Boltzmann-Langevin Approach to Pre-equilibrium Correlations in Nuclear Collisions

Abstract

Correlations born before the onset of hydrodynamic flow can leave observable traces on the final state particles. Measurement of these correlations can yield important information on the isotropization and thermalization process. Starting from a Boltzmann-like kinetic theory in the presence of dynamic Langevin noise, we derive a new partial differential equation for the two-particle correlation function that respects the microscopic conservation laws. We illustrate how this equation can be used to study the effect of thermalization on long range correlations.

Comments: 11 pages, 3 figures