Abstract
The poorly known properties of high-density strongly-interacting matter govern the structure of neutron stars and the dynamics of neutron star mergers. New insight has been and will be gained by astronomical observations, such as the measurement of mass and radius of neutron stars, and the detection of gravitational waves emitted from neutron star mergers. Alternatively, information on the Nuclear Matter Equation-of-State (EOS) and on a possible phase transition from hadronic to quark matter at high baryon densities can be obtained from laboratory experiments investigating heavy-ion collisions. Detector systems dedicated to such experiments are under construction at the “Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research” (FAIR) in Darmstadt, Germany, and at the “Nuclotron-based Ion Collider fAcility” (NICA) in Dubna, Russia. In heavy-ion collisions at these accelerator centers, one expects the creation of baryon densities of up to 10 times saturation density, where quark degrees-of-freedom should emerge. This article reviews the most promising observables in heavy-ion collisions, which are used to probe the high-density EOS and possible phase transition from hadronic to quark matter. Finally, the facilities and the experimental setups will be briefly described.
Highlights
An intriguing aspect of heavy-ion experiments is the prospect to investigate important features of cosmic matter in the laboratory
Information on the EOS has been extracted fromthe theyield collective flow particles measured in heavy-ion collisions at subthreshold bombarding energies, it will of particles generated in a collision between heavy nuclei, and from the yield ofas strange be discussed in thein following sections
Hyperons will be performed for the first time at beam energies between 2 and 11A GeV, in order to study the high-density EOS of symmetric matter at neutron star core densities. This approach is supported by calculations with the new PHQMD event generator, which predicts for Au + Au collisions at an energy of 4A GeV a factor of 2 higher Ξ± and5 of
Summary
An intriguing aspect of heavy-ion experiments is the prospect to investigate important features of cosmic matter in the laboratory. In a central heavy-ion collision at a beam energy of 5 GeV/nucleon, for example, the nucleons pile up in the transient fireball to densities of more than 5 times saturation density ρ0 , a condition which is expected to prevail in the core of a neutron star. Both in neutron stars and heavy-ion collisions, the maximum density is limited by the Equation-of-State (EOS) of nuclear matter. The High-Density Equation-of-State of Nuclear Matter the laboratory,Equation-of-State information on theofEOS has been extracted from the collective flow
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