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<|y|<2.2) in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV. The data confirm the earlier finding that the suppression of J/psi at forward rapidity is stronger than at midrapidity, while also extending the measurement to finer bins in collision centrality and higher transverse momentum (pT). We compare the experimental data to the most recent theoretical calculations that incorporate a variety of physics mechanisms including gluon saturation, gluon shadowing, initial-state parton energy loss, cold nuclear matter breakup, color screening, and charm recombination. We find J/psi suppression beyond cold-nuclear-matter effects. However, the current level of disagreement between models and d+Au data precludes using these models to quantify the hot-nuclear-matter suppression.
J/psi invariant yield in Au+Au collisions as a function of $N_{part}$ at forward rapidity ($p_{T}$ integrated). The statistical and systematic uncertainties vary point-to-point and are listed for each measured value. An additional global systematic uncertainty is provided in each column heading, which applies to all data points per column.
J/psi nuclear modification $R_{AA}$ in Au+Au collisions as a function of $N_{part}$ at forward rapidity ($p_T$ integrated). The statistical and systematic uncertainties vary point-to-point and are listed for each measured value. An additional global systematic uncertainty is provided in each column heading, which applies to all data points per column.
J/psi invariant yield in Au+Au collisions as a function of transverse momentum for the 0-20% centrality class at forward rapidity. The statistical and systematic uncertainties vary point-to-point and are listed for each measured value. An additional global systematic uncertainty is provided in each column heading, which applies to all data points per column.
Charmonium is a valuable probe in heavy-ion collisions to study the properties of the quark gluon plasma, and is also an interesting probe in small collision systems to study cold nuclear matter effects, which are also present in large collision systems. With the recent observations of collective behavior of produced particles in small system collisions, measurements of the modification of charmonium in small systems have become increasingly relevant. We present the results of J/ψ measurements at forward and backward rapidity in various small collision systems, p+p, p+Al, p+Au and 3He+Au, at √sNN =200 GeV. The results are presented in the form of the observable RAB, the nuclear modification factor, a measure of the ratio of the J/ψ invariant yield compared to the scaled yield in p+p collisions. We examine the rapidity, transverse momentum, and collision centrality dependence of nuclear effects on J/ψ production with different projectile sizes p and 3He, and different target sizes Al and Au. The modification is found to be strongly dependent on the target size, but to be very similar for p+Au and 3He+Au. However, for 0%–20% central collisions at backward rapidity, the modification for 3He+Au is found to be smaller than that for p+Au, with a mean fit to the ratio of 0.89±0.03(stat)±0.08(syst), possibly indicating final state effects due to the larger projectile size.
J/psi nuclear modification in p+Au collisions as a function of nuclear thickness (T_A). The statistical and systematic uncertainties vary point-to-point and are listed for each measured value. An additional global systematic uncertainty is provided in each column heading, which applies to all data points per column.
We report the measurement of the $\gamma p \rightarrow K^{+}\Lambda$ and $\gamma p \rightarrow K^{+}\Sigma^{0}$ reactions at SPring-8. The differential cross sections and photon-beam asymmetries are measured at forward $K^{+}$ production angles using linearly polarized tagged-photon beams in the range of $E_{\gamma}=1.5$--3.0 GeV. With increasing photon energy, the cross sections for both $\gamma p \rightarrow K^{+}\Lambda$ and $\gamma p \rightarrow K^{+}\Sigma^{0}$ reactions decrease slowly. Distinct narrow structures in the production cross section have not been found at $E_{\gamma}=1.5$--3.0 GeV. The forward peaking in the angular distributions of cross sections, a characteristic feature of $t$-channel exchange, is observed for the production of $\Lambda$ in the whole observed energy range. A lack of similar feature for $\Sigma^{0}$ production reflects a less dominant role of $t$-channel contribution in this channel. The photon-beam asymmetries remain positive for both reactions, suggesting the dominance of $K^{*}$ exchange in the $t$ channel. These asymmetries increase gradually with the photon energy, and have a maximum value of +0.6 for both reactions. Comparison with theoretical predictions based on the Regge trajectory in the $t$ channel and the contributions of nucleon resonances indicates the major role of $t$-channel contributions as well as non-negligible effects of nucleon resonances in accounting for the reaction mechanism of hyperon photoproduction in this photon energy regime.
