Two models with rescattering for high energy heavy ion collisions

The effects of hadronic rescattering in RHIC-energy Au+Au collisions are studied using two very different models to describe the early stages of the collision. One model is based on a hadronic thermal picture and the other on a superposition of parton-parton collisions. Operationally, the output hadrons from each of these models are used as input to a hadronic rescattering calculation. The results of the rescattering calculations from each model are then compared with rapidity and transverse momentum distributions from the RHIC BRAHMS experiment. It is found that in spite of the different points of view of the two models of the initial stage, after rescattering the observed differences between the models are mostly "washed out" and both models give observables that agree reasonably well with each other and experiment.