Abstract: We extend our previous investigation of the effects of prehydrodynamic evolution on final-state observables in heavy-ion collisions [38] to smaller systems. We use a state-of-the-art hybrid model for the numerical simulations with optimal parameters obtained from a previous Bayesian study. By studying p-Pb collisions, we find that the effects due to the assumption of a conformal evolution in the prehydrodynamical stage are even more important in small systems. We also show that this effect depends on the time duration of the pre-equilibrium stage, which is further enhanced in small systems. Finally, we show that the recent proposal of a free-streaming with subluminal velocity for the pre-equilibrium stage, thus effectively breaking conformal invariance, can alleviate the contamination of final-state observables. Our study further reinforces the need for moving beyond conformal approaches in pre-equilibrium dynamics modeling, especially when extracting transport coefficients from hybrid models in the high-precision era of heavy-ion collisions.

Abstract: We present the detailed derivation of the longitudinal part of the three-gluon vertex from the Slavnov-Taylor identities that it satisfies, by means of a nonperturbative implementation of the Ball-Chiu construction; the latter, in its original form, involves the inverse gluon propagator, the ghost dressing function, and certain form factors of the ghost-gluon kernel. The main conceptual subtlety that renders this endeavor nontrivial is the infrared finiteness of the gluon propagator, and the resulting need to separate the vertex into two pieces, one that is intimately connected with the emergence of a gluonic mass scale, and one that satisfies the original set of Slavnov-Taylor identities, but with the inverse gluon propagator replaced by its “kinetic” term. The longitudinal form factors obtained by this construction are presented for arbitrary Euclidean momenta, as well as special kinematic configurations, parametrized by a single momentum. A particularly preeminent feature of the components comprising the tree-level vertex is their considerable suppression for momenta below 1 GeV, and the appearance of the characteristic “zero-crossing” in the vicinity of 100-200 MeV. Special combinations of the form factors derived with this method are compared with the results of recent large-volume lattice simulations, and are found to capture faithfully the rather complicated curves formed by the data. A similar comparison with results obtained from Schwinger-Dyson equations reveals a fair overall agreement, but with appreciable differences at intermediate energies. A variety of issues related to the distribution of the pole terms responsible for the gluon mass generation are discussed in detail, and their impact on the structure of the transverse parts is elucidated. In addition, a brief account of several theoretical and phenomenological possibilities involving these newly acquired results is presented.

Abstract: We present novel lattice results for the form factors of the quenched three-gluon vertex of QCD, in two special kinematic configurations that depend on a single momentum scale. We consider three form factors, two associated with a classical tensor structure and one without tree-level counterpart, exhibiting markedly different infrared behaviors. Specifically, while the former display the typical suppression driven by a negative logarithmic singularity at the origin, the latter saturates at a small negative constant. These exceptional features are analyzed within the Schwinger-Dyson framework, with the aid of special relations obtained from the Slavnov-Taylor identities of the theory. The emerging picture of the underlying dynamics is thoroughly corroborated by the lattice results, both qualitatively as well as quantitatively.