104 research outputs found
Strangelet search at RHIC
Two position sensitive Shower Maximum Detector (SMDs) for Zero-Degree
Calorimeters (ZDCs) were installed by STAR before run 2004 at both upstream and
downstream from the interaction point along the beam axis where particles with
small rigidity are swept away by strong magnetic field. The ZDC-SMDs provides
information about neutral energy deposition as a function of transverse
position in ZDCs. We report the preliminary results of strangelet search from a
triggered data-set sampling 100 million Au+Au collisions at top RHIC energy.Comment: Strange Quark Matter 2004 conference proceedin
Multiplicity and Pseudorapidity Distributions of Charged Particles and Photons at Forward Pseudorapidity in Au + Au Collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 GeV
We present the centrality dependent measurement of multiplicity and
pseudorapidity distributions of charged particles and photons in Au + Au
collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 GeV. The charged particles and photons are
measured in the pseudorapidity region 2.9 < eta < 3.9 and 2.3 < eta < 3.7,
respectively. We have studied the scaling of particle production with the
number of participating nucleons and the number of binary collisions. The
photon and charged particle production in the measured pseudorapidity range has
been shown to be consistent with energy independent limiting fragmentation
behavior. The photons are observed to follow a centrality independent limiting
fragmentation behavior while for the charged particles it is centrality
dependent. We have carried out a comparative study of the pseudorapidity
distributions of positively charged hadrons, negatively charged hadrons,
photons, pions, net protons in nucleus--nucleus collisions and pseudorapidity
distributions from p+p collisions. From these comparisons we conclude that
baryons in the inclusive charged particle distribution are responsible for the
observed centrality dependence of limiting fragmentation. The mesons are found
to follow an energy independent behavior of limiting fragmentation while the
behavior of baryons seems to be energy dependent.Comment: 17 pages and 20 figure
Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive jet production in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV
We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and
the differential cross section for inclusive midrapidity jet production in
polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV. The cross section data cover
transverse momenta 5 < pT < 50 GeV/c and agree with next-to-leading order
perturbative QCD evaluations. The A_LL data cover 5 < pT < 17 GeV/c and
disfavor at 98% C.L. maximal positive gluon polarization in the polarized
nucleon.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Minor changes from review process in Phys. Rev.
Lett. Plain text tables of data in STAR publications may be found at
http://www.star.bnl.gov/central/publications
Identified baryon and meson distributions at large transverse momenta from Au+Au collisions at GeV
Transverse momentum spectra of , and up to 12 GeV/c
at mid-rapidity in centrality selected Au+Au collisions at GeV are presented. In central Au+Au collisions, both and
show significant suppression with respect to binary scaling at
4 GeV/c. Protons and anti-protons are less suppressed than
, in the range 1.5 6 GeV/c. The and
ratios show at most a weak dependence and no significant
centrality dependence. The ratios in central Au+Au collisions approach
the values in p+p and d+Au collisions at 5 GeV/c. The results at high
indicate that the partonic sources of , and have
similar energy loss when traversing the nuclear medium.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Neutral Kaon Interferometry in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV
We present the first statistically meaningful results from two-K0s
interferometry in heavy-ion collisions. A model that takes the effect of the
strong interaction into account has been used to fit the measured correlation
function. The effects of single and coupled channel were explored. At the mean
transverse mass m_T = 1.07 GeV, we obtain the values R = 4.09 +/- 0.46 (stat.)
+/- 0.31 (sys) fm and lambda = 0.92 +/- 0.23 (stat) +/- 0.13 (sys), where R and
lambda are the invariant radius and chaoticity parameters respectively. The
results are qualitatively consistent with m_T systematics established with
pions in a scenario characterized by a strong collective flow.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Minijet deformation and charge-independent angular correlations on momentum subspace in Au-Au collisions at = 130 GeV
First measurements of charge-independent correlations on angular difference
variables (pseudorapidity) and (azimuth)
are presented for primary charged hadrons with transverse momentum GeV/ and from Au-Au collisions at
GeV. Strong charge-independent angular correlations are
observed associated with jet-like structures and elliptic flow. The width of
the jet-like peak on increases by a factor 2.3 from
peripheral to central collisions, suggesting strong coupling of semi-hard
scattered partons to a longitudinally-expanding medium. New methods of jet
analysis introduced here provide evidence for nonperturbative QCD medium
effects in heavy ion collisions.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Rapidity and species dependence of particle production at large transverse momentum for +Au collisions at \sqrt s_NN = 200 GeV
We determine rapidity asymmetry in the production of charged pions, protons
and anti-protons for large transverse momentum (pT) for d+Au collisions at
\sqrt s_NN = 200 GeV. The identified hadrons are measured in the rapidity
regions |y| < 0.5 and 0.5 < |y| < 1.0 for the pT range 2.5 < pT < 10 GeV/c. We
observe significant rapidity asymmetry for charged pion and proton+anti-proton
production in both rapidity regions. The asymmetry is larger for 0.5 < |y| <
1.0 than for |y|< 0.5 and is almost independent of particle type. The
measurements are compared to various model predictions employing multiple
scattering, energy loss, nuclear shadowing, saturation effects, and
recombination, and also to a phenomenological parton model. We find that
asymmetries are sensitive to model parameters and show model-preference. The
rapidity dependence of \pi^{-}/\pi^{+} and \bar{p}/p ratios in peripheral d+Au
and forward neutron-tagged events are used to study the contributions of
valence quarks and gluons to particle production at high pT. The results are
compared to calculations based on NLO pQCD and other measurements of quark
fragmentation functions.Comment: 14 pages and 13 figure
The energy dependence of angular correlations inferred from mean- fluctuation scale dependence in heavy ion collisions at the SPS and RHIC
We present the first study of the energy dependence of angular
correlations inferred from event-wise mean transverse momentum
fluctuations in heavy ion collisions. We compare our large-acceptance
measurements at CM energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 19.6, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV to
SPS measurements at 12.3 and 17.3 GeV. $p_t$ angular correlation structure
suggests that the principal source of $p_t$ correlations and fluctuations is
minijets (minimum-bias parton fragments). We observe a dramatic increase in
correlations and fluctuations from SPS to RHIC energies, increasing linearly
with $\ln \sqrt{s_{NN}}$ from the onset of observable jet-related
fluctuations near 10 GeV.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Plasma Wakefield Acceleration with a Modulated Proton Bunch
The plasma wakefield amplitudes which could be achieved via the modulation of
a long proton bunch are investigated. We find that in the limit of long bunches
compared to the plasma wavelength, the strength of the accelerating fields is
directly proportional to the number of particles in the drive bunch and
inversely proportional to the square of the transverse bunch size. The scaling
laws were tested and verified in detailed simulations using parameters of
existing proton accelerators, and large electric fields were achieved, reaching
1 GV/m for LHC bunches. Energy gains for test electrons beyond 6 TeV were found
in this case.Comment: 9 pages, 7 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.
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