Distribution of Nuclear Matter and Radiation in the Fragmentation Region

Abstract

We study the fragmentation (far forward/backward) region of heavy ion collisions by considering an at-rest nucleus which is struck by a relativistic sheet of colored glass. By means of a simple classical model, we calculate the subsequent evolution of baryons and the associated radiation. We confirm that the struck nucleus undergoes a compression and that the dynamics of the early times of the collision are best described by two separate fluids as the produced radiation's velocity distribution is very different to the velocity distribution of the matter in the struck nucleus.

Comments: 23 pages, 11 figures. We've added a pedagogical appendix to explain the relation between different frames in a heavy ion collision. A footnote has been added to the introduction. Figures 7 and 9 have been rescaled to reflect the known nominal nuclear density. We have added a sentence below Eq.3.30 to explain the implications of our results for baryon stopping power