Inclusive transverse momentum spectra of eta mesons in the range p_T~2-12 GeV/c have been measured at mid-rapidity (|\eta| < 0,35) by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC in p+p, d+Au and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. The eta mesons are reconstructed through their eta--> \gamma\gamma channel for the three colliding systems as well as through the eta-->pi^0 pi+ pi- decay mode in p+p and d+Au collisions. The nuclear modification factor in d+Au collisions, R_dAu(p_T~1.0-1.1, suggests at most only modest p_T broadening (Cronin enhancement). In central Au+Au reactions, the eta yields are significantly suppressed, with R_AuAu(pT)~0.2. The ratio of eta to pi^0 yields is approximately constant as a function of p_T for the three colliding systems in agreement with the high-p_T world average of R_eta/pi^0 \approx 0.5 in hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions for a wide range of center-of-mass energies [sqrt(s_NN)~3-1800 GeV] as well as, for high scaled momentum x_p, in e+e- annihilations at sqrt(s)=91.2 GeV. These results are consistent with a scenario where high-p_T eta production in nuclear collisions at RHIC is largely unaffected by initial-state effects, but where light-quark mesons (pi^0:eta) are equally suppressed due to final-state interactions of the parent partons in the dense medium produced in Au+Au reactions.
Inelastic cross section measured in p+p at $\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV through $\eta \rightarrow \gamma \gamma$
Inelastic cross section measured in p+p at $\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV through $\eta \rightarrow \pi^{0} \pi^{+} \pi^{-}$
Inelastic cross section measured in d+Au at $\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV through $\eta \rightarrow \gamma \gamma$
The PHENIX experiment at RHIC has measured the invariant cross section for omega-meson production at mid-rapidity in the transverse momentum range 2.5 < p_T < 9.25 GeV/c in p+p and d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. Measurements in two decay channels (omega --> pi^0 pi^+ pi^- and omega --> pi^0 gamma) yield consistent results, and the reconstructed omega mass agrees with the accepted value within the p_T range of the measurements. The omega/pi^0 ratio is found to be 0.85 +/- 0.05(stat) +/- 0.09(sys) and 0.94 +/- 0.08(stat) +/- 0.12(sys) in p+p and d+Au collisions respectively, independent of p_T . The nuclear modification factor R_dA is 1.03 +/- 0.12(stat) +/- 0.21(sys) and 0.83 +/- 0.21(stat) +/- 0.17(sys) in minimum bias and central (0-20%) d+Au collisions, respectively.
Invariant cross section of $\omega$ production in $p$+$p$ and $d$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV measured in $\omega \rightarrow \pi^0\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\omega \rightarrow \pi^0\gamma$ decay channels.
Invariant cross section of $\omega$ production in $p$+$p$ and $d$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV measured in $\omega \rightarrow \pi^0\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\omega \rightarrow \pi^0\gamma$ decay channels.
Invariant cross section of $\omega$ production in $p$+$p$ and $d$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV measured in $\omega \rightarrow \pi^0\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\omega \rightarrow \pi^0\gamma$ decay channels.
Measurements of neutral pion production at midrapidity in sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions as a function of transverse momentum, p_T, collision centrality, and angle with respect to reaction plane are presented. The data represent the final pi^0 results from the PHENIX experiment for the first RHIC Au+Au run at design center-of-mass-energy. They include additional data obtained using the PHENIX Level-2 trigger with more than a factor of three increase in statistics over previously published results for p_T > 6 GeV/c. We evaluate the suppression in the yield of high-p_T pi^0's relative to point-like scaling expectations using the nuclear modification factor R_AA. We present the p_T dependence of R_AA for nine bins in collision centrality. We separately integrate R_AA over larger p_T bins to show more precisely the centrality dependence of the high-p_T suppression. We then evaluate the dependence of the high-p_T suppression on the emission angle \Delta\phi of the pions with respect to event reaction plane for 7 bins in collision centrality. We show that the yields of high-p_T pi^0's vary strongly with \Delta\phi, consistent with prior measurements. We show that this variation persists in the most peripheral bin accessible in this analysis. For the peripheral bins we observe no suppression for neutral pions produced aligned with the reaction plane while the yield of pi^0's produced perpendicular to the reaction plane is suppressed by more than a factor of 2. We analyze the combined centrality and \Delta\phi dependence of the pi^0 suppression in different p_T bins using different possible descriptions of parton energy loss dependence on jet path-length averages to determine whether a single geometric picture can explain the observed suppression pattern.
Neutral pion invariant yields as a function of $p_T$ measured in minimum bias and 9 centrality classes in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV.
Neutral pion invariant yields as a function of $p_T$ measured in minimum bias and 9 centrality classes in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV.
Neutral pion invariant yields as a function of $p_T$ measured in minimum bias and 9 centrality classes in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV.
We present azimuthal angle correlations of intermediate transverse momentum (1-4 GeV/c) hadrons from {dijets} in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV. The away-side dijet induced azimuthal correlation is broadened, non-Gaussian, and peaked away from \Delta\phi=\pi in central and semi-central collisions in all the systems. The broadening and peak location are found to depend upon the number of participants in the collision, but not on the collision energy or beam nuclei. These results are consistent with sound or shock wave models, but pose challenges to Cherenkov gluon radiation models.
The measured correlation $C(\Delta\phi)$ and the dijet correlation $J(\Delta\phi)$ in central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV.
Dijet correlations in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 and 200 GeV.
Dijet correlations in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 and 200 GeV.
