_c., Comment: 6 pages, 12 eps-figs, Proc. of 24. Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, South Padre Island (TX, USA), April 05-12, 2008

This writeup is a compilation of the predictions for the forthcoming Heavy Ion Program at the Large Hadron Collider, as presented at the CERN Theory Institute 'Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC - Last Call for Predictions', held from May 14th to June 10th 2007., Comment: LaTeX, 185 pages, uses iop styles; writeup of the CERN Theory Institute 'Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC - Last Call for Predictions', held from May 14th to June 10th 2007

We evaluate heavy-quark (HQ) transport properties in a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) employing interaction potentials extracted from thermal lattice QCD. Within a Brueckner many-body scheme we calculate in-medium T-matrices for charm- and bottom-quark scattering off light quarks in the QGP. The interactions are dominated by attractive meson and diquark channels which support bound and resonance states up to temperatures of ~1.5 T_c. We apply pertinent drag and diffusion coefficients (supplemented by perturbative scattering off gluons) in Langevin simulations in an expanding fireball to compute HQ spectra and elliptic flow in \sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV Au-Au collisions. We find good agreement with semileptonic electron-decay spectra which supports our nonperturbative computation of the HQ diffusion coefficient, suggestive for a strongly coupled QGP., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, v2: version to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett

We present predictions for the nuclear modification factor and elliptic flow of D and B mesons, as well as of their decay electrons, in semicentral Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC. Heavy quarks are propagated in a Quark-Gluon Plasma using a relativistic Langevin simulation with drag and diffusion coefficients from elastic interactions with light anti-/quarks and gluons, including non-perturbative resonance scattering. Hadronization at T_c is performed within a combined coalescence-fragmentation scheme., Comment: 2 pages, 6 figures. Contributed to Workshop on Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC: Last Call for Predictions, Geneva, Switzerland, 14 May - 8 Jun 2007 v2: acknowledgment included

Elastic scattering of charm (c) and bottom (b) quarks via D- and B-meson resonance states in an expanding, strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma is investigated. Drag and diffusion coefficients are calculated from an effective model based on chiral symmetry and heavy-quark effective theory, and utilized in a relativistic Langevin simulation to obtain transverse-momentum spectra and elliptic flow (v_2) of c- and b-quarks. The hadronization to D- and B-mesons is described by coalescence and fragmentation, and the resulting decay-electron spectra are compared to recent RHIC data., Comment: proceedings for PANIC05

Thermalization and collective flow of charm (c) and bottom (b) quarks are evaluated from elastic parton scattering via "D"- and "B"-meson resonances in an expanding, strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma at RHIC. Pertinent drag and diffusion coefficients are implemented into a relativistic Langevin simulation to compute transverse-momentum spectra and azimuthal flow asymmetries (v_2) of c- and b-quarks. Upon hadronization (including coalescence and fragmentation) and semileptonic D- and B-decays, the resulting electron spectra (R_{AA} and v_2) are compared to recent RHIC data., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings for Quark Matter 2005; v2: Acknowledgment added

Production of pentaquark $\Theta^+$ baryons in central relativistic heavy ion collisions is studied in a kinetic model. Assuming that a quark-gluon plasma is produced in the collisions, we first determine the number of $\Theta^+$ produced from the quark-gluon plasma using a parton coalescence model, and then take into consideration its production and absorption in subsequent hadronic matter via the reactions $KN\leftrightarrow\Theta$, $KN\leftrightarrow\pi\Theta$, and $\piN\leftrightarrow\bar K\Theta$. We find that although the final $\Theta^+$ number is affected by hadronic interactions, it remains sensitive to the initial number of $\Theta^+$ produced from the quark-gluon plasma, particularly in the case of a small $\Theta^+$ width as imposed by the $K^+N$ and $K^+d$ scattering data. Because of small baryon chemical potential in the hot dense matter produced in these collisions, the number of produced anti-$\Theta$ is only slightly smaller than that of $\Theta^+$., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, revised version, to appear in PLB

Using an isospin-dependent transport model, we study isospin effects on two-nucleon correlation functions in heavy-ion collisions induced by neutron-rich nuclei at intermediate energies. We find that these correlation functions are sensitive to the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy, but not to the incompressibility of symmetric nuclear matter and the medium dependence of nucleon-nucleon cross sections. This sensitivity is mainly due to effects of nuclear symmetry energy on the emission times of neutrons and protons as well as their relative emission sequence. We also study the variations of the symmetry energy effects on nucleon-nucleon correlations with respect to the impact parameter, incident energy, and mass number of heavy ion collisions., Comment: 16 pages including 25 figures, REVTeX, typos corrected, to appear in Phys. Rev. C

Using a covariant coalescence model, we study hadron production in relativistic heavy ion collisions from both soft partons in the quark-gluon plasma and hard partons in minijets. Including transverse flow of soft partons and independent fragmentation of minijet partons, the model is able to describe available experimental data on pion, kaon, and antiproton spectra. The resulting antiproton to pion ratio is seen to increase at low transverse momenta and reaches a value of about one at intermediate transverse momenta, as observed in experimental data at RHIC. A similar dependence of the antikaon to pion ratio on transverse momentum is obtained, but it reaches a smaller value at intermediate transverse momenta. At high transverse momenta, the model predicts that both the antiproton to pion and the antikaon to pion ratio decrease and approach those given by the perturbative QCD. Both collective flow effect and coalescence of minijet partons with partons in the quark-gluon plasma affect significantly the spectra of hadrons with intermediate transverse momenta. Elliptic flows of protons, Lambdas, and Omegas have also been evaluated from partons with elliptic flows extracted from fitting measured pion and kaon elliptic flows, and they are found to be consistent with available experimental data., Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures

Coalescence of minijet partons with the partons from the quark-gluon plasma formed in relativistic heavy ion collisions is suggested as the mechanism for production of hadrons with intermediate transverse momentum. The resulting enhanced antiproton and pion yields at intermediate transverse momentum gives a plausible explanation for the observed large antiproton to pion ratio. With further increasing momentum, the ratio is predicted to decrease and approach the small value given by independent fragmentations of minijet partons after their energy loss in the quark-gluon plasma., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett

The energetic proton emission has been investigated as a function of the reaction centrality for the system 58Ni + 58Ni at 30A MeV. Extremely energetic protons (EpNN > 130 MeV) were measured and their multiplicity is found to increase almost quadratically with the number of participant nucleons thus indicating the onset of a mechanism beyond one and two-body dynamics., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters