Centrality dependence of v 2 in Au + Au at \sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV

One of the most striking results is the large elliptic flow (v ₂) at RHIC. Detailed mass and transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow are well described by ideal hydrodynamic calculations for p _T<1 GeV/c, and by parton coalescence/recombination picture for p _T=2–6 GeV/c. The systematic error on v ₂ is dominated by so-called “non-flow effects”, which are correlations other than flow, such as resonance decays and jets. It is crucial to understand and reduce the systematic error from non-flow effects in order to understand the underlying collision dynamics. In this paper, we present the centrality dependence of v ₂ with respect to the first harmonic event plane at ZDC-SMD (v ₂{ZDC-SMD}) in Au + Au collisions at  GeV. A large rapidity gap (|Δη|>6) between midrapidity and the ZDC-SMD could enable us to minimize possible non-flow contributions. We compare the results of v ₂{ZDC-SMD} with v ₂{BBC}, which is measured by event plane determined at |η|=3.1–3.9. Possible non-flow contributions in those results will be discussed.     

Analysis of non-photonic electrons in Cu + Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV

Heavy-flavor semileptonic decays are expected to dominate the spectrum of non-photonic electrons produced from collisions at the energies of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The non-photonic electron yield is suppressed by approximately a factor of 5 in central Au + Au events at  GeV relative to p+p events with the same collision energy. Most theoretical models predict less non-photonic-electron suppression than is observed experimentally. We present a preliminary measurement of the yield of non-photonic electrons in Cu + Cu events at  GeV, as well as the nuclear modification factor.     

Suppression of high-pT non-photonic electrons in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ =200 GeV

The strong suppression of high p_T hadrons observed at RHIC has led to the interpretation that energetic partons lose their energy via induced gluon radiation in the hot and dense matter before fragmenting into hadrons. The study of heavy quark production can extend our understanding of this scenario. Due to the dead cone effect, the suppression of heavy quark mesons at high p_T is expected to be smaller than that observed for charged hadrons at the same energy. The measurement of non-photonic single electrons up to high p_T provides information on charm and beauty production. The semi-leptonic decays of D and B mesons are the dominant contribution to the non-photonic electron spectra. The preliminary spectra from p+p, d+Au and Au+Au collisions at  =200 GeV have been extracted for mid-rapidity non-photonic electrons in the range 1.5<p_T (GeV/c)<10. The corresponding nuclear modification factors (R_AA) are presented and show a large suppression in central Au+Au collisions, indicating an unexpectedly large energy loss for heavy quarks in the hot and dense matter created at RHIC. This observed suppression is compared to recent theoretical models. PACS  13.85.Qk; 13.20.Fc; 13.20.He; 25.75.Dw     

Direct photons in d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ =200 GeV with STAR

Results are presented of an ongoing analysis of direct photon production in  =200 GeV deuteron-gold collisions (d+Au) with the STAR experiment at RHIC. A significant excess of direct photons is observed near mid-rapidity (0<y<1) and found to be consistent with next-to-leading order pQCD calculations including the contribution from fragmentation photons. PACS  25.75.-q     

Identified hadron production at high transverse momenta in p+ p collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV in STAR

We report the transverse momentum (p _T ) distributions for identified charged pions, protons and anti-protons using events triggered by high deposit energy in the Barrel Electro-Magnetic Calorimeter (BEMC) from p+p collisions at  GeV. The spectra are measured around mid-rapidity (|y|<0.5) over the range of 3<p _T <15 GeV/c with particle identification (PID) by the relativistic ionization energy loss (rdE/dx) in the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) of the Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR). The charged pion, proton and anti-proton spectra at high p _T are compared with published results from minimum bias triggered events and the Next-Leading-Order perturbative quantum chromodynamic (NLO pQCD) calculations (DSS, KKP and AKK 2008). In addition, we present the particle ratios of π ⁻/π ⁺, , p/π ⁺ and in p+p collisions.     

