Production of charged pions, kaons and antikaons in relativistic C + C and C + Au collisions

Production cross-sections of charged pions, kaons and antikaons have been measured in C+C and C+Au collisions at beam energies of 1.0 and 1.8 AGeV for different polar emission angles. The kaon and antikaon energy spectra can be described by Boltzmann distributions whereas the pion spectra exhibit an additional enhancement at low energies. The pion multiplicity per participating nucleon M(π⁺)/<A _part> is a factor of about 3 smaller in C+Au than in C+C collisions at 1.0 AGeV whereas it differs only little for the C and the Au target at a beam energy of 1.8 AGeV. The K⁺ multiplicities per participating nucleon M(K⁺)/ <A _part> are independent of the target size at 1 AGeV and at 1.8 AGeV. The K^- multiplicity per participating nucleon M(K^-)/ <A _part> is reduced by a factor of about 2 in C+Au as compared to C+C collisions at 1.8 AGeV. This effect might be caused by the absorption of antikaons in the heavy target nucleus. Transport model calculations underestimate the K^-/K⁺ ratio for C+C collisions at 1.8 AGeV by a factor of about 4 if in-medium modifications of K-mesons are neglected. Received: 10 December 1999 / Accepted: 14 November 2000     

Self-affine multiplicity fluctuation of target residues in relativistic nuclear collisions at a few GeV to a few hundred GeV

Self-affine multiplicity scaling is investigated in the framework of two-dimensional factorial moment methodology using the concept of the Hurst exponent (H). Our investigation on experimental data of the target-evaporated slow particles emitted in ³²S-AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV and ²⁸Si-AgBr interactions at 14.5 AGeV reveals that a better power law behavior is exhibited in self-affine analysis than self-similar analysis. This work shows a clear evidence of self-affine target fragmentation. Received: 22 October 2001 / Accepted: 6 March 2002     

Rapidity dependence of multiplicity fluctuations and correlations in high-energy nucleus–nucleus interactions

The multiplicity fluctuations of the produced pions were studied using scaled variance method in ¹⁶O–AgBr interactions at 2.1 AGeV, ²⁴Mg–AgBr interactions at 4.5 AGeV, ¹²C–AgBr interactions at 4.5 AGeV, ¹⁶O–AgBr interactions at 60 AGeV and ³²S–AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV at two different binning conditions. In the first binning condition, the rapidity interval was varied in steps of one centring about the central rapidity until it reached 14. In the second case, the rapidity interval was increased in steps of 1.6 up to 14.4. Multiplicity distributions and their scaled variances were presented as a function of the dependence on the rapidity width for both the binning conditions. Multiplicity fluctuations were found to increase with the increase of rapidity interval and later found to saturate at larger rapidity window for all the interactions and in both the binning conditions. Multiplicity fluctuations were found to increase with the energy of the projectile beam. The values of the scaled variances were found to be greater than one in all the cases in both the binning conditions indicating the presence of correlation during the multiparticle production process in high-energy nucleus–nucleus interactions. Experimental results were compared with the results obtained from the Monte Carlo simulated events for all the interactions. The Monte Carlo simulated data showed very small values of scaled variance suggesting very small fluctuations for the simulated events. Experimental results obtained from ¹⁶O–AgBr interactions at 60 AGeV and ³²S–AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV were compared with the events generated by Lund Monte Carlo code (FRITIOF model). FRITIOF model failed to explain the multiplicity fluctuations of pions emitted from ¹⁶O–AgBr interactions at 60 AGeV for both the binning conditions. However, the experimental data agreed well with the FRITIOF model for ³²S–AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV.     

Multiplicity of secondary particles and fragmentation in nuclear interactions of22Ne and32S nuclei with emulsion at (4.1–4.5)A GeV/c

The interactions of 4.1AGeV/c ²²Ne and 4.5AGeV/c ³²S nuclei with emulsion have been studied and the dependence of the average multiplicities of the emitted secondary charged particles and the interacting projectile nucleons on the impact parameters have been investigated. The behavior of the Koba-Neilsen-Olesen (KNO) scaling formula of the multiplicity distributions produced due to the interactions of²²Ne and³²S at the energies mentioned above is satisfied by all target protons. The multiplicity distributions of the emitted⁴He fragments and the fragmentation cross-section relative to the inelastic cross-section have been investigated and give a⁴He-fragments yield which is always ten times greater than the yield of any other fragments. The dependence of the normalized mean multiplicity and the reduced multiplicity on the mass of the projectile and target nucleus can be described by a power law.     

Kaon production in hadronic matter

Subthreshold kaon production has been studied in symmetric nucleus-nucleus collisions as a function of the nucleus mass, beam energy and centrality. In Au+Au collsions at 1 AGeV theK ⁺ multiplicity increases more than linearly with increasing number of participating nucleons. Transport calculations have to assume a soft equation of state in order to reproduce the data. The in-mediumK ^? cross section measured in Ni+Ni collisions is enhanced by about a factor of 7 as compared to the free cross section when using theK ⁺ cross section at equivalent beam energies as a normalization.     

