9 research outputs found
Energy and system size dependence of \phi meson production in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions
We study the beam-energy and system-size dependence of \phi meson production
(using the hadronic decay mode \phi -- K+K-) by comparing the new results from
Cu+Cu collisions and previously reported Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4
and 200 GeV measured in the STAR experiment at RHIC. Data presented are from
mid-rapidity (|y|<0.5) for 0.4 < pT < 5 GeV/c. At a given beam energy, the
transverse momentum distributions for \phi mesons are observed to be similar in
yield and shape for Cu+Cu and Au+Au colliding systems with similar average
numbers of participating nucleons. The \phi meson yields in nucleus-nucleus
collisions, normalised by the average number of participating nucleons, are
found to be enhanced relative to those from p+p collisions with a different
trend compared to strange baryons. The enhancement for \phi mesons is observed
to be higher at \sqrt{s_NN} = 200 GeV compared to 62.4 GeV. These observations
for the produced \phi(s\bar{s}) mesons clearly suggest that, at these collision
energies, the source of enhancement of strange hadrons is related to the
formation of a dense partonic medium in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions
and cannot be alone due to canonical suppression of their production in smaller
systems.Comment: 20 pages and 5 figure
A critical exploration of lesbian perspectives on eating disorders
There is now a considerable body of research exploring how culturally dominant gendered norms are implicated in mobilising girls' and women's 'anorexic' and 'bulimic' experiences and practices. However, much less is known about lesbian experiences of 'eating disorders'. This article explores some of those specificities. Drawing on interviews with self-identified lesbian women with a history of 'anorexia' and/or 'bulimia', our analysis suggests that while many of the ways in which participants discursively constituted their 'eating disorders' were similar to those identified in research with girls and women assumed to be heterosexual, there were also important differences where participants' actual or emerging lesbian subjectivities were integral to their accounts of developing, living with and recovering from 'anorexia' and/or 'bulimia'. Our analysis suggests that the processes of coming to recognise oneself as a lesbian and of 'coming out' to others in predominantly hetero-normative contexts may be profoundly implicated in the discursive production of lesbian women's 'eating disorders' and that further research is required to better understand lesbian perspectives on 'eating disorders'. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC