Study of initial conditions in relativistic heavy ion collisions

• Grant number: 20/14121-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2021
• End date: December 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Nuclear Physics
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Gameiro Munhoz
• Grantee: Lucas Ferrandi de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims the study of the initial conditions formed in collisions between relativistic heavy ions using through the so-called Glauber approach, including partonic degrees of freedom, instead of just nucleonic, as it is traditionally done. This approach has been shown to be more effective in estimating initial conditions, especially in collisions between protons and heavy nuclei or between lighter nuclei, such as O-O. The third version of the GLISSANDO program, launched at the end of 2019, will be used, aiming mainly to estimate the initial conditions in collisions with lighter nuclei planned for the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) accelerator in the coming years. This work is part of a broader program of the group, where it seeks to study the interaction of heavy quarks with the environment formed in these collisions. The initial conditions are essential to introduce in different models the energy fluctuations inherent in collisions between heavy ions, being the regions of higher energy density more prone to the production of these quarks.