171 research outputs found
Tracing Ghost Cavities with Low Frequency Radio Observations
We present X-ray and multi-frequency radio observations of the central radio
sources in several X-ray cavity systems. We show that targeted radio
observations are key to determining if the lobes are being actively fed by the
central AGN. Low frequency observations provide a unique way to study both the
lifecycle of the central radio source as well as its energy input into the ICM
over several outburst episodes.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, To appear in the Proceedings of "Heating vs.
Cooling in Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies", eds. H. Boehringer, P.
Schuecker, G. W. Pratt & A. Finoguenov (ESO Astrophysics Symposia,
Springer-Verlag), Garching (Germany), August 200
Review of Speculative "Disaster Scenarios" at RHIC
We discuss speculative disaster scenarios inspired by hypothetical new
fundamental processes that might occur in high energy relativistic heavy ion
collisions. We estimate the parameters relevant to black hole production; we
find that they are absurdly small. We show that other accelerator and
(especially) cosmic ray environments have already provided far more auspicious
opportunities for transition to a new vacuum state, so that existing
observations provide stringent bounds. We discuss in most detail the
possibility of producing a dangerous strangelet. We argue that four separate
requirements are necessary for this to occur: existence of large stable
strangelets, metastability of intermediate size strangelets, negative charge
for strangelets along the stability line, and production of intermediate size
strangelets in the heavy ion environment. We discuss both theoretical and
experimental reasons why each of these appears unlikely; in particular, we know
of no plausible suggestion for why the third or especially the fourth might be
true. Given minimal physical assumptions the continued existence of the Moon,
in the form we know it, despite billions of years of cosmic ray exposure,
provides powerful empirical evidence against the possibility of dangerous
strangelet production.Comment: 28 pages, REVTeX; minor revisions for publication (Reviews of Modern
Physics, ca. Oct. 2000); email to [email protected]
Experimental and Theoretical Challenges in the Search for the Quark Gluon Plasma: The STAR Collaboration's Critical Assessment of the Evidence from RHIC Collisions
We review the most important experimental results from the first three years
of nucleus-nucleus collision studies at RHIC, with emphasis on results from the
STAR experiment, and we assess their interpretation and comparison to theory.
The theory-experiment comparison suggests that central Au+Au collisions at RHIC
produce dense, rapidly thermalizing matter characterized by: (1) initial energy
densities above the critical values predicted by lattice QCD for establishment
of a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP); (2) nearly ideal fluid flow, marked by
constituent interactions of very short mean free path, established most
probably at a stage preceding hadron formation; and (3) opacity to jets. Many
of the observations are consistent with models incorporating QGP formation in
the early collision stages, and have not found ready explanation in a hadronic
framework. However, the measurements themselves do not yet establish
unequivocal evidence for a transition to this new form of matter. The
theoretical treatment of the collision evolution, despite impressive successes,
invokes a suite of distinct models, degrees of freedom and assumptions of as
yet unknown quantitative consequence. We pose a set of important open
questions, and suggest additional measurements, at least some of which should
be addressed in order to establish a compelling basis to conclude definitively
that thermalized, deconfined quark-gluon matter has been produced at RHIC.Comment: 101 pages, 37 figures; revised version to Nucl. Phys.
