https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2016-16247-2
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Elliptic flow in heavy-ion collisions at NICA energies
1
National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute” (NRC “Kurchatov Institute”), 123182, Moscow, Russia
2
National Research Nuclear University “MEPhI” (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), 115409, Moscow, Russia
* e-mail: Y.Ivanov@gsi.de
Received:
28
September
2015
Accepted:
17
November
2015
Published online:
23
August
2016
The transverse-momentum-integrated elliptic flow of charged particles at midrapidity, (charged), and that of identified hadrons from Au+Au collisions are analyzed in the range of incident energies relevant to the Nuclotron-based Ion Collider Facility (NICA). Simulations are performed within a three-fluid model employing three different equations of state (EoSs): a purely hadronic EoS and two versions of the EoS involving the deconfinement transition--a first-order phase transition and a smooth crossover one. The present simulations demonstrate low sensitivity of
(charged) to the EoS. All considered scenarios equally well reproduce recent STAR data on
(charged) for mid-central Au+Au collisions and properly describe its change of sign at the incident energy decrease below
GeV. The predicted integrated elliptic flow of various species exhibits a stronger dependence on the EoS. A noticeable sensitivity to the EoS is found for anti-protons and, to a lesser extent, for
mesons. Presently there are no experimental data that could verify these predictions. Future experiments at NICA could corroborate these findings.
© SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2016