📝 SummarXiv

Abstract

We study light-hadron production in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7.7-39$ GeV using an extended Integrated HydroKinetic Model (iHKMe). Focusing on transverse momentum spectra, we investigate the sensitivity to key model parameters, in particular the thermalization time scale. We consider two distinct equations of state: one featuring a crossover and the other a first-order phase transition. In both cases, thermalization begins shortly before full nuclear overlap and lasts approximately 1~fm/$c$ across all energies. Both equations of state provide a similarly good description of the soft particle momentum spectra once the other parameters are slightly adjusted. The most pronounced differences arise at the lower RHIC BES energy of $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7.7$ GeV, particularly in proton and kaon yields, reflecting their sensitivity to the freeze-out parameters.