Balance functions have been measured in terms of relative pseudorapidity ($\Delta \eta$) for charged particle pairs at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 7.7 GeV to 200 GeV using the STAR detector. These results are compared with balance functions measured at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) from Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV by the ALICE Collaboration. The width of the balance function decreases as the collisions become more central and as the beam energy is increased. In contrast, the widths of the balance functions calculated using shuffled events show little dependence on centrality or beam energy and are larger than the observed widths. Balance function widths calculated using events generated by UrQMD are wider than the measured widths in central collisions and show little centrality dependence. The measured widths of the balance functions in central collisions are consistent with the delayed hadronization of a deconfined quark gluon plasma (QGP). The narrowing of the balance function in central collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 7.7 GeV implies that a QGP is still being created at this relatively low energy.
The balance function in terms of $\Delta \eta$ for all charged particles with $0.2 < p_{T} < 2.0$ GeV/$c$ from central Au+Au collisions (0-5%) for $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=7.7$ GeV. The data are the measured balance functions corrected by subtracting balance functions calculated using mixed events. Also shown are balance functions calculated using shuffled events.
The balance function in terms of $\Delta \eta$ for all charged particles with $0.2 < p_{T} < 2.0$ GeV/$c$ from central Au+Au collisions (0-5%) for $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=11.5$ GeV. The data are the measured balance functions corrected by subtracting balance functions calculated using mixed events. Also shown are balance functions calculated using shuffled events.
The balance function in terms of $\Delta \eta$ for all charged particles with $0.2 < p_{T} < 2.0$ GeV/$c$ from central Au+Au collisions (0-5%) for $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=19.6$ GeV. The data are the measured balance functions corrected by subtracting balance functions calculated using mixed events. Also shown are balance functions calculated using shuffled events.
We report the measurement of cumulants ($C_n, n=1\ldots4$) of the net-charge distributions measured within pseudorapidity ($|\eta|<0.35$) in Au$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=7.7-200$ GeV with the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The ratios of cumulants (e.g. $C_1/C_2$, $C_3/C_1$) of the net-charge distributions, which can be related to volume independent susceptibility ratios, are studied as a function of centrality and energy. These quantities are important to understand the quantum-chromodynamics phase diagram and possible existence of a critical end point. The measured values are very well described by expectation from negative binomial distributions. We do not observe any nonmonotonic behavior in the ratios of the cumulants as a function of collision energy. The measured values of $C_1/C_2 = \mu/\sigma^2$ and $C_3/C_1 = S\sigma^3/\mu$ can be directly compared to lattice quantum-chromodynamics calculations and thus allow extraction of both the chemical freeze-out temperature and the baryon chemical potential at each center-of-mass energy.
Efficiency corrected cumulants of net-charge distributions as a function of $\langle N_{part} \rangle$ from Au+Au collisions at different collision energies.
Efficiency corrected cumulants of net-charge distributions as a function of $\langle N_{part} \rangle$ from Au+Au collisions at different collision energies.
Efficiency corrected cumulants of net-charge distributions as a function of $\langle N_{part} \rangle$ from Au+Au collisions at different collision energies.
We present measurements of $\Omega$ and $\phi$ production at mid-rapidity from Au+Au collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27 and 39 GeV by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Motivated by the coalescence formation mechanism for these strange hadrons, we study the ratios of $N(\Omega^{-}+\Omega^{+})/(2N(\phi))$. These ratios as a function of transverse momentum ($p_T$) fall on a consistent trend at high collision energies, but start to show deviations in peripheral collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 19.6, 27 and 39 GeV, and in central collisions at 11.5 GeV in the intermediate $p_T$ region of 2.4-3.6 GeV/c. We further evaluate empirically the strange quark $p_T$ distributions at hadronization by studying the $\Omega/\phi$ ratios scaled by the number of constituent quarks. The NCQ-scaled $\Omega/\phi$ ratios show a suppression of strange quark production in central collisions at 11.5 GeV compared to $\sqrt{s_{NN}} >= 19.6$ GeV. The shapes of the presumably thermal strange quark distributions in 0-60% most central collisions at 7.7 GeV show significant deviations from those in 0-10% most central collisions at higher energies. These features suggest that there is likely a change of the underlying strange quark dynamics in the transition from quark-matter to hadronic matter at collision energies below 19.6 GeV.
