Onset of deconfinement and critical point: NA49 and NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS

This paper is dedicated to the memory of József Zimányi one of the founders of the experiment NA49 at the CERN SPS. Firstly, the paper summarizes the main results of NA49 concerning observation of the onset of deconfinement in central Pb+Pb collisions at the low SPS energies. Secondly, it sketches the physics program of NA61 at the CERN SPS, the successor of NA49, which in particular aims to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter. Finaly, a brief review of the future experimental programs in the CERN SPS energy range is given.     

Signatures of the deconfinement transition in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN SPS

The energy dependence of hadron production in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions reveals anomalies-kink, horn, and step. They have been predicted as the signals of the deconfinement phase transition and observed recently by the NA49 Collaboration in Pb + Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. This indicates the onset of deconfinement in nucleus-nucleus collisions at about 30 A GeV. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Strange baryon signals of deconfinement in Pb−Pb collisions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon

The main results of the CERN WA97 heavy ion experiment are summarized. The evidence for the formation of a deconfined state of matter in Pb?Pb collisions at CERN SPS energies, provided by these results, is discussed. The ongoing experimental efforts, by the CERN NA57 experiment, to investigate the onset of deconfinement are briefly reviewed.     

Onset of deconfinement in nucleus-nucleus collisions

The energy dependence of hadron production in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions reveals anomalies-the kink, horn, and step. They were predicted as signals of the deconfinement phase transition and observed by the NA49 Collaboration in central PbPb collisions at the CERN SPS. This indicates the onset of the deconfinement in nucleus-nucleus collisions at about 30 A GeV.     

Search for the critical point of strongly interacting matter at the CERN SPS

The study of central collisions of heavy nuclei at CERN SPS energies by NA49 provided evidence for the onset of deconfinement around 30A GeV. Theoretical considerations predict a critical point of strongly interacting matter accessible in the SPS energy range. A search for the expected fluctuations has not yet found convincing signals. The strategy and plans for the continuation of this program at the SPS by NA61 with lighter nuclei is discussed.     

Study of A+A collisions in NA49 at the CERN SPS

The NA49 experiment performed an energy scan of particle production in Pb+Pb collisions through the CERN SPS range. Observed features in the energy dependence of pion and strangeness production can so far only be described by a model assuming deconfinement to set in at the early stage of the reaction at the lower SPS energies.     

Status and plans of the ion program of NA61 at the CERN SPS

The NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS is a new experiment to study hadron production in p+p, p+A, h+A and A+A interactions. The main goal of the NA61 ion program is to explore the phase diagram (T ? ?? _B ) of strongly interacting matter. In particular, we plan to study the properties of the onset of deconfinement and to search for the signatures of the critical point. A two-dimensional scan of the phase diagram will be performed by varying the energy (13A?C158A GeV) and system size (p+p, Be+Be, Ar+Ca, Xe+La) of collisions. This paper summarizes the status and plans of the NA61/SHINE ion program. In particular the detector upgrades, data taking schedule and the first results on spectra and correlations are discussed.     

Indications for the onset of deconfinement in Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS

Particle production in central Pb+Pb collisions was studied with the NA49 large acceptance spectrometer at the CERN SPS at beam energies of 20, 30, 40, 80 and 158 GeV per nucleon. A change of the energy dependence is observed around 30A GeV for the yields of pions and strange particles as well as for the shapes of the transverse mass spectra. The energy dependence of fluctuations and correlations shows no structure. At present only a reaction scenario with onset of deconfinement is able to reproduce the measurements.     

158 AGeV/c Pb-Pb碰撞中的J/Ψ反常抑制现象研究

在核吸收与随动者吸收理论的基础上, 给出了在有QGP相变情况下高能重离子碰撞中的J/Ψ微分产生截面,并用其讨论了CERN的NA50合作组给出的入射动量为158 AGeV/c 的Pb-Pb碰撞中的J/Ψ反常抑制现象。理论较好地解释了实验结果。On the basis of nuclear and comover absorption theories, we have derived out the differential cross section of J/Ψ production in high-energy heavy-ion collisions under the situation that QGP phase transition occurs, and analyzed the experimental data of NA50 Collaboration at CERN in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 AGeV/c. Our theory favors the data well.     

Quark-gluon plasma: Status of heavy ion physics

Lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD), defined on a discrete space-time lattice, leads to a spectacular non-perturbative prediction of a new state of matter, called quark-gluon plasma (QGP), at sufficiently high temperatures or equivalently large energy densities. The experimental programs of CERN, Geneva and BNL, New York of relativistic heavy ion collisions are expected to produce such energy densities, thereby providing us a chance to test the above prediction. After a brief introduction of the necessary theoretical concepts, I will present a critical review of the experimental results already obtained by the various experiments in order to examine whether QGP has already been observed by them.     

Physics perspectives of the ALICE experiment at the large hadron collider

The large hadron collider (LHC) under construction at CERN will deliver ion beams up to centre of mass energies of the order of 5.5 TeV per nucleon, in case of lead. If compared to the available facilities for the study of nucleus-nucleus collisions (SpS and RHIC), this represents a huge step forward in terms of both volume and energy density that can be attained in nuclear interactions. ALICE (a large ion collider experiment) is the only detector specifically designed for the physics of nuclear collisions at LHC, even though it can also study high cross-section processes occurring in proton-proton collisions. The main goal of the experiment is to observe and study the phase transition from hadronic matter to deconfined partonic matter (quark gluon plasma —QGP). ALICE is conceived as a general-purpose detector and will address most of the phenomena related to the QGP formation at LHC energies: for this purpose, a large fraction of the hadrons, leptons and photons produced in each interaction will be measured and identified.     

