<Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis><Superscript>0</Superscript>-tagged quark jets at the large hadron collider

The Large Hadron Collider will allow studies of hard probes in nucleus-nucleus collisions which were not accessible at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider—even the study of small cross-section Z ⁰-tagged jets becomes possible. Going beyond the measurement of back-to-back correlations of two strongly interacting particles to measure plasma properties, we replace one side by an electromagnetic probe which propagates through the plasma undisturbed and therefore provides a measurement of the energy of the initial hard scattering. We show that at sufficiently high transverse momentum the Z ⁰-tagged jets originate predominately from the fragmentation of quarks and anti-quarks while gluon jets are suppressed. We propose to use lepton-pair tagged jets to study medium-induced partonic energy loss and to measure in-medium parton fragmentation functions to determine the opacity of the quark gluon plasma.     

Evidence for the production of thermal muon pairs with masses above 1 GeV/c 2 in 158 A GeV indium-indium collisions

The yield of muon pairs in the invariant mass region 1<M<2.5 GeV/c ² produced in heavy-ion collisions significantly exceeds the sum of the two expected contributions, Drell-Yan dimuons and muon pairs from the decays of D meson pairs. These sources properly account for the dimuons produced in proton-nucleus collisions. In this paper, we show that dimuons are also produced in excess in 158 A GeV In-In collisions. We furthermore observe, by tagging the dimuon vertices, that this excess is not due to enhanced D meson production, but made of prompt muon pairs, as expected from a source of thermal dimuons specific to high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. The yield of this excess increases significantly from peripheral to central collisions, both with respect to the Drell-Yan yield and to the number of nucleons participating in the collisions. Furthermore, the transverse mass distributions of the excess dimuons are well described by an exponential function, with inverse slope values around 190 MeV. The values are independent of mass and significantly lower than those found at masses below 1 GeV/c ², rising there up to 250 MeV due to radial flow. This suggests the emission source of thermal dimuons above 1 GeV/c ² to be of largely partonic origin, when radial flow has not yet built up.     

Radiative and collisional energy loss,and photon-tagged jets at RHIC

The suppression of single jets at high transverse momenta in a quark–gluon plasma is studied at RHIC energies, and the additional information provided by a photon tag is included. The energy loss of hard jets traversing through the medium is evaluated in the AMY formalism, by consistently taking into account the contributions from radiative events and from elastic collisions at leading order in the coupling. The strongly interacting medium in these collisions is modeled with (3+1)-dimensional ideal relativistic hydrodynamics. Putting these ingredients together with a complete set of photon-production processes, we present a calculation of the nuclear modification of single jets and photon-tagged jets at RHIC.     

B-hadron cross-section measurement in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=14$ TeV with the ALICE muon spectrometer

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the LHC detector designed to measure nucleus-nucleus (AA) collisions where the formation of the Quark Gluon Plasma is expected. The experiment will also study proton-proton (pp) collisions at 14 TeV. Amongst the relevant observables to be investigated in pp collisions, the B-hadron cross-section is particularly interesting since it provides benchmarks for theoretical models and it is mandatory for understanding heavy flavour production in AA collisions. The performances of the ALICE muon spectrometer to measure B-hadron cross-section in pp collisions at 14 TeV via single muons are presented.     

Forward and midrapidity charmonium production at RHIC

J/ψ production at forward and midrapidity at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) is calculated within a previously constructed rate-equation approach accounting for both direct production and regeneration from c and . The results are compared to the experimental data. The observed stronger suppression at forward rapidity can be qualitatively explained by a smaller statistical regeneration component together with stronger cold nuclear matter induced suppression compared to midrapidity. The χ _c over J/ψ ratio and ψ′ over J/ψ ratio are also calculated.     

Parton energy loss at strong coupling and the universal bound

The apparent universality of jet quenching observed in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC for light and heavy quarks, as well as for quarks and gluons, is very puzzling and calls for a theoretical explanation. Recently, it has been proposed that synchrotron-like radiation at strong coupling gives rise to a universal bound on the energy of a parton escaping from the medium. Since this bound appears to be quite low, almost all of the observed particles at high transverse momentum have to originate from the surface of the hot fireball. Here I make a first attempt of checking this scenario against the RHIC data and formulate a “universal-bound model” of jet quenching that can be further tested at RHIC and LHC.     

