The constituent quark number scaling of elliptic flow is studied in a nonequilibrium hadronization and freeze-out model with rapid dynamical transition from ideal, deconfined, and chirally symmetric quark-gluon plasma, to final noninteracting hadrons. In this transition a bag model of constituent quarks is considered, where the quarks gain constituent quark mass while the background bag field breaks up and vanishes. The constituent quarks then recombine into simplified hadron states, while chemical, thermal, and flow equilibrium break down one after the other. In this scenario the resulting temperatures and flow velocities of baryons and mesons are different. Using a simplified few source model of the elliptic flow, we are able to reproduce the constituent quark number scaling, with assumptions on the details of the nonequilibrium processes.

• Received 18 November 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.83.044903