Overview of PHENIX results from the first RHIC run

Results from the PHENIX experiment for the first RHIC run with Au-Au collisions at roots(NN) = 130 GeV are presented. The systematic variation with centrality of charged particle multiplicity, transverse energy, elliptic flow, identified particle spectra and yield ratios, and production of charged particles and pi(0)\u27s at high transverse momenta are presented. Results on two-pion correlations and electron spectra are also provided, along with a discussion of plans for the second run at RHIC

The First VERITAS Telescope

The first atmospheric Cherenkov telescope of VERITAS (the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) has been in operation since February 2005. We present here a technical description of the instrument and a summary of its performance. The calibration methods are described, along with the results of Monte Carlo simulations of the telescope and comparisons between real and simulated data. The analysis of TeV $\gamma$-ray observations of the Crab Nebula, including the reconstructed energy spectrum, is shown to give results consistent with earlier measurements. The telescope is operating as expected and has met or exceeded all design specifications.Comment: Accepted by Astroparticle Physic

The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix

Conceptual Design Report for a Fast Muon Trigger

This document is a Conceptual Design Report for a fast muon trigger for the PHENIX experiment that will enable the study of flavor separated quark and anti-quark spin polarizations in the proton. A powerful way of measuring these polarizations is via single spin asymmetries for W boson production in polarized proton-proton reactions. The measurement is done by tagging W{sup +} and W{sup -} via their decay into high transverse momentum leptons in the forward directions. The PHENIX experiment is capable of measuring high momentum muons at forward rapidity, but the current online trigger does not have sufficient rejection to sample the rare leptons fromW decay at the highest luminosities at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). This Report details the goals, design, R&D, and schedule for building new detectors and trigger electronics to use the full RHIC luminosity to make this critical measurement. The idea for W boson measurements in polarized proton-proton collisions at RHIC was first suggested by Jacques Soffer and Claude Bourrely in 1995. This prompted the RIKEN institute in Japan to supply funds to build a second muon arm for PHENIX (south muon arm). The existence of both a north and south muon arm makes it possible to utilize a Z{sup 0} sample to study and control systematic uncertainties which arise in the reconstruction of high momentum muons. This document has its origins in recommendations made by a NSAC Subcommittee that reviewed the U.S. Heavy Ion Physics Program in June 2004. Part of their Recommendation 1 was to 'Invest in near-term detector upgrades of the two large experiments, PHENIX and STAR'. In Recommendation 2 the subcommittee stated '- detector improvements proceed at a rate that allows a timely determination of the flavor dependence of the quark-antiquark sea polarization through W-asymmetry measurements' as we are proposing here. On September 13, 2004 DOE requested from BNL a report articulating a research plan for the RHIC spin physics program. The document was submitted to DOE on January 31, 2005. It pointed out that one of three top priorities for the program lies in the clean and elegant measurement of the quark and anti-quark polarizations sorted by quark flavor through the parity-violating production of W bosons

PHENIX detector overview

The PHENIX detector is designed to perform a broad study of A–A, p–A, and p–p collisions to investigate nuclear matter under extreme conditions. A wide variety of probes, sensitive to all timescales, are used to study systematic variations with species and energy as well as to measure the spin structure of the nucleon. Designing for the needs of the heavy-ion and polarized-proton programs has produced a detector with unparalleled capabilities. PHENIX measures electron and muon pairs, photons, and hadrons with excellent energy and momentum resolution. The detector consists of a large number of subsystems that are discussed in other papers in this volume. The overall design parameters of the detector are presented.This is a manuscript of an article from Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 499 (2003): 469, doi:10.1016/S0168-9002(02)01950-2. Posted with permission.</p