Search for direct photons from S-Au collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon

The CERES experiment has measured inclusive photon production in S-Au collisions of 200 GeV/nucleon at the CERN SPS. No evidence for direct emission of photons was found. For the kinematic region 2.1<y<2.65 and 0.4 GeV/c<p??<2.0 GeV/c the yield andp??-dependence of the observed photons are well reproduced by hadron decays. Furthermore, their production rate is found to be proportional to the charged particle density. The systematic errors comparing the measured and expected photon yield result in an upper limit of 14% for the emission of direct photons in central S-Au collisions. For a photon source with a yield depending quadratically on the charged particle density the limit can be reduced to 7%.     

Search for direct photons from S-Au collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon

The CERES experiment has measured inclusive photon production in S-Au collisions of 200 GeV/nucleon at the CERN SPS. No evidence for direct emission of photons was found. For the kinematic region 2.1<y<2.65 and 0.4 GeV/c<p⊥<2.0 GeV/c the yield andp⊥-dependence of the observed photons are well reproduced by hadron decays. Furthermore, their production rate is found to be proportional to the charged particle density. The systematic errors comparing the measured and expected photon yield result in an upper limit of 14% for the emission of direct photons in central S-Au collisions. For a photon source with a yield depending quadratically on the charged particle density the limit can be reduced to 7%.     

Fragmentation cross sections of16O at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon

We used CR39 plastic nuclear track detectors (C₁₂H₁₈O₇) in combination with automatic track measurement to determine total charge changing and partial cross sections for the production of fragments of chargeZ=6 andZ=7 in collisions of¹⁶O beam nuclei at energies of 60 GeV/nucleon and 200 GeV/nucleon in targets H, C, CR39, CH₂, Al, Cu, Ag and Pb. Total charge changing cross sections due to the process of electromagnetic dissociation are calculated based on a theoretical model and found to be consistent with total and partial electromagnetic dissociation cross sections derived from this experiment. The energy dependence of pure nuclear fragmentation is investigated.     

Production of charged kaons in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon

Production of charged kaons in proton-sulphur, proton-gold, sulphur-sulphur and oxygen-gold collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon has been studied in the NA35 Streamer Chamber experiment. Rapidity and transverse mass distributions as well as mean multiplicities were obtained. The results are compared with nucleon-nucleon data and with model predictions.Deceased     

Target fragmentation in proton-nucleus and16O-nucleus reactions at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon

Target remnants withZ<3 from proton-nucleus and¹⁶O-nucleus reactions at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon were measured in the angular range from 30° to 160° (?1.7<η<1.3) employing the Plastic Ball detector. The excitation energy of the target spectator matter in central oxygen-induced collisions is found to be high enough to allow for complete disintegration of the target nucleus into fragments withZ<3. The average longitudinal momentum transfer per proton to the target in central collisions is considerably higher in the case of¹⁶O-induced reactions (≈300 MeV/c) than in proton-induced reactions (≈130 MeV/c). The baryon rapidity distributions are roughly in agreement with one-fluid hydrodynamical calculations at 60 GeV/nucleon¹⁶O+Au but are in disagreement at 200 GeV/nucleon, indicating the higher degree of transparency at the higher bombarding energy. Both, the transverse momenta of target spectators and the entropy produced in the target fragmentation region are compared to those attained in head-on collisions of two heavy nuclei at Bevalac energies. They are found to be comparable or do even exceed the values for the participant matter at beam energies of about 1–2 GeV/nucleon.     

Fragmentation cross sections of32S at 0.7, 1.2 and 200 GeV/nucleon

We used CR39 plastic nuclear track detectors (C₁₂H₁₈O₇) in combination with automatic track measurement techniques to determine total charge changing and partial cross sections for the production of fragments of chargeZ _F =6 toZ _F =15 in collisions of³²S beam nuclei at energies of 0.7, 1.2 and 200 GeV/nucleon in targets H, C, CR39, CH₂, Al, Cu, Ag and Pb. By application of factorization rules measured partial cross sections are separated into pure nuclear and electromagnetic components. Total and partial cross sections for electromagnetic dissociation are compared with theoretical models. The energy dependence of pure nuclear cross sections is investigated.     

