J/\psi production in Indium-Indium collisions

The study of dilepton production in heavy-ion collisions at the CERN SPS provided some of the most interesting observations done so far in the search for the quark gluon plasma. However, several aspects of the understanding of these measurements need to be clarified. For example, the study of the J/ production in different colliding systems should help to disentangle which is the variable driving the J/ suppression. The NA60 experiment, with a new radiation tolerant Silicon pixel detector, studied Indium-Indium interactions in the year 2003. In this paper, we present the J/ / DY ratio, integrated over all the centralities of the collisions, together with a first study of the J/ transverse momentum and polarization. Arrival of the final proofs: 1 July 2005 PACS: 25.75.Dw, 25.75.Nq, 13.20.Gd     

J/psi production in Indium-Indium collisions at 158 GeV/nucleon

The NA60 experiment studies muon pair production at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. In this Letter we report on a precision measurement of J/psi in In-In collisions. We have studied the J/psi centrality distribution, and we have compared it with the one expected if absorption in cold nuclear matter were the only active suppression mechanism. For collisions involving more than approximately 80 participant nucleons, we find that an extra suppression is present. This result is in qualitative agreement with previous Pb-Pb measurements by the NA50 experiment, but no theoretical explanation is presently able to coherently describe both results.     

J/psi suppression in nucleus-nucleus collisions

We propose a model for calculating J/psi suppression in high-energy hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions. We factorized the process into a production of the cc- pairs convoluted with a transition probability into the observed J/psi mesons. As the produced cc- pairs exit the nuclear matter, multiple scattering increases the square of the relative momentum between the c and c- such that some pairs are transmuted into open charm states. With only one parameter, the energy gained by the produced cc- pair per unit length in the nuclear medium, our model can fit all observed J/psi suppression data in hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions.     

Omega, J/psi, and psi(') production in nuclear collisions and quark-gluon-plasma hadronization

The transverse mass spectra of Omega, J/psi, and psi' in Pb+Pb collisions at 158A GeV are studied within a hydrodynamical model of the quark-gluon-plasma expansion and hadronization. The model reproduces the existing data with the common hadronization parameters: temperature T = T(H) congruent with 170 MeV and average collective transverse velocity v(T) congruent with 0.2.     

J/psi production in sqrt s_NN=200 GeV Cu+Cu collisions

Yields for J/psi production in Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt s_NN=200 GeV have been measured over the rapidity range |y|<2.2 and compared with results in p+p and Au+Au collisions at the same energy. The Cu+Cu data offer greatly improved precision over existing Au+Au data for J/psi production in collisions with small to intermediate numbers of participants, in the range where the quark-gluon plasma transition threshold is predicted to lie. Cold nuclear matter estimates based on ad hoc fits to d+Au data describe the Cu+Cu data up to N_part approximately 50, corresponding to a Bjorken energy density of at least 1.5 GeV/fm(3).     

J/psi production in quark-gluon plasma

We study J/psi production at RHIC and LHC energies with both initial production at energies reached and the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with regeneration. We solve the coupled set of transport equations for the J/psi distribution in phase space and the hydrodynamic equation for evolution of quark-gluon plasma. At RHIC, continuous regeneration is crucial for the J/psi momentum distribution while the elliptic flow is still dominated by initial production. At energies reached at the LHC energy, almost all the initially created J/psis are dissociated in the medium and regeneration dominates the J/psi properties.     

J/psi production from proton-proton collisions at square root of s=200 GeV

J/psi production has been measured in proton-proton collisions at square root of s=200 GeV over a wide rapidity and transverse momentum range by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Distributions of the rapidity and transverse momentum, along with measurements of the mean transverse momentum and total production cross section are presented and compared to available theoretical calculations. The total J/psi cross section is 4.0+/-0.6(stat)+/-0.6(syst)+/-0.4(abs) mu b. The mean transverse momentum is 1.80+/-0.23(stat)+/-0.16(syst) GeV/c.     

Measurement of differences between J/psi and psi(') suppression in p-A collisions

Measurements of the suppression of the yield per nucleon of J/psi and psi(') production for 800 GeV/ c protons incident on heavy nuclear targets, relative to light nuclear targets, have been made with very broad coverage in x(F) and p(T). The observed suppression is smallest at x(F) values of 0.25 and below, and increases at larger values of x(F). It is also strongest at small p(T). Substantial differences between psi(') and J/psi production are observed for the first time in p-A collisions. The suppression for psi(') production is stronger than that for J/psi for x(F) near zero, but becomes comparable to that for J/psi for x(F)>0.6.     

Absorption and percolation in the production of J/\psi in heavy ion collisions

We present a simple model with string absorption and percolation to describe the suppression in heavy ion collisions. The model qualitatively agrees with the NA50 data, and makes precise predictions for RHIC and LHC. Received: 10 March 2000 / Published online: 6 July 2000