A comprehensive survey of event-by-event fluctuations of charged hadron multiplicity in relativistic heavy ions is presented. The survey covers Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV, and Cu+Cu collisions sqrt(s_NN) = 22.5, 62.4, and 200 GeV. Fluctuations are measured as a function of collision centrality, transverse momentum range, and charge sign. After correcting for non-dynamical fluctuations due to fluctuations in the collision geometry within a centrality bin, the remaining dynamical fluctuations expressed as the variance normalized by the mean tend to decrease with increasing centrality. The dynamical fluctuations are consistent with or below the expectation from a superposition of participant nucleon-nucleon collisions based upon p+p data, indicating that this dataset does not exhibit evidence of critical behavior in terms of the compressibility of the system. An analysis of Negative Binomial Distribution fits to the multiplicity distributions demonstrates that the heavy ion data exhibit weak clustering properties.
The uncorrected multiplicity distributions of charged hadrons with 0.2 < $p_T$ < 2.0 GeV/$c$ for 200 GeV Au+Au collisions.
The uncorrected multiplicity distributions of charged hadrons with 0.2 < $p_T$ < 2.0 GeV/$c$ for 200 GeV Au+Au collisions.
The uncorrected multiplicity distributions of charged hadrons with 0.2 < $p_T$ < 2.0 GeV/$c$ for 200 GeV Au+Au collisions.
The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has measured omega meson production via leptonic and hadronic decay channels in p+p, d+Au, Cu+Cu, and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. The invariant transverse momentum spectra measured in different decay modes give consistent results. Measurements in the hadronic decay channel in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions show that omega production has a suppression pattern at high transverse momentum, similar to that of pi^0 and eta in central collisions, but no suppression is observed in peripheral collisions. The nuclear modification factors, R_AA, are consistent in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at similar numbers of participant nucleons.
Invariant transverse momentum spectra of $\omega$ production in $p$+$p$ and $d$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV.
Invariant transverse momentum spectra of $\omega$ production in $p$+$p$ and $d$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV.
Invariant transverse momentum spectra of $\omega$ production in $p$+$p$ and $d$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV.
The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has performed systematic measurements of phi meson production in the K+K- decay channel at midrapidity in p+p, d+Au, Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(S_NN)=200 GeV. Results are presented on the phi invariant yield and the nuclear modification factor R_AA for Au+Au and Cu+Cu, and R_dA for d+Au collisions, studied as a function of transverse momentum (1<p_T<7 GeV/c) and centrality. In central and mid-central Au+Au collisions, the R_AA of phi exhibits a suppression relative to expectations from binary scaled p+p results. The amount of suppression is smaller than that of the neutral pion and the eta meson in the intermediate p_T range (2--5 GeV/c); whereas at higher p_T the phi, pi^0, and eta show similar suppression. The baryon (protons and anti-protons) excess observed in central Au+Au collisions at intermediate p_T is not observed for the phi meson despite the similar mass of the proton and the phi. This suggests that the excess is linked to the number of constituent quarks rather than the hadron mass. The difference gradually disappears with decreasing centrality and for peripheral collisions the R_AA values for both particles are consistent with binary scaling. Cu+Cu collisions show the same yield and suppression as Au+Au collisions for the same number of N_part. The R_dA of phi shows no evidence for cold nuclear effects within uncertainties.
Invariant $p_T$ spectra of the $\phi$ meson for different centrality bins in Au+Au, Cu+Cu, $d$+Au, and $p$+$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV.
$R_{AA}$ vs. $p_T$ for $\phi$ in central Au+Au collisions, $R_{AA}$ vs. $p_T$ for $\phi$ and $\pi^0$ in 10-20% mid-central Au+Au collisions, and $R_{AA}$ vs. $p_T$ for $\phi$ and $p$+$\bar{p}$ in 60-92% and for $\pi^0$ in 80-92% peripheral Au+Au collisions. The global uncertainty of ~ 10% related to the $p$+$p$ reference normalization is not shown.
$R_{AA}$ vs. $p_T$ for $\phi$ for 30-40% centrality Au+Au and 0-10% centrality Cu+Cu collisions, and $R_{AA}$ vs. $p_T$ for $\phi$ and $\pi^0$ for 40-50% centrality Au+Au and 10-20% centrality Cu+Cu collisions. The global uncertainty of ~ 10% related to the $p$+$p$ reference normalization is not shown.
Transverse momentum (p^e_T) spectra of electrons from semileptonic weak decays of heavy flavor mesons in the range of 0.3 < p^e_T < 9.0 GeV/c have been measured at mid-rapidity (|eta| < 0.35) by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in p+p and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV. The nuclear modification factor R_AA with respect to p+p collisions indicates substantial energy loss of heavy quarks in the produced medium. In addition, the azimuthal anisotropy parameter v_2 has been measured for 0.3 < p^e_T < 5.0 GeV/c in Au+Au collisions. Comparisons of R_AA and v_2 are made to various model calculations.
Heavy-flavor $e^{\pm}$ $v_2$ from Au+Au collisions, for the centralities indicated.
Nonphotonic electron $v_2$ as a function of $p_T$ in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV.
Correlations between p and pbar's at transverse momenta typical of enhanced baryon production in Au+Au collisions are reported. The PHENIX experiment measures same and opposite sign baryon pairs in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. Correlated production of p and p^bar with the trigger particle from the range 2.5 < p_T < 4.0 GeV/c and the associated particle with 1.8 < p_T < 2.5 GeV/c is observed to be nearly independent of the centrality of the collisions. Same sign pairs show no correlation at any centrality. The conditional yield of mesons triggered by baryons (and anti-baryons) and mesons in the same pT range rises with increasing centrality, except for the most central collisions, where baryons show a significantly smaller number of associated mesons. These data are consistent with a picture in which hard scattered partons produce correlated p and p^bar in the p_T region of the baryon excess.
