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

System size dependence of associated yields in hadron-triggered jets

We present results on the system size dependence of high transverse momentum di-hadron correlations at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV as measured by STAR at RHIC. Measurements in d+Au, Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions reveal similar jet-like correlation yields at small angular separation ($\Delta\phi\sim0$, $\Delta\eta\sim0$) for all systems and centralities. Previous measurements have shown that the away-side yield is suppressed in heavy-ion collisions. We present measurements of the away-side suppression as a function of transverse momentum and centrality in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions. The suppression is found to be similar in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at a similar number of participants. The results are compared to theoretical calculations based on the parton quenching model and the modified fragmentation model. The observed differences between data and theory indicate that the correlated yields presented here will provide important constraints on medium density profile and energy loss model parameters.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Charge Independent(CI) and Charge Dependent(CD) correlations vs. Centrality from ΔϕΔη\Delta \phi \Delta \eta Charged Pairs in Minimum Bias Au + Au Collisions at 200 Gev

37 pages 41 figures Submitted to Phys. Rev. CWe report high precision charged-particle pair (2-D) correlation analyses in the space of $\Delta \phi$ (azimuth) and $\Delta \eta$ (pseudorapidity), for minimum bias Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV as a function of centrality (0-80%). The intermediate transverse momenta region chosen $0.8 < p_t < 4.0$ GeV/c corresponds to an emission source size $\sim2$fm obtained from HBT measurements and should resolve substructures at the scale of $\sim2$fm. The difference and the sum of unlike-sign and like-sign charged pairs form Charge Dependent (CD) correlations and Charge Independent (CI) correlations respectively. The CD displays the initial correlation at hadronization of the opposite sign pairs emitted from the same space-time region as modified by further medium interactions before kinetic freeze-out. Our analysis of the CD correlations shows approximately jet-like structure, independent of centrality and is consistent with the initial correlation which is predicted by Pythia (or HIJING) jets. The CI correlation displays the average structure of the correlated emitting sources after kinetic freeze-out. For the most central bins, the $\Delta \eta$ width of the CI correlation on the near side ($\Delta \phi$ around $0^\circ$) is elongated by a factor $\sim$3 destroying the jet-like symmetry. This elongation decreases continually with decreasing centrality and essentially restores the jet-like symmetric structure in the most peripheral bins. The Pythia and HIJING event generators together with a QCD inspired Parton Bubble Model (PBM), which motivated this analysis, are used to compare to our data. We discuss the arguments for substructure, surface emission, and opacity in the central fireball region