Transverse baryon flow as possible evidence for a quark-gluon-plasma phase

In order to investigate the coupling between collective flow of nucleons and pions in hot pion-dominated hadronic matter, we calculate the pion-nucleon drag coefficient in linearized transport theory. We find that the characteristic time for flow equalization is longer than the time scale of the expansion of a hardonic fireball created in high-energy collisions. The analysis of transverse-momentum data from p+p collisions at s =1.8 TeV reveals the same flow velocity for mesons and antinucleons. We argue that this may be evidence for the formation of a quark-gluon plasma in these collisions. © 1991 The American Physical Society.

Duke Scholars

Author Berndt Mueller Physics