Baryon number transfer in hadron + nucleus and nucleus + nucleus collisions: a link between elementary and complex interactions

The baryon number transfer is studied in elementary and complex hadronic interactions at the CERN experiment NA49 at the SPS, at 158 AGeV beam energy (√s=17.2 GeV) A two-component picture is proposed, which builds up the net proton distribution from a target and a projectile component. Using pion beam, the projectile component is experimentally determined for p + p and p + A interactions. A similar stopping behaviour of the projectile component is found for p + A and A + A interactions. Based on these observations, the baryon transfer is assumed to provide a common scale of inelasticity in p + p, p + A and A + A interactions. A model-independent way is proposed to predict the pion multiplicity in A + A.     

(<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>,π<Superscript>±</Superscript>) correlations in central heavy-ion collisions at 1 ÷ 2 AGeV

The proton–charged pion correlated emission is studied in the reactions Au (1.06 AGeV) + Au, Ni (1.06 and 1.93 AGeV) + Ni and Ni (1.97 AGeV) + Cu within the BUU approach. The associated invariant mass distributions are shifted to smaller energies with respect to the free Δ(1232) mass distribution due to kinematical reasons. We find that the existing and partly conflicting experimental data do not allow to draw definite conclusions on the in-medium modification of the Δ(1232). Received: 18 October 1999 / Revised version: 4 February 2000     

Strong signal of dynamical long-range correlation among target fragments in relativistic and ultra-relativistic nuclear interactions

This paper reports an investigation on the two-particle long-range angular correlation among the target fragments produced in ²⁸Si–AgBr interactions at 14.5 AGeV, ¹⁶O–AgBr interactions at 60 AGeV and ³²S–AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV. The experimental data have been compared with Monte Carlo simulated events to extract dynamical correlation. The data exhibit two-particle long-range correlation in emission angle space at all energies.     

Multiplicity distributions of shower particles and target fragments in 7Li–Em collisions at 3 A GeV/c

Multiplicity distributions of shower particles and target fragments in ⁷Li–Em (emulsion) collisions at 3 A GeV/c are experimentally studied. In the framework of the multisource thermal model, the multicomponent Erlang distribution is used to describe the experimental multiplicity distributions of shower particles, grey fragments, black fragments, and heavily ionized fragments. The correlations between these multiplicities are experimentally reported. With the increase of impacting centrality (or the target fragment multiplicity), a saturation phenomenon for shower particle multiplicity is observed in the experiment.     

Azimuthal correlation and fractal study of compound hadrons (pions and protons) at Dubna and SPS energy

This paper presents an investigation of compound hadrons (pions and protons) distribution emitted from ²⁴Mg-AgBr and ¹²C-AgBr interactions both at 4.5 AGeV and ³²S-AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV. The study includes azimuthal correlations (two particle and three particle), azimuthal asymmetry and fractal behaviour. This paper reveals some interesting results.     

Comparative study for nucleus-nucleus interactions and modified cascade evaporation model at (4.1 – 4.5) AGeV/c

The characteristics of the nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energy for the interactions of ¹H, ⁴He, ¹²C, ¹⁶O, ²²Ne, ²⁸Si and ³²S with emulsion at momentum (4.1 – 4.5) AGeV/c have been investigated. It has been found that the multiplicity distributions of the different emitted particles and their average values can be described by the modified cascade evaporation model. The model reproduces satisfactorily the multiplicity distributions of the shower, grey and black particles and the correlations between their multiplicities. It has been seen that the number of the produced shower particles increases with the increase of the projectile mass number. From the correlation between the average multiplicity of the evaporation particles and the number of the produced particles, it was found that a phase transition in the target system may occur. The calculated pseudo-rapidity distributions of the produced shower particles are typically Gaussian shaped in the mid-rapidity region and agree well with the experimental data. Also, the angular distributions of the grey and black particles have been investigated. The angular distributions of the grey particles show a universal shape independent of the type of projectile. The angular distributions of the black particles are nearly isotropic with a small asymmetry in the forward direction. The modified cascade evaporation model, reproduces the general characteristics of the nucleus-nucleus interactions and gives an explanation for the multiparticle production process.     

Dielectron spectroscopy at 1-2 AGeV with HADES?

The HADES spectrometer at GSI (Darmstadt) is investigating the e ⁺ e ^- pair production in p+p, p+A and A+A collisions. In this contribution we would like to highlight the physics motivations and the experiments performed so far, focusing mainly on the first results coming from ¹²C + ¹²C collisions at 1 and 2AGeV, and on preliminary results from p+p/d+p collisions at 1.25AGeV. Original article based on material presented at HADRON 2007.     

