Directed flow at RHIC from Lee-Yang zeroes

Directed flow in ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions is analyzed using the reaction plane from elliptic flow, which reduces the bias from nonflow effects. We combine this method with the determination of elliptic flow from Lee-Yang zeroes. The resulting method is more consistent and somewhat easier to implement than the previously used method based on three-particle cumulants, and is also less biased by nonflow correlations. Error terms from residual nonflow correlations are carefully estimated, as well as statistical errors. We discuss the application of the method at RHIC and LHC.Comment: 10 pages. Final version, to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Multiparticle correlations from momentum conservation

Using a generating-function formalism, we compute the contribution of momentum conservation to multiparticle correlations between the emitted particles in high-energy collisions. In particular, we derive a compact expression of the genuine M-particle correlation, for arbitrary M.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX. v2: typos corrected, to match journal versio

A gluing formula for Reidemeister-Turaev torsion

We extend Turaev's theory of Euler structures and torsion invariants on 3-manifolds to the case of vector fields having generic behavior on the boundary. This allows to easily define gluings of Euler structures and to develop a completely general gluing formula for Reidemeister torsion of 3-manifolds. Lastly, we describe a combinatorial presentation of Euler structures via stream-spines, as a tool to effectively compute torsion.Comment: 32 pages, 19 figure

"Jets" and their distortion in heavy-ion collisions

After a discussion on the meaning of "jets" in the context of nucleus-nucleus collisions, the distortions of the profile of a parton shower induced by the presence of a medium is investigated in a QCD-inspired model that implements the conservation of energy at each step of the shower evolution.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures; talk given at the workshop "High-pT physics at LHC 2009", February 4-7, Prague, Czech Republi

On the mass of static metrics with positive cosmological constant - I

In this paper we propose and discuss a notion of mass for compact static metrics with positive cosmological constant. As a consequence, we characterise the de Sitter solution as the only static vacuum metric with zero mass. Finally, we show how to adapt our analysis to the case of negative cosmological constant, leading to a uniqueness theorem for the Anti de Sitter spacetime.Comment: 34 pages, 3 figure

Directed and Elliptic Flow in Pb+Pb collisions at 40 and 158 AGeV

Directed and elliptic flow are reported for charged pions and protons as a function of transverse momentum, rapidity, and centrality in 40 and 158 AGeV Pb + Pb collisions. The standard method of correlating particles with an event plane is used. The directed flow of protons is small and shows little variation near to midrapidity, but rises fast towards projectile rapidity in the 40 AGeV data. For most peripheral collisions the flat region becomes negative resulting in $v_1$ changing sign three times. Elliptic flow doesn't seem to change very much from 40 AGeV to 158 AGeV. The difference is smaller than anticipated from the overall energy dependence from AGS to RHIC.Comment: Presented at 16th International Conference on Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucelus Collisions, Quark Matter 2002 (QM 2002), Nantes, France, 18-24 Jul 2002, 4 pages, 3 figure

Distorting the Hump-backed Plateau of Jets with Dense QCD Matter

The hump-backed plateau of the single inclusive distribution of hadrons inside a jet provides a standard test of the interplay between probabilistic parton splitting and quantum coherence in QCD. The medium-induced modification of this QCD radiation physics is expected to give access to the properties of the dense medium produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions. Here, we introduce a formulation of medium-induced parton energy loss, which treats all leading and subleading parton branchings equally, and which - for showering in the vacuum - accounts for the observed distribution of soft jet fragments. We show that the strong suppression of single inclusive hadron spectra measured in Au-Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) implies a characteristic distortion of the hump-backed plateau; we determine, as a function of jet energy, to what extent the soft jet fragments can be measured above some momentum cut. Our study further indicates that the approximate pT-independence of the measured nuclear modification factor does not exclude a significant Q^2-dependence of parton energy loss.Comment: 4 pages RevTex, 3 eps-figure

Multiparticle correlations and momentum conservation in nucleus-nucleus collisions

Particle correlations are very actively studied in heavy-ion collisions at ultra-relativistic energies. Here, an attempt is made at determining a proper reference for such studies, by taking properly into account the multiparticle correlations induced by the conservation of total momentum in the collisions.Comment: 9 pages, talk given at the workshop "High-pT physics at LHC", March 23-27, 2007, Jyvaskyla, Finland. v2: final versio