The dependence of transverse momentum spectra of neutral pions and eta mesons with p_T <16 GeV/c and p_T < 12 GeV/c, respectively, on the centrality of the collision has been measured at mid-rapidity by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_(NN)) = 200 GeV. The measured yields are compared to those in p + p collisions at the same sqrt(s_(NN)) scaled by the number of underlying nucleon-nucleon collisions in d+Au. At all centralities the yield ratios show no suppression, in contrast to the strong suppression seen for central Au+Au collisions at RHIC. Only a weak p_T and centrality dependence can be observed.
Invariant yields at mid-rapidity for $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ in $d$+Au collisions as a function of $p_T$ for different centrality selections.
Invariant yields at mid-rapidity for $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ in $d$+Au collisions as a function of $p_T$ for different centrality selections.
Invariant yields at mid-rapidity for $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ in $d$+Au collisions as a function of $p_T$ for different centrality selections.
Muon production at forward rapidity (1.5 < |\eta| < 1.8) has been measured by the PHENIX experiment over the transverse momentum range 1 < p_T \le 3 GeV/c in sqrt(s) = 200 GeV p+p collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. After statistically subtracting contributions from light hadron decays an excess remains which is attributed to the semileptonic decays of hadrons carrying heavy flavor, i.e. charm quarks or, at high p_T, bottom quarks. The resulting muon spectrum from heavy flavor decays is compared to PYTHIA and a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculation. PYTHIA is used to determine the charm quark spectrum that would produce the observed muon excess. The corresponding differential cross section for charm quark production at forward rapidity is determined to be d\sigmac c^bar)/dy|_(y=1.6)=0.243 +/- 0.013 (stat.) +/- 0.105 (data syst.) ^(+0.049(-0.087) (PYTHIA syst.) mb.
Differential charm cross section at forward rapidity of 1.6 An additional +0.049 -0.087 systematic uncertainty associated with the PYTHIA normalization is not included in the values given.
Cross sections for mid-rapidity production of direct photons in p+p collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are reported for 3 < p_T < 16 GeV/c. Next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD (pQCD) describes the data well for p_T > 5 GeV/c, where the uncertainties of the measurement and theory are comparable. We also report on the effect of requiring the photons to be isolated from parton jet energy. The observed fraction of isolated photons is well described by pQCD for p_T > 7 GeV/c.
Direct photon spectra with NLO pQCD calculations for three theory scales, $\mu$ and a comparison to the NLO pQCD calculations for $\mu$ = $p_T$.
Ratio of isolated direct photons to all direct photons from the $\pi^0$-tagging method.
Ratio of isolated direct photons to all direct photons from the $\pi^0$-tagging method.
Emission source functions are extracted from correlation functions constructed from charged pions produced at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV. The source parameters extracted from these functions at low k_T, give first indications of a long tail for the pion emission source. The source extension cannot be explained solely by simple kinematic considerations. The possible role of a halo of secondary pions from resonance emissions is explored.
Correlation function, C(q) for $\pi^+\pi^+$ and $\pi^-\pi^-$ pairs.
Correlation function, C(q) for $\pi^+\pi^+$ and $\pi^-\pi^-$ pairs.
Correlation function, C(q) for $\pi^+\pi^+$ and $\pi^-\pi^-$ pairs.
The properties of jets produced in p+p collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV are measured using the method of two particle correlations. The trigger particle is a leading particle from a large transverse momentum jet while the associated particle comes from either the same jet or the away-side jet. Analysis of the angular width of the near-side peak in the correlation function determines the jet fragmentation transverse momentum j_T . The extracted value, sqrt(<j_T^2>)= 585 +/- 6(stat) +/- 15(sys) MeV/c, is constant with respect to the trigger particle transverse momentum, and comparable to the previous lower sqrt(s) measurements. The width of the away-side peak is shown to be a convolution of j_T with the fragmentation variable, z, and the partonic transverse momentum, k_T . The <z> is determined through a combined analysis of the measured pi^0 inclusive and associated spectra using jet fragmentation functions measured in e^+e^-. collisions. The final extracted values of k_T are then determined to also be independent of the trigger particle transverse momentum, over the range measured, with value of sqrt(<k_T^2>) = 2.68 +/- 0.07(stat) +/- 0.34(sys) GeV/c.
The $\chi^2(DOF)$ $\sigma_N$ and $\sqrt{<p^2_{out}>}$ values extracted for the correlation function in GeV/$c$.
The $\chi^2(DOF)$ $\sigma_N$ and $\sqrt{<p^2_{out}>}$ values extracted for the correlation function in GeV/$c$.
Measured widths of the near- and away-angle $\pi^0$ - $h^{\pm}$ correlation peaks for various trigger momenta.
PHENIX has measured the centrality dependence of mid-rapidity pion, kaon and proton transverse momentum distributions in d+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. The p+p data provide a reference for nuclear effects in d+Au and previously measured Au+Au collisions. Hadron production is enhanced in d+Au, relative to independent nucleon-nucleon scattering, as was observed in lower energy collisions. The nuclear modification factor for (anti) protons is larger than that for pions. The difference increases with centrality, but is not sufficient to account for the abundance of baryon production observed in central Au+Au collisions at RHIC. The centrality dependence in d+Au shows that the nuclear modification factor increases gradually with the number of collisions suffered by each participant nucleon. We also present comparisons with lower energy data as well as with parton recombination and other theoretical models of nuclear effects on particle production.
Mean number of binary collisions, particpating nucleons from the Au nucleus, number of collisions per participating deuteron nucleon, and trigger bias corrections for the $d$+Au centrality bins.
Transverse momentum in GeV/$c$ for $\pi^{\pm}$.
Transverse momentum in GeV/$c$ for $\pi^{\pm}$.
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