High-energy nuclear (heavy-ion) physics
rpnhenpf20em, a.k.a. fffn9a85, fffn9a78, FIZ/2/094E
Contents
Goal of this class is to learn about the experimental background, basic observables, phenomenological ideas and theories of high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. Once completed, the student shall be familiar with the main concepts hence will understand the main message of most talks on a high energy heavy ion physics conference.
These main topics will be covered at the lectures:
- Introduction to high energy nuclear physics: basics of particle physics, heavy ion experiments, time evolution of heavy ion collisions, basic phenomenology. Slides: [pptx]
- Heavy ion and particle colliders: types of accelerators, present-day colliders (e.g. SPS, RHIC, LHC), types of particle detectors. Slides: [pdf], [pptx]
- Complex detector systems: setup of NA61, PHENIX, STAR, CMS, ALICE, event characterization, tracking, particle identification, data aquisition. Slides: [pdf], [pptx]
- Hard probes: nuclear modification, jet reconstruction, heavy quarks, jet correlations, photons. Slides: [pdf], [pptx]
- Soft probes: angular correlations, momentum anisotropies, quark degrees of freedom, thermal effects, viscosity. Slides: [pdf], [pptx]
- Femtoscopy: basics of the HBT effect, quantum-statistics, femtoscopy, core-halo model, final state interactions, coherence, hydrodynamic scaling, Gaussian and Lévy sources. Slides: [pdf], [pptx]
- The QCD phase diagram: theoretical and phenomenological calculations, experimental results, planned future experiments. Slides: [pdf], [pptx]
- Microscopic calculations: perturbative QCD, lattice QCD. Slides: [pdf], [pptx]
- Hydrodynamics: nonrelativistic and relativistic equations, simple consequences, simple solutions, hydrodynamic models, scaling, numerical simulations. Slides: [pdf], [pptx]
- Phenomenology: kinetic theory, effective theories (Linear Sigma Model, PNJL, etc) [pdf]
These topics cover a lecture each, and there will be a project task at the end of the semester, substituting a regular verbal or written exam.
Background
Necessary knowledge
Familiarity with special relativity and quantum mechanics is required, as well as basic knowledge of particle and nuclear physics. Some understanding of the concepts of quantum field theories is useful, as well as a basic understanding of information technology concepts. For the project work, working knowledge of C++ is needed.
Study materials
To be created along the course of the lectures in 2020/21
Literature
- L. P. Csernai: Introduction to Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions
- W. Florkowski: Phenomenology of Ultra-Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions
- D.H. Perkins: Introduction to High Energy Physics
- M.E. Peskin, D.V. Schroeder: An Introduction To Quantum Field Theory
- I. Arsene et al., Nucl.Phys. A757 (2005) 1-27 [arXiv:nucl-ex/0410020]
- B. Back et al., Nucl.Phys. A757 (2005) 28-101 [arXiv:nucl-ex/0410022]
- J. Adams et al., Nucl.Phys. A757 (2005) 102-183 [arXiv:nucl-ex/0501009]
- K. Adcox et al., Nucl.Phys. A757 (2005) 184-283 [arXiv:nucl-ex/0410003]
- M. Lisa et al., Ann.Rev.Nucl.Part.Sci. 55 (2005) 357-402 [arXiv:nucl-ex/0505014]
Information for project tasks
Description of the tasks
Useful materials
In order to complete this course, you need to be familiar with c++ and ROOT. Below are some materials that may be helpful.
- A c++ tutorial: http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/
- A short c++ course: https://www.phenix.bnl.gov/~purschke/CppCourse_BNL/
- ROOT webpage: https://root.cern.ch/
- ROOT manual: https://root.cern/manual/basics/
- ROOT guide: [html]
- A ROOT course: [pdf] (slides 29-61: C++ basics; slides 61-75: ROOT basics; slides 76-109: Histograms, functions, graphs;
- A few useful ROOT tutorials:
- Histograms: https://root.cern.ch/root/htmldoc/guides/users-guide/Histograms.html
- Histogram examples: https://root.cern.ch/doc/master/group__tutorial__hist.html
- Fitting examples: https://root.cern.ch/doc/master/group__tutorial__fit.html
- Trees: https://root.cern.ch/root/htmldoc/guides/users-guide/Trees.html
- Minuit2: https://root.cern.ch/root/htmldoc/guides/minuit2/Minuit2.html
- Other HowTo pages: https://root.cern.ch/howtos
Working with real data
- You will just have to download this data from the location provided at the beginning of the course
- Analyze
- Download analysis code: [tgz]
- Read the README file: [txt]
- Download example data tree: [root]
- Create the exe, exe/object, exe/object/dependencies directories
- Compile the code via make all, and run it as exe/analyzetree.exe <data.root> <output.root> <number of events to analyze>, with keeping the number of events to analyze low, i.e. 50000 or so (for experimenting)
- Plot the results via root.exe -b -q Plot_analyzetree.C\(\"<output.root>,<figures directory>\"\), substituting the output file produced in the previous step. You will also need a (preferably web based) directory for the plotted figures.
- Check if you can get back to zvertex, centrality and reaction plane distributions given at my BNL public web area
- You can access the particle properties through p.GetEntry(ientry), and then p.E[itrack] and similarly for others.
February 5, 2021