K*(892) resonance production in Au + Au and p + p collisions at s(NN)**(1/2) = 200-GeV at STAR.

The STAR collaboration Adams, J. ; Aggarwal, M.M. ; Ahammed, Z. ; et al.
Phys.Rev.C 71 (2005) 064902, 2005.
Inspire Record 666578 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.100595

The short-lived $K(892)^{*}$ resonance provides an efficient tool to probe properties of the hot and dense medium produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We report measurements of $K^{*}$ in $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 200 GeV Au+Au and $p+p$ collisions reconstructed via its hadronic decay channels $K(892)^{*0} \to K\pi$ and $K(892)^{*\pm} \to K_S^0\pi^{\pm}$ using the STAR detector at RHIC. The $K^{*0}$ mass has been studied as a function of $p_T$ in minimum bias $p+p$ and central Au+Au collisions. The $K^{*}$ $p_T$ spectra for minimum bias $p+p$ interactions and for Au+Au collisions in different centralities are presented. The $K^{*}/K$ yield ratios for all centralities in Au+Au collisions are found to be significantly lower than the ratio in minimum bias $p+p$ collisions, indicating the importance of hadronic interactions between chemical and kinetic freeze-outs. A significant non-zero $K^{*0}$ elliptic flow ($v_2$) is observed in Au+Au collisions and compared to the $K_S^0$ and $\Lambda$ $v_2$. The nuclear modification factor of $K^{*}$ at intermediate $p_{T}$ is similar to that of $K_{S}^{0}$, but different from $\Lambda$. This establishes a baryon-meson effect over a mass effect in the particle production at intermediate $p_T$ ($2 < p_T \leq 4$ GeV/$c$).

22 data tables

$K_S^0$ signal observed in the $\pi^+\pi^−$ invariant mass distribution reconstructed from the decay topology method via $K_S^0->\pi^+\pi^−$ in $p+p$ collisions. The dashed curve depicts the Gaussian fit function plus a linear function representing the background.

The $K\pi$ invariant mass distributions after event-mixing background subtraction (open star symbols) and like-sign background subtraction with different daughter momentum cuts (0.2 < Kaon and Pion p < 10 GeV/$c$ for filled square symbols, 0.2 < Kaon $p$ < 0.7 GeV/$c$ and 0.2 < Pion $p$ < 10 GeV/$c$ for open triangle symbols) demonstrating the sources of the residual background in minimum bias Au+Au collisions. The open triangle symbols have been scaled up by a factor of 3 in order to increase the visibility. The arrow depicts the standard $K^{*0}$ mass of 896.1 MeV/$c^2$.

The $K\pi$ invariant mass distribution integrated over the $K^*$ $p_T$ for central Au+Au (upper panel) and minimum bias $p + p$ (lower panel) interactions after the mixed-event background subtraction. The solid curves are the fits to Eq. 5 with $T_{fo}$ = 120 MeV and $p_T$ = 1.8 GeV/$c$ for central Au+Au and $T_{fo}$ = 160 MeV and $p_T$ = 0.8 GeV/$c$ for p+p, respectively. The dashed lines are the linear function representing the residual background.

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