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Comparison of hydrodynamic calculations with experimental data inevitably requires a model for converting the fluid to particles. For shear viscous fluids, several different conversion models have been proposed, such as the quadratic Grad corrections, the Strickland-Romatschke (SR) ansatz, self-consistent shear corrections from linearized kinetic theory, or corrections from the relaxation time approach. We show, via comparison to nonlinear $2\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2$ kinetic theory evolution, that even for low specific shear viscosities $0.03\ensuremath{\lesssim}\ensuremath{\eta}/s\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.2$, these four models have varying accuracy and still significant errors in reproducing particle phase space densities from hydrodynamic fields. Moreover, we demonstrate that the overall reconstruction error of additive shear viscous $f={f}_{\mathrm{eq}}+\ensuremath{\delta}f$ models dramatically reduces by up to one order of magnitude, if one ensures through exponentiation that $f$ is always positive. We also illustrate how even more accurate viscous $\ensuremath{\delta}f$ models can be constructed by incorporating the first time derivatives of hydrodynamic fields to account for the past evolution of the system. Such time derivatives are readily available in hydrodynamic simulations, though usually not included in the output. Though our comparisons are limited to a one-component massless system undergoing a $(0+1)$-dimensional $(0+1\mathrm{D})$ longitudinal boost-invariant expansion, we expect that the improved models will be useful in $2+1\mathrm{D}$ and $3+1\mathrm{D}$ hydrodynamic studies as well.

Recently NAano-Plasmonic, Laser Inertial Fusion Experiments (NAPLIFE) were proposed, as an improved way to achieve laser driven fusion. The improvement is the combination of two basic research discoveries: (i) The possibility of detonations on space-time hyper-surfaces with time-like normal (i.e. simultaneous detonation in a whole volume) and (ii) to increase this volume to the whole target, by regulating the laser light absorption using nano-shells or nano-rods as antennas. These principles can be realized in an in-line, one dimensional configuration, in the simplest way with two opposing laser beams as in particle colliders. Such, opposing laser beam experiments were also performed recently. Here we study the consequences of the Laser Wake Field Acceleration (LWFA) if we experience it in a colliding laser beam set up. These studies can be applied to laser driven fusion, but also to other rapid phase transition, combustion, or ignition studies in other materials., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2008.09847

It is commonly believed that azimuthal anisotropies in relativistic heavy ion collisions are generated by hydrodynamic evolution of the strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma. Here we use transport models to study how azimuthal anisotropies depend on the number of collisions that each parton suffers. We find that the majority of $v_2$ comes from the anisotropic escape of partons, not from the parton collective flow, for semi-central Au+Au collisions at 200A GeV. As expected, the fraction of $v_2$ from the anisotropic particle escape is even higher for smaller systems such as d+Au. Our transport model results also confirm that azimuthal anisotropies would be dominated by hydrodynamic flow at unrealistically-high parton cross sections. Our finding thus naturally explains the similarity of azimuthal anisotropies in small and large systems; however, it presents a challenge to the paradigm of anisotropic flow., 4 pages, 5 figures, Quark Matter 2015 proceedings

