Multiplicity and Transverse Energy Distributions Associated to Rare Events in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

We show that in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions the transverse energy or multiplicity distribution P_C, associated to the production of a rare, unabsorbed event C, is universally related to the standard or minimum bias distribution P by the equation $P_C(\nu)={\nu\over}P(\nu)$, with $\sum P(\nu)=1$ and $\nu\equiv E_T$ or n. Deviations from this formula are discussed, in particular having in view the formation of the plasma of quarks and gluons. This possibility can be distinguished from absortion or interaction of comovers, looking at the curvature of the $J/\Psi$ over Drell-Yan pairs as a function of E_T.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Postscript figure

The freeze-out mechanism and phase-space density in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions

We explore the consequences of a freeze-out criterion for heavy-ion collisions, based on pion escape probabilities from the hot and dense but rapidly expanding collision region. The influence of the expansion and the scattering rate on the escape probability is studied. The temperature dependence of this scattering rate favors a low freeze-out temperature of ~100 MeV. In general, our results support freeze-out along finite four-volumes rather than sharp three-dimensional hypersurfaces, with high-pt particles decoupling earlier from smaller volumes. We compare our approach to the proposed universal freeze-out criteria using the pion phase-space density and its mean free path.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, although conclusions are unchanged, the paper has been re-written and the title has been changed for the sake of better presentatio

Quark exchange model for charmonium dissociation in hot hadronic matter

A diagrammatic approach to quark exchange processes in meson-meson scattering is applied to the case of inelastic reactions of the type (Q\barQ)+(q\barq)\rightarrow (Q\barq) + (q\barQ), where $Q$ and $q$ refer to heavy and light quarks, respectively. This string-flip process is discussed as a microscopic mechanism for charmonium dissociation (absorption) in hadronic matter. The cross section for the reaction $J/\psi + \pi \to D+ \bar D$ is calculated using a potential model, which is fitted to the meson mass spectrum. The temperature dependence of the relaxation time for the \J/Psi distribution in a homogeneous thermal pion gas is obtained. The use of charmonium for the diagnostics of the state of hot hadronic matter produced in ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions is discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 3 tables, 7 figure

J/psi absorption by pi and rho mesons in a meson exchange model with anomalous parity interactions

We reanalyze the dissociation process of the $J/\psi$ by $\pi$ and $\rho$ mesons into $D + \bar{D}$, $D^* + \bar{D}$, $D + \bar{D}^*$, and $D^* + \bar{D}^*$ within a meson exchange model. In addition to the dissociation mechanisms considered in the literature, we consider anomalous parity interactions, whose couplings are constrained by heavy quark spin symmetry and phenomenology. This opens new dissociation channels and adds new diagrams in the previously considered processes. Compared to the previous results, we find that these new additions have only a minor effect on the $\rho + J/\psi$ total inelastic cross section, but reduce the one for $\pi + J/\psi$ by about 50 % near the threshold.Comment: 21 pages, REVTeX, 7 figures, references added, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Results on hyperon production from NA57

The NA57 experiment has been designed to study the onset of enhanced production of strange baryons and anti-baryons in Pb-Pb collisions with respect to p-Be collisions. Results from 40 and 160 A GeV/c Pb-Pb data will be shown. The main focus is on the checks of the NA57 analysis chain