Finite-Density Dynamics of Chemically Equilibrating QGP in Conformal Gubser Flow and Hard Thermal Photon Production

Abstract

We study the chemical equilibration of a hot and dense quark-gluon plasma (QGP) at finite baryon density produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions within conformal Gubser flow. Chemical non-equilibrium is incorporated through fugacity parameters in the parton phase-space distribution functions, whose evolution is governed by master rate equations coupled to the hydrodynamic expansion with transverse flow. We analyse the interplay between chemical equilibration and finite-density dynamics, and investigate its impact on hard thermal photon production. We observe that both finite density and transverse expansion delay chemical equilibration, leading to a chemically undersaturated medium with quarks lagging behind gluons. While the overall thermal photon yield from the expanding system is suppressed in the non-equilibrium scenario, we find an enhanced early-time contribution to high $p_T$ photon production. By analyzing the instantaneous photon emission in presence of chemical non-equilibrium, we demonstrate that the rates exhibit a distinct temporal structure arising from the interplay of rapid cooling and evolving fugacities. These features may provide potential observable signatures of chemical equilibration dynamics in the QGP.

Comments: 21 pages, 19 figures; Accepted for publication in J. Phys. G