Thermalization of Quarks and Gluons in Heavy Ion Collisions

Oct, 1984
30 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.D 32 (1985) 637
Report number:
  • OITS 263

Citations per year

198519921999200620131420
Abstract: (APS)
The thermalization problem in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is considered. The initial momentum distribution of the quarks and gluons in a nucleus-nucleus collision before thermalization takes place is first determined. It is then argued that the relativistic Fokker-Planck equation is the appropriate transport equation to describe the time evolution of the quark-gluon system. In terms of a scaled time variable, the thermalization time is determined without fully solving the Fokker-Planck equation. The actual proper time of local thermalization is then estimated on the basis of some reasonable inputs on the soft interactions among quarks and gluons; the resultant value is of order 0.1 fm/c. The time for global (in rapidity) thermalization is longer.
  • NUCLEUS NUCLEUS: NUCLEAR REACTION
  • SCATTERING: HEAVY ION
  • HEAVY ION: SCATTERING
  • RELATIVISTIC
  • QUARK: MOMENTUM SPECTRUM
  • GLUON: MOMENTUM SPECTRUM
  • THERMODYNAMICS
  • FIELD EQUATIONS: FOKKER-PLANCK
  • DEPENDENCE: TIME
  • QUARK GLUON: INTERACTION