Strange particle production in nuclear collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon

Multiplicities and spectra of strange particles ( andK ^– produced in central³²S+S,³²S+Ag and³²S+Au collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon are presented and compared with data on strange particle production in protonnucleus and nucleon-nucleon interactions. It is shown that strangeness production in³²S+Ag collisions is enhanced by a factor of two, similar to that found previously in central³²S+S collisions.     

Study of the energy flow in sulphur-and oxygen-nucleus collisions at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon

Data on multiplicities of charged particles produced in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon are presented. It is shown that the mean multiplicity of negative particles is proportional to the mean number of nucleons participating in the collision both for nucleus-nucleus and proton-nucleus collisions. The apparent consistency of pion multiplicity data with the assumption of an incoherent superposition of nucleon-nucleon collisions is critically discussed.     

Measurement of multiplicity distributions in oxygen-tungsten collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon

Multiplicity distributions of charged particles have been measured in the pseudorapidity region 0.9 <η _lab < 4.9 for oxygen-tungsten collisions at an incident energy of 200 GeV per nucleon. The multiplicity cross-sectiondσ/dN as measured in the backward hemisphere (0.9 <η _lab < 2.9) is found to be very similar in shape to the transverse energy distributiondσ/dE _T published previously by this group, reflecting the particular geometry of nucleus-nucleus collisions. Pseudorapidity distributionsdN/dη are presented and their dependence onE _T is discussed. The average transverse energy per charged particle is studied versusE _T and is found to be constant within our systematic error of approximately 10%.     

The transverse-energy distributions of 32S-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon

Transverse-energy distributions have been measured for the collisions of the ³²S nucleus with Al, Ag, W, Pt, Pb, and U target nuclei, at an incident energy of 200 GeV per nucleon. The shapes of these distribution reflect the geometry of the collisions, including the deformation effects. For central collisions, the transverse-energy production in the region −0.1<η_lab<2.9 increases approximately as A^0.5, where A is the atomic mass number of the target. This increase is accompanied by a relative depletion in the forward region η_lab > 2.9. These results are compared with those obtained under similar conditions with incident ¹⁶O nuclei. A comparison is also made with the predictions of a Monte Carlo generator based on the dual parton model. Finally, we give estimates of the energy density reached and its dependence on the atomic mass number of the projectile.     

Search for direct photons from S-Au collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon by the CERES Collaboration

In this note we comment on a recent publication in this journal by the CERES (NA45) Collaboration [1]. The authors report to have determined an upper limit on the direct photon yield relative to the decay photon yield in S + Au collisions of 14% and 7% by two different methods, respectively. We argue that these limits are unsupported by the results and analysis of the CERES data. The systematic error estimates quoted in the CERES analysis are consistently overly optimistic. Using more realistic estimates of the various error contributions and propagating them appropriately we arrive at a direct photon upper limit which at best is 20% of the inclusive photon yield, and most probably is much higher.     

Meson production inp+U,O+U and S+U interactions at 200 GeV/nucleon

Meson production in proton, oxygen and sulphur interactions with uranium targets at 200 GeV/nucleon is studied. We measure the inclusive meson cross-section d /dP _T ² and its evolution fromp+U to S+U. The cross-section fitted with an exponential gives an inverse slopeP _T0 of the order of 210 MeV/c. As a function of the neutral transverse energy,P _T0 values show a slight rise followed by a plateau. The normalized difference (⁺–^–)/^– between positive and negative meson cross-sections is found to increase withE _T .also at ISEL     

Pion-proton elastic scattering at 200 GeV/c

Recent measurements of differential and elastic cross-sections, slope parameters and ratios of the real and imaginary parts of the forward scattering amplitudes for pion-proton elastic scattering at 200 GeV/c have been fitted by using a simple Regge pole model with phenomenological residue functions. The computed results for total cross-sections have also been compared with the experimental data.     

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.     

Transverse energy distributions in Si-nucleus collisions at 10 GeV/nucleon

Transverse energy distributions have been measured for collisions of 10 GeV/nucleon Si with targets of Al, Cu and Pb using a combination of a NaI wall and a uranium based sampling calorimeter. The measured cross sectionsdσ/dE _T anddE _T /dη are consistent with full stopping and an increase, with increasing values ofE _T , of energy flow into large angles.