3+1 DIMENSIONAL RELATIVISTIC HYDRODYNAMIC SPACE TIME EVOLUTION OF THE REACTION O(200 GeV/n)→Pb

Abstract

3+1 dimensional relativistic calculations of the time-space evolution of the reaction 16 O→ Pb at 200 GeV/nucleon are presented. An energy density regime of several GeV/fm 3 containing more than 100 nucleons is built up. The lift time of this high energy density region turns out to be quite short, τ~4 fm/c . Therefore a transformation of the hadronic matter into a quark gluon plasma may not be achievable with such light projectiles. It is interesting, on the other hand, that collective acceleration of the whole target to rapidities Y=2–3 is obtained in collisions with impact parameters b≤4 fm/c . This should be a unique signal for fluid dynamical behaviour at these high energies.