Measurement of D0 Azimuthal Anisotropy at Midrapidity in Au + Au Collisions at √ s N N = 200 GeV

We report the first measurement of the elliptic anisotropy (v2) of the charm meson D0 at midrapidity (|y

Measurement of D0 Azimuthal Anisotropy at Midrapidity in Au + Au Collisions at √ s N N = 200 GeV

We report the first measurement of the elliptic anisotropy (v2) of the charm meson D0 at midrapidity (|y

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

Measurement of Upsilon Production for P+P and P+D Interactions at 800 GeV/C

We report a high statistics measurement of Upsilon production with an 800 GeV/c proton beam on hydrogen and deuterium targets. The dominance of the gluon-gluon fusion process for Upsilon production at this energy implies that the cross section ratio, sigma(p + d -\u3e Upsilon)/2 sigma(p + p -\u3e Upsilon), is sensitive to the gluon content in the neutron relative to that in the proton. Over the kinematic region 0 \u3c x(F) \u3c 0.6, this ratio is found to be consistent with unity, in striking contrast to the behavior of the Drell-Yan cross section ratio sigma(p + d)(DY)/2 sigma(p + p)(DY). This result shows that the gluon distributions in the proton and neutron are very similar. The Upsilon production cross sections are also compared with the p + d and p + Cu cross sections from earlier measurements

Global Lambda hyperon polarization in nuclear collisions: evidence for the most vortical fluid

The extreme energy densities generated by ultra-relativistic collisions between heavy atomic nuclei produce a state of matter that behaves surprisingly like a fluid, with exceptionally high temperature and low viscosity1. Non-central collisions have angular momenta of the order of 1,000ћ, and the resulting fluid may have a strong vortical structure2, 3, 4 that must be understood to describe the fluid properly. The vortical structure is also of particular interest because the restoration of fundamental symmetries of quantum chromodynamics is expected to produce novel physical effects in the presence of strong vorticity5. However, no experimental indications of fluid vorticity in heavy ion collisions have yet been found. Since vorticity represents a local rotational structure of the fluid, spin–orbit coupling can lead to preferential orientation of particle spins along the direction of rotation. Here we present measurements of an alignment between the global angular momentum of a non-central collision and the spin of emitted particles (in this case the collision occurs between gold nuclei and produces Λ baryons), revealing that the fluid produced in heavy ion collisions is the most vortical system so far observed. (At high energies, this fluid is a quark–gluon plasma.) We find that Λ and hyperons show a positive polarization of the order of a few per cent, consistent with some hydrodynamic predictions6. (A hyperon is a particle composed of three quarks, at least one of which is a strange quark; the remainder are up and down quarks, found in protons and neutrons.) A previous measurement7 that reported a null result, that is, zero polarization, at higher collision energies is seen to be consistent with the trend of our observations, though with larger statistical uncertainties. These data provide experimental access to the vortical structure of the nearly ideal liquid8 created in a heavy ion collision and should prove valuable in the development of hydrodynamic models that quantitatively connect observations to the theory of the strong force

Global Lambda hyperon polarization in nuclear collisions: evidence for the most vortical fluid

The extreme energy densities generated by ultra-relativistic collisions between heavy atomic nuclei produce a state of matter that behaves surprisingly like a fluid, with exceptionally high temperature and low viscosity1. Non-central collisions have angular momenta of the order of 1,000ћ, and the resulting fluid may have a strong vortical structure2, 3, 4 that must be understood to describe the fluid properly. The vortical structure is also of particular interest because the restoration of fundamental symmetries of quantum chromodynamics is expected to produce novel physical effects in the presence of strong vorticity5. However, no experimental indications of fluid vorticity in heavy ion collisions have yet been found. Since vorticity represents a local rotational structure of the fluid, spin–orbit coupling can lead to preferential orientation of particle spins along the direction of rotation. Here we present measurements of an alignment between the global angular momentum of a non-central collision and the spin of emitted particles (in this case the collision occurs between gold nuclei and produces Λ baryons), revealing that the fluid produced in heavy ion collisions is the most vortical system so far observed. (At high energies, this fluid is a quark–gluon plasma.) We find that Λ and hyperons show a positive polarization of the order of a few per cent, consistent with some hydrodynamic predictions6. (A hyperon is a particle composed of three quarks, at least one of which is a strange quark; the remainder are up and down quarks, found in protons and neutrons.) A previous measurement7 that reported a null result, that is, zero polarization, at higher collision energies is seen to be consistent with the trend of our observations, though with larger statistical uncertainties. These data provide experimental access to the vortical structure of the nearly ideal liquid8 created in a heavy ion collision and should prove valuable in the development of hydrodynamic models that quantitatively connect observations to the theory of the strong force