Modified fragmentation function in heavy ion collisions at RHIC via direct <Emphasis Type="Italic">γ</Emphasis>-jet measurements

The presented results are the first measurements at RHIC for direct γ-charged hadron azimuthal correlations in heavy ion collisions. We use these correlations to study the color charge density of the medium through the medium-induced modification of high-p _T parton fragmentation. Azimuthal correlations of direct photons at high transverse energy (8<p _T <16 GeV) with away-side charged hadrons of transverse momentum (3<p _T <6 GeV/c) have been measured over a broad range of centrality for Au+Au collisions and p+p collisions at  GeV in the STAR experiment. A transverse shower shape analysis in the STAR Barrel Electromagnetic Calorimeter Shower Maximum Detector is used to discriminate between the direct photons and photons from the decays of high p _T π ⁰. The per-trigger away-side yield of direct γ is smaller than from π ⁰ trigger at the same centrality class. Within the current uncertainty the I _CP of direct γ and π ⁰ are similar.     

Longitudinal broadening of near-side jets due to parton cascade

Longitudinal broadening along the Δη direction on the near side in the two-dimensional (Δφ×Δη) di-hadron correlation distribution has been studied for central Au+Au collisions at  GeV, within a dynamical multi-phase transport model. It was found that longitudinal broadening is generated by a longitudinal flow induced by a strong parton cascade in central Au+Au collisions, to be compared with p+p collisions at  GeV. The longitudinal broadening may shed light on the strongly interacting partonic matter at RHIC.     

On the temperature dependence of quarkonium correlators

I discuss the temperature dependence of quarkonium correlators calculated in lattice QCD. I show that the dominant source of the temperature dependence comes from the zero-mode contribution, while the temperature dependence associated with the melting of bound states is quite small. I study the zero-mode contribution quantitatively for various quark masses and show that it is well described by a quasi-particle model with temperature-dependent heavy quark mass. As a byproduct, an estimate of the medium dependence of the heavy-quark mass is obtained.     

NA60 results on thermal dimuons

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has measured muon pairs with unprecedented precision in 158 A GeV In–In collisions. A strong excess of pairs above the known sources is observed in the whole mass region 0.2<M<2.6 GeV. The mass spectrum for M<1 GeV is consistent with a dominant contribution from π ⁺ π ⁻→ρ→μ ⁺ μ ⁻ annihilation. The associated ρ spectral function shows a strong broadening, but essentially no shift in mass. For M>1 GeV, the excess is found to be prompt, not due to enhanced charm production, with pronounced differences to Drell–Yan pairs. The slope parameter T _eff associated with the transverse momentum spectra rises with mass up to the ρ, followed by a sudden decline above. The rise for M<1 GeV is consistent with radial flow of a hadronic emission source. The seeming absence of significant flow for M>1 GeV and its relation to parton–hadron duality is discussed in detail, suggesting a dominantly partonic emission source in this region. A comparison of the data to the present status of theoretical modeling is also contained. The accumulated empirical evidence, including also a Planck-like shape of the mass spectra at low p _T and the lack of polarization, is consistent with a global interpretation of the excess dimuons as thermal radiation. We conclude with first results on ω in-medium effects.     

What do we really know about cold nuclear matter effects?

The measurement of charmonium suppression in relativistic heavy ion collisions is posited to be an unambiguous probe of the properties of the strongly interacting quark gluon plasma (sQGP). In hot and dense QCD matter Debye color screening prevents charm and anti-charm quark pairs from forming J/ψ mesons if the screening radius is smaller than the binding radius. However, one must have a clear understanding of the expected suppression in normal density QCD matter before interpreting any additional anomalous suppression. The PHENIX experiment has measured J/ψ production from colliding proton + proton and deuteron + gold beams at 200 GeV from the relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC). The deuteron + gold data can be compared to the proton + proton baseline in order to establish the typical suppression in cold nuclear matter (CNM). For PHENIX, a suppression of J/ψ in cold nuclear matter is observed as one goes forward in rapidity (in the deuteron-going direction), corresponding to a region more sensitive to initial state low-x gluons in the gold nucleus. These results can be convoluted with the nuclear-environment-modified parton distribution functions, extracted from deep inelastic scattering (DIS) and Drell-Yan (DY) data, in order to estimate the J/ψ break up cross section in cold nuclear matter. One can also use a data driven method that does not rely on the assumption of the production mechanism, or PDF parameterization, to extrapolate to the heavy ion collision case. At this time both the predictions for CNM effect suppression in heavy ion collisions are somewhat ambiguous. Future results using the data acquired by the PHENIX experiment in run-6 (p + p) and run-8 (d + Au) will be vital for our understanding. These data, which are in the process of being analyzed, will provide a needed improvement in the statistical and systematic precision of constraints for CNM effects. These constraints must be improved in order to make firm conclusions concerning additional hot nuclear matter charmonium suppression in the sQGP.     

