1,062 research outputs found
A Honeycomb Proportional Counter for Photon Multiplicity Measurement in the ALICE Experiment
A honeycomb detector consisting of a matrix of 96 closely packed hexagonal
cells, each working as a proportional counter with a wire readout, was
fabricated and tested at the CERN PS. The cell depth and the radial dimensions
of the cell were small, in the range of 5-10 mm. The appropriate cell design
was arrived at using GARFIELD simulations. Two geometries are described
illustrating the effect of field shaping. The charged particle detection
efficiency and the preshower characteristics have been studied using pion and
electron beams. Average charged particle detection efficiency was found to be
98%, which is almost uniform within the cell volume and also within the array.
The preshower data show that the transverse size of the shower is in close
agreement with the results of simulations for a range of energies and converter
thicknesses.Comment: To be published in NIM
The STAR Photon Multiplicity Detector
Details concerning the design, fabrication and performance of STAR Photon
Multiplicity Detector (PMD) are presented. The PMD will cover the forward
region, within the pseudorapidity range 2.3--3.5, behind the forward time
projection chamber. It will measure the spatial distribution of photons in
order to study collective flow, fluctuation and chiral symmetry restoration.Comment: 15 pages, including 11 figures; to appear in a special NIM volume
dedicated to the accelerator and detectors at RHI
The Chiral Phase Transition in Dissipative Dynamics
Numerical simulations of the chiral phase transition in the (3+1)dimensional
O(4)-model are presented. The evolutions of the chiral field follow purely
dissipative dynamics, starting from random chirally symmetric initial
configurations down to the true vacuum with spontaneously broken symmetry. The
model stabilizes topological textures which are formed together with domains of
disoriented chiral condensate (DCC) during the roll-down phase. The classically
evolving field acts as source for the emission of pions and mesons.
The exponents of power laws for the growth of angular correlations and for
emission rates are extracted. Fluctuations in the abundance ratios for neutral
and charged pions are compared with those for uncorrelated sources as potential
signature for the chiral phase transition after heavy-ion collisions. It is
found that the presence of stabilizing textures (baryons and antibaryons)
prevents sufficiently rapid growth of DCC-domain size, so observability of
anomalous tails in the abundance ratios is unlikely. However, the transient
formation of growing DCC domains causes sizable broadening of the distributions
as compared to the statistical widths of generic sources.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figure
Hard Photon production from unsaturated quark gluon plasma at two loop level
The hard photon productions from bremsstrahlung and annihilation with
scattering that arise at two loop level are estimated from a chemically
non-equilibrated quark gluon plasma using the frame work of thermal field
theory. Although, the rate of photon production is suppressed due to
unsaturated phase space, the above suppression is relatively smaller than
expected due to an additional collinear enhancement (arise due to decrease in
thermal quark mass) as compared to it's equilibrium counterpart. Interestingly,
unlike the one loop case, the reduction in the two loop processes are found to
be independent of gluon chemical poential, but strongly depends on quark
fugacity. It is also found that, since the phase space suppression is highest
for annihilation with scattering, the photon production is entirely dominated
by bremsstrahlung mechanism at all energies. This is to be contrasted with the
case of the equilibrated plasma where annihilation with scattering dominates
the photon production particularly at higher energies.Comment: Latex 12 pages, 13 eps figure
Particle density fluctuations
Event-by-event fluctuations in the multiplicities of charged particles and
photons at SPS energies are discussed. Fluctuations are studied by controlling
the centrality of the reaction and rapidity acceptance of the detectors.
Results are also presented on the event-by-event study of correlations between
the multiplicity of charged particles and photons to search for DCC-like
signals.Comment: Talk presented at Quark Matter 2002, Nantes, Franc
Charged particle densities from Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}}=130 GeV
We present charged particle densities as a function of pseudorapidity and
collision centrality for the 197Au+197Au reaction at sqrt{s_{NN}}=130 GeV. An
integral charged particle multiplicity of 3860+/-300 is found for the 5% most
central events within the pseudorapidity range -4.7 <= eta <= 4.7. At
mid-rapidity an enhancement in the particle yields per participant nucleon pair
is observed for central events. Near to the beam rapidity, a scaling of the
particle yields consistent with the ``limiting fragmentation'' picture is
observed. Our results are compared to other recent experimental and theoretical
discussions of charged particle densities in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion
collisions.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures; to be published in Phys. Lett.