Measurement of single muon yields from charm semileptonic decay at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ =200 GeV Au + Au collisions at STAR

We report on the first measurement of single muon from charm semileptonic decays at low transverse momentum (p_T) in  =200 GeV Au+Au collisions. Muon identification was obtained using the STAR time projection chamber in conjunction with a time-of-flight detector. The p_T spectra of electron and muon from charm semileptonic decays are presented. The measured D→μ+X at p_T<0.25 GeV/c greatly constrains the charm total cross section. The charm differential cross section dσ_cc/dy is found to be consistent with the number of binary collision scaling. PACS  25.75.Dw; 25.75.-q     

Mid-rapidity ϕ meson production at \sqrt {s_{NN} } = 200 GeV Au+Au and pp collisions from STAR

We present the results for the measurement of ? meson production in $\sqrt {s_{NN} } = 200$ GeV Au+Au and pp collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Using the event mixing technique, spectra and yields are obrained from the ?→K⁺K^? decay channel for five centrality bins in Au+Au collisions and in pp collisions. We observe that the spectrum shape in Au+Au collisions depends weakly on the centrality and the shape of the spectrum in pp collisions is significantly different from that in Au+Au collisions.     

First measurement of J/ ψ azimuthal anisotropy in PHENIX at forward rapidity in Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathit{NN}}}=200$ GeV

In this paper, we calculate the decay rates of the D ⁺→D ⁰ e ⁺ ν, D _S ⁺→D ⁰ e ⁺ ν, , D _S ⁺→D ⁺ e ⁻ e ⁺ and B _S ⁰→B ⁰ e ⁻ e ⁺ semileptonic decay processes, in which only the light quarks decay, while the heavy flavors remain unchanged. The branching ratios of these decay processes are calculated with the flavor SU(3) symmetry. The uncertainties are estimated by considering the SU(3) breaking effect. We find that the decay rates are very tiny in the framework of the standard model. We also estimate the sensitivities of the measurements of these rare decays at future experiments, such as BES-III, super-B and LHC-b.     

Jet properties from two-particle azimuthal correlations in d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ =200 GeV at STAR

We present measurements of azimuthal correlations between photons (from π⁰ decay) and charged hadrons in d+Au collisions at  =200 GeV. We use di-hadron correlations to study parton fragmentation in d+Au collisions at RHIC. Specifically, the near-side and away-side peaks of the azimuthal angular difference distribution are used to measure the root-mean-squared (RMS) fragmentation transverse momentum and the mean intrinsic parton transverse momentum . The measurements with leading photons are compared to results using leading charged particles. PACS  25.75.-q     

PHENIX J/Ψ measurement at \sqrt {s_{NN} } = 200 GeV

In 2002, PHENIX had the first measurements on J/Ψ → e⁺ e^? and J/Ψ→μ ⁺ μ ^? in AuAu and pp collisions at $\sqrt {s_{NN} } = 200$ GeV. The preliminary results are presented and discussed. The ongoing analysis status on year 2003 dAu collision data are presented.     

Measurement of low mass dielectron continuum in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ =200 GeV Au+Au collisions in the PHENIX experiment at RHIC

The first measurement of the dielectron continuum at RHIC energies was performed by the PHENIX experiment for Au+Au collisions at  =200 GeV. Mass spectra for different centralities are presented and compared with the expectations from hadron decays.     

Fine structure in the azimuthal transverse momentum correlations at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV using the event shape analysis

The experimental results on transverse momentum azimuthal hadron correlations at RHIC have opened a rich field for parton energy loss analysis in heavy-ion collisions. Recently, a considerable amount of work has been devoted to study the shapes of the “away-side” jet which exhibit an interesting and unexpected “double hump” structure not observed in the analogous treatment of the pp data. Driven by the possibility that the latter result might just mean that such a structure exists already in the case of pp collisions, but that its relative intensity could be small, here we use the Event Shape Analysis to show that it is possible to identify and select well defined event topologies in pp collisions, among which a double hump structure for the away-side jet emerges. Using two shape parameters, the sphericity in the transverse plane and the recoil to analyze a sample of PYTHIA generated pp collisions at  GeV, we show that this structure corresponds to two jets emitted in the backward hemisphere. Finally, we show that Q-PYTHIA qualitatively reproduces the decrease in the yield of dijet events and the increase of the double hump structure in the away side observed in heavy-ion collisions. The implications for the treatment of parton energy loss in heavy-ion collisions are discussed.     

