Transverse energy per charged particle in heavy-ion collisions: Role of collective flow

Abstract

The ratio of (pseudo)rapidity density of transverse energy and the (pseudo)rapidity density of charged particles, which is a measure of the mean transverse energy per particle, is an important observable in high energy heavy-ion collisions, which reveals about the mechanism of particle production and the freeze-out criteria. Its collision energy and centrality dependence is exactly like the chemical freeze-out temperature till top RHIC energy. The LHC measurement at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV brings up new challenges to rule out the mechanisms of gluon saturation or non-equilibrium phenomena being prevalent at high energies, which could contribute to the above observable. The Statistical Hadron Gas Model (SHGM) with a static fireball approximation has been successful in describing both the centrality and energy dependence till top RHIC energies. However, the SHGM predictions for higher energies are highly underestimated by the LHC data. In order to understand this, we have incorporated radial flow effect in an excluded volume SHGM. The hard-core radius of baryons at lower collision energies plays an important role in the description of a hadronic system. In view of this, in order to make a complete energy dependence study from FAIR to LHC energies, we have considered an excluded volume SHGM. Our studies suggest that the collective flow plays an important role in describing $E_{T}/N_{ch}$ and it could be one of the possible parameters to explain the jump observed in $E_{T}/N_{ch}$ from RHIC to LHC energies. Predictions for the LHC measurements at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV are given.