Strangeness enhancement and strangeness suppression in nuclear collisions at 200 GeV/N

Data on yields of strange and negative hadrons in full phase space produced in proton-nucleus and central S+S collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon are reviewed. The total number of produced strange and nonstrange valence quark-antiquark pairs is determined on the basis of the hadron multiplicity at freezout. It is shown that the strangeness production factor λ _s is increased by a factor of 2 in central S+S collisions, whereas no increase is observed in proton-nucleus collisions.     

A non-plasma approach to the soft dilepton production inhA andAA collisions

We propose a method of evaluating the soft dilepton production rate in hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energies based on summing the contributions from quark-antiquark systems (chains) created in individual hadron-nucleon interactions. The individual contributions are determined by using the square dependence of the soft dilepton production rate on hadron multiplicity predicted for hadron-hadron collisions by the soft-quarkannihilation model and observed recently inpp collisions at the CERN ISR. The possibility of additional contributions originating from the annihilation of quarks and antiquarks that belong to different chains is taken into account in a phenomenological way, which nevertheless enables to correlate different phenomena in soft dilepton production. More detailed predictions are given for proton-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV/c.     

Deuteron production and space-time characteristics of high-energy hadron-nucleus reactions

The contribution of the coalescence mechanism to deuteron production is discussed on the basis of data on inclusive deuteron and proton production in hadron-nucleus interactions. The angular dependence and theA dependence of the coefficient of twonucleon coalescence into a deuteron are analysed for 7.5 GeV/c pA and 5 GeV/cπ ^? A interactions. The results suggest an elongated shape of the interaction region along the trajectory of the incident hadron and a successive knock-out of nucleons during propagation of the incident particle through a nucleus.     

The nuclear size dependence of large momentum transfer scattering and quark interaction dynamics

A simple dynamical picture for hadron interactions is used to discuss the A dependence of large p_⊥ scattering and dilepton production. Observations in large p_⊥ experiments are explained. Important corrections to dilepton production cross sections are found, leading to acceptable agreement between colored-quark theory and experiment.     

Meson and baryon pairs in two photon collisions at aB-factory

A high luminositye ⁺ e ^? collider of about 10GeV is an abundant source of photon-photon interactions. It is pointed out that the rates for hadron pairs production are relatively large. Detectors designed for high precisionb-physics are ideally suited for this kind of reactions.     

η Production in proton-nucleus reactions

The production ofη-mesons in proton-nucleus reactions is analysed with respect to primary nucleon-nucleon (NN→NNη) and secondary pion-nucleon (πN→ηN) production processes on the basis of Hartree-Fock groundstate momentum distributions and free on-shell production processes. The folding model adopted compares well for meson production with more involved simulations based on VUU transport equations. Similar to K⁺ production in proton-nucleus reactions theη-mesons are primarily produced by theπN →ηN channel. However,η-mesons are absorbed in nuclei via excitation of the N^* (1535) resonance which leads to strong distortions of the primordial spectra. On the other hand, the experimental mass dependence of the differential cross sections might yield information about the in-medium properties of this resonance.     

Quantitative assessment of target dependence of pion fluctuation in hadronic interactions – estimation through erraticity

Event-to-event fluctuation pattern of pions produced by proton and pion beams is studied in terms of the newly defined erraticity measures χ(p, q), $\chi_q^{\prime}$ and $\mu_q^{\prime}$ proposed by Cao and Hwa. The analysis reveals the erratic behaviour of the produced pions signifying the chaotic multiparticle production in high-energy hadron–nucleus interactions (π ^???–AgBr interactions at 350 GeV/c and p–AgBr interactions at 400 GeV/c). However, the chaoticity does not depend on whether the projectile is proton or pion. The results are compared with the results of the VENUS-generated data for the above interactions which suggests that VENUS event generator is unable to reproduce the event-to-event fluctuations of spatial patterns of final states. A comparative study of p–AgBr interactions and p–p collisions at 400 GeV/c from NA27, with the help of a quantitative parameter for the assessment of pion fluctuation, indicates conclusively that particle production process is more chaotic for hadron–nucleus interactions than for hadron–hadron interactions.     

Detection of charged charmed D ± mesons in proton-nucleus interactions at 70 GeV with the SVD-2 setup

The results of processing the data of the SERP-E-184 experiment that studied mechanisms of the production of charmed particles in proton-nucleus interactions at 70 GeV and their decays are presented. The data were obtained in irradiating the SVD-2 active target consisting of carbon, silicon, and lead plates with a 70-GeV proton beam. A detailed simulation based on the FRITIOF7.02 and GEANT3.21 packages made it possible to optimize event-selection criteria and to calculate the detection efficiencies for D ^± mesons. After the selection of a signal from the three-body decay of charged charmed D ^± mesons, the inclusive cross sections for their production at threshold energies were measured along with respective lifetimes and parameters of the A dependence of the cross sections. The yields of D mesons and their ratios are compiled in a table along with data fromother experiments and the respective theoretical predictions.     

Inclusive two-and three-particle rapidity correlations in high-energy hadron-nucleus collisions

Three-particle pseudorapidity correlations are investigated for relativistic secondaries from proton-nucleus interactions at 50, 67, 200 and 400 GeV/c and from pion-nucleus interactions at 50 and 200 GeV/c. The experimental data on two- and three-particle correlations are compared with quantitative predictions of current multiple scattering models of nuclear production. Within these models the influence of various factors on the magnitude of correlations is discussed and it is shown, in particular, that energy-momentum conservation plays an essential role at present accelerator energies.     