First fragmentation function measurements from full jet reconstruction in heavy-ion collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=200$ GeV by STAR

Measurements of inclusive hadron suppression and di-hadron azimuthal correlations in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions at RHIC have provided important insights into jet quenching in hot QCD matter, but are limited in their sensitivity due to well-known biases. Full jet reconstruction in heavy-ion collisions would conceptually provide a direct measurement of the energy of the scattered parton before energy loss, alleviating such biases and allowing a measurement of the energy loss probability distribution in a model-independent way from hard probes. In these proceedings we utilize recent progress in the reconstruction of jets in the heavy ion environment and present the first measurement of the fragmentation function from fully reconstructed jets in heavy ion collisions. The fragmentation function measured in central Au + Au collisions at  GeV will be presented and discussed with respect to p + p reference measurements.     

Identified two-hadron correlations at STAR using Λ, Λ̄, and K0Short triggers with charged hadrons in Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ =200 GeV

Here we present initial studies of two-dimensional angular correlations of Λ, Λ̄, and K⁰ _Short triggers with unidentified charged hadrons in Au+Au collisions at  =200 GeV measured by STAR. Distributions of pseudo-rapidity difference, Δη, and azimuthal separation, Δφ, are constructed containing structures observed in unidentified hadron correlations, including a jet peak at small Δη-Δφ accompanied by a flow-like ridge extended over Δη. These features are studied as a function of centrality via integrated yields and fitting to projections onto Δη and Δφ axes. Yields are found to be consistent with unidentified correlation analyses, and no clear distinction is observed between the three species. PACS  25.75.Gz     

Azimuthal anisotropy of electrons from heavy flavor decays in \sqrt{s_{NN}} =200 GeV Au-Au collisions at PHENIX

The PHENIX experiment has measured the azimuthal anisotropy parameter v₂, the second harmonic of the azimuthal distribution, for electrons at mid-rapidity (|η|<0.35) as a function of transverse momentum (0.5<p_T (GeV/c)<5.0) in Au+Au collisions at  =200 GeV. From the result we have calculated the non-photonic electron v₂, which is expected to reflect charm quark azimuthal anisotropy, by subtracting the v₂ of electrons from other sources such as photon conversions and Dalitz decays.     

K S 0 , Λ and ≡ production at intermediate to high pT from Au+Au collisions at \sqrt {s_{NN} } = 39, 11.5 and 7.7 GeV

We report on the p _T dependence of nuclear modification factors (R _CP) for K _S ⁰ , ??, ?? and the $\bar NK_S^0 $ ratios at mid-rapidity from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt {s_{NN} } $ = 39, 11.5 and 7.7 GeV. At $\sqrt {s_{NN} } $ = 39 GeV, the R _CP data show a baryon/meson separation at intermediate p _T and a suppression for K _S ⁰ for p _T up to 4.5 GeV/c; the $\bar \Lambda K_S^0 $ shows baryon enhancement in the most central collisions. However, at $\sqrt {s_{NN} } $ = 11.5 and 7.7 GeV, R _CP shows less baryon/meson separation and $\bar NK_S^0 $ shows almost no baryon enhancement. These observations indicate that the matter created in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt {s_{NN} } $ = 11.5 or 7.7 GeV might be distinct from that created at $\sqrt {s_{NN} } $ = 39 GeV.     

Kinetic freeze-out s pectra of identified particles produced in p–Pb collisions at $$\sqrt {s_{NN} }$$ = 5.02 TeV

We study the transverse momentum spectra of identified pions (π^– + π⁺), kaons ((K ^– + K ⁺), K ₀ ^s ), protons (p + p?) and lambda hyperons (Λ + Λ?) produced at mid-rapidity (0 < y _cm < 0.5) in most central (0?5)% p–Pb collisions at \(\sqrt {s_{NN} }\) = 5.02 TeV in comparison with a Unified Statistical Thermal Freeze-out Model (USTFM). The measurements for pions are reported upto p _T = 3 GeV, the kaons (K ^– + K ⁺) are reported upto p _T = 2.5 GeV, K ₀ ^s is reported upto p _T = 7 GeV, and the baryons (protons and lambda hyperons) are reported upto p _T = 3.5 GeV. A good agreement is seen between the calculated results and the experimental data points taken from the ALICE experiment. The transverse momentum spectra are found to be flatter for heavy particles than for light particles. Bulk freeze-out properties in terms of kinetic freeze-out temperature and the transverse collective flow velocity are extracted from the fits of the transverse momentum spectra of these hadrons. The effect of resonance decay contributions has also been taken care of.     

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.