Proton stopping in C+C, d+C, C+Ta and d+Ta collisions at 4.2A GeV/c

The shape of proton rapidity distributions is analysed in terms of their Gaussian components, and the average rapidity loss is determined in order to estimate the amount of stopping in C+C, d+C, C+Ta and d+Ta collisions at 4.2A GeV/c. Three Gaussians correspond to the nuclear transparency and describe well all peripheral and also C+C central collisions. Two-component shape is obtained in case of d+C and C+Ta central collisions. Finally one Gaussian, found in d+Ta central collisions, corresponds to the full stopping. The calculated values of the average rapidity loss support the qualitative relationship between the number of Gaussian components and the corresponding stopping power. It is also observed, in central collisions, that the average rapidity loss increases with the ratio of the number of target and the number of projectile participants.Comment: 9 pages REVTeX, 1 PS figure replaced, to be published in Phys.Rev.

Single Transverse-Spin Asymmetry in Drell-Yan Production at Large and Moderate Transverse Momentum

We study the single-transverse spin asymmetry for the Drell-Yan process. We consider production of the lepton pair at large transverse momentum, $q_\perp\sim Q$, where $Q$ is the pair's mass. The spin asymmetry is then of higher twist and may be generated by twist-three quark-gluon correlation functions. Expanding the result for $q_\perp\ll Q$, we make contact with the transverse-momentum-dependent QCD factorization involving the so-called Sivers functions. We find that the two mechanisms, quark-gluon correlations on one hand and the Sivers effect on the other, contain the same physics in this region. This ties the two together and imposes an important constraint on phenomenological studies of single transverse spin asymmetries.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figure

Semi-classical Characters and Optical Model Description of Heavy Ion Scattering, Direct Reactions, and Fusion at Near-barrier Energies

An approach is proposed to calculate the direct reaction (DR) and fusion probabilities for heavy ion collisions at near-Coulomb-barrier energies as functions of the distance of closest approach D within the framework of the optical model that introduces two types of imaginary potentials, DR and fusion. The probabilities are calculated by using partial DR and fusion cross sections, together with the classical relations associated with the Coulomb trajectory. Such an approach makes it possible to analyze the data for angular distributions of the inclusive DR cross section, facilitating the determination of the radius parameters of the imaginary DR potential in a less ambiguous manner. Simultaneous $\chi^{2}$-analyses are performed of relevant data for the $^{16}$O+$^{208}$Pb system near the Coulomb-barrier energy

Fusion of light exotic nuclei at near-barrier energies : effect of inelastic excitation

The effect of inelastic excitation of exotic light projectiles (proton- as well as neutron-rich) $^{17}$F and $^{11}$Be on fusion with heavy target has been studied at near-barrier energies. The calculations have been performed in the coupled channels approach where, in addition to the normal coupling of the ground state of the projectile to the continuum, inelastic excitation of the projectile to the bound excited state and its coupling to the continuum have also been taken into consideration. The inclusion of these additional couplings has been found to have significant effect on the fusion excitation function of neutron-rich $^{11}$Be on $^{208}$Pb whereas the effect has been observed to be nominal for the case of proton-rich $^{17}$F on the same target. The pronounced effect of the channel coupling on the fusion process in case of $^{11}$Be is attributed to its well-developed halo structure.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, Revtex.st

Evolution of Baryon-Free Matter Produced in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

A 3-fluid hydrodynamic model is introduced for simulating heavy-ion collisions at incident energies between few and about 200 AGeV. In addition to the two baryon-rich fluids of 2-fluid models, the new model incorporates a third, baryon-free (i.e. with zero net baryonic charge) fluid which is created in the mid-rapidity region. Its evolution is delayed due to a formation time $\tau$, during which the baryon-free fluid neither thermalizes nor interacts with the baryon-rich fluids. After formation it thermalizes and starts to interact with the baryon-rich fluids. It is found that for $\tau$=0 the interaction strongly affects the baryon-free fluid. However, at reasonable finite formation time, $\tau$=1 fm/c, the effect of this interaction turns out to be substantially reduced although still noticeable. Baryonic observables are only slightly affected by the interaction with the baryon-free fluid.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, submitted to the issue of Phys. of Atomic Nuclei dedicated to S.T. Belyaev on the occasion of his 80th birthday, typos correcte

Centrality dependence of charged-particle pseudorapidity distributions from d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_{NN})=200 GeV

Charged-particle pseudorapidity densities are presented for the d+Au reaction at sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV with -4.2 <= eta <= 4.2$. The results, from the BRAHMS experiment at RHIC, are shown for minimum-bias events and 0-30%, 30-60%, and 60-80% centrality classes. Models incorporating both soft physics and hard, perturbative QCD-based scattering physics agree well with the experimental results. The data do not support predictions based on strong-coupling, semi-classical QCD. In the deuteron-fragmentation region the central 200 GeV data show behavior similar to full-overlap d+Au results at sqrt{s_{NN}}=19.4 GeV.Comment: 4 pages, 3figures; expanded discussion of uncertainties; added 60-80% centrality range; added additional discussion on centrality selection bia

Scanning the phases of QCD with BRAHMS

BRAHMS has the ability to study relativistic heavy ion collisions from the final freeze-out of hadrons all the way back to the initial wave-function of the gold nuclei. This is accomplished by studying hadrons with a very wide range of momenta and angles. In doing so we can scan various phases of QCD, from a hadron gas, to a quark gluon plasma and perhaps to a color glass condensate.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, proceedings of plenary talk at Quark Matter 2004 conferenc

High Pt Hadron Spectra at High Rapidity

We report the measurement of charged hadron production at different pseudo-rapidity values in deuteron+gold as well as proton+proton collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200GeV at RHIC. The nuclear modification factors $R_{dAu}$ and $R_{cp}$ are used to investigate new behaviors in the deuteron+gold system as function of rapidity and the centrality of the collisions respectively.Comment: Nine pages 4 figures to be published in the QM2004 Proceedings, typos corrected and one reference adde

Asymmetric fission of Ni56

Cross sections for the two-body channels populated in the S32+Mg24 reaction at Ec.m.=60.8 MeV have been measured by use of a coincidence technique which allows correction for secondary light-particle evaporation. The data show reaction yields with full equilibration of energy and mass-asymmetry coordinates. These results suggest an asymmetric fission mechanism and are contrary to what is expected from the previously proposed "orbiting" mechanism in light systems