131 research outputs found
Quadrupole Anisotropy in Dihadron Azimuthal Correlations in Central Au Collisions at =200 GeV
The PHENIX collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)
reports measurements of azimuthal dihadron correlations near midrapidity in
Au collisions at =200 GeV. These measurements
complement recent analyses by experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
involving central Pb collisions at =5.02 TeV, which
have indicated strong anisotropic long-range correlations in angular
distributions of hadron pairs. The origin of these anisotropies is currently
unknown. Various competing explanations include parton saturation and
hydrodynamic flow. We observe qualitatively similar, but larger, anisotropies
in Au collisions compared to those seen in Pb collisions at the
LHC. The larger extracted values in Au collisions at RHIC are
consistent with expectations from hydrodynamic calculations owing to the larger
expected initial-state eccentricity compared with that from Pb
collisions. When both are divided by an estimate of the initial-state
eccentricity the scaled anisotropies follow a common trend with multiplicity
that may extend to heavy ion data at RHIC and the LHC, where the anisotropies
are widely thought to arise from hydrodynamic flow.Comment: 375 authors, 7 pages, 5 figures. Published in Phys. Rev. Lett. v2 has
minor changes to text and figures in response to PRL referee suggestions.
Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and
previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Cross section for production via dielectrons in dAu collisions at GeV
We report a measurement of pairs from semileptonic heavy-flavor
decays in Au collisions at GeV. Exploring the mass
and transverse-momentum dependence of the yield, the bottom decay contribution
can be isolated from charm, and quantified by comparison to {\sc pythia} and
{\sc mc@nlo} simulations. The resulting -production cross section is
~mb, which is equivalent to a nucleon-nucleon cross section of
b.Comment: 375 authors, 16 pages, 8 figures, 7 tables, 2008 data. Submitted to
Phys. Rev. C Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for
this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Centrality categorization for R_{p(d)+A} in high-energy collisions
High-energy proton- and deuteron-nucleus collisions provide an excellent tool
for studying a wide array of physics effects, including modifications of parton
distribution functions in nuclei, gluon saturation, and color neutralization
and hadronization in a nuclear environment, among others. All of these effects
are expected to have a significant dependence on the size of the nuclear target
and the impact parameter of the collision, also known as the collision
centrality. In this article, we detail a method for determining centrality
classes in p(d)+A collisions via cuts on the multiplicity at backward rapidity
(i.e., the nucleus-going direction) and for determining systematic
uncertainties in this procedure. For d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV we
find that the connection to geometry is confirmed by measuring the fraction of
events in which a neutron from the deuteron does not interact with the nucleus.
As an application, we consider the nuclear modification factors R_{p(d)+A}, for
which there is a potential bias in the measured centrality dependent yields due
to auto-correlations between the process of interest and the backward rapidity
multiplicity. We determine the bias correction factor within this framework.
This method is further tested using the HIJING Monte Carlo generator. We find
that for d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV, these bias corrections are
small and vary by less than 5% (10%) up to p_T = 10 (20) GeV. In contrast, for
p+Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 5.02 TeV we find these bias factors are an
order of magnitude larger and strongly p_T dependent, likely due to the larger
effect of multi-parton interactions.Comment: 375 authors, 18 pages, 16 figures, 4 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
C. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and
previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Observation of direct-photon collective flow in sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV Au+Au collisions
The second Fourier component v_2 of the azimuthal anisotropy with respect to
the reaction plane was measured for direct photons at midrapidity and
transverse momentum (p_T) of 1--13 GeV/c in Au+Au collisions at sqr(s_NN)=200
GeV. Previous measurements of this quantity for hadrons with p_T < 6 GeV/c
indicate that the medium behaves like a nearly perfect fluid, while for p_T > 6
GeV/c a reduced anisotropy is interpreted in terms of a path-length dependence
for parton energy loss. In this measurement with the PHENIX detector at the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider we find that for p_T > 4 GeV/c the anisotropy
for direct photons is consistent with zero, as expected if the dominant source
of direct photons is initial hard scattering. However, in the p_T < 4 GeV/c
region dominated by thermal photons, we find a substantial direct photon v_2
comparable to that of hadrons, whereas model calculations for thermal photons
in this kinematic region significantly underpredict the observed v_2.Comment: 384 authors, 6 pages, 3 figures, and 1 table. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Lett. v2 has minor changes to match the submission version. Plain text data
tables for the points plotted in the figures are publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/phenix/WWW/info/data/ppg126_data.htm
Azimuthal anisotropy of pi^0 and eta mesons in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV
The azimuthal anisotropy coefficients v_2 and v_4 of pi^0 and eta mesons are
measured in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV, as a function of transverse
momentum p_T (1-14 GeV/c) and centrality. The extracted v_2 coefficients are
found to be consistent between the two meson species over the measured p_T
range. The ratio of v_4/v_2^2 for pi^0 mesons is found to be independent of p_T
for 1-9 GeV/c, implying a lack of sensitivity of the ratio to the change of
underlying physics with p_T. Furthermore, the ratio of v_4/v_2^2 is
systematically larger in central collisions, which may reflect the combined
effects of fluctuations in the initial collision geometry and finite viscosity
in the evolving medium.Comment: 384 authors, 71 institutions, 11 pages, 9 figures, and 2 tables.