The quantitative extraction of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) properties from heavy-ion data, such as its specific shear viscosity $\eta /s$, typically requires comparison to viscous hydrodynamic or "hybrid" hydrodynamics+transport simulations. In either case, one has to convert the fluid to hadrons, yet without additional theory input the conversion is ambiguous for dissipative fluids. Here, shear viscous phase-space corrections calculated using linearized transport theory are applied in Cooper-Frye freezeout to quantify the effects on anisotropic flow coefficients $v_n(p_T)$ at both RHIC and LHC energies. Expanding upon our previous flow harmonics studies [1,2], we calculate pion and proton $v_2(p_T)$, $v_4(p_T)$, and $v_6(p_T)$. Unlike in Ref. [1], we incorporate a hadron gas that is chemically frozen below a temperature of 175 MeV, and use hypersurfaces from realistic viscous hydrodynamic simulations. With additive quark model cross sections and relative phase-space corrections with $p^{3/2}$ momentum dependence, rather than the quadratic Grad form, we find at moderately high transverse momentum noticeably higher $v_4(p_T)$ and $v_6(p_T)$ for protons than for pions. In addition, the value of $\eta /s$ deduced from elliptic flow data differs by nearly 50\% from the value extracted using the naive "democratic Grad" form of freeze-out distributions. To facilitate the use of the self-consistent viscous corrections calculated here in hydrodynamic and hybrid calculations, we also present convenient parameterizations of the corrections for the various hadron species (cf. Table I)., Comment: Added Figure 4, subsection III E, 4 References [29-32], and one footnote [34]. Also added an outline of the paper at the end of the introduction, some discussion of Eq. (1), and fixed the redundant alpha notation in Sec III D to kappa. 12 pages, 11 Figures, 1 Table

Both hydrodynamics-based models and a multi-phase transport (AMPT) model can reproduce the mass splitting of azimuthal anisotropy ($v_n$) at low transverse momentum ($p_{\perp}$) as observed in heavy ion collisions. In the AMPT model, however, $v_n$ is mainly generated by the parton escape mechanism, not by the hydrodynamic flow. In this study we provide detailed results on the mass splitting of $v_n$ in this transport model, including $v_2$ and $v_3$ of various hadron species in d+Au and Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and p+Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. We show that the mass splitting of hadron $v_2$ and $v_3$ in AMPT first arises from the kinematics in the quark coalescence hadronization process, and then, more dominantly, comes from hadronic rescatterings, even though the contribution from the latter to the overall charged hadron $v_n$ is small. We further show that there is no qualitative difference between heavy ion collisions and small-system collisions or between elliptic ($v_2$) and triangular ($v_3$) anisotropies. Our studies thus demonstrate that the mass splitting of $v_2$ and $v_3$ at low-$p_{\perp}$ is not a unique signature of hydrodynamic collective flow but can be the interplay of several physics effects., Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures. Followup long paper to H. Li et al. Phys. Rev. C 93 (2016) 051901(R) (2016) [arXiv:1601.05390]; changes from v1 to v2: added phi-meson results in Fig.2 and Fig.11; v3: published version

We study the consistency between high-pT nuclear suppression (R_AA) and elliptic flow (v2) using Gyulassy-Levai-Vitev (GLV) energy loss or a simpler power-law dE/dL formula, for a variety of bulk evolution models. The results generally confirm our earlier work [arXiv:1305.1046] that found suppressed elliptic flow for transversely expanding media. One exception is the set of hydrodynamic solutions used recently [arXiv:1305.6458] by Betz and Gyulassy, which give significantly higher v2 but unfortunately assume unrealistic bag-model equation of state. On the other hand, we show that covariant treatment of energy loss introduces an interplay between jet direction and hydrodynamic flow of the medium, which largely counteracts elliptic flow suppression caused by transverse expansion., Comment: Presentation at Hard Probes 2013 (4 pages, 8 PDF plots, Elsevier style file)

We present results from a jet energy loss calculation using the Gyulassy-Levai-Vitev (GLV) formalism and bulk medium evolution from the covariant transport model MPC. At both RHIC and LHC energies we find that realistic transverse expansion strongly reduces elliptic flow at high pT compared to calculations with transversely 'frozen' profiles. We argue that this is a generic feature of GLV energy loss. Transverse expansion also leads to stronger high-pT suppression, while fluctuations in energy loss with the location of scattering centers weaken the suppression. But, unlike the reduction of v2, these effects nearly disappear once alpha_s is adjusted to reproduce R_AA in central collisions., Contribution to Hard Probes 2012 Int. Conf. (4 pages, 8 PDF figures, Elsevier pdflatex style file)