Multiplicities of forward-backward particles in16O-emulsion interactions at 4.5 AGeV/c

An exclusive study of the characteristics of interactions accompanied by backward emission (θlab≥ 90°) of shower and grey particles in collisions of a 4.5 AGeV/c 16O beam with emulsion nuclei is carried out. The experimental multiplicity distributions of different particles emitted in the forward (θlab<90°) and backward hemispheres due to the interactions with the two emulsion components (CNO, AgBr) are presented and analyzed. The correlations between the different emitted particles are also investigated. The results indicate that there are signatures for a collective mechanism, which plays a role in the production of particles in the backward hemisphere. Hence, the backward multiplicity distribution of the emitted shower and grey particles at 4.5 AGeV/c incident momentum can be represented by a decay exponential law formula independent of the projectile size. The exponent of the power was found to increase with decreasing target size. The experimental data favor the idea that the backward particles were emitted due to the decay of the system in the latter stages of the reactions.     

Phase space dependence of the multiplicity distribution in π+ andpp collisions at 250 GeV/c

The charged particle multiplicity distribution has been studied for non-single-diffractive π⁺ p andpp collisions at \(\sqrt s = 22\) GeV, for full phase space as well as for intervals in rapidity, azimuthal angle and transverse momentum. In general, the multiplicity distribution is well described by a negative binomial. From comparison of the distribution for negative or positive particles to that of all charged particles, cascading is favoured as an interpretation over stimulated emission. Interesting consequences follow from a comparison of our results to those at collider energies and toe ⁺ e ^? data at comparable energy. Furthermore, evidence is given that the multiplicity distribution is not exactly of negative binomial type in every (connected or disconnected) phase space region.     

Evidence of Multifractal Structure of Compound Multiplicity Distribution in 24Mg-AgBr Interactions at 4.5AGeV

This paper reports an analysis on fractality using the experimental data of compound multiplicity (pions + target protons) distribution in ²⁴Mg-AgBr interactions at 4.5 AGeV following the method proposed by F. Takagi. Takagi moments have been calculated for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th order in the emission angle and azimuthal angle space. The results of our study reveal the multi-fractal structure of compound multiplicity distribution.     

Multiplicity distribution of colour dipoles at small x

The colour dipole multiplicity distribution is analysed for the wave function of a heavy onium state at small x. Numerical results for the average multiplicity and the effect of cutoffs on its power growth are presented. Then, the full multiplicity distribution is analysed: the second multiplicity moment is derived and the tail of the distribution is shown to behave as exp(− log²n). These results are confirmed by a Monte Carlo simulation which also gives the fluctuations in the spatial density of dipoles.     

The percolation mechanism for fragmentation of nuclei using Monte Carlo technique

A statistical bond-percolation model for the fragmentation has been applied to the proton-induced reactions assuming a lattice structure to the prefragment nucleus and using the Monte Carlo technique to determine the bond to be broken. The model succeeded to reproduce the essential features of the mass yield curves for the p-Cu reaction at 3.9 GeV and to describe qualitatively the charge and the multiplicity distributions of the projectile fragments for the ²⁸Si interactions with the quasi-free emulsion nucleon at 3.7 AGeV.     

Multiplicity distribution and nuclear effects in π−d interactions at 21 GeV/c

Results on the charged multiplicity distribution in π^?d interactions at 21 GeV/c are presented. The effects due to the two-nucleon structure of the deuteron target are analysed and the contribution of double scattering processes is estimated as a function of charged multiplicity. The evidence against simple cascade models is discussed.     

Probing nuclear expansion dynamics with π−/π+-spectra

We study the dynamics of charged pions in the nuclear medium via the ratio of differential π^? - and π⁺-spectra in a coupled-channel BUU (CBUU) approach. The relative energy shift of the charged pions is found to correlate with the pion freeze-out time in nucleus-nucleus collisions as well as with the impact parameter of the heavy-ion reaction. Furthermore, the long-range Coulomb force provides valuable information on the expansion dynamics of the hot nuclear system. Detailed comparisons with experimental data for Au + Au at 1 AGeV and Ni + Ni at 2.0 AGeV are presented.     

Investigation of self-affine multiplicity fluctuations of proton emission in 84Kr-AgBr interactions at 1.7 A GeV

Self-affine multiplicity scaling is investigated in the framework of a two-dimensional factorial mo-ment methodology using the concept of the Hurst exponent (H). Investigation of the experimental data of medium-energy knocked-out target protons in SaKr-AgBr interactions at 1.7 AGeV reveals that the best power law behavior is exhibited for H = 0.4, indicating a self-affine multiplicity fluctuation pattern. Multifractalit yamong the knocked-out target protons is also observed in the data.