Pion Freeze-Out Time in Pb+Pb Collisions at 158 A GeV/c Studied via pi-/pi+ and K-/K+ Ratios
The effect of the final state Coulomb interaction on particles produced in
Pb+Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c has been investigated in the WA98 experiment
through the study of the pi-/pi+ and K-/K+ ratios measured as a function of
transverse mass. While the ratio for kaons shows no significant transverse mass
dependence, the pi-/pi+ ratio is enhanced at small transverse mass values with
an enhancement that increases with centrality. A silicon pad detector located
near the target is used to estimate the contribution of hyperon decays to the
pi-/pi+ ratio. The comparison of results with predictions of the RQMD model in
which the Coulomb interaction has been incorporated allows to place constraints
on the time of the pion freeze-out.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figure
Suppression of High-p_T Neutral Pion Production in Central Pb+Pb Collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 17.3 GeV Relative to p+C and p+Pb Collisions
Neutral pion transverse momentum spectra were measured in p+C and p+Pb
collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 17.4 GeV at mid-rapidity 2.3 < eta_lab < 3.0 over
the range 0.7< p_T < 3.5 GeV/c. The spectra are compared to pi0 spectra
measured in Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 17.3 GeV in the same experiment.
For a wide range of Pb+Pb centralities (N_part < 300) the yield of pi0's with
p_T > 2 GeV/c is larger than or consistent with the p+C or p+Pb yields scaled
with the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions (N_coll), while for central Pb+Pb
collisions with N_part > 350 the pi0 yield is suppressed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Experimental and Theoretical Challenges in the Search for the Quark Gluon Plasma: The STAR Collaboration's Critical Assessment of the Evidence from RHIC Collisions
We review the most important experimental results from the first three years
of nucleus-nucleus collision studies at RHIC, with emphasis on results from the
STAR experiment, and we assess their interpretation and comparison to theory.
The theory-experiment comparison suggests that central Au+Au collisions at RHIC
produce dense, rapidly thermalizing matter characterized by: (1) initial energy
densities above the critical values predicted by lattice QCD for establishment
of a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP); (2) nearly ideal fluid flow, marked by
constituent interactions of very short mean free path, established most
probably at a stage preceding hadron formation; and (3) opacity to jets. Many
of the observations are consistent with models incorporating QGP formation in
the early collision stages, and have not found ready explanation in a hadronic
framework. However, the measurements themselves do not yet establish
unequivocal evidence for a transition to this new form of matter. The
theoretical treatment of the collision evolution, despite impressive successes,
invokes a suite of distinct models, degrees of freedom and assumptions of as
yet unknown quantitative consequence. We pose a set of important open
questions, and suggest additional measurements, at least some of which should
be addressed in order to establish a compelling basis to conclude definitively
that thermalized, deconfined quark-gluon matter has been produced at RHIC.Comment: 101 pages, 37 figures; revised version to Nucl. Phys.
Formation of dense partonic matter in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC: Experimental evaluation by the PHENIX collaboration
Extensive experimental data from high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions were
recorded using the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
(RHIC). The comprehensive set of measurements from the first three years of
RHIC operation includes charged particle multiplicities, transverse energy,
yield ratios and spectra of identified hadrons in a wide range of transverse
momenta (p_T), elliptic flow, two-particle correlations, non-statistical
fluctuations, and suppression of particle production at high p_T. The results
are examined with an emphasis on implications for the formation of a new state
of dense matter. We find that the state of matter created at RHIC cannot be
described in terms of ordinary color neutral hadrons.Comment: 510 authors, 127 pages text, 56 figures, 1 tables, LaTeX. Submitted
to Nuclear Physics A as a regular article; v3 has minor changes in response
to referee comments. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures
for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available
at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
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