The mass splitting of elliptic anisotropy ($v_2$) at low transverse momentum is considered as a hallmark of hydrodynamic collective flow. We investigate a multiphase transport (AMPT) model where the $v_2$ is mainly generated by an anisotropic escape mechanism, not of the hydrodynamic flow nature, and where mass splitting is also observed. We demonstrate that the $v_2$ mass splitting in AMPT is small right after hadronization (especially when resonance decays are included); the mass splitting mainly comes from hadronic rescatterings, even though their contribution to the overall charged hadron $v_2$ is small. These findings are qualitatively the same as those from hybrid models that combine hydrodynamics with a hadron cascade. We further show that there is no qualitative difference between heavy ion collisions and small system collisions. Our results indicate that the $v_2$ mass splitting is not a unique signature of hydrodynamic collective flow and thus cannot distinguish whether the elliptic flow is generated mainly from hydrodynamics or the anisotropic parton escape., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

In an earlier work (arXiv:0808.0953) we established that causal Israel-Stewart viscous hydrodynamics is only accurate in RHIC applications at very low shear viscosities 4 pi eta_s / s < ~ 1.5-2. We show here that the region of applicability is significantly reduced if bulk viscosity plays a role in the dynamics., Presentation at Quark Matter 2009 - contribution to the proceedings. v2: very minor changes in text and labels in Fig. 1

Coherent multiple scatterings of c c ¯ quark pairs in the environment of heavy ion collisions have been used in a previous work by Qiu et al. [J. Qiu, J.P. Vary, X. Zhang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 (2002) 232301; J. Qiu, J.P. Vary, X. Zhang, Nucl. Phys. A 698 (2002) 571, nucl-th/0106040] to study J / ψ suppression. That model suggests that heavy quark re-scatterings in a cold nuclear medium can completely explain the centrality dependence of the observed J / ψ suppression in Pb + Pb collisions at the SPS [M.C. Abreu, et al., NA50 Collaboration, Phys. Lett. B 521 (2001) 195]. Their calculations also revealed significant differences under the assumptions of a color singlet or color octet production mechanism. A more recent analytic calculation [H. Fujii, Phys. Rev. C 67 (2003) 031901], which includes incoherent final-state re-scatterings with explicit momentum transfer fluctuations in three dimensions, indicates much less suppression and little sensitivity to the production mechanism. In this Letter, we study simultaneously both the J / ψ suppression and p T modifications, at SPS and RHIC energies. We mainly focus on incoherent momentum transfer fluctuations in two dimensions, which is more appropriate for the heavy-ion collision kinematics. Our analytic and Monte Carlo calculations reinforce the analytic results in [H. Fujii, Phys. Rev. C 67 (2003) 031901]. Additionally, we find that the experimental J / ψ suppression and 〈 p T 2 〉 from nucleus–nucleus collisions at the SPS or RHIC cannot simultaneously be described in this incoherent multiple scattering framework for any value of the fluctuation strength parameter 〈 k T 2 〉 .

We trace the development of elliptic anisotropy ($v_2$) via parton-parton collision history in two transport models. The parton $v_2$ is studied as a function of the number of collisions of each parton in Au+Au and $d$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}=200$ GeV. It is found that the majority of $v_2$ comes from the anisotropic escape probability of partons, with no fundamental difference at low and high transverse momenta. The contribution to $v_2$ from hydrodynamic-type collective flow is found to be small. Only when the parton-parton cross-section is set unrealistically large does this contribution start to take over. Our findings challenge the current paradigm emerged from hydrodynamic comparisons to anisotropy data., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures. Version update: v2: extended study using both AMPT and MPC; varied parton cross sections; conclusions unchanged and scope expanded. v3: title made more

During the 5-year funding period (2010-2015), the JET Collaboration carried out a comprehensive research program with coordinated efforts involving all PI members and external associated members according to the plan and milestones outlined in the approved JET proposal. We identified important issues in the study of parton energy loss and made significant progress toward NLO calculations; advanced event-by-event hydrodynamic simulations of bulk matter evolution; developed Monte Carlo tools that combine different parton energy loss approaches, hydrodynamic models and parton recombination model for jet hadronization; and carried out the first comprehensive phenomenological study to extract the jet transport parameter.

