0000000000132104
AUTHOR
Kyeongpil Lee
Systematic study of charged-pion and kaon femtoscopy in Au + Au collisions atsNN=200GeV
We present a systematic study of charged-pion and kaon interferometry in Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. The kaon mean source radii are found to be larger than pion radii in the outward and longitudinal directions for the same transverse mass; this difference increases for more central collisions. The azimuthal-angle dependence of the radii was measured with respect to the second-order event plane and similar oscillations of the source radii were found for pions and kaons. Hydrodynamic models qualitatively describe the similar oscillations of the mean source radii for pions and kaons, but they do not fully describe the transverse-mass dependence of the oscillations.
Medium Modification of Jet Fragmentation inAu+AuCollisions atsNN=200 GeVMeasured in Direct Photon-Hadron Correlations
The jet fragmentation function is measured with direct photon-hadron correlations in p + p and Au + Au collisions at root S-NN = 200 GeV. The P-T of the photon is an excellent approximation to the initial P-T of the jet and the ratio Z(T) = P-T(h)/P-T(gamma) is used as a proxy for the jet fragmentation function. A statistical subtraction is used to extract the direct photon-hadron yields in Au + Au collisions while a photon isolation cut is applied in p + p. I-AA, the ratio of hadron yield opposite the photon in Au + Au to that in p + p, indicates modification of the jet fragmentation function. Suppression, most likely due to energy loss in the medium, is seen at high Z(T). The associated h…
Transverse momentum dependence ofηmeson suppression in Au+Au collisions atsNN=200GeV
New measurements by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider for. production at midrapidity as a function of transverse momentum ((PT)) and collision centrality in root s(NN) = 200 GeV Au + Au and p + p collisions are presented. They indicate nuclear modification factors (R-AA) which are similar in both magnitude and trend to those found in earlier pi(0) measurements. Linear fits to R-AA as a function of (PT) in 5-20 GeV/c show that the slope is consistent with zero within two standard deviations at all centralities, although a slow rise cannot be excluded. Having different statistical and systematic uncertainties, the pi(0) and eta measurements are complementary at high…
Azimuthal correlations of electrons from heavy-flavor decay with hadrons inp+pand Au+Au collisions atsNN=200GeV
Measurements of electrons from the decay of open-heavy-flavor mesons have shown that the yields are suppressed in Au+Au collisions compared to expectations from binary-scaled p+p collisions. These measurements indicate that charm and bottom quarks interact with the hot dense matter produced in heavy-ion collisions much more than expected. Here we extend these studies to two-particle correlations where one particle is an electron from the decay of a heavy-flavor meson and the other is a charged hadron from either the decay of the heavy meson or from jet fragmentation. These measurements provide more detailed information about the interactions between heavy quarks and the matter, such as whet…
J/ψsuppression at forward rapidity in Au+Au collisions atsNN=200GeV
Heavy quarkonia are observed to be suppressed in relativistic heavy-ion collisions relative to their production in p + p collisions scaled by the number of binary collisions. In order to determine if this suppression is related to color screening of these states in the produced medium, one needs to account for other nuclear modifications including those in cold nuclear matter. In this paper, we present new measurements from the PHENIX 2007 data set of J/psi yields at forward rapidity (1.2 < vertical bar y vertical bar < 2.2) in Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. The data confirm the earlier finding that the suppression of J/. at forward rapidity is stronger than at midrapidity, whi…
Trends in Yield and Azimuthal Shape Modification in Dihadron Correlations in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions
Fast parton probes produced by hard scattering and embedded within collisions of large nuclei have shown that partons suffer large energy loss and that the produced medium may respond collectively to the lost energy. We present measurements of neutral pion trigger particles at transverse momenta p^t_T = 4-12 GeV/c and associated charged hadrons (p^a_T = 0.5-7 GeV/c) as a function of relative azimuthal angle Delta Phi at midrapidity in Au+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. These data lead to two major observations. First, the relative angular distribution of low momentum hadrons, whose shape modification has been interpreted as a medium response to parton energy loss, is found to…
