The PHENIX Collaboration

Heavy-flavor electron-muon correlations in p+p and d+Au collisions at sNN−−−−√=200 GeV

Background: Heavy-flavor modification in relativistic p ( d ) + A collisions are sensitive to different kinds of strong-interaction physics ranging from modifications of the nuclear wave function to initial- and final-state energy loss. Modifications to single heavy-flavor particles and their decay leptons at midrapidity and forward rapidity are well established at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Purpose: This paper presents measurements of azimuthal correlations of electron-muon pairs produced from heavy-flavor decays, primarily c ̄ c ,in √ s NN = 200 GeV p + p and d + Au collision using the PHENIX detector at RHIC. The electrons are measured at midrapidity while the muons in t…

Measurement of transverse-single-spin asymmetries for midrapidity and forward-rapidity production of hadrons in polarized p plus p collisions at root s=200 and 62.4 GeV

[Introduction] Measurements of transverse-single-spin asymmetries ( A N )in p þ p collisions at ffiffiffi s p ¼ 62 . 4 and 200 GeV with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider are presented. At midrapidity, A N is measured for neutral pion and eta mesons reconstructed from diphoton decay, and, at forward rapidities, neutral pions are measured using both diphotons and electromagnetic clusters. The neutral-pion measurement of A N at midrapidity is consistent with zero with uncertainties a factor of 20 smaller than previous publications, which will lead to improved constraints on the gluon Sivers function. At higher rapidities, where the valence quark distributions are probe…

Inclusive double-helicity asymmetries in neutral-pion and eta-meson production in p → + p → collisions at s =200GeV

Abstract: Results are presented from data recorded in 2009 by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider for the double-longitudinal spin asymmetry, A LL , for π 0 and η production in ffiffiffi s p ¼ 200 GeV polarized p þ p collisions. Comparison of the π 0 results with different theory expectations based on fits of other published data showed a preference for small positive values of gluon polarization, Δ G , in the proton in the probed Bjorken x range. The effect of adding the new 2009 π 0 data to a recent global analysis of polarized scattering data is also shown, resulting in a best fit value Δ G ½ 0 . 05 ; 0 . 2 DSSV ¼ 0 . 06 þ 0 . 11 − 0 . 15 in the range 0 . 05 <x< …

Cold-nuclear-matter effects on heavy-quark production at forward and backward rapidity in d + Au collisions at √sNN = 200  GeV.

The PHENIX experiment has measured open heavy-flavor production via semileptonic decay over the transverse momentum range 1p(T)6  GeV/c at forward and backward rapidity (1.4|y|2.0) in d+Au and p + p collisions at √sNN = 200  GeV. In central d+Au collisions, relative to the yield in p + p collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions, a suppression is observed at forward rapidity (in the d-going direction) and an enhancement at backward rapidity (in the Au-going direction). Predictions using nuclear-modified-parton-distribution functions, even with additional nuclear-p(T) broadening, cannot simultaneously reproduce the data at both rapidity ranges, which implies that t…