Speakers
Description
The very far forward, or ``fragmentation'', region of heavy-ion collisions is critically understudied. The physics of this region is incredibly rich and may lead to insight into a variety of other problems. We present a simple model for understanding the hydrodynamics of the fragmentation region, arguing that a density of 2-3 times nuclear saturation density is reached. We also present a method for understanding bremsstrahlung in the fragmentation region, reconciling the non-perturbative, color-glass-condensate-governed nature of a highly boosted nucleus with the high-$k_T$ physics of perturbative quantum field theory for the first time. These studies provide crucial initial conditions for the correct hydrodynamical modelling of the fragmentation region and give insight into high-density regions of the QCD phase diagram.