Production ofωmesons inp+p,d+ Au, Cu + Cu, and Au + Au collisions atsNN=200GeV
The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has measured omega meson production via leptonic and hadronic decay channels in p + p, d + Au, Cu+ Cu, and Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. The invariant transverse momentum spectra measured in different decay modes give consistent results. Measurements in the hadronic decay channel in Cu Cu and Au + Au collisions show that. production has a suppression pattern at high transverse momentum, similar to that of pi(0) and eta in central collisions, but no suppression is observed in peripheral collisions. The nuclear modification factors, R-AA, are consistent in Cu + Cu and Au + Au collisions at similar numbers of participan…
Suppression of away-side jet fragments with respect to the reaction plane in Au + Au collisions atsNN=200GeV
Pair correlations between large transverse momentum neutral pion triggers (p(T) = 4-7 GeV/c) and charged hadron partners (p(T) = 3-7 GeV/c) in central (0%-20%) and midcentral (20%-60%) Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV are presented as a function of trigger orientation with respect to the reaction plane. The particles are at larger momentum than where jet shape modifications have been observed, and the correlations are sensitive to the energy loss of partons traveling through hot densematter. An out-of-plane trigger particle produces only 26 +/- 20% of the away-side pairs that are observed opposite of an in-plane trigger particle for midcentral (20%-60%) collisions. In contrast, ne…
Measurement of the higher-order anisotropic flow coefficients for identified hadrons in Au + Au collisions atsNN=200GeV
Measurements of the anisotropic flow coefficients v2{Ψ2},v3{Ψ3},v4{Ψ4}, and v4{Ψ2} for identified particles (π±,K±, and p+p) at midrapidity, obtained relative to the event planes Ψm at forward rapidities in Au + Au collisions at sNN=200GeV, are presented as a function of collision centrality and particle transverse momenta pT. The vn coefficients show characteristic patterns consistent with hydrodynamical expansion of the matter produced in the collisions. For each harmonic n, a modified valence quark-number Nq scaling [plotting vn{Ψm}/(Nq)n/2 versus transverse kinetic energies (KET)/Nq] is observed to yield a single curve for all the measured particle species for a broad range of KET. A si…
Azimuthal Anisotropy ofπ0Production inAu+AuCollisions atsNN=200 GeV: Path-Length Dependence of Jet Quenching and the Role of Initial Geometry
We have measured the azimuthal anisotropy of pi(0) production for 1 < p(T) < 18 GeV/c for Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. The observed anisotropy shows a gradual decrease for 3 less than or similar to p(T) less than or similar to 7-10 GeV/c, but remains positive beyond 10 GeV/c. The magnitude of this anisotropy is underpredicted, up to at least similar to 10 GeV/c, by current perturbative QCD (PQCD) energy-loss model calculations. An estimate of the increase in anisotropy expected from initial-geometry modification due to gluon saturation effects and fluctuations is insufficient to account for this discrepancy. Calculations that implement a path-length dependence steeper than wh…
Neutral pion production with respect to centrality and reaction plane in Au+Au collisions atsNN=200GeV
The PHENIX experiment has measured the production of pi(0)s in Au + Au collisions at root S-NN = 200 GeV. The new data offer a fourfold increase in recorded luminosity, providing higher precision and a larger reach in transverse momentum, p(T), to 20 GeV/c. The production ratio of eta/pi(0) is 0.46 +/- 0.01(stat) +/- 0.05(syst), constant with p(T) and collision centrality. The observed ratio is consistent with earlier measurements, as well as with the p + p and d + Au values. pi(0) are suppressed by a factor of 5, as in earlier findings. However, with the improved statistical precision a small but significant rise of the nuclear modification factor R-AA vs p(T), with a slope of 0.0106 +/-(0…
Measurements of Higher Order Flow Harmonics inAu+AuCollisions atsNN=200 GeV
Flow coefficients nu(n) for n = 2, 3, 4, characterizing the anisotropic collective flow in Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV, are measured relative to event planes Psi(n), determined at large rapidity. We report nu(n) as a function of transverse momentum and collision centrality, and study the correlations among the event planes of different order n. The nu(n) are well described by hydrodynamic models which employ a Glauber Monte Carlo initial state geometry with fluctuations, providing additional constraining power on the interplay between initial conditions and the effects of viscosity as the system evolves. This new constraint can serve to improve the precision of the extracted …
