# Novel rapidity dependence of directed flow in high energy heavy ion collisions

## Abstract

For high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions, we show that a combination of space-momentum correlations characteristic of radial expansion together with the correlation between the position of a nucleon in the nucleus and its stopping, results in a very specific rapidity dependence of directed flow: a reversal of sign in the mid-rapidity region. We support our argument by RQMD model calculations for Au+Au collisions at $`\sqrt{s}`$ = 200 $`A`$GeV.

The study of anisotropic flow in high energy nuclear collisions has attracted increasing attention from both experimentalists and theorists . The rich physics of directed and elliptical flow  is due to their sensitivity to the system evolution at early time. Anisotropic flow in general is also sensitive to the equation of state  which governs the evolution of the system created in the nuclear collision.

The collective expansion of the system created during a heavy-ion collision implies space-momentum correlation in particle distributions at freeze-out. Simplified, this means that particles created on the left side of the system move in the left direction and particles created on the right side move in the right direction (on average). We will show that the rapidity dependence of directed flow of nucleons and pions can address this space-momentum correlation experimentally.

A sketch of a medium central symmetric heavy-ion collision is shown in Fig. 1, from before the collision (a,b) to the resulting distributions of $`x`$ and $`p_x`$ shown in (d). In Fig. 1a the projectile and target are shown before the collision in coordinate space. In Fig. 1b the overlap region is magnified and the “spectators” are not shown. It shows in a schematic way the number of nucleons and their position in the x–z plane (where $`\widehat{𝐱}`$ is the impact parameter direction). Projectile nucleons (light color) at negative $`x`$ suffer more rapidity loss than those at positive $`x`$, ending up closer to mid-rapidity. Assuming a positive space-momentum correlation (as indicated in Fig. 1c), these nucleons have negative $`p_x`$, while those at positive $`x`$ have positive $`p_x`$. This results in a wiggle structure in the rapidity dependencies of $`x`$ and $`p_x`$ which is shown schematically in Fig. 1d.

The shape of the wiggle, both the magnitude of $`p_x`$ and the rapidity range, depends on the strength of the space-momentum correlation, the initial beam-target rapidity gap and the amount of stopping. Therefore, the dependence of the wiggle on the collision centrality, system size and center of mass energy may reveal important information on the relation between radial flow and baryon stopping. In addition, it has been shown that the magnitude of $`p_x`$ depends on the nuclear matter equation of state .

The above picture changes for collisions at lower energies, where there is no clear rapidity separation between projectile and target nucleons at freeze-out, because nucleons cross over mid-rapidity. Moreover, when the time for the nuclei to pass each other becomes long relative to the characteristic time scale for particle production, the interactions between particles and spectators (so-called shadowing) become important. This has been pointed out by many people and recently in . This is consistent with the results of heavy ion collisions, in the 2 to 158 $`A`$GeV energy range, where the experimental observed slope around mid-rapidity in directed flow shows a trend from a positive value at 2 $`A`$GeV  to almost zero at 158 $`A`$GeV .

Note that the change of sign of directed flow at mid-rapidity has been discussed for Ca+Ca collisions at 350 $`A`$MeV  and for Au+Au collisions at 11 $`A`$GeV . However, the physical origins on which these predictions are based are different from what we discuss in this Letter. In 350 $`A`$MeV Ca+Ca collisions the wiggle originates from a combination of repulsive nucleon-nucleon collisions and an attractive mean field. The repulsive nucleon-nucleon collisions dominate at the mid-rapidity region and lead to a positive slope for $`p_x`$ versus rapidity. The attractive mean field dominates at beam and target rapidities and leads to a negative slope. In 11 $`A`$GeV Au+Au collisions the wiggle is caused by the longitudinal hydrodynamic expansion of a tilted source . It has been noticed that in hydro calculations the wiggle only appeared if a QGP equation of state is used. The QGP equation of state is a prerequisite to reach the stopping needed to create this tilted source. The predicted wiggle in this Letter does not assume a QGP equation of state. The other main difference is that in our prediction we specifically assume in-complete stopping.

The arguments used in this Letter which lead to a change of sign of directed flow at mid-rapidity are valid on general grounds. However, to test the picture quantitatively we study Au+Au collisions at $`\sqrt{s}`$ = 200 $`A`$GeV in an impact parameter range $`b`$=5–10 fm, using the Relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (RQMD v2.4) model in cascade mode .

To characterize directed flow, we use the first Fourier coefficient , $`v_1`$, of the particle azimuthal distribution. At a given rapidity and transverse momentum the coefficient is determined by $`v_1=\mathrm{cos}\varphi `$, where $`\varphi `$ is the azimuthal angle of a particle relative to the reaction plane angle ($`\widehat{𝐱}`$ direction in Fig. 1). Similarly a Fourier coefficient can be determined in coordinate space, $`s_1=\mathrm{cos}\varphi _s`$ , where $`\varphi _s`$ is the azimuthal angle of a particle, determined from the freeze-out coordinates $`x`$ and $`y`$, relative to the reaction plane angle. Figure 2 shows the RQMD calculations of $`v_1`$ and $`s_1`$ for nucleons and pions in Au+Au collisions at RHIC energy. Indeed, the shape at mid-rapidity for nucleons is consistent with the picture described above: both $`v_1`$ and $`s_1`$ show a negative slope at mid-rapidity. For larger rapidities the $`s_1`$ values leave the ordinate scale.

Pions are produced particles and their space-rapidity correlation is different from that of nucleons shown in Fig. 1d. Due to the asymmetry in the numbers of colliding target and projectile nucleons, the pions produced at positive $`x`$ shift toward positive rapidity. The pions produced at negative $`x`$ shift toward negative rapidity. This results in a positive space-rapidity correlation without a wiggle, see Fig. 2b. (open circles). Due to the space-momentum correlation, the momentum distribution tends to follow the space distribution. This leads to the positive slope of $`v_1`$ at mid-rapidity for the pions, see Fig. 2b. (filled circles). However, shadowing by nucleons is also important in the formation of pion directed flow. The contribution is relatively small in the mid-rapidity region, where in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions the nucleon to pion ratio is small. At beam/target rapidity the shadowing becomes dominant, this explains why $`s_1`$ has the opposite sign from $`v_1`$ for pions close to beam/target rapidity.

In this Letter we have shown that the combination of space-momentum correlations characteristic of radial expansion together with the correlation between the position of a nucleon in the nucleus and its stopping, results in a wiggle in the rapidity dependence of directed flow in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. Moreover, the amount of stopping and the space-momentum correlation depend on the equation of state and this affects the strength of the wiggle around mid-rapidity . Finally, because the wiggle appears at mid-rapidity, it is accessible by the current SPS experiment NA49 and the near future RHIC experiments. The study of its dependence on collision centrality, system size and the center of mass energy may reveal important information on the relation between collective radial flow and baryon stopping.

We are grateful to G.E. Cooper, Y. Pang, S. Panitkin, A.M. Poskanzer, G. Rai, H.G. Ritter and H. Ströbele for useful discussions. This work was supported by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics, Division of Nuclear Physics of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC03-76SF00098.