The Initial gluon multiplicity in heavy ion collisions

Jul, 2000
10 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.Lett. 86 (2001) 1717-1720
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Abstract:
The initial gluon multiplicity per unit area per unit rapidity, dN/L^2/d\eta, in high energy nuclear collisions, is equal to f_N (g^2\mu L) (g^2\mu)^2/g^2, with \mu^2 proportional to the gluon density per unit area of the colliding nuclei. For an SU(2) gauge theory, we compute f_N (g^2\mu L)=0.14\pm 0.01 for a wide range in g^2\mu L. Extrapolating to SU(3), we predict dN/L^2/d\eta for values of g^2\mu L in the range relevant to the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider. We compute the initial gluon transverse momentum distribution, dN/L^2/d^2 k_\perp, and show it to be well behaved at low k_\perp.
  • scattering: heavy ion
  • nucleus: wave function
  • gluon: multiplicity
  • gauge field theory: SU(2)
  • gauge field theory: SU(3)
  • gluon: transverse momentum
  • gluon: dispersion relation
  • numerical calculations: Monte Carlo