Work distribution of an expanding gas and transverse energy production in relativistic heavy ion collisions

Abstract

The work distribution of an expanding extreme relativistic gas is shown to be a gamma distribution with a different shape parameter as compared with its non-relativistic counterpart. This implies that the shape of the transverse energy distribution in relativistic heavy ion collisions depends on the particle contents during the evolution of the hot and dense matter. Therefore, transverse energy fluctuations provide additional insights into the Quark-Gluon Plasma produced in these collisions.