Forward Lambda Production and Nuclear Stopping Power in D+Au at Roots s(NN)=200 GeV

We report the measurement of Lambda and (Lambda) over bar yields and inverse slope parameters in d+Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV at forward and backward rapidities (y=+/- 2.75), using data from the STAR forward time projection chambers. The contributions of different processes to baryon transport and particle production are probed exploiting the inherent asymmetry of the d+Au system. Comparisons to model calculations show that baryon transport on the deuteron side is consistent with multiple collisions of the deuteron nucleons with gold participants. On the gold side, HIJING-based models without a hadronic rescattering phase do not describe the measured particle yields, while models that include target remnants or hadronic rescattering do. The multichain model can provide a good description of the net baryon density in d+Au collisions at energies currently available at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, and the derived parameters of the model agree with those from nuclear collisions at lower energies

Center of Mass Energy and System-Size Dependence of Photon Production at Forward Rapidity at RHIC

We present the multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of photons produced in Au + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at root(NN)-N-s = 62.4 and 200 GeV. The photons are measured in the region -3.7 \u3c eta \u3c -2.3 using the photon Multiplicity detector in the STAR experiment at RHIC. The number of photons produced per average number of participating nucleon pairs increases with the beam energy and is independent of (lie collision centrality. For collisions with similar average numbers of participating nucleons the photon multiplicities are observed to be similar for An + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at a given beam energy. The ratios of the number of charged particles to photons in the measured pseudorapidity range are found to be 1.4 +/- 0.1 and 1.2 +/- 0.1 for root(NN)-N-s = 62.4 and 200 GeV, respectively. The energy dependence of this ratio could reflect varying contributions from baryons to charged particles, while mesons are the dominant contributors to photon production in the given kinematic region. The photon pseudorapidity distributions normalized by average number of participating nucleon pairs, when plotted as a function of eta-Y-beam, are found to follow a longitudinal scaling independent of centrality and colliding ion species at both beam energies. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Fluctuations of Charge Separation Perpendicular to the Event Plane and Local Parity Violation in Root S-NN=200 GeV Au + Au Collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

Previous experimental results based on data (similar to 15 x 10(6) events) collected by the STAR detector at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider suggest event-by-event charge-separation fluctuations perpendicular to the event plane in noncentral heavy-ion collisions. Here we present the correlator previously used split into its two component parts to reveal correlations parallel and perpendicular to the event plane. The results are from a high-statistics 200-GeV Au + Au collisions data set (57 x 10(6) events) collected by the STAR experiment. We explicitly count units of charge separation from which we find clear evidence for more charge-separation fluctuations perpendicular than parallel to the event plane. We also employ a modified correlator to study the possible P-even background in same- and opposite-charge correlations, and find that the P-even background may largely be explained by momentum conservation and collective motion

Jet-Hadron Correlations in Root s(NN)=200 GeV p Plus p and Central Au plus Au Collisions

Azimuthal angular correlations of charged hadrons with respect to the axis of a reconstructed (trigger) jet in Au + Au and p + p collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV in STAR are presented. The trigger jet population in Au + Au collisions is biased toward jets that have not interacted with the medium, allowing easier matching of jet energies between Au + Au and p + p collisions while enhancing medium effects on the recoil jet. The associated hadron yield of the recoil jet is significantly suppressed at high transverse momentum (p(T)(assoc)) and enhanced at low p(T)(assoc) in 0%-20% central Au + Au collisions compared to p + p collisions, which is indicative of medium-induced parton energy loss in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions