Are We Close to an Equilibrated Quark-Gluon Plasma? Nonequilibrium Analysis of Particle Production in Ultrarelativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

Abstract

Ratios of hadronic abundances are analyzed for $\mathrm{pp}$ and nucleus-nucleus collisions at $\sqrt{s}\ensuremath{\approx}20\mathrm{GeV}$ using the microscopic ultrarelativistic quantum molecular dynamics transport model. Secondary interactions significantly change the primordial hadronic composition of the system. A strong dependence on rapidity is predicted. Without assuming thermal and chemical equilibrium, predicted hadron yields and ratios agree with many of the data ( $\ensuremath{\pi}/p$, $d/p$, $\overline{p}/p$, $\overline{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}/\ensuremath{\Lambda}$, $\overline{\ensuremath{\Xi}}/\overline{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$, etc.).