Heavy ion collisions at intermediate energies in a quark-gluon exchange framework

Heavy ion collisions at intermediate energies can be studied in the context of the Vlasov-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (VUU) model. One of the main features in this model is the nucleon-nucleon (NN) cross section in the collisional term. Quark interchange plays a role in the NN interaction and its effect can be observed in the cross section. We explore the possibility that quark interchange effects can appear in observables at energies lower than RHIC.