Systematics of mid-rapidity K-/pi ratio in heavy-ion collisions

It is observed that K-/pi in A+A and possibly p+p and pbar+p collisions follows an interesting systematic in omega, the pion transverse energy per unit of rapidity and transverse overlap area. The systematics show a linear increase of K-/pi with omega in the AGS and SPS energy regime and a saturation at RHIC energy. The systematics indicate that omega might be the relevant variable underlying K-/pi. At high energy, the omega variable is related to the gluon saturation scale in high density QCD, and perhaps to the initial energy density in the Bjorken picture.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. SQM-2001 proceeding

Two particle correlations at mid-rapidity in Si+A and Au+Au from E859/E866

Two particle correlation measurements for {ital Si-A} and {ital Au- Au} collisions from Brookhaven E859 and E866 are discussed. These measurements allow us, with some interpretation, to deduce the size of the participant region in a heavy ion collision. We show that various source parameterizations yield consistent results and we explore the dependence of the apparent source size on the pion yield

Systematics of mid-rapidity E{sub T} and multiplicity distributions in nucleus and nucleon collisions at AGS energies

In the period 1986--1992, the E802 Collaboration at the BNL-AGS made systematic measurements of transverse energy (E{sub T}) emission in an electromagnetic calorimeter (PbGl) which covered the pseudorapidity interval 1.25 {le} {eta} {le} 2.50 and half the azimuth (where mid-rapidity for these energies is y{sub cm}{sup N N} {approx_equal} 1.6 - 1.7 depending the species). The other half of the azimuth was occupied by a 25 msr magnetic spectrometer with full particle identification. Runs were also taken with two different full-azimuth configurations of the PbGl, covering 1.25 {le} {eta} {le} 2.44, and also 1.3 {le} {eta} {le} 2.4. It was noticed that the shapes of the upper edges of the E{sub T} distributions, as represented for example by the p parameter in a gamma distribution fit, seemed to vary with the solid angle of the configuration. To systematically investigate this effect, the A-dependence and pseudorapidity-interval ({delta}{eta}) dependence of E{sub T} distributions in the half-azimuth electromagnetic calorimeter were measured for p+Be, p+Au, O+Cu, Si+Au and Au+Au collisions

Measurements of fluctuations in H.E. scattering using mid-rapidity E{sub T} and multiplicity distributions in nucleus and nucleon collisions

Measurements by the E802 Collaboration of the A-dependence and pseudorapidity-interval ({delta}{eta}) dependence of E{sub T} distributions in a half-azimuth electromagnetic calorimeter are presented for p+Be, p+Au, O+Cu, Si+Au and Au+Au collisions at the BNL-AGS. The issues addressed are whether the shapes of the upper edges of the E{sub T} distributions vary similarly to the variation in shape with {delta}{eta} of mid-rapidity charged particle multiplicity distributions and how small a {delta}{eta} interval would still give a meaningful characterization of the nuclear geometry of a reaction

Short range rapidity correlations from the Bose-Einstein effect and intermittency: A quantitative demonstration

A measurement of the two-particle correlation of identified pions was performed in the E802/E859 magnetic spectrometer on the interval 1.5 {le} y {le} 2.0, {delta}{phi} = 0.4 rad, for central {sup 28}Si + Au collisions. It is demonstrated that the two-pion correlation in rapidity is entirely due to Bose-Einstein interference. The directly measured exponential correlation length is {zeta}{sub y} = 0.20 {+-} 0.03 for two {pi}{sup {minus}}, with strength R(0,0) {approximately} 1%, in agreement with previous E802 indirect measurements derived from an analysis of intermittency using Negative Binomial Distributions

Intriguing centrality dependence of the Au-Au source size at the AGS

One of the main goals of high energy heavy ion physics is to establish the existence of a deconfined phase of nuclear matter--the quark-gluon plasma--at high temperatures or densities. One possible signature of such a phase transition, especially if it were first order, would be a larger source size or lifetime than a similar hadronic system. At current AGS energies, we attempt to form a quark- gluon plasma by achieving a high baryon density for a period of time in the center of the collision region. For a given density threshold, the size of this high density region should be a strong function of the impact parameter: the more central the event, the larger the high density region. Therefore, one possible signature of a quark-gluon plasma would be a sudden change in system lifetime or size as a function of the centrality of the collision. In this talk we present an intriguing effect which was not predicted for simple hadronic systems: a rapid increase of the HBT-measured source radius parameter for pion pairs with increasing centrality for Au-Au collisions at a beam momentum of 11.45 A GeV/c on a fixed target. Experience has shown, however, that we must be cautious in our interpretation. A complete understanding of the collision dynamics at a given energy must be built up from several measurements and new, but conventional, hadronic explanations must be considered for such unexpected effects. More study is needed, therefore, before any strong conclusions can be reached

Hadronic centrality dependence in nuclear collisions

The kaon number density in nucleus+nucleus and p+p reactions is investigated for the first time as a function of the initial energy density $\epsilon$ and is found to exhibit a discontinuity around $\epsilon$=1.3 GeV/fm$^3$. This suggests a higher degree of chemical equilibrium for $\epsilon >$ 1.3 GeV/fm$^3$. It can also be interpreted as reflection of the same discontinuity, appearing in the chemical freeze out temperature (T) as a function of $\epsilon$. The $N^{\alpha \sim 1}$ dependence of (u,d,s) hadrons, whith N the number of participating nucleons, also indicates a high degree of chemical equilibrium and T saturation, reached at $\epsilon >$1.3 GeV/fm$^3$. Assuming that the intermediate mass region (IMR) dimuon enhancement seen by NA50 is due to open charm ($D \bar{D}$), the following observation can be made: a) Charm is not equilibrated. b) $J/\Psi/D \bar{D}$ suppression -unlike $J/\Psi/DY$- appears also in S+A collisions, above $\epsilon$ $\sim$1 GeV/fm$^3$. c) Both charm and strangeness show a discontinuity near the same $\epsilon$. d) $J/\Psi$ could be formed mainly through $c \bar{c}$ coalescence. e) The enhancement factors of hadrons with u,d,s,c quarks may be connected in a simple way to the mass gain of these particles if they are produced out of a quark gluon plasma (QGP). We discuss these results as possible evidence for the QCD phase transition occuring near $\epsilon \sim$1.3 GeV/fm$^3$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings of Vth International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter, 20-25 July 2000, Berkeley, California. To appear in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic

Centrality and sNNDependenceofthe\sqrt{s_{NN}} Dependence of the dE_{T}/d\etaand and dN_{ch}/d\eta$ in Heavy Ion Collisions at Mid-Rapidity

The PHENIX experiment at RHIC has measured transverse energy and charged particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity in Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 19.6, 130, 62.4 and 200 GeV as a function of centrality. The presented results are compared to measurements from other RHIC experiments, and experiments at lower energies. The $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ dependence of $dE_{T}/d\eta$ and $dN_{ch}/d\eta$ per pair of participants is consistent with logarithmic scaling for the most central events. The centrality dependence of $dE_{T}/d\eta$ and $dN_{ch}/d\eta$ is similar at all measured incident energies. At RHIC energies the ratio of transverse energy per charged particle was found independent of centrality and growing slowly with $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$. A survey of comparisons between the data and available theoretical models is also presented.Comment: Proccedings of the Workshop: Focus on Multiplcity at Bari, Italy, June 17-19,2004. To be submitted to the Jornal of Physics, "Conference series". Includes: 20 Pages, 15 figures, 3 Tables, 80 Referencie