Differential cross sections for the GAMMA P --> K+ LAMBDA reaction as a function of photon energy Egamma for the kaon c.m. production polar angle 0.6 < cos(theta) < 0.7.
Differential cross sections for the GAMMA P --> K+ LAMBDA reaction as a function of photon energy Egamma for the kaon c.m. production polar angle 0.7 < cos(theta) < 0.8.
Differential cross sections for the GAMMA P --> K+ LAMBDA reaction as a function of photon energy Egamma for the kaon c.m. production polar angle 0.8 < cos(theta) < 0.9.
The PHENIX experiment has studied nuclear effects in $p$$+$Al and $p$$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV on charged hadron production at forward rapidity ($1.4<\eta<2.4$, $p$-going direction) and backward rapidity ($-2.2<\eta<-1.2$, $A$-going direction). Such effects are quantified by measuring nuclear modification factors as a function of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity in various collision multiplicity selections. In central $p$$+$Al and $p$$+$Au collisions, a suppression (enhancement) is observed at forward (backward) rapidity compared to the binary scaled yields in $p$+$p$ collisions. The magnitude of enhancement at backward rapidity is larger in $p$$+$Au collisions than in $p$$+$Al collisions, which have a smaller number of participating nucleons. However, the results at forward rapidity show a similar suppression within uncertainties. The results in the integrated centrality are compared with calculations using nuclear parton distribution functions, which show a reasonable agreement at the forward rapidity but fail to describe the backward rapidity enhancement.
The LEPS/SPring-8 experiment made a comprehensive measurement of the spin-density matrix elements for $\gamma p \to \phi p$, $\gamma d \to \phi p n$ and $\gamma d \to \phi d$ at forward production angles. A linearly polarized photon beam at $E_{\gamma}$=1.6-2.4 GeV was used for the production of $\phi$ mesons. The natural-parity Pomeron exchange processes remains dominant nearthreshold. The unnatural-parity processes of pseudoscalar exchange is visible in the production from nucleons but is greatly reduced in the coherent production from deuterons. There is no strong $E_{\gamma}$-dependence, but some dependence on momentum-transfer. A small but finite value of the spin-density matrix elements reflecting helicity-nonconserving amplitudes in the $t$-channel is observed.
Measurements of the spin density matrix element RHO(JJ=0,MM=11) for the GAMMA P --> PHI P reaction in the Adair system as a function of T-Tmin for 3 incident photon energy regions.
Differential cross sections for $\gamma p \to K^+\Lambda(1405)$ and $\gamma p \to K^+\Sigma^0(1385)$ reactions have been measured in the photon energy range from 1.5 to 2.4 GeV and the angular range of $0.8<\cos(\Theta)<1.0$ for the $K^+$ scattering angle in the center-of-mass system. This data is the first measurement of the $\Lambda(1405)$ photoproduction cross section. The lineshapes of \LamS measured in $\Sigma^+\pi^-$ and $\Sigma^-\pi^+$ decay modes were different with each other, indicating a strong interference of the isospin 0 and 1 terms of the $\Sigma\pi$ scattering amplitudes. The ratios of \LamS production to \SigS production were measured in two photon energy ranges: near the production threshold ($1.5<E_\gamma<2.0$ GeV) and far from it ($2.0 <E_\gamma<2.4$ GeV). The observed ratio decreased in the higher photon energy region, which may suggest different production mechanisms and internal structures for these hyperon resonances.
Cross section for LAMBDA(1405) production.
Cross section for SIGMA(1385)0 production.
A comprehensive survey of event-by-event fluctuations of charged hadron multiplicity in relativistic heavy ions is presented. The survey covers Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV, and Cu+Cu collisions sqrt(s_NN) = 22.5, 62.4, and 200 GeV. Fluctuations are measured as a function of collision centrality, transverse momentum range, and charge sign. After correcting for non-dynamical fluctuations due to fluctuations in the collision geometry within a centrality bin, the remaining dynamical fluctuations expressed as the variance normalized by the mean tend to decrease with increasing centrality. The dynamical fluctuations are consistent with or below the expectation from a superposition of participant nucleon-nucleon collisions based upon p+p data, indicating that this dataset does not exhibit evidence of critical behavior in terms of the compressibility of the system. An analysis of Negative Binomial Distribution fits to the multiplicity distributions demonstrates that the heavy ion data exhibit weak clustering properties.
