Relativistic Hydrodynamic Modeling of Particle Production Cascades in Asymmetric Sulfur-Gold Collisions

International Journal of Physics | Vol. 13, No. 5, May 2022 | pp. 33–40

DOI: 10.46882/2022/IJP/000145

Research Article

Title: Relativistic Hydrodynamic Modeling of Particle Production Cascades in Asymmetric Sulfur-Gold Collisions

Names of Authors: H. L. Mueller¹, S. C. O’Brien²

Authors’ Affiliations:
¹ Institut für Kernphysik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany
² School of Physics, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Abstract: High-energy asymmetric heavy-ion collisions provide a unique experimental baseline to map out the spatial geometry boundaries and core transport conditions required to produce a collective quark-gluon plasma droplet. This study presents a relativistic hydrodynamic modeling framework to simulate particle production cascades in asymmetric sulfur-gold (S-Au) collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200.0 GeV per nucleon pair. We utilized a 3+1 dimensional viscous hydrodynamic code coupled with a statistical hadronization module to compute transverse momentum spectra and azimuthal anisotropy coefficients. The initial energy density profiles were generated using a Monte Carlo Glauber model to capture sub-nucleon scale configurations. The numerical simulations show that expanding systems build a substantial radial flow profile, which shifts the mean transverse momentum of protons up to 1.32 GeV/c in high-multiplicity events. The calculated elliptic flow coefficient (v²) displays a strong mass-ordering effect, which matches experimental measurements gathered by modern tracking spectrometers within a tight ±5.8% margin. This close agreement suggests that intermediate asymmetric systems can achieve brief hydrodynamic collective expansion. These findings help clarify the boundaries of fluid-like behavior in subatomic interactions.

Keywords: Relativistic hydrodynamics; particle production; sulfur-gold collisions; elliptic flow; Glauber model; statistical hadronization

Manuscript Timeline: Received: February 11, 2022; Revised: March 24, 2022; Accepted: April 10, 2022; Published: May 16, 2022

Citation: Mueller, H. L., & O’Brien, S. C. (2022). Relativistic Hydrodynamic Modeling of Particle Production Cascades in Asymmetric Sulfur-Gold Collisions. International Journal of Physics, 13(5), 33–40.

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