Pion and proton emission in interactions induced by relativistic heavy nuclei withZ≧12

The emission of pions and protons in interactions between heavy nuclei from the cosmic radiation (12≦Z≦26) and photoemulsion nuclei has been studied. The angular and energy distributions of target protons are similar to corresponding distributions in proton-nucleus interactions for emission angles >30°. In heavy ion interactions a forward peak of high energy target protons (E>200 MeV)is observed. The energy spectrum of target protons for angles <30° is remarkably flat for heavy ion interactions. For increasing disintegration of the target nucleus the number of produced pions per emitted recoil target proton is almost constant in heavy ion interactions, while it decreases rapidly in proton-nucleus interactions. The logtgΘ distributions of pions have small standard deviations even in interactions with a large target disintegration.     

Particle production in high-energy hadron-nucleus interactions

The pseudorapidity (η) distributions of fast particles (β>0.7) emitted in inelastic hadron interactions with carbon, copper and lead were measured for incoming energies from 50 to 150GeV at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. Their dependence on target mass (A) and projectile (h) obeys <v>-scaling as expected. Their energy dependence is in contrast with most model predictions.     

Quarkonium plus prompt-photon associated hadroproduction and nuclear shadowing

Quarkonium hadroproduction in association with a photon at high energies provides a probe of the dynamics of the strong interactions as it is dependent on the nuclear gluon distribution. Therefore, it could be used to constrain the behavior of the nuclear gluon distribution in proton–nucleus and nucleus–nucleus collisions. Such processes are useful to single out the magnitude of the shadowing/antishadowing effects in the nuclear parton densities. In this work we investigate the influence of nuclear effects in the production of J/ψ+γ and ?+γ and estimate the transverse momentum dependence of the nuclear modification factors. The theoretical framework considered in the J/ψ (?) production associated with a direct photon at the hadron collider is the non-relativistic QCD (NRQCD) factorization formalism.     

Calculations of K± and ϕ production in near-threshold proton-nucleus collisions

K^± and ? meson production in proton-nucleus (pA) collisions has been calculated within a BUU transport model. It is shown that the nucleon-hyperon strangeness transfer channel is essential. The role of three-body reactions has been investigated within the medium. The target mass dependence of ? production is predicted to give important information on the in-medium properties of all three mesons.     

Spin physics with COMPASS

COMPASS is a fixed target experiment at CERN studying nucleon spin structure in polarised deep inelastic muon nucleon scattering and hadron spectroscopy using hadron beams. The main goal of the COMPASS spin physics program is the measurement of the helicity contribution of the gluons to the nucleon spin, ΔG. This quantity is accessible via the photon-gluon-fusion process which can be selected by open charm production or production of hadron pairs with large transverse momenta. The spin physics program of COMPASS includes also measurements with a transversely polarised target. These allow to measure the transverse structure function.COMPASS has up to now successfully finished three runs with a muon beam of 160 GeV and a longitudinally polarized⁶LiD target in the years 2002, 2003 and 2004. An overview of the physics addressed by the muon program, with an emphasis on the ΔG/G measurement will be presented. The status of the analysis of the highpt hadron pairs, open charm, longitudinal and transverse asymmetries will be reviewed.     

Color neutralization in deep inelastic scattering on nuclei

Particle production in deep inelastic scattering on nuclei is reduced due to absorption of the produced particles in the nucleus. The photon ejects a quark from a bound nuclon which propagates through the nucleus forming a prehadron before turning into a hadron. Prehadron formation occurs on a shorter length scale than hadron formation and is therefore very important. We explicitly derive aA ^2/3 dependence of nuclear attenuation.     

Restoration of hadron elastic scattering properties for multistring-type models via multiple production parameters

New relations of elastic hadron collision properties with string numberw _m -distribution are performed. The relations derived allows to compute an elastic amplitude and, consequently, total, elastic cross-sections,B-slope, real-to-imaginary part of forward amplitude and differential dΦ/dt cross-section using multiple production parameters. The certain limitations for string number distribution are obtained out from unitarity condition. It is shown that widerw _m -distribution corresponds to higher opacity of hadron interactions. Several high-energy models are analyzed by means of the rules.     

Charmonium production in proton-nucleon and proton-nucleus collisions

Systematic nuclear effects discovered in the production ofJ/ψ particles in high-energy proton-nucleus collisions cannot be explained within the conventional picture in which a heavy color singlet $Q\bar Q$ pair, after its production, experiences multiple scattering from nucleons of the residual nucleus. We propose to take into account color octet intermediate states formed in the primary production of the heavy-quark pairs. Using a perturbative QCD analysis we study the microscopic production mechanism for $Q\bar Q$ pairs through gluon-gluon fusion with subsequent color neutralization in a strongly interacting medium. The influence of the surrounding matter on this process is investigated.     

Charged hadron suppression in Au+Au collisions at high p T from STAR

We report high statistics measurements of inclusive charged hadron production in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt {s_{NN} } = 200$ GeV and 130 GeV. A large, approximately constant hadron suppression is observed in central Au+Au collisions for 5 ‖p _T ‖ 12 GeV/c. The collision energy dependence of the yields and the centrality and p _T dependence of the suppression provide stringent constraints on theoretical models of suppression. Models incorporating initial-state gluon saturation or partonic energy loss in dense matter are largely consistent with observations. The p _T -dependent suppression expected from models incorporating jet attenuation in cold nuclear matter or absorption of fragmentation hadrons is not observed.     

Investigation of intermittency in muon-proton scattering at 280 GeV

In this paper intermittency is investigated in hadron production by muon proton interactions at 280 GeV, using data of the European Muon Collaboration. Intermittent behaviour is observed in the dependence of the scaled factorial moments on the rapidity bin width. This behaviour is stronger for positive than for all charged hadrons; it increases with the hadronic cms energyW, and is larger in the central region than in the fragmentation regions. The data are compared with the predictions of the Webber model, the Lund model, and of short-range ordering