$1/{N_{trig}}$ ${dN}/{d\Delta\phi}$ distributions for charge selected $\bar{p}$ and $p$ triggers both with associated $p$ for six centrality bins. Triggers have 2.5 < $p_T$ < 4.0 GeV/$c$ and associated particles have 1.8 < $p_T$ < 2.5 GeV/$c$.
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.
We have studied the dependence of azimuthal anisotropy $v_2$ for inclusive and identified charged hadrons in Au$+$Au and Cu$+$Cu collisions on collision energy, species, and centrality. The values of $v_2$ as a function of transverse momentum $p_T$ and centrality in Au$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$=200 GeV and 62.4 GeV are the same within uncertainties. However, in Cu$+$Cu collisions we observe a decrease in $v_2$ values as the collision energy is reduced from 200 to 62.4 GeV. The decrease is larger in the more peripheral collisions. By examining both Au$+$Au and Cu$+$Cu collisions we find that $v_2$ depends both on eccentricity and the number of participants, $N_{\rm part}$. We observe that $v_2$ divided by eccentricity ($\varepsilon$) monotonically increases with $N_{\rm part}$ and scales as ${N_{\rm part}^{1/3}}$. The Cu$+$Cu data at 62.4 GeV falls below the other scaled $v_{2}$ data. For identified hadrons, $v_2$ divided by the number of constituent quarks $n_q$ is independent of hadron species as a function of transverse kinetic energy $KE_T=m_T-m$ between $0.1<KE_T/n_q<1$ GeV. Combining all of the above scaling and normalizations, we observe a near-universal scaling, with the exception of the Cu$+$Cu data at 62.4 GeV, of $v_2/(n_q\cdot\varepsilon\cdot N^{1/3}_{\rm part})$ vs $KE_T/n_q$ for all measured particles.
$v_2$ vs. $p_T$ for $\pi$/$K$/$p$ emitted from Au+Au at 62.4 and 200 GeV and Cu+Cu at 62.4 and 200 GeV for centralities given.
Comparison of $v_2$ between $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 GeV and 200 GeV for $\pi$/$K$/$p$ emitted from central Au+Au collisions.
Comparison of $v_2$ between $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 GeV and 200 GeV for $\pi$/$K$/$p$ emitted from central Au+Au collisions.
For Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV we measure neutral pion production with good statistics for transverse momentum, p_T, up to 20 GeV/c. A fivefold suppression is found, which is essentially constant for 5 < p_T < 20 GeV/c. Experimental uncertainties are small enough to constrain any model-dependent parameterization for the transport coefficient of the medium, e.g. \mean(q^hat) in the parton quenching model. The spectral shape is similar for all collision classes, and the suppression does not saturate in Au+Au collisions/ instead, it increases proportional to the number of participating nucleons, as N_part^2/3.
$\pi^0$ $R_{AA}$ for the most central (0-5%) Au+Au collisions and PQM model calculations for different values of $<\bar{q}>$. The bin range is not an uncertainty in the x-axis because the actual uncertainty by having the finite bin width is corrected for by the bin-shift correction. These bins were constructed using the corrected finite values as centers.
We present azimuthal angle correlations of intermediate transverse momentum (1-4 GeV/c) hadrons from {dijets} in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV. The away-side dijet induced azimuthal correlation is broadened, non-Gaussian, and peaked away from \Delta\phi=\pi in central and semi-central collisions in all the systems. The broadening and peak location are found to depend upon the number of participants in the collision, but not on the collision energy or beam nuclei. These results are consistent with sound or shock wave models, but pose challenges to Cherenkov gluon radiation models.
The measured correlation $C(\Delta\phi)$ and the dijet correlation $J(\Delta\phi)$ in central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV.
Dijet correlations in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 and 200 GeV.
Dijet correlations in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 and 200 GeV.
We present measurements of $e^+e^-$ production at midrapidity in Au$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 200 GeV. The invariant yield is studied within the PHENIX detector acceptance over a wide range of mass ($m_{ee} <$ 5 GeV/$c^2$) and pair transverse momentum ($p_T$ $<$ 5 GeV/$c$), for minimum bias and for five centrality classes. The \ee yield is compared to the expectations from known sources. In the low-mass region ($m_{ee}=0.30$--0.76 GeV/$c^2$) there is an enhancement that increases with centrality and is distributed over the entire pair \pt range measured. It is significantly smaller than previously reported by the PHENIX experiment and amounts to $2.3\pm0.4({\rm stat})\pm0.4({\rm syst})\pm0.2^{\rm model}$ or to $1.7\pm0.3({\rm stat})\pm0.3({\rm syst})\pm0.2^{\rm model}$ for minimum bias collisions when the open-heavy-flavor contribution is calculated with {\sc pythia} or {\sc mc@nlo}, respectively. The inclusive mass and $p_T$ distributions as well as the centrality dependence are well reproduced by model calculations where the enhancement mainly originates from the melting of the $\rho$ meson resonance as the system approaches chiral symmetry restoration. In the intermediate-mass region ($m_{ee}$ = 1.2--2.8 GeV/$c^2$), the data hint at a significant contribution in addition to the yield from the semileptonic decays of heavy-flavor mesons.
Invariant mass spectrum of $e^+e^-$ pairs in MB Au+Au collisions within the PHENIX acceptance compared to the cocktail of expected decays.
Forum