Probing the Space-Time evolution of Heavy Ion Collisions with Bremsstrahlung

TL;DR

This paper explores how bremsstrahlung photons emitted during gold nucleus collisions at RHIC can provide detailed insights into the space-time evolution of the collision process, beyond what hadron measurements reveal.

Contribution

It introduces a method to use low and medium energy bremsstrahlung photons to probe the detailed space-time dynamics of heavy ion collisions.

Findings

Bremsstrahlung photons can reveal the space-time evolution of charges.

Different collision scenarios produce distinguishable bremsstrahlung signatures.

Photons provide more detailed information than hadron measurements.

Abstract

We examine the bremsstrahlung photons emitted in the central collisions of two gold nuclei at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. While the measurements of the final hadrons can reveal only the amount of stopping, they tell us very little about the space-time evolution of the bulk matter in the collisions. By using two extreme collision scenarios, we argue that the low and medium energy bremsstrahlung photons can, not only reveal the amount of stopping, but also the finer details of the space-time evolution of the charges.