A fully dynamical simulation of central nuclear collisions

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive dynamical simulation of central nuclear collisions at LHC energies, integrating all collision phases from pre-equilibrium to hadronic stages, successfully reproducing experimental particle spectra.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multi-stage simulation approach combining numerical relativity, hydrodynamics, and kinetic theory for the first time in this context.

Findings

Reproduces ALICE light particle spectra across all transverse momenta.

Provides detailed initial conditions for hydrodynamic modeling.

Highlights the importance of pre-equilibrium dynamics in collision simulations.

Abstract

We present a fully dynamical simulation of central nuclear collisions around mid-rapidity at LHC energies. Unlike previous treatments, we simulate all phases of the collision, including the equilibration of the system. For the simulation, we use numerical relativity solutions to AdS/CFT for the pre-equilibrium stage, viscous hydrodynamics for the plasma equilibrium stage and kinetic theory for the low density hadronic stage. Our pre-equilibrium stage provides initial conditions for hydrodynamics, resulting in sizable radial flow. The resulting light particle spectra reproduce the measurements from the ALICE experiment at all transverse momenta.