Physics – High Energy Physics – High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Scientific paper
2011-02-23
Phys.Rev.C83:054908,2011
Physics
High Energy Physics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
5 pages, 3 figures. Discussion expanded, published version in PRC
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevC.83.054908
Thermal photon emission is widely believed to reflect properties of the earliest, hottest evolution stage of the medium created in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Previous computations of photon emission have been carried out using a hydrodynamical medium description with smooth, averaged initial conditions. Recently, more sophisticated hydrodynamical models which calculate observables by averaging over many evolutions with event-by-event fluctuating initial conditions (IC) have been developed. Given their direct connection to the early time dynamics, thermal photon emission appears an ideal observable to probe fluctuations in the medium initial state. In this work, we demonstrate that including fluctuations in the IC may lead to an enhancement of the thermal photon yield of about a factor of 2 in the region $2 < p_T < 4$ GeV/$c$ (where thermal photon production dominates the direct photon yield) compared to a scenario using smooth, averaged IC. Consequently, a much better agreement with PHENIX data is found. This can be understood in terms of the strong temperature dependence of thermal photon production, translating into a sensitivity to the presence of 'hotspots' in an event and thus establishing thermal photons as a suitable probe to characterize IC fluctuations.
Chatterjee Rupa
Eskola Kari. J.
Holopainen Hannu
Renk Thorsten
No associations
LandOfFree
Enhancement of thermal photon production in event-by-event hydrodynamics does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Enhancement of thermal photon production in event-by-event hydrodynamics, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Enhancement of thermal photon production in event-by-event hydrodynamics will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-174482