The average transverse momentum $\langle p_{\rm T}\rangle$ versus the charged-particle multiplicity $N_{\rm ch}$ was measured in p-Pb collisions at a collision energy per nucleon-nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV and in pp collisions at collision energies of $\sqrt{s}=0.9$, 2.76, and 7 TeV in the kinematic range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<10.0$ GeV/$c$ and $|\eta|<0.3$ with the ALICE apparatus at the LHC. These data are compared to results in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV at similar charged-particle multiplicities. In pp and p-Pb collisions, a strong increase of $\langle p_{\rm T}\rangle$ with $N_{\rm ch}$ is observed, which is much stronger than that measured in Pb-Pb collisions. For pp collisions, this could be attributed, within a model of hadronizing strings, to multiple-parton interactions and to a final-state color reconnection mechanism. The data in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions cannot be described by an incoherent superposition of nucleon-nucleon collisions and pose a challenge to most of the event generators.
Measurements of the sphericity of primary charged particles in minimum bias proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.9$, 2.76 and 7 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC are presented. The observable is linearized to be collinear safe and is measured in the plane perpendicular to the beam direction using primary charged tracks with $p_{\rm T}\geq0.5$ GeV/c in $|\eta|\leq0.8$. The mean sphericity as a function of the charged particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity ($N_{\rm ch}$) is reported for events with different $p_{\rm T}$ scales ("soft" and "hard") defined by the transverse momentum of the leading particle. In addition, the mean charged particle transverse momentum versus multiplicity is presented for the different event classes, and the sphericity distributions in bins of multiplicity are presented. The data are compared with calculations of standard Monte Carlo event generators. The transverse sphericity is found to grow with multiplicity at all collision energies, with a steeper rise at low $N_{\rm ch}$, whereas the event generators show the opposite tendency. The combined study of the sphericity and the mean $p_{\rm T}$ with multiplicity indicates that most of the tested event generators produce events with higher multiplicity by generating more back-to-back jets resulting in decreased sphericity (and isotropy). The PYTHIA6 generator with tune PERUGIA-2011 exhibits a noticeable improvement in describing the data, compared to the other tested generators.
The system created in non-central relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions possesses large orbital angular momentum. Due to spin-orbit coupling, particles produced in such a system could become globally polarized along the direction of the system angular momentum. We present the results of Lambda and anti-Lambda hyperon global polarization measurements in Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s_NN}=62.4 GeV and 200 GeV performed with the STAR detector at RHIC. The observed global polarization of Lambda and anti-Lambda hyperons in the STAR acceptance is consistent with zero within the precision of the measurements. The obtained upper limit, |P_{Lambda,anti-Lambda}| <= 0.02, is compared to the theoretical values discussed recently in the literature.
The STAR Collaboration at RHIC presents a systematic study of high transverse momentum charged di-hadron correlations at small azimuthal pair separation \dphino, in d+Au and central Au+Au collisions at $\rts = 200$ GeV. Significant correlated yield for pairs with large longitudinal separation \deta is observed in central Au+Au, in contrast to d+Au collisions. The associated yield distribution in \detano$\times$\dphi can be decomposed into a narrow jet-like peak at small angular separation which has a similar shape to that found in d+Au collisions, and a component which is narrow in \dphi and \textcolor{black}{depends only weakly on} $\deta$, the 'ridge'. Using two systematically independent analyses, \textcolor{black}{finite ridge yield} is found to persist for trigger $\pt > 6$ \GeVc, indicating that it is correlated with jet production. The transverse momentum spectrum of hadrons comprising the ridge is found to be similar to that of bulk particle production in the measured range ($2 < \pt < 4 \GeVc$).