The mean from the NBD fit as a function of $N_{part}$ for 200 GeV Au+Au collisions over the range 0.2 < $p_T$ < 2.0 GeV/$c$.
The mean from the NBD fit as a function of $N_{part}$ for 62.4 GeV Au+Au collisions over the range 0.2 < $p_T$ < 2.0 GeV/$c$.
Photoproduction of $\Lambda$(1520) with liquid hydrogen and deuterium targets was examined at photon energies below 2.4 GeV in the SPring-8/LEPS experiment. For the first time, the differential cross sections were measured at low energies and with a deuterium target. A large asymmetry of the production cross sections from protons and neutrons was observed at backward K$^{+/0}$ angles. This suggests the importance of the contact term, which coexists with t-channel K exchange under gauge invariance. This interpretation was compatible with the differential cross sections, decay asymmetry, and photon beam asymmetry measured in the production from protons at forward K$^+$ angles.
The measured differential cross sections from the liquid hydrogen target, protons, as a function the K+ polar angle.
The measured differential cross sections from the liquid hydrogen target, protons, as a function the photon energy at forward K+ polar angles of 19-43 degrees .
The measured of differential cross section at backward K+/K0 polar angles of 120-150 degrees as a function of photon energy from the liquid hydrogen target, protons, and liquid deuterium target, deuterons.
The PHENIX Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has measured open heavy-flavor production in minimum bias Au$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV via the yields of electrons from semileptonic decays of charm and bottom hadrons. Previous heavy-flavor electron measurements indicated substantial modification in the momentum distribution of the parent heavy quarks due to the quark-gluon plasma created in these collisions. For the first time, using the PHENIX silicon vertex detector to measure precision displaced tracking, the relative contributions from charm and bottom hadrons to these electrons as a function of transverse momentum are measured in Au$+$Au collisions. We compare the fraction of electrons from bottom hadrons to previously published results extracted from electron-hadron correlations in $p$$+$$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV and find the fractions to be similar within the large uncertainties on both measurements for $p_T>4$ GeV/$c$. We use the bottom electron fractions in Au$+$Au and $p$$+$$p$ along with the previously measured heavy flavor electron $R_{AA}$ to calculate the $R_{AA}$ for electrons from charm and bottom hadron decays separately. We find that electrons from bottom hadron decays are less suppressed than those from charm for the region $3<p_T<4$ GeV/$c$.
We study the processes $\gamma \gamma \to K^0_S K^{\pm}\pi^{\mp}$ and $\gamma \gamma \to K^+ K^- \pi^0$ using a data sample of 519~$fb^{-1}$ recorded with the BaBar detector operating at the SLAC PEP-II asymmetric-energy $e^+ e^-$ collider at center-of-mass energies at and near the $\Upsilon(nS)$ ($n = 2,3,4$) resonances. We observe $\eta_c$ decays to both final states and perform Dalitz plot analyses using a model-independent partial wave analysis technique. This allows a model-independent measurement of the mass-dependence of the $I=1/2$ $K \pi$ $\mathcal{S}$-wave amplitude and phase. A comparison between the present measurement and those from previous experiments indicates similar behaviour for the phase up to a mass of 1.5 $GeV/c^2$. In contrast, the amplitudes show very marked differences. The data require the presence of a new $a_0(1950)$ resonance with parameters $m=1931 \pm 14 \pm 22 \ MeV/c^2$ and $\Gamma=271 \pm 22 \pm 29 \ MeV$.
Measured amplitude and phase values for the $I=1/2$ $K \pi$ $\mathcal{S}$-wave as functions of mass obtained from the Model Independent Partial Wave Analysis (MIPWA) of $\eta_c \to K^0_{\scriptscriptstyle S} K^{\pm}\pi^{\mp}$. The amplitudes and phases in the mass interval 14 are fixed to constant values.
Measured amplitude and phase values for the $I=1/2$ $K \pi$ $\mathcal{S}$-wave as functions of mass obtained from the Model Independent Partial Wave Analysis (MIPWA) of $\eta_c \to K^+ K^- \pi^0$. The amplitudes and phases in the mass interval 14 are fixed to constant values.
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