Spectra and ratios of identified particles in Au+Au andd+Au collisions atsNN=200GeV
The transverse momentum (p(T)) spectra and ratios of identified charged hadrons (pi(+/-), K-+/-, p, (p) over bar) produced in root s(NN) = 200 GeV Au + Au and d + Au collisions are reported in five different centrality classes for each collision species. The measurements of pions and protons are reported up to p(T) = 6 GeV/c (5 GeV/c), and the measurements of kaons are reported up to p(T) = 4 GeV/c (3.5 GeV/c) in Au + Au (d + Au) collisions. In the intermediate p(T) region, between 2 and 5 GeV/c, a significant enhancement of baryon-to-meson ratios compared to those measured in p + p collisions is observed. This enhancement is present in both Au + Au and d + Au collisions and increases as th…
Deviation from quark number scaling of the anisotropy parameterv2of pions, kaons, and protons inAu+Aucollisions atsNN=200GeV
Measurements of the anisotropy parameter v(2) of identified hadrons (pions, kaons, and protons) as a function of centrality, transverse momentum p(T), and transverse kinetic energy KET at midrapidity (vertical bar eta vertical bar < 0.35) in Au + Au collisions at root s(N N) = 200 GeV are presented. Pions and protons are identified up to p(T) = 6 GeV/c, and kaons up to p(T) = 4 GeV/c, by combining information from time-of-flight and aerogel Cerenkov detectors in the PHENIX Experiment. The scaling of v(2) with the number of valence quarks (n(q)) has been studied in different centrality bins as a function of transverse momentum and transverse kinetic energy. A deviation from previously observ…
Azimuthal anisotropy ofπ0andηmesons in Au + Au collisions atsNN=200GeV
The azimuthal anisotropy coefficients v2 and v4 of p 0 and. mesons are measured in Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV as a function of transverse momentum p(T) (1-14 GeV/c) and centrality. The extracted v(2) coefficients are found to be consistent between the two meson species over the measured p(T) range. The ratio of v(4)/v(2)(2) for pi(0) mesons is found to be independent of p(T) for 1- 9 GeV/c, implying a lack of sensitivity of the ratio to the change of underlying physics with p(T). Furthermore, the ratio of v(4)/v(2)(2) is systematically larger in central collisions, which may reflect the combined effects of fluctuations in the initial collision geometry and finite viscosity i…
Observation of Direct-Photon Collective Flow inAu+AuCollisions atsNN=200 GeV
The second Fourier component v(2) of the azimuthal anisotropy with respect to the reaction plane is measured for direct photons at midrapidity and transverse momentum (p(T)) of 1-12 GeV/c in Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. Previous measurements of this quantity for hadrons with p(T) 6 GeV/c a reduced anisotropy is interpreted in terms of a path-length dependence for parton energy loss. In this measurement with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider we find that for p(T) > 4 GeV/c the anisotropy for direct photons is consistent with zero, which is as expected if the dominant source of direct photons is initial hard scattering. However, in the p(T) < 4 GeV/c re…
Centrality dependence of low-momentum direct-photon production inAu+Aucollisions atsNN=200 GeV
The PHENIX experiment at RHIC has measured the centrality dependence of the direct photon yield from Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√=200 GeV down to pT=0.4 GeV/c. Photons are detected via photon conversions to e+e− pairs and an improved technique is applied that minimizes the systematic uncertainties that usually limit direct photon measurements, in particular at low pT. We find an excess of direct photons above the Ncoll-scaled yield measured in p+p collisions. This excess yield is well described by an exponential distribution with an inverse slope of about 240MeV/c in the pT range 0.6–2.0 GeV/c. While the shape of the pT distribution is independent of centrality within the experimental uncert…
Elliptic and Hexadecapole Flow of Charged Hadrons inAu+AuCollisions atsNN=200 GeV
Differential measurements of the elliptic (upsilon(2)) and hexadecapole (upsilon(4)) Fourier flow coefficients are reported for charged hadrons as a function of transverse momentum (p(T)) and collision centrality or number of participant nucleons (N-part) for Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV/ The upsilon(2,4) measurements at pseudorapidity vertical bar eta vertical bar <= 0.35, obtained with four separate reaction-plane detectors positioned in the range 1.0 < vertical bar eta vertical bar < 3.9, show good agreement, indicating the absence of significant Delta eta-dependent nonflow correlations. Sizable values for upsilon(4)(p(T)) are observed with a ratio upsilon(4)(p(T), N-part)/…