Pion transverse-momentum spectrum, elliptic flow, and Hanbury-Brown-Twiss interferometry in a viscous granular source model

TL;DR

This study investigates how viscous hydrodynamics affects the evolution of quark-gluon plasma droplets and their observable signatures in heavy-ion collisions, highlighting viscosity's impact on HBT radii and model parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a viscous granular source model that successfully reproduces experimental data on pion spectra, elliptic flow, and HBT radii in heavy-ion collisions, emphasizing viscosity effects.

Findings

Viscosity accelerates droplet evolution centrally and decelerates it peripherally.

Viscosity significantly reduces the HBT radius $R_{out}$ in the model.

Viscosity increases initial droplet radius and decreases the source shell parameter.

Abstract

We examine the evolution of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) droplets with viscous hydrodynamics and analyze the pion transverse-momentum spectrum, elliptic flow, and Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) interferometry in a granular source model consisting of viscous QGP droplets. The shear viscosity of the QGP droplet speeds up and slows down the droplet evolution in the central and peripheral regions of the droplet, respectively. The effect of the bulk viscosity on the evolution is negligible. Although there are viscous effects on the droplet evolution, the pion momentum spectrum and elliptic flow change little for granular sources with and without viscosity. On the other hand, the influence of viscosity on HBT radius $R_{\rm out}$ is considerable. It makes $R_{\rm out}$ decrease in the granular source model. We determine the model parameters of granular sources using the experimental data of pion transverse-momentum spectrum, elliptic flow, and HBT radii together, and investigate the effects of viscosity on the model parameters. The results indicate that the granular source model may reproduce the experimental data of pion transverse-momentum spectrum, elliptic flow, and HBT radii in heavy-ion collisions of Au-Au at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV and Pb-Pb at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV in different centrality intervals. The viscosity of the droplet leads to an increase in the initial droplet radius and a decrease of the source shell parameter in the granular source model.