Charmonium production in p – A collisions is a unique tool for the study of the interaction of bound c c states in nuclear matter. It can provide details on the basic features of the resonance formation mechanism and, in particular, on its non-perturbative aspects. In this Letter, we present an experimental study of charmonia and Drell–Yan production in proton–nucleus collisions at 450 GeV/ c . The results are analyzed in the framework of the Glauber model and lead to the values of the nuclear absorption cross-section σ abs pA for J / ψ and ψ ′. Then, we compare the J / ψ absorption in proton–nucleus and sulphur–uranium interactions, using NA38 data. We obtain that, for the J / ψ , σ abs pA and σ abs SU are compatible, showing that no sizeable additional suppression mechanism is present in S–U collisions, and confirming that the anomalous J / ψ suppression only sets in for Pb–Pb interactions.
We present a new measurement of J/psi production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/nucleon, from the data sample collected in year 2000 by the NA50 Collaboration, under improved experimental conditions with respect to previous years. With the target system placed in vacuum, the setup was better adapted to study, in particular, the most peripheral nuclear collisions with unprecedented accuracy. The analysis of this data sample shows that the (J/psi)/Drell-Yan cross-sections ratio measured in the most peripheral Pb-Pb interactions is in good agreement with the nuclear absorption pattern extrapolated from the studies of proton-nucleus collisions. Furthermore, this new measurement confirms our previous observation that the (J/psi)/Drell-Yan cross-sections ratio departs from the normal nuclear absorption pattern for semi-central Pb-Pb collisions and that this ratio persistently decreases up to the most central collisions.
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