An Updated Historical Profile of the Higgs Boson

The Higgs boson was postulated in 1964, and phenomenological studies of its possible production and decays started in the early 1970s, followed by studies of its possible production in electron-positron, antiproton-proton and proton-proton collisions, in particular. Until recently, the most sensitive searches for the Higgs boson were at LEP between 1989 and 2000, which were complemented by searches at the Fermilab Tevatron. Then the LHC experiments ATLAS and CMS entered the hunt, announcing on July 4, 2012 the discovery of a "Higgs-like" particle with a mass of about 125~GeV. This identification has been supported by subsequent measurements of its spin, parity and coupling properties. It was widely anticipated that the Higgs boson would be accompanied by supersymmetry, although other options, like compositeness, were not completely excluded. So far there are no signs any new physics, and the measured properties of the Higgs boson are consistent with the predictions of the minimal Standard Model. This article reviews some of the key historical developments in Higgs physics over the past half-century.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, update of arXiv:1201.6045, to be published in the volume "The Standard Theory of Particle Physics", edited by Luciano Maiani and Gigi Roland

Event Structure at RHIC from p-p to Au-Au

Several correlation analysis techniques are applied to p-p and Au-Au collisions at RHIC. Strong large-momentum-scale correlations are observed which can be related to local charge and momentum conservation during hadronization and to minijet (minimum-bias parton fragment) correlations.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, 20th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Trelawny Beach, Jamaica, March 15-20, 200

Proton - Lambda correlations in Au-Au Collisions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV from the STAR experiment

The space-time evolution of the source of particles formed in the collision of nuclei can be studied through particle correlations. The STAR experiment is dedicated to study ultra-relativistic heavy ions collisions and allows to measure non-identical strange particle correlations. The source size can be extracted by studying $p-\Lambda$, $\bar{p}-\bar{\Lambda}$, $\bar{p}-\Lambda$ and $p-\bar{\Lambda}$ correlation functions. Strong interaction potential has been studied for these systems using an analytical model. Final State Interaction (FSI) parameters have been determined and has shown a significant annihilation process present in $\bar{p}-\Lambda$ and $p-\bar{\Lambda}$ systems not present in $p-\Lambda$ and $\bar{p}-\bar{\Lambda}$.Comment: contribution to the 20th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamic

First Results from Photon Multiplicity Detector at RHIC

We present the first measurement of multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of photons in the pseudorapidity region 2.3 < eta < 3.7 for different centralities in Au + Au collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 GeV. The pseudorapidity distribution of photons, dominated by neutral pion decays, has been compared to those of identified charged pions, photons, and inclusive charged particles from heavy ion and nucleon-nucleon collisions at various energies. Scaling of photon yield with number of participating nucleons and limiting fragmentation scenario for inclusive photon production has been studied.Comment: Talk given at 5th International Conference on Physics and Astrophysics of Quark Gluon Plasma (February 8 - 12, 2005); 4 pages and 6 figure

Recent Results on Searches for Pentaquark States from STAR at RHIC

We present results on pentaquark searches from nuclear collisions at RHIC with the STAR detector system. An intriguing peak has been observed in the invariant mass distribution of $pK^{+}+\overline{p}K^{-}$ from 18.6 Million d+Au collision events at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} = 200$~GeV. The peak centers at a mass $1528 \pm 2 \pm 5$~MeV/c$^{2}$ and the FWHM $\sim15$ MeV/c$^{2}$ limited by detector responses. The statistical significance of the peak is $4.2\sigma$. Such a state if confirmed is manifestly exotic and implies a family of isospin one states. A weak signal of less statistical significance ($\sim3\sigma$) has been observed in 5.6M Au+Au collision events at 62.4 GeV. Searches in 10.7M Au+Au collision events at 200 GeV yield no significant signal. The Au+Au results neither confirm nor rule out the d+Au observation as a possible state.Comment: To appear in proceedings of International Conference on QCD and Hadron Physics at Beijing, June 200

Event by Event fluctuation in K/pi ratio at RHIC

We present the preliminary results from our analysis of event by event fluctuation in K/pi ratio in Au+Au collision at \sqrt s_{NN} = 200 GeV and at 62.4 GeV using STAR detector at RHIC. Two different methods have been used to extract the strength of dynamical fluctuation and the centrality dependence of that. The results from the study of energy and centrality dependence of the dynamical fluctuation are presented. From the excitation function it is seen that at two RHIC energies the measure of dynamical fluctuation is constant with values very close to that at 12.3 GeV at SPS. The dynamical fluctuation is found to be positive and decreasing with increasing centrality at RHIC. The results are compared with HIJING model calculation with jets. Results from HIJING are found to be very close to data from central collisions whereas it over predicts the data for peripheral events.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, for ICPAQGP - 2005 (Recalculated the errors shown in Fig 2 and Table 1

Baryonic Resonance Studies with STAR

Yields and spectra of $\Sigma(1385)$ are measured in $p+p$, d+Au and Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV . The nuclear modification factors in d+Au collisions are presented. The $p_{T}$ dependent medium effects are investigated via the nuclear modification factors. The implications of these results on various models are discussed.Comment: Strange Quark Matter 2006 Conference Talk Proceeding

Anisotropic flow at RHIC

We present the first measurement of directed flow ($v_1$) at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). $v_1$ is found to be consistent with zero at pseudorapidities $\eta$ from -1.2 to 1.2, then rises to the level of a couple of percent over the range $2.4 < |\eta| < 4$. The latter observation is similar to that from NA49 if the SPS rapidities are shifted by the difference in beam rapidity between RHIC and SPS. We studied the evolution of elliptic flow from p+p collisions through d+Au collision, and onto Au+Au collisions. Measurements of higher harmonics are presented and discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Proceeding for the 20th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Jamaic

Centrality Dependence of Azimuthal Anisotropy of Strange Hadrons in 200 GeV Au+Au Collisions

Measurements of azimuthal anisotropy for strange and multi-strange hadrons are presented for the first time in their centrality dependence. The high statistics results of v2(pT) allow for a more detailed comparison to hydrodynamical model calculations. Number-of-constituent-quark scaling was tested for different centrality classes separately. Higher order anisotropies like v4(pT) are measured for multi-strange hadrons. While we observe agreement between measured data and models a deeper understanding and refinement of the models seem to be necessary in order to fully understand the details of the data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; Strange Quark Matter 2006 conference proceedings, to appear in J. Phys.

Measurement of Δ\Delta and K∗K^{*} Production in dd+Au collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

The measurements of the transverse momentum spectra and the invariant mass distributions of $\Delta(1232)$ $\to \pi p$, $K^{*}(892)\to \pi K$ resonances in $d$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV using the STAR Time Projection Chamber (TPC) at RHIC are presented. The in-medium modification of the $\Delta$ and $K^{*}$ mass and width has been studied as a function of transverse momentum ($p_T$). The particle ratios $K^{*}/K$, $\Delta/p$ and the average transverse momentum ($$) as a function of different collision centrality has been reported. The nuclear modification factors ($R_{CP}$ and $R_{dAu}$) of $\Delta$ and $K^{*}$ are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 9 figures, proceeding (poster) of the 18th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (QM2005), Aug.4-9, Budapest, Hungar