From covariant transport theory, a significant ~10% light quark elliptic flow at RHIC implies an elliptic flow of similar magnitude for charm quarks, at moderately large pT > 2.5 - 3 GeV. At lower transverse momenta, charm quark elliptic flow reduces progressively, reminiscent of the mass ordering pattern in ideal hydrodynamics. From the quark flows we predict the elliptic flow of D mesons at RHIC via quark coalescence. The large parton opacities needed to generate the light quark flow also lead to substantial ~40-50% secondary charm production., Talk at Hot Quarks 2004 (July 18-25, Taos, New Mexico) - to appear in proceedings. 7 pages, 5 EPS figs

Comparing hydrodynamic simulations to heavy-ion data inevitably requires the conversion of the fluid to particles. This conversion, typically done in the Cooper-Frye formalism, is ambiguous for viscous fluids. We compute self-consistent phase space corrections by solving the linearized Boltzmann equation and contrast the solutions to those obtained using the ad-hoc "democratic Grad" ansatz typically employed in the literature where coefficients are independent of particle dynamics. Solutions are calculated analytically for a massless gas and numerically for both a pion-nucleon gas and for the general case of a hadron resonance gas. We find that the momentum dependence of the corrections in all systems investigated is best fit by a power close to 3/2 rather than the typically used quadratic ansatz. The effects on harmonic flow coefficients $v_2$ and $v_4$ are substantial, and should be taken into account when extracting medium properties from experimental data., 8 pages, 10 figures. Proceedings from the Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics 2014 in Galveston, TX, USA

Comparison of hydrodynamic and "hybrid" hydrodynamics+transport calculations to heavy-ion data inevitably requires the conversion of the fluid to particles. For dissipative fluids the conversion is ambiguous without additional theory input complementing hydrodynamics. We obtain self-consistent shear viscous phase space corrections from linearized Boltzmann transport theory for a gas of hadrons. These corrections depend on the particle species, and incorporating them in Cooper-Frye freezeout affects identified particle observables. For example, with additive quark model cross sections,proton elliptic flow is larger than pion elliptic flow at moderately high $p_T$ in $Au+Au$ collisions at RHIC. This is in contrast to Cooper-Frye freezeout with the commonly used "democratic Grad" ansatz that assumes no species dependence. Various analytic and numerical results are also presented for massless and massive two-component mixtures to aid the interpretation. Self-consistent viscous corrections for each species are tabulated in Appendix F for convenient inclusion in pure hydrodynamic and hybrid calculations., Comment: Typo fixes and ambiguous language clarified, updated grant number and references, added Section IV-C with Fig. 4 as well as Section V-C with Fig. 9, Tables in Appendix G in single column journal style. (15 EPS plots, 33 pages, RevTeX style)

New numerical solutions of 3+1D covariant kinetic theory are reported for nuclear collisions in the energy domain Ecm∼200 AGeV. They were obtained using the MPC 0.1.2 parton transport code employing high parton subdivision to retain Lorentz covariance. The solutions are compared to those of relativistic hydrodynamics employing Cooper–Frye isotherm freeze-out. The transport solutions follow a different dynamical path than hydrodynamics due to large dissipative effects when pQCD scattering rates and HIJING initial conditions are assumed. The transport freeze-out four-volume is sensitive to the reaction rates. The final transverse momentum distributions are found to deviate by up to an order of magnitude from those of Cooper–Frye frozen hydrodynamics.

