36 research outputs found
Electromagnetic probes
We introduce the seminal developments in the theory and experiments of
electromagnetic probes for the study of the dynamics of relativistic heavy ion
collisions and quark gluon plasma.Comment: 47 pages, 33 Figures; Lectures delivered by Dinesh K. Srivastava at
QGP Winter School (QGPWS08) at Jaipur, India, February 1-3, 200
Phi meson production in Au+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt (s)=200 GeV
We report the STAR measurement of Phi meson production in Au+Au and p+p
collisions at sqrt (s)=200 GeV. Using the event mixing technique, the Phi
spectra and yields are obtained at mid-rapidity for five centrality bins in
Au+Au collisions and for non-singly-diffractive p+p collisions. It is found
that the Phi transverse momentum distributions from Au+Au collisions are better
fitted with a single-exponential while the p+p spectrum is better described by
a double-exponential distribution. The measured nuclear modification factors
indicate that Phi production in central Au+Au collisions is suppressed relative
to peripheral collisions when scaled by the number of binary collisions. The
systematics of versus centrality and the constant Phi/K- ratio versus beam
species, centrality, and collision energy rule out kaon coalescence as the
dominant mechanism for Phi production.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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
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.
Relating the microscopic rules in coalescence-fragmentation models to the macroscopic cluster size distributions which emerge
Coalescence-fragmentation problems are of great interest across the physical,
biological, and recently social sciences. They are typically studied from the
perspective of the rate equations, at the heart of such models are the rules
used for coalescence and fragmentation. Here we discuss how changes in these
microscopic rules affect the macroscopic cluster-size distribution which
emerges from the solution to the rate equation. More generally, our work
elucidates the crucial role that the fragmentation rule can play in such
dynamical grouping models. We focus on two well-known models whose
fragmentation rules lie at opposite extremes setting the models within the
broader context of binary coalescence-fragmentation models. Further, we provide
a range of generalizations and new analytic results for a well-known model of
social group formation [V. M. Eguiluz and M. G. Zimmermann, Phys. Rev. Lett.
85, 5659 (2000)]. We develop analytic perturbation treatment of the original
model, and extend the mathematical to the treatment of growing and declining
populations
Energy dependence of charged pion, proton and anti-proton transverse momentum spectra for Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 and 200 GeV
We study the energy dependence of the transverse momentum (pT) spectra for
charged pions, protons and anti-protons for Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_NN} =
62.4 and 200 GeV. Data are presented at mid-rapidity (|y| < 0.5) for 0.2 < pT <
12 GeV/c. In the intermediate pT region (2 < pT < 6 GeV/c), the nuclear
modification factor is higher at 62.4 GeV than at 200 GeV, while at higher pT
(pT >7 GeV/c) the modification is similar for both energies. The p/pi+ and
pbar/pi- ratios for central collisions at \sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 GeV peak at pT ~ 2
GeV/c. In the pT range where recombination is expected to dominate, the p/pi+
ratios at 62.4 GeV are larger than at 200 GeV, while the pbar/pi- ratios are
smaller. For pT > 2 GeV/c, the pbar/pi- ratios at the two beam energies are
independent of pT and centrality indicating that the dependence of the pbar/pi-
ratio on pT does not change between 62.4 and 200 GeV. These findings challenge
various models incorporating jet quenching and/or constituent quark
coalescence.Comment: 19 pages and 6 figure
Efeito da idade de desmame no desempenho reprodutivo de novilhas de corte expostas à reprodução aos 13/15 meses de idade
Search for Tensor, Vector, and Scalar Polarizations in the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background
The detection of gravitational waves with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo has enabled novel tests of general relativity, including direct study of the polarization of gravitational waves. While general relativity allows for only two tensor gravitational-wave polarizations, general metric theories can additionally predict two vector and two scalar polarizations. The polarization of gravitational waves is encoded in the spectral shape of the stochastic gravitational-wave background, formed by the superposition of cosmological and individually unresolved astrophysical sources. Using data recorded by Advanced LIGO during its first observing run, we search for a stochastic background of generically polarized gravitational waves. We find no evidence for a background of any polarization, and place the first direct bounds on the contributions of vector and scalar polarizations to the stochastic background. Under log-uniform priors for the energy in each polarization, we limit the energy densities of tensor, vector, and scalar modes at 95% credibility to Ω0T<5.58×10-8, Ω0V<6.35×10-8, and Ω0S<1.08×10-7 at a reference frequency f0=25 Hz. © 2018 American Physical Society
On the progenitor of binary neutron star merger GW170817
On 2017 August 17 the merger of two compact objects with masses consistent with two neutron stars was discovered through gravitational-wave (GW170817), gamma-ray (GRB 170817A), and optical (SSS17a/AT 2017gfo) observations. The optical source was associated with the early-type galaxy NGC 4993 at a distance of just ∼40 Mpc, consistent with the gravitational-wave measurement, and the merger was localized to be at a projected distance of ∼2 kpc away from the galaxy's center. We use this minimal set of facts and the mass posteriors of the two neutron stars to derive the first constraints on the progenitor of GW170817 at the time of the second supernova (SN). We generate simulated progenitor populations and follow the three-dimensional kinematic evolution from binary neutron star (BNS) birth to the merger time, accounting for pre-SN galactic motion, for considerably different input distributions of the progenitor mass, pre-SN semimajor axis, and SN-kick velocity. Though not considerably tight, we find these constraints to be comparable to those for Galactic BNS progenitors. The derived constraints are very strongly influenced by the requirement of keeping the binary bound after the second SN and having the merger occur relatively close to the center of the galaxy. These constraints are insensitive to the galaxy's star formation history, provided the stellar populations are older than 1 Gyr
Constraints on cosmic strings using data from the first Advanced LIGO observing run
Cosmic strings are topological defects which can be formed in grand unified theory scale phase transitions in the early universe. They are also predicted to form in the context of string theory. The main mechanism for a network of Nambu-Goto cosmic strings to lose energy is through the production of loops and the subsequent emission of gravitational waves, thus offering an experimental signature for the existence of cosmic strings. Here we report on the analysis conducted to specifically search for gravitational-wave bursts from cosmic string loops in the data of Advanced LIGO 2015-2016 observing run (O1). No evidence of such signals was found in the data, and as a result we set upper limits on the cosmic string parameters for three recent loop distribution models. In this paper, we initially derive constraints on the string tension Gμ and the intercommutation probability, using not only the burst analysis performed on the O1 data set but also results from the previously published LIGO stochastic O1 analysis, pulsar timing arrays, cosmic microwave background and big-bang nucleosynthesis experiments. We show that these data sets are complementary in that they probe gravitational waves produced by cosmic string loops during very different epochs. Finally, we show that the data sets exclude large parts of the parameter space of the three loop distribution models we consider