Submitted to Physical Review C. Plain text data tables for the points plotted
in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be)
publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
meson production in Au collisions at GeV
The PHENIX experiment has measured meson production in Au
collisions at GeV using the dimuon and dielectron decay
channels. The meson is measured in the forward (backward) -going
(Au-going) direction, () in the transverse-momentum
() range from 1--7 GeV/, and at midrapidity in the
range below 7 GeV/. The meson invariant yields and
nuclear-modification factors as a function of , rapidity, and centrality
are reported. An enhancement of meson production is observed in the
Au-going direction, while suppression is seen in the -going direction, and
no modification is observed at midrapidity relative to the yield in
collisions scaled by the number of binary collisions. Similar behavior was
previously observed for inclusive charged hadrons and open heavy flavor
indicating similar cold-nuclear-matter effects.Comment: 484 authors, 16 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables. v1 is the version
accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. C. Data tables for the points plotted
in the figures are given in the paper itsel
Measurement of long-range angular correlation and quadrupole anisotropy of pions and (anti)protons in central Au collisions at =200 GeV
We present azimuthal angular correlations between charged hadrons and energy
deposited in calorimeter towers in central Au and minimum bias
collisions at GeV. The charged hadron is measured at
midrapidity , and the energy is measured at large rapidity
(, Au-going direction). An enhanced near-side angular
correlation across 2.75 is observed in Au collisions.
Using the event plane method applied to the Au-going energy distribution, we
extract the anisotropy strength for inclusive charged hadrons at
midrapidity up to GeV/. We also present the measurement of
for identified and (anti)protons in central Au collisions,
and observe a mass-ordering pattern similar to that seen in heavy ion
collisions. These results are compared with viscous hydrodynamic calculations
and measurements from Pb at TeV. The magnitude of
the mass-ordering in Au is found to be smaller than that in Pb
collisions, which may indicate smaller radial flow in lower energy Au
collisions.Comment: 424 authors, 8 pages, and 4 figures. v2 is version accepted for
publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. Published version will be at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/phenix/WWW/info/pp1/161/ Plain text data tables
will be at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Cold-nuclear-matter effects on heavy-quark production at forward and backward rapidity in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV
The PHENIX experiment has measured open heavy-flavor production via
semileptonic decay muons over the transverse momentum range 1 < pT < 6 GeV/c at
forward and backward rapidity (1.4 < |y| < 2.0) in d+Au and p+p collisions at
?sNN = 200 GeV. In central d+Au collisions an enhancement (suppression) of
heavy-flavor muon production is observed at backward (forward) rapidity
relative to the yield in p+p collisions scaled by the number of binary
collisions. Modification of the gluon density distribution in the Au nucleus
contributes in terms of anti-shadowing enhancement and shadowing suppression;
however, the enhancement seen at backward rapidity exceeds expectations from
this effect alone. These results, implying an important role for additional
cold nuclear matter effects, serves as a key baseline for heavy-quark
measurements in A+A collisions and in constraining the magnitude of charmonia
breakup effects at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Large Hadron
Collider.Comment: 424 authors, 69 insitutions, 8 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to
Physical Review Letters. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in
figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly
available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Systematic study of charged-pion and kaon femtoscopy in AuAu collisions at =200 GeV
We present a systematic study of charged pion and kaon interferometry in
AuAu collisions at =200 GeV. The kaon mean source radii
are found to be larger than pion radii in the outward and longitudinal
directions for the same transverse mass; this difference increases for more
central collisions. The azimuthal-angle dependence of the radii was measured
with respect to the second-order event plane and similar oscillations of the
source radii were found for pions and kaons. Hydrodynamic models qualitatively
describe the similar oscillations of the mean source radii for pions and kaons,
but they do not fully describe the transverse-mass dependence of the
oscillations.Comment: 499 authors, 27 pages, 13 figures, and 11 tables. v2 is the version
accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. C. Plain text data tables for the
points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or
will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
- …