Strange meson production in Al+Al collisions at 1.9A GeV

The production of K$^+$, K$^-$ and $\varphi$(1020) mesons is studied in Al+Al collisions at a beam energy of 1.9A GeV which is close or below the production threshold in NN reactions. Inverse slopes, anisotropy parameters, and total emission yields of K$^{\pm}$ mesons are obtained. A comparison of the ratio of kinetic energy distributions of K$^-$ and K$^+$ mesons to the HSD transport model calculations suggests that the inclusion of the in-medium modifications of kaon properties is necessary to reproduce the ratio. The inverse slope and total yield of $\phi$ mesons are deduced. The contribution to K$^-$ production from $\phi$ meson decays is found to be [17 $\pm$ 3 (stat) $^{+2}_{-7}$ (syst)] %. The results are in line with previous K$^{\pm}$ and $\phi$ data obtained for different colliding systems at similar incident beam energies.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure

Centrality dependence of subthreshold ϕ\phi meson production in Ni+Ni collisions at 1.9A GeV

We analysed the $\phi$ meson production in central Ni+Ni collisions at the beam kinetic energy of 1.93A GeV with the FOPI spectrometer and found the production probability per event of $[8.6 ~\pm~ 1.6 ~(\text{stat}) \pm 1.5 ~(\text{syst})] \times 10^{-4}$. This new data point allows for the first time to inspect the centrality dependence of the subthreshold $\phi$ meson production in heavy-ion collisions. The rise of $\phi$ meson multiplicity per event with mean number of participants can be parameterized by the power function with exponent $\alpha = 1.8 \pm 0.6$. The ratio of $\phi$ to $\text{K}^-$ production yields seems not to depend within the experimental uncertainties on the collision centrality, and the average of measured values was found to be $0.36 \pm 0.05$.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Microgravity facilities for cold atom experiments

Microgravity platforms enable cold atom research beyond experiments in typical laboratories by removing restrictions due to the gravitational acceleration or compensation techniques. While research in space allows for undisturbed experimentation, technological readiness, availability and accessibility present challenges for experimental operation. In this work we focus on the main capabilities and unique features of ground-based microgravity facilities for cold atom research. A selection of current and future scientific opportunities and their high demands on the microgravity environment are presented, and some relevant ground-based facilities are discussed and compared. Specifically, we point out the applicable free fall times, repetition rates, stability and payload capabilities, as well as programmatic and operational aspects of these facilities. These are contrasted with the requirements of various cold atom experiments. Besides being an accelerator for technology development, ground-based microgravity facilities allow fundamental and applied research with the additional benefit of enabling hands-on access to the experiment for modifications and adjustments

Bulk properties of the system formed in Au+Au collisions at sNN =14.5 GeV at the BNL STAR detector

We report systematic measurements of bulk properties of the system created in Au+Au collisions at sNN=14.5 GeV recorded by the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The transverse momentum spectra of π±, K±, and p(p) are studied at midrapidity (|y|<0.1) for nine centrality intervals. The centrality, transverse momentum (pT), and pseudorapidity (η) dependence of inclusive charged particle elliptic flow (v2), and rapidity-odd charged particles directed flow (v1) results near midrapidity are also presented. These measurements are compared with the published results from Au+Au collisions at other energies, and from Pb+Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV. The results at sNN=14.5 GeV show similar behavior as established at other energies and fit well in the energy dependence trend. These results are important as the 14.5-GeV energy fills the gap in μB, which is of the order of 100 MeV, between sNN=11.5 and 19.6 GeV. Comparisons of the data with UrQMD and AMPT models show poor agreement in general