Has the Quark-Gluon Plasma been seen?

Data from the first three years of running at RHIC are reviewed and put into context with data obtained previously at the AGS and SPS and with the physics question of creation of a quark-gluon plasma in high energy heavy ion collisions. Also some very recent and still preliminary data from run4 are included.Comment: plenary paper, Lepton-Photon 2005, Uppsala, Swede

The Virtual Monte Carlo

The concept of Virtual Monte Carlo (VMC) has been developed by the ALICE Software Project to allow different Monte Carlo simulation programs to run without changing the user code, such as the geometry definition, the detector response simulation or input and output formats. Recently, the VMC classes have been integrated into the ROOT framework, and the other relevant packages have been separated from the AliRoot framework and can be used individually by any other HEP project. The general concept of the VMC and its set of base classes provided in ROOT will be presented. Existing implementations for Geant3, Geant4 and FLUKA and simple examples of usage will be described.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 8 pages, LaTeX, 6 eps figures. PSN THJT006. See http://root.cern.ch/root/vmc/VirtualMC.htm

Theory and Phenomenology of Vector Mesons in Medium

Electromagnetic probes promise to be direct messengers of (spectral properties of) hot and dense matter formed in heavy-ion collisions, even at soft momentum transfers essential for characterizing possible phase transitions. We examine how far we have progressed toward this goal by highlighting recent developments, and trying to establish connections between lattice QCD, effective hadronic models and phenomenology of dilepton production.Comment: 8 pages latex incl. 12 ps/eps files; invited plenary talk at Quark Matter 2006 conference, Shanghai (China), Nov. 14-20, 200

Traces of Thermalization from Transverse Momentum Fluctuations in Nuclear Collisions

Scattering of particles produced in Au+Au collisions at RHIC can wrestle the system into a state near local thermal equilibrium. I illustrate how measurements of the centrality dependence of the mean transverse momentum and its fluctuations can exhibit this thermalization.Comment: 4 pages, 2 eps figures, final version to appear in PR

Differential studies of inclusive J/ψ and ψ(2S) production at forward rapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV

The production of J/ψ and ψ(2S) was studied with the ALICE detector in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC. The measurement was performed at forward rapidity (2.5 < y < 4) down to zero transverse momentum (pt) in the dimuon decay channel. Inclusive J/ψ yields were extracted in different centrality classes and the centrality dependence of the average pt is presented. The J/ψ suppression, quantified with the nuclear modification factor (RAA), was measured as a function of centrality, transverse momentum and rapidity. Comparisons with similar measurements at lower collision energy and theoretical models indicate that the J/ψ production is the result of an interplay between color screening and recombination mechanisms in a deconfined partonic medium, or at its hadronization. Results on the ψ(2S) suppression are provided via the ratio of ψ(2S) over J/ψ measured in pp and Pb-Pb collisions.SCOAP

Event-shape engineering for inclusive spectra and elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at √ s NN = 2.76 TeV

We report on results obtained with the event-shape engineering technique applied to Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN=2.76 TeV. By selecting events in the same centrality interval, but with very different average flow, different initial-state conditions can be studied. We find the effect of the event-shape selection on the elliptic flow coefficient v2 to be almost independent of transverse momentum pT, which is as expected if this effect is attributable to fluctuations in the initial geometry of the system. Charged-hadron, -pion, -kaon, and -proton transverse momentum distributions are found to be harder in events with higher-than-average elliptic flow, indicating an interplay between radial and elliptic flow

Viscosity and the Soft Ridge at RHIC

Correlation studies exhibit a ridge-like feature in rapidity and azimuthal angle, with and without a jet trigger. We ask whether the feature in untriggered correlations can be a consequence of transverse flow and viscous diffusion.Comment: Proc. Quark Matter 2008, Jaipur, Indi

Is soft physics entropy driven?

The soft physics, pT < 2 GeV/c, observables at both RHIC and the SPS have now been mapped out in quite specific detail. From these results there is mounting evidence that this regime is primarily driven by the multiplicity per unit rapidity, dNch/deta. This suggests that the entropy of the system alone is the underlying driving force for many of the global observables measured in heavy-ion collisions. That this is the case and there is an apparent independence on collision energy is surprising. I present the evidence for this multiplicity scaling and use it to make some extremely naive predictions for the soft sector results at the LHC.Comment: Proceedings of Hot Quarks 2006. 8 figures, 6 page

Leukocytes phagocytic activity under moderate hypotension conditions in some representatives of bony fish, amphibians and reptiles

The leukocytes phagocytic activity against Bacillus subtilis and agromerulated latex particles in representatives of bony fish, amphibians and reptiles under reduced medium osmolarity conditions was studied. It was found that in moderate hypotension compared with isotonia, the white blood cells absorption capacity of the fish was not changed, but it was reduced for amphibians and reptile

Search for weakly decaying n and exotic bound states in central Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV

We present results of a search for two hypothetical strange dibaryon states, i.e. the H-dibaryon and the possible n bound state. The search is performed with the ALICE detector in central (0–10%) Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV, by invariant mass analysis in the decay modes n → dπ+ and Hdibaryon → pπ−. No evidence for these bound states is observed. Upper limits are determined at 99% confidence level for a wide range of lifetimes and for the full range of branching ratios. The results are compared to thermal, coalescence and hybrid UrQMD model expectations, which describe correctly the production of other loosely bound states, like the deuteron and the hypertriton.SCOAP