A quark signature in the nuclear fireball model of heavy ion collisions

Abstract

It seems possible that a definite quark matter signature may be observed in the near future in nuclear heavy ion collisions. For example, in experiments yielding a fireball temperature of at least 180 MeV, a lab energy of ∼ 11 GeV/nucleon must be reached for a 20Ne + U collision. These energies should be sufficient to produce quark matter in the fireball. The signature of this transition is observed by comparing particle spectra at higher energies. It is expected that once quark matter is reached the spectrum will remain constant at temperature greater than ∼ 180 MeV, rather than continue to change with energy.