Abstract
Experimental studies of the collisions of heavy nuclei at relativistic energies have established the properties of the quark–gluon plasma (QGP), a state of hot, dense nuclear matter in which quarks and gluons are not bound into hadrons 1–4 . In this state, matter behaves as a nearly inviscid fluid 5 that efficiently translates initial spatial anisotropies into correlated momentum anisotropies among the particles produced, creating a common velocity field pattern known as collective flow. In recent years, comparable momentum anisotropies have been measured in small-system proton–proton (p+p) and proton–nucleus (p+A) collisions, despite expectations that the volume and lifetime of the medium produced would be too small to form a QGP. Here we report on the observation of elliptic and triangular flow patterns of charged particles produced in proton–gold (p+Au), deuteron–gold (d+Au) and helium–gold ( 3 He+Au) collisions at a nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass energy sNN = 200 GeV. The unique combination of three distinct initial geometries and two flow patterns provides unprecedented model discrimination. Hydrodynamical models, which include the formation of a short-lived QGP droplet, provide the best simultaneous description of these measurements.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 214-220 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Nature Physics |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1 2019 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
Cite this
Creation of quark–gluon plasma droplets with three distinct geometries. / PHENIX Collaboration ; Grosse Perdekamp, Matthias; Sickles, Anne M.
In: Nature Physics, Vol. 15, No. 3, 01.03.2019, p. 214-220.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Creation of quark–gluon plasma droplets with three distinct geometries
AU - PHENIX Collaboration
AU - Aidala, C.
AU - Akiba, Y.
AU - Alfred, M.
AU - Andrieux, V.
AU - Aoki, K.
AU - Apadula, N.
AU - Asano, H.
AU - Ayuso, C.
AU - Azmoun, B.
AU - Babintsev, V.
AU - Bagoly, A.
AU - Bandara, N. S.
AU - Barish, K. N.
AU - Bathe, S.
AU - Bazilevsky, A.
AU - Beaumier, M.
AU - Belmont, R.
AU - Berdnikov, A.
AU - Berdnikov, Y.
AU - Blau, D. S.
AU - Boer, M.
AU - Bok, J. S.
AU - Brooks, M. L.
AU - Bryslawskyj, J.
AU - Bumazhnov, V.
AU - Butler, C.
AU - Campbell, S.
AU - Roman, V. Canoa
AU - Cervantes, R.
AU - Chi, C. Y.
AU - Chiu, M.
AU - Choi, I. J.
AU - Choi, J. B.
AU - Citron, Z.
AU - Connors, M.
AU - Cronin, N.
AU - Csanád, M.
AU - Csörgő, T.
AU - Danley, T. W.
AU - Daugherity, M. S.
AU - David, G.
AU - DeBlasio, K.
AU - Dehmelt, K.
AU - Denisov, A.
AU - Deshpande, A.
AU - Desmond, E. J.
AU - Dion, A.
AU - Dixit, D.
AU - Grosse Perdekamp, Matthias
AU - Sickles, Anne M
PY - 2019/3/1
Y1 - 2019/3/1
N2 - Experimental studies of the collisions of heavy nuclei at relativistic energies have established the properties of the quark–gluon plasma (QGP), a state of hot, dense nuclear matter in which quarks and gluons are not bound into hadrons 1–4 . In this state, matter behaves as a nearly inviscid fluid 5 that efficiently translates initial spatial anisotropies into correlated momentum anisotropies among the particles produced, creating a common velocity field pattern known as collective flow. In recent years, comparable momentum anisotropies have been measured in small-system proton–proton (p+p) and proton–nucleus (p+A) collisions, despite expectations that the volume and lifetime of the medium produced would be too small to form a QGP. Here we report on the observation of elliptic and triangular flow patterns of charged particles produced in proton–gold (p+Au), deuteron–gold (d+Au) and helium–gold ( 3 He+Au) collisions at a nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass energy sNN = 200 GeV. The unique combination of three distinct initial geometries and two flow patterns provides unprecedented model discrimination. Hydrodynamical models, which include the formation of a short-lived QGP droplet, provide the best simultaneous description of these measurements.
AB - Experimental studies of the collisions of heavy nuclei at relativistic energies have established the properties of the quark–gluon plasma (QGP), a state of hot, dense nuclear matter in which quarks and gluons are not bound into hadrons 1–4 . In this state, matter behaves as a nearly inviscid fluid 5 that efficiently translates initial spatial anisotropies into correlated momentum anisotropies among the particles produced, creating a common velocity field pattern known as collective flow. In recent years, comparable momentum anisotropies have been measured in small-system proton–proton (p+p) and proton–nucleus (p+A) collisions, despite expectations that the volume and lifetime of the medium produced would be too small to form a QGP. Here we report on the observation of elliptic and triangular flow patterns of charged particles produced in proton–gold (p+Au), deuteron–gold (d+Au) and helium–gold ( 3 He+Au) collisions at a nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass energy sNN = 200 GeV. The unique combination of three distinct initial geometries and two flow patterns provides unprecedented model discrimination. Hydrodynamical models, which include the formation of a short-lived QGP droplet, provide the best simultaneous description of these measurements.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41567-018-0360-0
DO - 10.1038/s41567-018-0360-0
M3 - Letter
VL - 15
SP - 214
EP - 220
JO - Nature Physics
JF - Nature Physics
SN - 1745-2473
IS - 3
ER -