Identified particle observables from viscous hydrodynamics are sensitive to the fluid-to-particle conversion. Instead of the commonly assumed "democratic" Grad ansatz for phase space corrections $\delta f$, we utilize corrections calculated from linearized covariant transport theory. Estimates based on a pion-proton system with binary collisions indicate that protons are much closer to equilibrium than pions, significantly affecting the dissipative reduction of differential elliptic flow in Au+Au at RHIC. In addition, we test linear response against fully nonlinear transport for a two-component massless system in a Bjorken scenario. Strikingly, we find that, while linear response accounts well for the dynamical sharing of shear stress, the momentum dependence of phase space corrections is best described by Grad's quadratic ansatz, and not the linear response solution., Comment: Quark Matter 2011 contribution - 4 pages, uses IOP style files

We utilize nonequilibrium covariant transport theory to determine the region of validity of causal Israel-Stewart dissipative hydrodynamics (IS) and Navier-Stokes theory (NS) for relativistic heavy ion physics applications. A massless ideal gas with 2->2 interactions is considered in a 0+1D Bjorken scenario, appropriate for the early longitudinal expansion stage of the collision. In the scale invariant case of a constant shear viscosity to entropy density ratio eta/s ~ const, we find that Israel-Stewart theory is 10% accurate in calculating dissipative effects if initially the expansion timescale exceeds half the transport mean free path tau0/lambda0 > ~2. The same accuracy with Navier-Stokes requires three times larger tau0/lambda0 > ~6. For dynamics driven by a constant cross section, on the other hand, about 50% larger tau0/lambda0 > ~3 (IS) and ~9 (NS) are needed. For typical applications at RHIC energies s_{NN}**(1/2) ~ 100-200 GeV, these limits imply that even the Israel-Stewart approach becomes marginal when eta/s > ~0.15. In addition, we find that the 'naive' approximation to Israel-Stewart theory, which neglects products of gradients and dissipative quantities, has an even smaller range of applicability than Navier-Stokes. We also obtain analytic Israel-Stewart and Navier-Stokes solutions in 0+1D, and present further tests for numerical dissipative hydrodynamics codes in 1+1, 2+1, and 3+1D based on generalized conservation laws., 30 pages, 26 EPS figures, revtex stylefile

An intriguing potential signature of hydrodynamic behavior in relativistic A+A reactions at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) energies is conical flow induced by fast supersonic particles traversing the hot and dense medium. Here I present first results on the evolution of Mach shocks in 2->2 covariant transport theory, in a static uniform medium., Presentation at CIPANP 2009 (Tenth Conference on the Intersections of Particle and Nuclear Physics), May 26-31, 2009, Torrey Pines, California, USA

We compare 2->2 covariant transport theory and causal Israel-Stewart hydrodynamics in 2+1D longitudinally boost invariant geometry with RHIC-like initial conditions and a conformal e = 3p equation of state. The pressure evolution in the center of the collision zone and the final differential elliptic flow v2(pT) from the two theories agree remarkably well for a small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio eta/s ~ 1/(4 pi), and also for a large cross section sigma ~ 50 mb. A key to this agreement is keeping ALL terms in the Israel-Stewart equations of motion. Our results indicate promising prospects for the applicability of Israel-Stewart dissipative hydrodynamics at RHIC, provided the shear viscosity of hot and dense quark-gluon matter is indeed very small for the relevant temperatures T ~ 200-500 MeV., Presentation at Quark Matter 2008. 4 pages, 3 figures

On 9,10 Feb 2006 a workshop was held at LLNL to discuss how a 10% allocation of the ASC BG/L supercomputer performing a finite temperature Lattice QCD (LQCD) calculation of the equation of state and non-equilibrium properties of the quark-gluon state of matter could lead to a breakthrough in our understanding of recent data from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Lab. From this meeting and subsequent discussions we present a detailed plan for this calculation, including mechanisms for working in a secure computing environment and inserting the resulting equation of state into hydrodynamic transport models that will be compared directly to the RHIC data. We discuss expected benefits for DOE Office of Science research programs within the context of the NNSA mission.

