Longitudinal Dynamics of Large and Small Systems from a 3D Bayesian Calibration of RHIC Top-energy Collision Data

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive Bayesian analysis of 3D dynamics in high-energy nuclear collisions at RHIC, calibrating models with extensive data to understand initial states and transport properties, and making predictions for small systems.

Contribution

It introduces a fully 3D multi-stage simulation framework calibrated with diverse RHIC data, emphasizing rapidity-dependent measurements and differences between large and small collision systems.

Findings

Constraints on initial state and transport properties from rapidity-dependent data

Differences in calibration between large and small systems

Predictions for p-Au and 3He-Au collisions

Abstract

A comprehensive Bayesian analysis of the 3D dynamics of high-energy nuclear collisions is presented. We perform a systematic model-to-data comparison using simulations of large and small collision systems, and a broad range of measurements from the PHENIX, STAR, PHOBOS, and BRAHMS collaborations spanning nearly two decades of RHIC operations. In particular, we perform fully 3D multi-stage simulations including rapidity-dependent energy deposition with global energy conservation using the 3D Glauber model, along with relativistic viscous hydrodynamics with MUSIC. We calibrate the model on rapidity- and $p_T$-differential observables and analyze the respective constraints on initial state and transport properties they provide. We emphasize the additional constraints provided by rapidity-dependent measurements, the differences in large and small system calibrations, and the tension exhibited by particular observables. We use our calibrated model to make predictions of observables in p-Au and $^3$He-Au collisions. Furthermore, we facilitate direct comparison of experimental measurements by highlighting the dependence of flow measurements on the rapidity of the regions of interest and reference, as well as the importance of the centrality selection. In particular, we examine the apparent differences between the STAR and PHENIX $v_2$ and $v_3$ measurements in small systems.