Simulations of Nuclear Collisions Using a Glauber Monte Carlo Model

In a single high energy heavy-ion collision thousands of particles are produced through individual nucleon-nucleon collisions.  This particle production can be analyzed using Monte Carlo simulations coupled with a Glauber model. This involves simulating two nuclei with nucleons at random positions derived from a Woods-Saxon nuclear density profile.  From these simulated collisions with randomized impact parameters, the number of participating nucleons and the number of collisions between nucleons can be extracted.  We present the results of these simulations for Au+Al collisions at center-of-mass energies of 4.5, 3.5, and 3.0 GeV.