Exploring the LHC medium with direct photons

Heavy-ion collisions will enter a new era with the start of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A first short run with proton-proton collisions at the injection energy of 0.9 TeV will be followed by a longer one with pp collisions at 10 TeV. First Pb-Pb collisions at  TeV will take place in 2009. Three experiments (ALICE, ATLAS, and CMS) will study both pp and Pb-Pb collisions. A selection of results showing the capabilities of the three experiments for the study of the LHC medium with direct photons is presented.     

Recent high-<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis></Subscript> results from STAR

We present selected recent results of multi-hadron correlation measurements in azimuth and pseudorapidity at intermediate and high p _T in Au+Au collisions at , from the STAR experiment at RHIC. At intermediate p _T , measurements are presented that attempt to determine the origin of the associated near-side (small Δφ) yield at large pseudo-rapidity difference Δη that is found to be present in heavy ion collisions. In addition, results are reported on new multi-hadron correlation measures at high-p _T that use di-hadron triggers and multi-hadron cluster triggers with the goal to constrain the underlying jet kinematics better than in the existing measurements of inclusive spectra and di-hadron correlations.     

Protons flow in Pb+Pb collisions at 40 <Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis> GeV energy

For Pb+Pb collisions at 40 A GeV energy, we calculate the side-ward and elliptic differential flow of protons in the microscopic relativistic transport simulation model. We compare our results with the recent data from the NA49 Collaboration as a function of transverse momenta, rapidity and centrality. We find that the side-ward and elliptic flow agree reasonably well with the experimental data with and without momentum-dependent potentials in the simulation model.     

Spatial dependence of meson correlation functions at high temperature

The spatial dependence of meson correlation functions at high temperature is studied in perturbative QCD, keeping only the lowest order term. We obtain analytic results for the static correlation function in this approximation. Problems connected with the regularization of the divergent expressions are discussed in detail. The meson screening mass is determined from the form of the correlation function at large distances. We obtain , which agrees with the results of Eletskii and Ioffe, for massless quarks (M=0). Finally, the correlation function in the temporal direction is briefly discussed. For massless quarks, we find the corresponding screening massm _scr=2T.Research supported in part by the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research under Grant No. 2.0204.91.01     

Can the RHIC <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">ψ</Emphasis> puzzle(s) be settled at LHC?

One observes strong suppression effects for hard probes, e.g. the production of J/ψ or high-p _T particles, in nucleus–nucleus (AA) collisions at RHIC. Surprisingly, the magnitude of the suppression is quite similar to that at SPS. In order to establish whether these features arise due to the presence of a thermalized system of quarks and gluons formed in the course of the collision, one should investigate the impact of suppression mechanisms which do not explicitly involve such a state. We calculate shadowing for gluons in the Glauber–Gribov theory and propose a model invoking a rapidity-dependent absorptive mechanism motivated by energy-momentum conservation effects. Furthermore, final-state suppression due to interaction with comoving matter (hadronic or pre-hadronic) has been shown to describe the data at SPS. We extend this model by including the backward reaction channel, i.e. recombination of open charm, which is estimated directly from pp data at RHIC. Strong suppression of charmonium both in pA and AA collisions at LHC is predicted. This is in stark contrast with the predictions of models assuming QGP formation and thermalization of heavy quarks.     

Heavy-quark energy loss in pQCD and SYM plasmas

We consider heavy-quark energy loss and p _⊥ -broadening in a strongly-coupled N=4 Super Yang–Mills (SYM) plasma, and the problem of finite-extent matter is addressed. When expressed in terms of the appropriate saturation momentum, one finds identical parametric forms for the energy loss in pQCD and SYM theory, while p _⊥ -broadening is radiation dominated in SYM theory and multiple scattering dominated in pQCD. C.M. is supported by the European Commission under the FP6 program, contract No. MOIF-CT-2006-039860.     

The Forward Vertex upgrade detector for PHENIX

The PHENIX detector at RHIC has been built with a strong heavy quark particles identification capability. These unique probes of matter are essential to adequately understand in-medium energy loss and to test the basic properties of QCD. The current PHENIX heavy flavor physics program will be significantly enhanced by the addition of the Forward Silicon Vertex upgrade detector (FVTX) in the acceptance of the existing muon arm detectors (1.2<|y|<2.4). The proposed tracker is planned to be put into operation in FY2011. Each arm of the FVTX detector consists of 4 disks of silicon strip sensors combined with FPHX readout chips and provides a precision measurement of the radial coordinate of the track. The current status of the detector design and construction and expectations for the physics signal extraction will be presented.     

Recent charm measurements through hadronic decay channels with STAR at RHIC in 200 GeV Cu+Cu collisions

We report on the measurements of D ⁰ and D _s meson production in 200 GeV Cu+Cu collisions at the STAR at RHIC experiment. Results are discussed with reference to pQCD predictions of the open charm cross-section as well as the statistical hadronization model.