We have measured antiproton production cross sections as functions of centrality in collisions of 14.6 GeV/c per nucleon Si28 ions with targets of Al, Cu, and Pb. For all targets, the antiproton yields increase linearly with the number of projectile nucleons that have interacted, and show little target dependence. We discuss the implications of this result on the production and absorption of antiprotons within the nuclear medium.
We present the final results from Experiment 864 of a search for charged and neutral strange quark matter produced in interactions of 11.5 GeV/c per nucleon Au beams with Pt or Pb targets. Searches were made for strange quark matter with A>4. Approximately 30 billion 10% most central collisions were sampled and no strangelet states with A<100 were observed. We find 90% confidence level upper limits of approximately 10^{-8} per central collision for both charged and neutral strangelets. These limits are for strangelets with proper lifetimes greater than 50 ns. Also limits for H^{0}-d and pineut production are given. The above limits are compared with the predictions of various models. The yields of light nuclei from coalescence are measured and a penalty factor for the addition of one nucleon to the coalescing nucleus is determined. This is useful in gauging the significance of our upper limits and also in planning future searches for strange quark matter.
Inclusive double differential multiplicities d2N/dy dpt and related quantities have been measured for protons and deuterons produced in 14.6A GeV/c Si+Al and Si+Pb collisions using the E814 forward spectrometer at the AGS at BNL. Collision ‘‘centrality’’ is determined by measuring Nc, the total charged particle multiplicity in the pseudorapidity range 0.85<η<3.8. For both systems Si + Al and Si + Pb, an increase in the proton rapidity distribution dN/dy at midrapidity and a corresponding decrease at higher rapidities are observed with increasing Nc. For Si+Pb, Boltzmann slope parameters TB increase significantly in the most central collisions. The measured distributions exhibit a centrality dependence even when σ/σgeo≲10%, where full overlap between the Si and Pb nuclei occurs in a simple geometric picture. The proton rapidity distribution dN/dy is presented for the symmetric system Si+Al over the entire rapididty interval. The total number of protons, which is the integral of this quantity over rapidity, varies with Nc. Results are compared with various model calculations, mostly using the hadronic cascade codes ARC and RQMD. No significant nuclear transparency is observed, indicating that large baryon and energy densities are produced in these collisions.
Recently, highly relativistic Au beams have become available at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Alternating Gradient Synchrotron. Inclusive production cross sections for composite particles, d, t, He3, and He4, in 11.5A GeV/c Au+Pt collisions have been measured using a beam line spectrometer. For comparison, composite particle production was also measured in Si+Pt and p+Pt collisions at similar beam momenta per nucleon (14.6A GeV/c and 12.9 GeV/c, respectively). The projectile dependence of the production cross section for each composite particle has been fitted to Aprojα. The parameter α can be described by a single function of the mass number and the momentum per nucleon of the produced particle. Additionally, the data are well described by momentum-space coalescence. Comparisons with similar analysis of Bevalac A+A data are made. The coalescence radii extracted from momentum-space coalescence fits are used to determine reaction volumes (‘‘source size’’) within the context of the Sato-Yazaki model.
A strangelet search in Si+Pt and Au+Pt collisions at alternating-gradient synchrotron (AGS) energies, using a focusing spectrometer, sensitive to mass per charge of 3-14 GeV/c2 was conducted during the 1992 and 1993 heavy ion runs at the AGS. The null results thereof are presented as upper limits on the invariant production cross section, in the range of 10−5-10−4 mb c3/GeV2, and model dependent sensitivity limits in the range of 10−7-10−5 per collision. Measurements of the production cross sections of several nonstrange nuclear systems, from p to Be7 and Li8, the background of the strangelet search, are also presented.
During the recent commissioning of Au beams at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron facility, experiment 886 measured production cross sections for π±, K±, p, and p¯ in minimum bias Au+Pt collisions at 11.5A GeV/c. Invariant differential cross sections, Ed3σ/dp3, were measured at several rigidities (p/Z≤1.8 GeV/c) using a 5.7° (fixed-angle) focusing spectrometer. For comparison, particle production was measured in minimum bias Si+Pt collisions at 14.6A GeV/c using the same apparatus and in p+Pt collisions at 12.9 GeV/c using a similar spectrometer at KEK. When normalized to projectile mass, Aproj, the measured π± and K± cross sections are nearly equal for the p+Pt and Si+Pt reactions. In contrast to this behavior, the π− cross section measured in Au+Pt shows a significant excess beyond Aproj scaling of the p+Pt measurement. This enhancement suggests collective phenomena contribute significantly to π− production in the larger Au+Pt colliding system. For the Au+Pt reaction, the π+ and K+ yields also exceed Aproj scaling of p+Pt collisions. However, little significance can be attributed to these excesses due to larger experimental uncertainties for the positive rigidity Au beam measurements. For antiprotons, the Si+Pt and Au+Pt cross sections fall well below Aproj scaling of the p+Pt yields indicating a substantial fraction of the nuclear projectile is ineffective for p¯ production. Comparing with p+Pt multiplicities, the Si+Pt and Au+Pt antiproton yields agree with that expected solely from ‘‘first’’ nucleon-nucleon collisions (i.e., collisions between previously unstruck nucleons). In light of expected p¯ annihilation in the colliding system, such projectile independence is unexpected without additional (projectile dependent) sources of p¯ production. In this case, the data indicate an approximate balance exists between absorption and additional sources of antiprotons. This balance is remarkable given the wide range of projectile mass spanned by these measurements.
The cross section for the production and subsequent decay to electron and neutrino of the W intermediate vector boson has been measured in 1.8-TeV p¯p collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. An analysis of events with missing transverse energy greater than 25 GeV and with an electron of transverse energy greater than 15 GeV from a datum sample of 25.3 nb−1 gives σB=2.6±0.6±0.5 nb.
We have measured dijet angular distributions at √s =1.8 TeV with the Collider Detector at Fermilab and the Tevatron p¯p Collider and find agreement with leading-order QCD. By comparing the distribution for the highest dijet invariant masses with the prediction of a model of quark compositeness, we set a lower limit on the associated scale parameter Λc at 330 GeV (95% C.L.).
The charged-particle fractional momentum distribution within jets, D(z), has been measured in dijet events from 1.8-TeV p¯p collisions in the Collider Detector at Fermilab. As expected from scale breaking in quantum chromodynamics, the fragmentation function D(z) falls more steeply as dijet invariant mass increases from 60 to 200 GeV/c2. The average fraction of the jet momentum carried by charged particles is 0.65±0.02(stat)±0.08(syst).
A measurement of the QCD jet-broadening parameter 〈QT〉 is described for high-ET jet data in the central calorimeter of the Collider Detector at Fermilab. As an alternate approach to clustering analysis, this method involves the use of a global event parameter which is free from the ambiguities associated with the definition and separation of individual clusters. The parameter QT is defined as the scalar sum of the transverse momentum perpendicular to the transverse thrust axis. Parton-level QCD predictions are made for 〈QT〉 as a function of ET, the total transverse energy in the events, and suggest that a measurement would show a dependence on the running of the strong coupling constant αs. Comparisons are made to first-order QCD parton-level calculations, as well as to fully evolved and hadronized leading-log simulations. The data are well described by the QCD predictions.
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