We compare elliptic flow evolution from ideal hydrodynamics and covariant parton transport theory, and show that, for conditions expected at RHIC, dissipation significantly reduces elliptic flow even for extreme parton cross sections and/or densities ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{gg}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}dN/d\ensuremath{\eta}(b=0)\ensuremath{\sim}45\text{ }\mathrm{m}\mathrm{b}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1000$. The difference between transport and hydrodynamic elliptic flow is established rather early during the evolution of the system, but the buildup of elliptic flow is insensitive to the choice of the initial (formation or thermalization) time in both models.

This is a review of the parton cascade approach and its implications on parton coalescence at RHIC., Comment: Invited plenary talk at Quark Matter 2005 (Aug 4-9, 2005, Budapest, Hungary) - to appear in proceedings. 10 pages, 12 EPS figures, ESP style file included

The influence of spacetime dynamics in hadronization via parton coalescence at RHIC is investigated using covariant parton transport theory. Key observables, the quark number scaling of elliptic flow and the enhancement of the p/pi ratio, show strong dynamical effects and differ from earlier results based on the simple coalescence formulas., Talk presented at the BP2004 Workshop (KFKI/RMKI, Budapest, March 24-27). 8 pages, 8 eps figs, stylefile included. To be published in proceedings

A new dynamical approach that combines covariant parton transport theory with hadronization channels via parton coalescence and fragmentation is applied to Au+Au at RHIC. Basic consequences of the simple coalescence formulas, such as elliptic flow scaling and enhanced proton/pion ratio, turn out to be rather sensitive to the spacetime aspects of coalescence dynamics., Contribution to Quark Matter 2004 (January 11-17, 2004, Oakland, CA). 4 pages, 2 EPS figs, IOP style file

Elliptic flow of charm hadrons is investigated based on the quark coalescence model. Due to the large difference between the charm quark and light quark masses, hadrons containing both light and charm quarks show a qualitatively different $v_2(p_\perp)$ from hadrons containing only light quarks. Simple relations are proposed to infer quark elliptic flow from those of hadrons. The effects of the finite momentum spread of hadron wavefunctions are also studied, and are found to be small for charm hadrons., 5 pages, 3 figures, revtex4

We show that hadronization via quark coalescence enhances hadron elliptic flow at large pT relative to that of partons at the same transverse momentum. Therefore, compared to earlier results based on covariant parton transport theory, more moderate initial parton densities dN/d\eta(b=0) ~ 1500-3000 can explain the differential elliptic flow v_2(pT) data for Au+Au reactions at s^1/2=130 and 200 AGeV from RHIC. In addition, v2(pT) could saturate at about 50% higher values for baryons than for mesons. If strange quarks have weaker flow than light quarks, hadron v_2 at high pT decreases with relative strangeness content., Comment: Minor changes, extended discussion. To appear in PRL

The large and saturating differential elliptic flow v2(pT) observed in Au+Au reactions at RHIC so far could only be explained assuming an order of magnitude denser initial parton system than estimated from perturbative QCD. Hadronization via parton coalescence can resolve this ``opacity puzzle'' because it enhances hadron elliptic flow at large pT relative to that of partons at the same transverse momentum. An experimentally testable consequence of the coalescence scenario is that v2(pT) saturates at about 50% higher values for baryons than for mesons. In addition, if strange quarks have weaker flow than light quarks, hadron v2 at high pT decreases with relative strangeness content., Comment: Talk at SQM2003 [7th Int. Conf. on Strangeness in Quark Matter (Atlantic Beach, NC, USA, Mar 12-17, 2003)] - 6 pages, 5 eps figs, IOP style files

Puzzling discrepancies between recent pion interferometry data on Au+Au reactions at s^1/2 = 130 and 200 AGeV from RHIC and predictions based on ideal hydrodynamics are analyzed in terms of covariant parton transport theory. The discrepancies of out and longitudinal radii are significantly reduced when the finite opacity of the gluon plasma is taken into account., 4 pages, 3 EPS figures. Submitted to PRL