We present strange particle spectra and yields measured at mid-rapidity in $\sqrt{\text{s}}=200$ GeV proton-proton ($p+p$) collisions at RHIC. We find that the previously observed universal transverse mass ($\mathrm{m_{T}}\equiv\sqrt{\mathrm{p_{T}}^{2}+\mathrm{m}^{2}}$) scaling of hadron production in $p+p$ collisions seems to break down at higher \mt and that there is a difference in the shape of the \mt spectrum between baryons and mesons. We observe mid-rapidity anti-baryon to baryon ratios near unity for $\Lambda$ and $\Xi$ baryons and no dependence of the ratio on transverse momentum, indicating that our data do not yet reach the quark-jet dominated region. We show the dependence of the mean transverse momentum (\mpt) on measured charged particle multiplicity and on particle mass and infer that these trends are consistent with gluon-jet dominated particle production. The data are compared to previous measurements from CERN-SPS, ISR and FNAL experiments and to Leading Order (LO) and Next to Leading order (NLO) string fragmentation model predictions. We infer from these comparisons that the spectral shapes and particle yields from $p+p$ collisions at RHIC energies have large contributions from gluon jets rather than quark jets.
J/psi production has been measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)= 200 GeV over a wide rapidity and transverse momentum range by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC. Distributions of the rapidity and transverse momentum, along with measurements of the mean transverse momentum and total production cross section are presented and compared to available theoretical calculations. The total J/psi cross section is 3.99 +/- 0.61(stat) +/- 0.58(sys) +/- 0.40(abs) micro barns. The mean transverse momentum is 1.80 +/- 0.23(stat) +/- 0.16(sys) GeV/c.
We present the scaling properties of Lambda, Xi, Omega and their anti-particles produced at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at RHIC at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. The yield of multi-strange baryons per participant nucleon increases from peripheral to central collisions more rapidly than the Lambda yield, which appears to correspond to an increasing strange quark density of matter produced. The value of the strange phase space occupancy factor gamma_s, obtained from a thermal model fit to the data, approaches unity for the most central collisions. We also show that the nuclear modification factors, R_CP, of Lambda and Xi are consistent with each other and with that of protons in the transverse momentum range 2.0 < p_T < 5.0 GeV/c. This scaling behaviour is consistent with a scenario of hadron formation from constituent quark degrees of freedom through quark recombination or coalescence.
We present a measurement of pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^- photonuclear production in ultra-peripheral Au-Au collisions at sqrt(s_{NN}) = 200 GeV from the STAR experiment. The pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^- final states are observed at low transverse momentum and are accompanied by mutual nuclear excitation of the beam particles. The strong enhancement of the production cross section at low transverse momentum is consistent with coherent photoproduction. The pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^- invariant mass spectrum of the coherent events exhibits a broad peak around 1540 pm 40 MeV/c^2 with a width of 570 pm 60 MeV/c^2, in agreement with the photoproduction data for the rho^0(1700). We do not observe a corresponding peak in the pi^+pi^- final state and measure an upper limit for the ratio of the branching fractions of the rho^0(1700) to pi^+pi^- and pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^- of 2.5 % at 90 % confidence level. The ratio of rho^0(1700) and rho^0(770) coherent production cross sections is measured to be 13.4 pm 0.8 (stat.) pm 4.4 (syst.) %.
The production of $\pi^+$, $\pi^-$, $K^+$, $K^-$, p, and pbar at mid-rapidity has been measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 900$ GeV with the ALICE detector. Particle identification is performed using the specific energy loss in the inner tracking silicon detector and the time projection chamber. In addition, time-of-flight information is used to identify hadrons at higher momenta. Finally, the distinctive kink topology of the weak decay of charged kaons is used for an alternative measurement of the kaon transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra. Since these various particle identification tools give the best separation capabilities over different momentum ranges, the results are combined to extract spectra from $p_{\rm T}$ = 100 MeV/$c$ to 2.5 GeV/$c$. The measured spectra are further compared with QCD-inspired models which yield a poor description. The total yields and the mean $p_{\rm T}$ are compared with previous measurements, and the trends as a function of collision energy are discussed.
We report measurements of transverse momentum $p_t$ spectra for ten event multiplicity classes of p-p collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV. By analyzing the multiplicity dependence we find that the spectrum shape can be decomposed into a part with amplitude proportional to multiplicity and described by a L\'evy distribution on transverse mass $m_t$, and a part with amplitude proportional to multiplicity squared and described by a gaussian distribution on transverse rapidity $y_t$. The functional forms of the two parts are nearly independent of event multiplicity. The two parts can be identified with the soft and hard components of a two-component model of p-p collisions. This analysis then provides the first isolation of the hard component of the $p_t$ spectrum as a distribution of simple form on $y_t$.