Direct Photon Production in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC-PHENIX Experiment

Direct photons have been measured with the PHENIX experiment in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. The direct photon result obtained with PHENIX-EMCal up to 18 GeV/$c$ is consistent with the NLO pQCD calculation scaled by the nuclear overlap function. The measurement using internal conversion of photons into $e^+e^-$ shows the enhancement of the yield comparing with NLO pQCD calculation.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Contributed parallel talk at Hard Probes 2006, Asilomar CA USA, Jun. 9-16, 200

High-pT pi0 Production with Respect to the Reaction Plane Using the PHENIX Detector at RHIC

The origin of the azimuthal anisotropy in particle yields at high pT (pT > 5 GeV/c) in RHIC collisions remains an intriguing puzzle. Traditional flow and parton energy loss models have failed to completely explain the large v2 observed at high pT. Measurement of this parameter at high pT will help to gain an understanding of the interplay between flow, recombination and energy loss, and the role they play in the transition from soft to hard physics. Neutral mesons measured in the PHENIX experiment provide an ideal observable for such studies. We present recent measurements of \piz yields with respect to the reaction plane, and discuss the impact current models have on our understanding of these mechanisms.Comment: Contribnution to the proceedings of Hot Quarks 2006, 15-20 May 2006, Villasimius, Sardini

Direct photons measured by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC

Results from the PHENIX experiment at RHIC on direct photon production in p+p, d+Au, and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV are presented. In p+p collisions, direct photon production at high p_T behaves as expected from perturbative QCD calculations. The p+p measurement serves as a baseline for direct photon production in Au+Au collisions. In d+Au collisions, no effects of cold nuclear matter are found within the large uncertainty of the measurement. In Au+Au collisions, the production of high p_T direct photons scales as expected for particle production in hard scatterings. This supports jet quenching models, which attribute the suppression of high p_T hadrons to the energy loss of fast partons in the medium produced in the collision. Low p_T direct photons, measured via e+e- pairs with small invariant mass, are possibly related to the production of thermal direct photons.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of the Hot Quarks 2006 Workshop for young scientists on the physics of ultra-relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions, Villasimius, Sardinia, Italy, May 15--20, 200

Neutral Pions with Large Transverse Momentum in d+Au and Au+Au Collisions

Measurements of transverse-momentum p_T spectra of neutral pions in Au+Au and d+Au collisions at sqrt{s_NN}=200 GeV and 62.4 GeV by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC in comparison to p+p reference spectra at the same sqrt{s_NN} are presented. In central Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s_NN}=200 GeV a factor 4-5 suppression for neutral pions and charged hadrons with p_T > 5 GeV/c is found relative to the p+p reference scaled by the nuclear overlap function . In contrast, such a suppression of high-p_T particles is absent in d+Au collisions independent of the centrality of the collision. To study the sqrt{s_NN} dependence of the suppression Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s_NN}=200 GeV and 62.4 GeV are compared.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, presented at Hot Quarks 2004, Taos, N

Hard photon and neutral pion production in cold nuclear matter

The production of hard photons and neutral pions in 190 MeV proton induced reactions on C, Ca, Ni, and W targets has been for the first time concurrently studied. Angular distributions and energy spectra up to the kinematical limit are discussed and the production cross-sections are presented. From the target mass dependence of the cross-sections the propagation of pions through nuclear matter is analyzed and the production mechanisms of hard photons and primordial pions are derived. It is found that the production of subthreshold particles proceeds mainly through first chance nucleon-nucleon collisions. For the most energetic particles the mass scaling evidences the effect of multiple collisions.Comment: submitted to Phys. Lett.

An Improved Shashlyk Calorimeter

Shashlyk electromagnetic calorimeter modules with an energy resolution of about 3%/sqrt{E (GeV)} for 50-1000 MeV photons has been developed, and a prototype tested. Details of these improved modules, including mechanical construction, selection of wave shifting fibers and photo-detectors, and development of a new scintillator with improved optical and mechanical properties are described. How the modules will perform in a large calorimeter was determined from prototype measurements. The experimentally determined characteristics of the calorimeter prototype show energy resolution of sigma_E/E=(1.96+-0.1)% \oplus (2.74+-0.05)%/sqrt{E}, time resolution of sigma_T = (72+-4)/sqrt{E} \oplus (14+-2)/E (ps), where photon energy E is given in GeV units and \oplus means a quadratic summation. A punch-through inefficiency of photon detection was measured to be \epsilon = 5*10^{-5} (\Theta >5 mrad).Comment: 29 pages, 21 figure

Thermal bremsstrahlung probing the thermodynamical state of multifragmenting systems

Inclusive and exclusive hard-photon (E$_\gamma >$ 30 MeV) production in five different heavy-ion reactions ($^{36}$Ar+$^{197}$Au, $^{107}$Ag, $^{58}$Ni, $^{12}$C at 60{\it A} MeV and $^{129}$Xe+$^{120}$Sn at 50{\it A} MeV) has been studied coupling the TAPS photon spectrometer with several charged-particle multidetectors covering more than 80% of 4$\pi$. The measured spectra, slope parameters and source velocities as well as their target-dependence, confirm the existence of thermal bremsstrahlung emission from secondary nucleon-nucleon collisions that accounts for roughly 20% of the total hard-photon yield. The thermal slopes are a direct measure of the temperature of the excited nuclear systems produced during the reaction.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings CRIS 2000, 3rd Catania Relativistic Ion Studies, "Phase Transitions in Strong Interactions: Status and Perspectives", Acicastello, Italy, May 22-26, 2000 (to be published in Nuc. Phys. A

Thermal Bremsstrahlung photons probing the nuclear caloric curve

Hard-photon (E$_{\gamma}>$ 30 MeV) emission from second-chance nucleon-nucleon Bremsstrahlung collisions in intermediate energy heavy-ion reactions is studied employing a realistic thermal model. Photon spectra and yields measured in several nucleus-nucleus reactions are consistent with an emission from hot nuclear systems with temperatures $T\approx$ 4 - 7 MeV. The corresponding caloric curve in the region of excitation energies $\epsilon^\star\approx$ 3{\it A} - 8{\it A} MeV shows lower values of $T$ than those expected for a Fermi fluid.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. To appear in Physics Letters

Suppression of soft nuclear bremsstrahlung in proton-nucleus collisions

Photon energy spectra up to the kinematic limit have been measured in 190 MeV proton reactions with light and heavy nuclei to investigate the influence of the multiple-scattering process on the photon production. Relative to the predictions of models based on a quasi-free production mechanism a strong suppression of bremsstrahlung is observed in the low-energy region of the photon spectrum. We attribute this effect to the interference of photon amplitudes due to multiple scattering of nucleons in the nuclear medium.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Performance of a fine-sampling electromagnetic calorimeter prototype in the energy range from 1 to 19 GeV

The fine-sampling electromagnetic calorimeter prototype has been experimentally tested using the 1-19 GeV/c tagged beams of negatively charged particles at the U70 accelerator at IHEP, Protvino. The energy resolution measured by electrons is Delta{E}/E=2.8%/\sqrt{E} + 1.3%. The position resolution for electrons is Delta{x}=3.1 + 15.4/sqrt{E} mm in the center of the cell. The lateral non-uniformity of the prototype energy response to electrons and MIPs has turned out to be negligible. Obtained experimental results are in a good agreement with Monte-Carlo simulations.Comment: Article is prepared for pdflatex using the class elsart. 13 pages, 9 figures in 11 PDF file