2002/12/03 by H. Satz, Helmut Satz, Satz, H.
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-ph/0212046
15 pages, 18 figures; Lectures at the International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi", Varenna/Italy, 6.-16. 8. 2002
arxiv created 2002/12/03 · openalex publication_date 2002/12/03 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
An essential prerequisite for quark-gluon plasma production in nuclear collisions is cross-talk between the partons from different nucleons in the colliding nuclei. The initial density of partons is determined by the parton distribution functions obtained from deep inelastic lepton-hadron scattering and by the nuclear geometry; it increases with increasing A and/or √ s. In the transverse collision plane, this results in clusters of overlapping partons, and at some critical density, the cluster size suddenly reaches the size of the system. The onset of large-scale cross-talk through color connection thus occurs as geometric critical behavior. Percolation theory specifies the details of this transition, which leads to the formation of a condensate of deconfined partons. Given sufficient time, this condensate could eventually thermalize. However, already the onset of parton condensation in the initial state, without subsequent thermalization, leads to a number of interesting observable consequences.