We investigate whether it is possible to dynamically generate from classical transport theory the observed surprising Rout ~ Rside in Au+Au at s^1/2 = 130A GeV at RHIC. We obtained covariant solutions to the Boltzmann transport equation via the MPC technique, for a wide range of partonic initial conditions and opacities. We demonstrate that there exist transport solutions that yield a freezeout distribution with Rout < Rside for Kperp > ~ 1.5 GeV. These solutions correspond to continuous evaporation-like freezeout, where the emission duration is comparable to the source size. Naively this would mean Rout > Rside. Nevertheless, our sources exhibit Rout < Rside because they are narrower in the 'out' than in the 'side' direction and, in addition, a positive x_out-t correlation develops reducing Rout further., Talk given at the Budapest 2002 Intl. Workshop on "Quark and hadron dynamics in relativistic heavy-ion collisions", March 3-7, 2002, Budapest, Hungary. To appear in proceedings. LaTeX source + 4 EPS figures

Differential elliptic flow out to p_T ~ 5 GeV/c and particle spectra are calculated using the MPC elastic parton cascade model for Au+Au at Ecm ~ 130A GeV. The evolution is computed from parton transport theory, followed by hadronization either via independent fragmentation or by imposing parton-hadron duality. With pQCD elastic cross sections, very large initial gluon densities dN/deta > 7000 are required to reproduce the data measured by the STAR collaboration. In addition, elliptic flow and the p_T spectra are shown to be very sensit ive to particle subdivision., Contribution to Quark Matter 2001, to appear in proceedins. Text + all figures. Corrected label in Fig. 1a

Differential elliptic flow and particle spectra are calculated taking into account the finite transport opacity of the gluon plasma produced in Au+Au at Ecm ~ 130 A GeV at RHIC. Covariant numerical solutions of the ultrarelativistic Boltzmann equation are obtained using the MPC parton cascade technique. For typical pQCD (~3 mb) elastic cross sections, extreme initial gluon densities, dN/deta ~ 15000, are required to reproduce the elliptic flow saturation pattern reported by STAR. However, we show that the solutions depend mainly on the transport opacity, $\chi=\int dz \sigma_t\rho_g$, and thus the data can also be reproduced with dN/deta ~ 1000, but with extreme elastic parton cross sections, \~45 mb. We demonstrate that the spectra and elliptic flow are dominated by numerical artifacts unless parton subdivisions ~100-1000 are applied to retain Lorentz covariance for RHIC initial conditions., Comment: Long overdue update with final published version + erratum (13 pages, 17 EPS figs)

The effect of scattering with nonzero impact parameters between constituents in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is investigated. In solving the relativistic Boltzmann equation, the characteristic range of the collision kernel is varied from approximately 1.0 fm to zero while leaving the mean free path unchanged. Modifying this range is shown to significantly affect spectra and flow observables. The finite range is shown to provide effective viscosities, shear, bulk viscosity, and heat conductivity, with the viscous coefficients being proportional to the square of the interaction range.

New solutions of 3+1D covariant kinetic theory are presented for nuclear collisions in the energy domain Ecm ~ 200 AGeV. They are obtained using MPC, a new Monte-Carlo parton transport technique that employs very high parton subdivision that is necessary to preserve covariance. The transport results are compared with ideal hydrodynamics solutions. We show that the transport evolution differs significantly from hydrodynamics. In addition, we compare the transport freeze-out distributions to those obtained from ideal hydrodynamics with the Cooper-Frye isotherm freeze-out prescription. The transport freeze-out four-volume is shown to be sensitive to the reaction rates and deviates from both time-like and space-like freeze-out 3D hypersurfaces commonly assumed. In particular, we find that there does not exist a universal freeze-out temperature. Finally, the transverse momentum distributions are found to deviate by up to an order of magnitude from (Cooper-Frye frozen) hydrodynamics for a wide range of possible initial conditions and reaction rates at RHIC energies., Comment: One figure - one file, revised version for PRC. 15 pages incl. 6 figures (6 eps files via epsf), 1 table. See parton cascade code at http://www-cunuke.phys.columbia.edu/people/molnard