Nuclear matter to strange matter transition in holographic QCD

We construct a simple holographic QCD model to study nuclear matter to strange matter transition. The interaction of dense medium and hadrons is taken care of by imposing the force balancing condition for stable D4/D6/D6 configuration. By considering the intermediate and light flavor branes interacting with baryon vertex homogeneously distributed along R^3 space and requesting the energy minimization, we find that there is a well defined transition density as a function of current quark mass. We also find that as density goes up very high, intermediate (or heavy) and light quarks populate equally as expected from the Pauli principle. In this sense, the effect of the Pauli principle is realized as dynamics of D-branes.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure

Measurements of the transverse-momentum-dependent cross sections of J /ψ production at mid-rapidity in proton+proton collisions at s =510 and 500 GeV with the STAR detector

We present measurements of the differential cross sections of inclusive J/ψ meson production as a function of transverse momentum (pTJ/ψ) using the μ+μ- and e+e- decay channels in proton+proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 510 and 500 GeV, respectively, recorded by the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The measurement from the μ+μ- channel is for

Measurement of inclusive J/ψ suppression in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV through the dimuon channel at STAR

J/ψ suppression has long been considered a sensitive signature of the formation of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. In this letter, we present the first measurement of inclusive J/ψ production at mid-rapidity through the dimuon decay channel in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV with the STAR experiment. These measurements became possible after the installation of the Muon Telescope Detector was completed in 2014. The J/ψ yields are measured in a wide transverse momentum (pT) range of 0.15 GeV/c to 12 GeV/c from central to peripheral collisions. They extend the kinematic reach of previous measurements at RHIC with improved precision. In the 0-10% most central collisions, the J/ψ yield is suppressed by a factor of approximately 3 for pT>5 GeV/c relative to that in p+p collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions. The J/ψ nuclear modification factor displays little dependence on pT in all centrality bins. Model calculations can qualitatively describe the data, providing further evidence for the color-screening effect experienced by J/ψ mesons in the QGP

Charge-dependent pair correlations relative to a third particle in p + Au and d + Au collisions at RHIC

Quark interactions with topological gluon configurations can induce chirality imbalance and local parity violation in quantum chromodynamics. This can lead to electric charge separation along the strong magnetic field in relativistic heavy-ion collisions – the chiral magnetic effect (CME). We report measurements by the STAR collaboration of a CME-sensitive observable in p+Au and d+Au collisions at 200 GeV, where the CME is not expected, using charge-dependent pair correlations relative to a third particle. We observe strong charge-dependent correlations similar to those measured in heavy-ion collisions. This bears important implications for the interpretation of the heavy-ion data

Observation of Excess J/ψ Yield at Very Low Transverse Momenta in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV and U+U Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193 GeV.

We report on the first measurements of J/ψ production at very low transverse momentum (p_{T}<0.2  GeV/c) in hadronic Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV and U+U collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193  GeV. Remarkably, the inferred nuclear modification factor of J/ψ at midrapidity in Au+Au (U+U) collisions reaches about 24 (52) for p_{T}<0.05  GeV/c in the 60%-80% collision centrality class. This noteworthy enhancement cannot be explained by hadronic production accompanied by cold and hot medium effects. In addition, the dN/dt distribution of J/ψ for the very low p_{T} range is presented for the first time. The distribution is consistent with that expected from the Au nucleus and shows a hint of interference. Comparison of the measurements to theoretical calculations of coherent production shows that the excess yield can be described reasonably well and reveals a partial disruption of coherent production in semicentral collisions, perhaps due to the violent hadronic interactions. Incorporating theoretical calculations, the results strongly suggest that the dramatic enhancement of J/ψ yield observed at extremely low p_{T} originates from coherent photon-nucleus interactions. In particular, coherently produced J/ψ's in violent hadronic collisions may provide a novel probe of the quark-gluon plasma

Bulk properties of the system formed in Au+Au collisions at sNN =14.5 GeV at the BNL STAR detector

We report systematic measurements of bulk properties of the system created in Au+Au collisions at sNN=14.5 GeV recorded by the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The transverse momentum spectra of π±, K±, and p(p) are studied at midrapidity (|y|<0.1) for nine centrality intervals. The centrality, transverse momentum (pT), and pseudorapidity (η) dependence of inclusive charged particle elliptic flow (v2), and rapidity-odd charged particles directed flow (v1) results near midrapidity are also presented. These measurements are compared with the published results from Au+Au collisions at other energies, and from Pb+Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV. The results at sNN=14.5 GeV show similar behavior as established at other energies and fit well in the energy dependence trend. These results are important as the 14.5-GeV energy fills the gap in μB, which is of the order of 100 MeV, between sNN=11.5 and 19.6 GeV. Comparisons of the data with UrQMD and AMPT models show poor agreement in general

Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry for inclusive jet and dijet production in pp collisions at s =510 GeV

We report the first measurement of the inclusive jet and the dijet longitudinal double-spin asymmetries, ALL, at midrapidity in polarized pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy s=510 GeV. The inclusive jet ALL measurement is sensitive to the gluon helicity distribution down to a gluon momentum fraction of x≈0.015, while the dijet measurements, separated into four jet-pair topologies, provide constraints on the x dependence of the gluon polarization. Both results are consistent with previous measurements made at s=200 GeV in the overlapping kinematic region, x>0.05, and show good agreement with predictions from recent next-to-leading order global analyses

Pion interferometry in Au+Au collisions at sNN\sqrt{\mathrm{s}_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}} = 200 GeV

We present a systematic analysis of two-pion interferometry in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV using the STAR detector at RHIC. We extract the HBT radii and study their multiplicity, transverse momentum, and azimuthal angle dependence. The Gaussianess of the correlation function is studied. Estimates of the geometrical and dynamical structure of the freeze-out source are extracted by fits with blast wave parameterizations. The expansion of the source and its relation with the initial energy density distribution is studied.Comment: 21 pages, 30 figures. As published in Physics Review

Measurements of ϕ\phi meson production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC

We present results for the measurement of $\phi$ meson production via its charged kaon decay channel $\phi \to K^+K^-$ in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=62.4$, 130, and 200 GeV, and in $p+p$ and $d$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV from the STAR experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The midrapidity ($|y|<0.5$) $\phi$ meson transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) spectra in central Au+Au collisions are found to be well described by a single exponential distribution. On the other hand, the $p_{T}$ spectra from $p+p$, $d$+Au and peripheral Au+Au collisions show power-law tails at intermediate and high $p_{T}$ and are described better by Levy distributions. The constant $\phi/K^-$ yield ratio vs beam species, collision centrality and colliding energy is in contradiction with expectations from models having kaon coalescence as the dominant mechanism for $\phi$ production at RHIC. The $\Omega/\phi$ yield ratio as a function of $p_{T}$ is consistent with a model based on the recombination of thermal $s$ quarks up to $p_{T}\sim 4$ GeV/$c$, but disagrees at higher transverse momenta. The measured nuclear modification factor, $R_{dAu}$, for the $\phi$ meson increases above unity at intermediate $p_{T}$, similar to that for pions and protons, while $R_{AA}$ is suppressed due to the energy loss effect in central Au+Au collisions. Number of constituent quark scaling of both $R_{cp}$ and $v_{2}$ for the $\phi$ meson with respect to other hadrons in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$=200 GeV at intermediate $p_{T}$ is observed. These observations support quark coalescence as being the dominant mechanism of hadronization in the intermediate $p_{T}$ region at RHIC.Comment: 22 pages, 21 figures, 4 table