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Effects of a phase transition on two-pion interferometry in heavy ion collisions at \(\sqrt {{s_{{\rm{NN}}}}} = 2.4 - 7.7\,\,{\rm{GeV}}\)

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Abstract

Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) correlations for charged pions in central Au+Au collisions at \(\sqrt {{s_{{\rm{NN}}}}} = 2.4 - 7.7\) GeV (corresponding to beam kinetic energies in the fixed target frame from Elab = 1.23 to 30 GeV/nucleon) are calculated using the ultra-relativistic quantum molecular dynamics model with different equations of state (EoSs). The effects of a phase transition at high baryon densities are clearly observed in the explored HBT parameters. The results show that the available data on the HBT radii, RO/RS and R 2O − R 2S , in the investigated energy region favor a relatively stiff EoS at low beam energies, which then turns into a soft EoS at high collision energies consistent with astrophysical constraints on the high-density EoS of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The specific effects of two different phase transition scenarios on RO/RS and R 2O − R 2S are investigated. A phase transition with a significant softening of the EoS below four times the nuclear saturation density can be excluded using HBT data. Our results highlight that the pion’s RO/RS and R 2O − R 2S are sensitive to the stiffness of the EoS and can be used to constrain and understand the QCD EoS in a high baryon density region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, 60438, Germany

    Pengcheng Li, Tom Reichert, Apiwit Kittiratpattana & Marcus Bleicher

  2. School of Science, Huzhou University, Huzhou, 313000, China

    Pengcheng Li & Qingfeng Li

  3. School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Pengcheng Li

  4. Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt am Main, 60438, Germany

    Jan Steinheimer

  5. GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Darmstadt, 64291, Germany

    Marcus Bleicher

  6. Helmholtz Research Academy Hesse for FAIR (HFHF), GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Physics, Campus Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, 60438, Germany

    Tom Reichert & Marcus Bleicher

  7. Center of Excellence in High Energy Physics & Astrophysics, School of Physics, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, 30000, Thailand

    Apiwit Kittiratpattana

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  1. Pengcheng Li
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Correspondence to Qingfeng Li.

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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11875125, and 12075085). P. Li gratefully acknowledges the financial support from China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 202106180053). J. Steinheimer thanks the Samson AG for funding. The authors are grateful to the C3S2 computing center in Huzhou University for calculation support.

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Li, P., Steinheimer, J., Reichert, T. et al. Effects of a phase transition on two-pion interferometry in heavy ion collisions at \(\sqrt {{s_{{\rm{NN}}}}} = 2.4 - 7.7\,\,{\rm{GeV}}\). Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 66, 232011 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-022-2041-8

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