Background: Heavy-flavor production in p+p collisions tests perturbative-quantum-chromodynamics (pQCD) calculations. Modification of heavy-flavor production in heavy-ion collisions relative to binary-collision scaling from p+p results, quantified with the nuclear-modification factor (R_AA), provides information on both cold- and hot-nuclear-matter effects. Purpose: Determine transverse-momentum, pt, spectra and the corresponding R_AA for muons from heavy-flavor mesons decay in p+p and Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV and y=1.65. Method: Results are obtained using the semi-leptonic decay of heavy-flavor mesons into negative muons. The PHENIX muon-arm spectrometers measure the p_T spectra of inclusive muon candidates. Backgrounds, primarily due to light hadrons, are determined with a Monte-Carlo calculation using a set of input hadron distributions tuned to match measured-hadron distributions in the same detector and statistically subtracted. Results: The charm-production cross section in p+p collisions at sqrt{s}=200 GeV, integrated over pt and in the rapidity range 1.4<y<1.9 is found to be dsigma_ccbar/dy = 0.139 +/- 0.029 (stat) ^{+0.051}_{-0.058} (syst) mb. This result is consistent with calculations and with expectations based on the corresponding midrapidity charm-production cross section measured earlier by PHENIX. The R_AA for heavy-flavor muons in Cu+Cu collisions is measured in three centrality intervals for 1<pt<4 GeV/c. Suppression relative to binary-collision scaling (R_AA<1) increases with centrality. Conclusions: Within experimental and theoretical uncertainties, the measured heavy-flavor yield in p+p collisions is consistent with state-of-the-art pQCD calculations. Suppression in central Cu+Cu collisions suggests the presence of significant cold-nuclear-matter effects and final-state energy loss.
Production cross section of negative muons from heavy-flavor mesons decay as a function of $p_T$ in $p$+$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV.
Invariant production yields of negative muons from heavy-flavor-mesons decay as a function $p_T$ in Cu+Cu collisions for three different centrality intervals (40-94%, 20-40%, and 0-20%), scaled by powers of ten for clarity. The solid line associated to each set of points corresponds to a fit to the $p$+$p$ invariant yield distribution described in the text, scaled by the appropriate number of binary collisions $N_{coll}$ when comparing to the Cu+Cu measurements.
Invariant production yields of negative muons from heavy-flavor-mesons decay as a function $p_T$ in $p$+$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV. The solid line associated to each set of points corresponds to a fit to the $p$+$p$ invariant yield distribution described in the text, scaled by the appropriate number of binary collisions $N_{coll}$ when comparing to the Cu+Cu measurements.
Recently, multiparticle-correlation measurements of relativistic $p/d/^3$He$+$Au, $p$$+$Pb, and even $p$$+$$p$ collisions have shown surprising collective signatures. Here we present beam-energy-scan measurements of 2-, 4-, and 6-particle angular correlations in $d$$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$=200, 62.4, 39, and 19.6 GeV. We also present measurements of 2- and 4-particle angular correlations in $p$$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$=200 GeV. We find the 4-particle cumulant to be real-valued for $d$$+$Au collisions at all four energies. We also find that the 4-particle cumulant in $p$$+$Au has the opposite sign as that in $d$$+$Au, indicating that the correlations are geometrical and therefore collective in origin. Further we find that the 6-particle cumulant agrees with the 4-particle cumulant in $d$$+$Au collisions at 200 GeV, which indicates that nonflow effects are subdominant and provides strong evidence of collectivity.
Components $\langle\langle$4$\rangle\rangle$ and 2$\langle\langle$2$\rangle\rangle^{2}$ and cumulant $c_2${4} = $\langle\langle$4$\rangle\rangle$ - 2$\langle\langle$2$\rangle\rangle^{2}$ as a function of $N^{FVTX}_{tracks}$. (a) and (b) show the components and cumulant, respectively, in $p$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. (c) and (d) show the components and cumulant, respectively, in $d$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. (b) and (d) also show the cumulant as measured in AMPT for $p$+Au and $d$+Au, respectively, indicated by the green line. The shaded green band indicates the statistical uncertainty on the AMPT values.
Components $\langle\langle$4$\rangle\rangle$ and 2$\langle\langle$2$\rangle\rangle^{2}$ and cumulant $c_2${4} = $\langle\langle$4$\rangle\rangle$ - 2$\langle\langle$2$\rangle\rangle^{2}$ as a function of $N^{FVTX}_{tracks}$. (a) and (b) show the components and cumulant, respectively, in $p$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. (c) and (d) show the components and cumulant, respectively, in $d$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. (b) and (d) also show the cumulant as measured in AMPT for $p$+Au and $d$+Au, respectively, indicated by the green line. The shaded green band indicates the statistical uncertainty on the AMPT values.
$v_2${2}, $v_2${2, |$\Delta\eta$| > 2}, and $v_2${4} as a function of $N^{FVTX}_{tracks}$ in $d$+Au collisions with $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$= (a) 200 GeV, (b) 62.4 GeV, (c) 39 GeV, and (d) 19.6 GeV; also shown in (a) is $v_2${6} for $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$= 200 GeV. The arrowheads on the statistical uncertainties indicate cases where the standard 1$\sigma$ uncertainty on the $c_2${4} crosses zero. For 19.6 GeV, the combined confidence interval for $v_2${4} to be real is 79%.
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