Phi Meson Spectra.
Phi Meson Spectra.
Phi Meson Spectra.
We present measurements of $\pi^-$ and $\pi^+$ elliptic flow, $v_2$, at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} =$ 200, 62.4, 39, 27, 19.6, 11.5 and 7.7 GeV, as a function of event-by-event charge asymmetry, $A_{ch}$, based on data from the STAR experiment at RHIC. We find that $\pi^-$ ($\pi^+$) elliptic flow linearly increases (decreases) with charge asymmetry for most centrality bins at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} = \text{27 GeV}$ and higher. At $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} = \text{200 GeV}$, the slope of the difference of $v_2$ between $\pi^-$ and $\pi^+$ as a function of $A_{ch}$ exhibits a centrality dependence, which is qualitatively similar to calculations that incorporate a chiral magnetic wave effect. Similar centrality dependence is also observed at lower energies.
The distribution of observed charge asymmetry from STAR data.
Pion $v_2${2} as a function of observed charge asymmetry.
$v_2$ difference between $\pi^-$ and $\pi^+$ as a function of charge asymmetry with the tracking efficiency correction, for 30-40% central Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV. The errors are statistical only.
A search for the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) critical point was performed by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, using dynamical fluctuations of unlike particle pairs. Heavy-ion collisions were studied over a large range of collision energies with homogeneous acceptance and excellent particle identification, covering a significant range in the QCD phase diagram where a critical point may be located. Dynamical $K\pi$, $p\pi$, and $Kp$ fluctuations as measured by the STAR experiment in central 0-5\% Au+Au collisions from center-of-mass collision energies $\rm \sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7 to 200 GeV are presented. The observable $\rm \nu_{dyn}$ was used to quantify the magnitude of the dynamical fluctuations in event-by-event measurements of the $K\pi$, $p\pi$, and $Kp$ pairs. The energy dependences of these fluctuations from central 0-5\% Au+Au collisions all demonstrate a smooth evolution with collision energy.
$p\pi$, Kp, and $K\pi$ fluctuations as a function of collision energy, expressed as $v_{dyn,p\pi}$, $v_{dyn,Kp}$, and $v_{dyn,K\pi}$ respectively. Shown are data from central (0-5%) Au+Au collisions at energies from $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 7.7 to 200 GeV from the STAR experiment.
Local parity-odd domains are theorized to form inside a Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) which has been produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. The local parity-odd domains manifest themselves as charge separation along the magnetic field axis via the chiral magnetic effect (CME). The experimental observation of charge separation has previously been reported for heavy-ion collisions at the top RHIC energies. In this paper, we present the results of the beam-energy dependence of the charge correlations in Au+Au collisions at midrapidity for center-of-mass energies of 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39 and 62.4 GeV from the STAR experiment. After background subtraction, the signal gradually reduces with decreased beam energy, and tends to vanish by 7.7 GeV. The implications of these results for the CME will be discussed.
The three-point correlator, $\gamma$, as a function of centrality for Au+Au collisions at 62.4 GeV.
The three-point correlator, $\gamma$, as a function of centrality for Au+Au collisions at 39 GeV.
The three-point correlator, $\gamma$, as a function of centrality for Au+Au collisions at 27 GeV.
We report the beam energy (\sqrt s_{NN} = 7.7 - 200 GeV) and collision centrality dependence of the mean (M), standard deviation (\sigma), skewness (S), and kurtosis (\kappa) of the net-proton multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions. The measurements are carried out by the STAR experiment at midrapidity (|y| < 0.5) and within the transverse momentum range 0.4 < pT < 0.8 GeV/c in the first phase of the Beam Energy Scan program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. These measurements are important for understanding the Quantum Chromodynamic (QCD) phase diagram. The products of the moments, S\sigma and \kappa\sigma^{2}, are sensitive to the correlation length of the hot and dense medium created in the collisions and are related to the ratios of baryon number susceptibilities of corresponding orders. The products of moments are found to have values significantly below the Skellam expectation and close to expectations based on independent proton and anti-proton production. The measurements are compared to a transport model calculation to understand the effect of acceptance and baryon number conservation, and also to a hadron resonance gas model.
$\Delta N_p$ multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{S_{NN}}=7.7$ GeV for 0-5 percent, 30-40 percent and 70-80 percent collision centralities at midrapidity.
$\Delta N_p$ multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{S_{NN}}=11.5$ GeV for 0-5 percent, 30-40 percent and 70-80 percent collision centralities at midrapidity.
$\Delta N_p$ multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{S_{NN}}=19.6$ GeV for 0-5 percent, 30-40 percent and 70-80 percent collision centralities at midrapidity.
We present the first measurements of identified hadron production, azimuthal anisotropy, and pion interferometry from Au+Au collisions below the nominal injection energy at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) facility. The data were collected using the large acceptance STAR detector at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 9.2 GeV from a test run of the collider in the year 2008. Midrapidity results on multiplicity density (dN/dy) in rapidity (y), average transverse momentum (<pT>), particle ratios, elliptic flow, and HBT radii are consistent with the corresponding results at similar $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ from fixed target experiments. Directed flow measurements are presented for both midrapidity and forward rapidity regions. Furthermore the collision centrality dependence of identified particle dN/dy, <pT>, and particle ratios are discussed. These results also demonstrate the readiness of the STAR detector to undertake the proposed QCD critical point search and the exploration of the QCD phase diagram at RHIC.
Second order event plane resolution measured in the TPC as a function of collision centrality for.
Efficiency × acceptance for reconstructed pions, kaons, and protons in the TPC as a function of p_T at midrapidity.
Percentage of pion background contribution estimated from HIJING+GEANT as a function of p_T at midrapidity.
We report results for $K/\pi$ fluctuations from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 19.6, 62.4, 130, and 200 GeV using the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Our results for $K/\pi$ fluctuations in central collisions show little dependence on the incident energies studied and are on the same order as results observed by NA49 at the Super Proton Synchrotron in central Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 12.3 and 17.3 GeV. We also report results for the collision centrality dependence of $K/\pi$ fluctuations as well as results for $K^{+}/\pi^{+}$, $K^{-}/\pi^{-}$, $K^{+}/\pi^{-}$, and $K^{-}/\pi^{+}$ fluctuations. We observe that the $K/\pi$ fluctuations scale with the multiplicity density, $dN/d\eta$, rather than the number of participating nucleons.
(Color online) The event-by-event $K/\pi$ ratio for 200 GeV Au+Au central collisions (0-5%) compared with the same quantity calculated from mixed events. The inset shows the ratio of the distribution from real events to that from mixed events. The errors shown are statistical.
(Color online) The event-by-event $K/\pi$ ratio for 200 GeV Au+Au central collisions (0-5%) compared with the same quantity calculated from mixed events. The inset shows the ratio of the distribution from real events to that from mixed events. The errors shown are statistical.
(Color online) Measured dynamical $K/\pi$ fluctuations in terms of σdyn for central collisions (0 - 5%) of 19.6, 62.4, 130, and 200 GeV Au+Au compared with the central collisions (0 - 3.5%) of Pb+Pb from NA49 [7] and the statistical hadronization (SH) model of Ref. [14]. The solid line represents the relationship of the incident energy dependence of $\sigma_{dyn}$ in central collisions to the collision centrality dependence of $\nu_{dyn,K\pi}$ at higher energies. Both statistical (vertical line with horizontal bar) and systematic (no vertical line) error bars are shown for the experimental data.
The dissociation of virtual photons, $\gamma^{\star} p \to X p$, in events with a large rapidity gap between $X$ and the outgoing proton, as well as in events in which the leading proton was directly measured, has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The data cover photon virtualities $Q^2>2$ GeV$^2$ and $\gamma^{\star} p$ centre-of-mass energies $40<W<240$ GeV, with $M_X>2$ GeV, where $M_X$ is the mass of the hadronic final state, $X$. Leading protons were detected in the ZEUS leading proton spectrometer. The cross section is presented as a function of $t$, the squared four-momentum transfer at the proton vertex and $\Phi$, the azimuthal angle between the positron scattering plane and the proton scattering plane. It is also shown as a function of $Q^2$ and $\xpom$, the fraction of the proton's momentum carried by the diffractive exchange, as well as $\beta$, the Bjorken variable defined with respect to the diffractive exchange.
The differential cross section DSIG/DT for the LRG and the LPS data samples.
The fitted exponential slope of the T distribution as a function of X(NAME=POMERON).
The fitted exponential slope of the T distribution as a function of X(NAME=POMERON).
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