Exploring behaviors of partonic matter forming in early stage of $pp$ and nucleus-nucleus collisions at ultra-relativistic energies

TL;DR

This study investigates the properties of partonic matter in high-energy proton-proton and nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC and LHC energies, suggesting a transition towards a more free quark-gluon plasma at higher energies.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of partonic matter behaviors at different collider energies using the PACIAE model, highlighting potential formation of a near-free quark-gluon plasma at LHC energies.

Findings

Parton spectra become similar as energy increases from RHIC to LHC.

Partonic matter in Pb+Pb collisions at LHC may approach a free quark-gluon plasma.

Abstract

The parton yield, (pseudo)rapidity distribution, and transverse momentum distribution in partonic matter assumed forming in the early stage of $pp$ and nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC energy ($\sqrt{s_{{NN}}}$=200 GeV) and LHC energy ($\sqrt{s_{{NN}}}$=5.5 TeV for nucleus-nucleus, 5.5 and/or 14 TeV for $pp$) are comparatively investigated with parton and hadron cascade model PACIAE. It turned out that the different parton and anti-parton spectra approach to be similar with reaction energy increasing from RHIC to LHC. We have argued that if the partonic matter forming in Au+Au collisions at RHIC energy is strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma, the one forming in Pb+Pb collisions at LHC energy might approach the real (free) quark-gluon plasma.