Heavy ion collisions at CMS and quark-gluon plasma

One of the most actual goals in high energy physics is reaching the state of deconfinement of hadronic matter and studying the properties of resultant quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Jet production, as well as other hard processes, is considered to be an efficient probe for formation of QGP in future experiments on heavy ion collisions at LHC.The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is the general purpose detector designed to run at the LHC and optimized mainly for the search of the Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions. However, a good muon system and electromagnetic and hadron calorimeters with fine granularity gives the possibility to cover several important aspects of the heavy ion physics. The production of heavy quarkonia Γ, Γ′, Γ″ through their muon decay channel and the energy loss of hard jets, are valuable processes for studying the phase transition from the hadronic matter to the plasma of deconfined quarks and gluons.     

Nonadiabatic corrections to the adiabatic Efimov potential

Abstact: The composition of forward-going projectile spectator matter in fixed-target Pb+Pb collisions at 158 A · GeV at the CERN SPS has been studied as a function of centrality. The data were measured with the NA49 veto calorimeter. We observe that forward-going spectator matter in central collisions consists of 9 neutrons, 7 protons, and half a deuteron on average. At large impact parameters most spectator nucleons are bound in fragments. The relative resolution of the average impact parameter derived from the measurement of spectator neutrons is roughly 19% in the range from zero to half maximum impact parameters. Received: 16 February 1998 / Revised version: 30 March 1998     

ICPAQGP2001: Conference summary

I review recent progress in ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions, and the connection of this field to modern QCD theory of deconfinement and/or chiral symmetry restoration. The talks at this Conference have shown a convergence of data and theory as far as the CERN SPS investigations at √s = 17 GeV are concerned; the parton-hadron phase boundary seems now located atT = 170 ± 10 MeV. New data from RHIC and direct photon production results from CERN have been shown that point out the field’s future direction: analysis of partonic matter atT > 200 MeV. Astrophysics analysis was shown to be linked crucially to further theoretical progress with non-perturbative QCD.     

Status and perspectives of electromagnetic probes: a bright future

After a number of years of sparse results from electromagnetic probes we have seen a revitalization of this field at this conference. Exciting first results obtained by NA60 at CERN, HADES at GSI, as well as PHENIX at RHIC, cover a broad range of initial conditions created in heavy-ion collisions. These experiments hold the promise to provide accurate new data, which will certainly furnish qualitatively new insights into matter at high temperature and density. In this paper I review the status of the field today and the perspectives for the future.Arrival of the final proofs: 28 July 2005PACS: 25.75.Nq     

Photons from quark gluon plasma and hot hadronic matter

The productions of real photons from quark gluon plasma and hot hadronic matter formed after the nucleus-nucleus collisions at ultra-relativistic energies are discussed. The effects of the spectral shift of the hadrons at finite temperature on the production of photons are investigated. On the basis of the present analysis it is shown that the photon spectra measured by WA98 collaboration in Pb + Pb collisions at CERN SPS energies can be explained by both QGP as well as hadronic initial states if the spectral shift of hadrons at finite temperature is taken into account. Several other works on the analysis of WA98 photon data have also been briefly discussed.     

Search for deconfinement in NA49 at the CERN SPS

Experiment NA49 at the Cern SPS has performed large acceptance measurements of hadron production in pp, pPb, CC, SiSi and PbPb collisions at 40 and 158 A·GeV beam energies. These data allowed a study of particle yields, spectra and correlations as well as event-by-event fluctuations of average event properties of the created hadron system. Results from central PbPb collisions are consistent with the onset of deconfinement during the early stage of the reaction in the lower SPS energy range. A new scaling property of particle production ratios was found which relates collision systems of different size and centrality. Systematics of the evolution of particle production from pp via pPb to PbPb collisions were investigated.     

欧洲核子研究中心发现新物质形态——夸克胶子等离子体存在的证据

介绍和评述了欧洲核子研究中心（CERN）的相对论重离子碰撞的重要实验结果及其物理解释。碰撞初期形成了高温高密系统。能量密度达到了产生夸克胶子等离子体（QGP）的阈值,低质量双轻子增长、J／ψ反常压低和奇异粒子增长等实验现象可以用形成了QGP来解释。但目前的实验还不足以证明已经产生了QGP。     

Status and plans of the NA61/SHINE physics program

One of the NA61/SHINE experiment??s goals is to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter and study the properties of the onset of deconfinement. This is to be achieved by performing a two-dimensional phase diagram (T-?? _B ) scan??measuring hadron production in collisions of various beam particles and targets at various beam energies. NA61/SHINE also collects data for the T2K experiment, which are just about to be published.     

Identity method—a new tool for studying chemical fluctuations

Event-by-event fluctuations of the chemical composition of the hadronic system produced in nuclear collisions are believed to be sensitive to properties of the transition between confined and deconfined strongly interacting matter. In this paper a new technique for the study of chemical fluctuation, the identity method, is introduced and its features are discussed. The method is tested using data on central PbPb collisions at 40 A GeV registered by the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS.