Study of hard and electromagnetic processes at CERN-SPS energies: an investigation of the high-${\mu }_{\mathbf{B}}$ region of the QCD phase diagram with NA60+

Abstract

The exploration of the phase diagram of Quantum ChromoDynamics (QCD) is carried out by studying ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. The energy range covered by the CERN SPS ($\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}\sim$ 6-17 GeV) is ideal for the investigation of the region of the phase diagram corresponding to finite baryochemical potential (${\mu }_{\mathrm{B}}$), and has been little explored up to now. We propose in this document a new experiment, NA60+, that would address several observables which are fundamental for the understanding of the phase transition from hadronic matter towards a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) at SPS energies. In particular, we propose to study, as a function of the collision energy, the production of thermal dimuons from the created system, from which one would obtain a caloric curve of the QCD phase diagram that is sensitive to the order of the phase transition. In addition, the measurement of a $\rho$-a${}_1$ mixing contribution would provide conclusive insights into the restoration of the chiral symmetry of QCD. In parallel, studies of heavy quark and quarkonium production would also be carried out, addressing the measurement of transport properties of the QGP and the investigation of the onset of the deconfinement transition. The document also defines an experimental set-up which couples a vertex telescope based on monolithic active pixel sensors (MAPS) to a muon spectrometer with tracking (GEM) and triggering (RPC) detectors within a large acceptance toroidal magnet. Results of physics performance studies for most observables accessible to NA60+ are discussed, showing that the results of the experiment would lead to a significant advance of our understanding of strong interaction physics. The document has been submitted as an input to the European Particle Physics Strategy Update 2018-2020 (http://europeanstrategyupdate.web.cern.ch/).

arXiv comment14 pages, 9 figures, submitted as an input to the European Particle Physics Strategy Update 2018-2020

References in corpus (22)

• A general framework for implementing NLO calculations in shower Monte Carlo programs: the POWHEG BOX
• Full result for the QCD equation of state with 2+1 flavors
• Energy Dependence of Pion and Kaon Production in Central Pb+Pb Collisions
• Energy and system size dependence of chemical freeze-out in relativistic nuclear collisions
• First Measurement of the rho Spectral Function in High-Energy Nuclear Collisions
• A new measurement of J/psi suppression in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon
• J/$\psi$ suppression at forward rapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV
• Extraction of Heavy-Flavor Transport Coefficients in QCD Matter
• J/psi suppression at forward rapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV
• Lattice QCD and heavy ion collisions: a review of recent progress
• Dilepton Radiation at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron
• J/$\psi$ suppression at forward rapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV
• Evidence for the production of thermal muon pairs with masses above 1 GeV/c^2 in 158A GeV Indium-Indium Collisions
• The A Dependence of Open Charm and Bottom Production
• Thermal Relaxation of Charm in Hadronic Matter
• Dilepton production and reaction dynamics in heavy-ion collisions at SIS energies from coarse-grained transport simulations
• Progress on large area GEMs (VCI 2010)
• Thermal Dileptons from Hot and Dense Strongly Interacting Matter
• J/psi production in proton-nucleus collisions at 158 and 400 GeV
• Estimating the Charm Quark Diffusion Coefficient and thermalization time from D meson spectra at RHIC and LHC
• A GEM readout with radial zigzag strips and linear charge-sharing response
• Upper Limit of D0 Production in Central Pb-Pb Collisions at 158A GeV

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Dilepton Radiation from Strongly Interacting Systems