Partonic flow and -meson production in Au+Au collisions at = 200 GeV
We present first measurements of the -meson elliptic flow
() and high statistics distributions for different
centralities from = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC. In
minimum bias collisions the of the meson is consistent with the
trend observed for mesons. The ratio of the yields of the to those of
the as a function of transverse momentum is consistent with a model
based on the recombination of thermal quarks up to GeV/,
but disagrees at higher momenta. The nuclear modification factor () of
follows the trend observed in the mesons rather than in
baryons, supporting baryon-meson scaling. Since -mesons are
made via coalescence of seemingly thermalized quarks in central Au+Au
collisions, the observations imply hot and dense matter with partonic
collectivity has been formed at RHIC.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submit to PR
Plasma Wakefield Acceleration with a Modulated Proton Bunch
The plasma wakefield amplitudes which could be achieved via the modulation of
a long proton bunch are investigated. We find that in the limit of long bunches
compared to the plasma wavelength, the strength of the accelerating fields is
directly proportional to the number of particles in the drive bunch and
inversely proportional to the square of the transverse bunch size. The scaling
laws were tested and verified in detailed simulations using parameters of
existing proton accelerators, and large electric fields were achieved, reaching
1 GV/m for LHC bunches. Energy gains for test electrons beyond 6 TeV were found
in this case.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
The energy dependence of angular correlations inferred from mean- fluctuation scale dependence in heavy ion collisions at the SPS and RHIC
We present the first study of the energy dependence of angular
correlations inferred from event-wise mean transverse momentum
fluctuations in heavy ion collisions. We compare our large-acceptance
measurements at CM energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 19.6, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV to
SPS measurements at 12.3 and 17.3 GeV. $p_t$ angular correlation structure
suggests that the principal source of $p_t$ correlations and fluctuations is
minijets (minimum-bias parton fragments). We observe a dramatic increase in
correlations and fluctuations from SPS to RHIC energies, increasing linearly
with $\ln \sqrt{s_{NN}}$ from the onset of observable jet-related
fluctuations near 10 GeV.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Measurement of Transverse Single-Spin Asymmetries for Di-Jet Production in Proton-Proton Collisions at GeV
We report the first measurement of the opening angle distribution between
pairs of jets produced in high-energy collisions of transversely polarized
protons. The measurement probes (Sivers) correlations between the transverse
spin orientation of a proton and the transverse momentum directions of its
partons. With both beams polarized, the wide pseudorapidity () coverage for jets permits separation of Sivers functions for the valence
and sea regions. The resulting asymmetries are all consistent with zero and
considerably smaller than Sivers effects observed in semi-inclusive deep
inelastic scattering (SIDIS). We discuss theoretical attempts to reconcile the
new results with the sizable transverse spin effects seen in SIDIS and forward
hadron production in pp collisions.Comment: 6 pages total, 1 Latex file, 3 PS files with figure
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
D* Production in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA
This paper presents measurements of D^{*\pm} production in deep inelastic
scattering from collisions between 27.5 GeV positrons and 820 GeV protons. The
data have been taken with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The decay channel
(+ c.c.) has been used in the study. The
cross section for inclusive D^{*\pm} production with
and is 5.3 \pms 1.0 \pms 0.8 nb in the kinematic region
{ GeV and }. Differential cross
sections as functions of p_T(D^{*\pm}), and are
compared with next-to-leading order QCD calculations based on the photon-gluon
fusion production mechanism. After an extrapolation of the cross section to the
full kinematic region in p_T(D^{*\pm}) and (D^{*\pm}), the charm
contribution to the proton structure function is
determined for Bjorken between 2 10 and 5 10.Comment: 17 pages including 4 figure
Pion, kaon, proton and anti-proton transverse momentum distributions from p+p and d+Au collisions at GeV
Identified mid-rapidity particle spectra of , , and
from 200 GeV p+p and d+Au collisions are reported. A
time-of-flight detector based on multi-gap resistive plate chamber technology
is used for particle identification. The particle-species dependence of the
Cronin effect is observed to be significantly smaller than that at lower
energies. The ratio of the nuclear modification factor () between
protons and charged hadrons () in the transverse momentum
range GeV/c is measured to be
(stat)(syst) in minimum-bias collisions and shows little
centrality dependence. The yield ratio of in minimum-bias d+Au
collisions is found to be a factor of 2 lower than that in Au+Au collisions,
indicating that the Cronin effect alone is not enough to account for the
relative baryon enhancement observed in heavy ion collisions at RHIC.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. We extended the pion spectra from
transverse momentum 1.8 GeV/c to 3. GeV/
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