The abundances of light nuclei probe the later stages of the evolution of a system formed in a relativistic heavy-ion collision. After the system has cooled and expanded, nucleons in close proximity and moving with small relative momenta coalesce to form nuclei. Light nuclei production enables the study of several topics, including the mechanism of composite particle production, freeze-out temperature, size of the interaction region, and entropy of the system. NA44 is the only relativistic heavy-ion experiment to have both deuteron and antideuteron results in both pA and AA collisions and the first CERN experiment to study the physics topics addressed by d and d production.
PRELIMINARY DATA.
The NA44 collaboration has measured charged kaon and pion distributions at midrapidity in sulphur and proton collisions with nuclear targets at 200 and 450 GeV/c per nucleon, respectively. The inverse slopes of kaons are larger than those of pions. The difference in the inverse slopes of pions, kaons and protons, all measured in our spectrometer, increases with system size and is consistent with the buildup of collective flow for larger systems. The target dependence of both the yields and inverse slopes is stronger for the sulphur beam suggesting the increased importance of secondary rescattering for SA reactions. The rapidity density, dN/dy, of both K+ and K- increases more rapidly with system size than for pi+ in a similar rapidity region. This trend continues with increasing centrality, and according to RQMD, it is caused by secondary reactions between mesons and baryons. The K-/K+ ratio falls with increasing system size but more slowly than the pbar/p ratio. The pi-/pi+ ratio is close to unity for all systems. From pBe to SPb the K+/p ratio decreases while K-/pbar increases and ({K+*K-}/{p*pbar})**1/2 stays constant. These data suggest that as larger nuclei collide, the resulting system has a larger transverse expansion, baryon density and an increasing fraction of strange quarks.
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An investigation of the production of neutron-rich isotopes from the fragmentation of Si28 projectiles at plab=14.6 GeV/c per nucleon was performed using the BNL-AGS-E814 spectrometer. We have measured the inclusive production cross sections of neutron-rich fragments (6He, He8, Li8, Li9, Be10, Be11, and B13). We have also measured the transverse momentum distributions for He6 and Li9, and the forward and transverse energy distributions associated with He6 production. The momentum distributions were analyzed in the context of the Goldhaber model. The question of whether the fragments are produced in the decay of the projectile following its electromagnetic excitation was also investigated.
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We have conducted a search for bound states of a negative pion and a number of neutrons (pineuts) using the E814 spectrometer. A beam of Si28 at a momentum of 14.6A GeV/c was used to bombard targets of Al, Cu, Sn, and Pb. We describe our experimental technique, present measured upper limits for pineut production, and discuss the significance of our results.
AUTHORS NAMED CHARGED- BY PINEUT. Here ALL means the total number of interactions.
The NA44 Collaboration has measured yields and differential distributions of K+, K-, pi+, pi- in transverse kinetic energy and rapidity, around the center-of-mass rapidity in 158 A GeV/c Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. A considerable enhancement of K+ production per pi is observed, as compared to p+p collisions at this energy. To illustrate the importance of secondary hadron rescattering as an enhancement mechanism, we compare strangeness production at the SPS and AGS with predictions of the transport model RQMD.
Inverse slope paramters of the (1/MT)*DN/DMT distribution.
Rapidity distributions for K+ and K- production.. Statistical and systematic errors added in quadrature.
Rapidity distributions for PI+ and PI- production.. Statistical and systematic errors added in quadrature.
The first measurement of energy produced transverse to the beam direction at RHIC is presented. The mid-rapidity transverse energy density per participating nucleon rises steadily with the number of participants, closely paralleling the rise in charged-particle density, such that E_T / N_ch remains relatively constant as a function of centrality. The energy density calculated via Bjorken's prescription for the 2% most central Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=130 GeV is at least epsilon_Bj = 4.6 GeV/fm^3 which is a factor of 1.6 larger than found at sqrt(s_NN)=17.2 GeV (Pb+Pb at CERN).
130 GeV is sqrt(S) per nucleon-nucleon collision. The statistical errors are negligible and only systematic errors are quoted. COL(NAME=CENTRALITY) is centrality.
Proton distributions at midrapidity have been measured for 158A·GeV Pb+Pb collisions in the focusing spectrometer experiment NA44 at CERN. A high degree of nuclear stopping is found in the truly heavy ion collisions. Systematic results of single particle transverse momentum distributions of pions, kaons, and protons, of 200A·GeV S+S and 158A·GeV Pb+Pb central collisions will be addressed within the context of thermalization. By comparing these data with thermal and transport models, freeze-out parameters such as the temperature parameter T fo and mean collective flow velocity 〈β〉 are extracted. Preliminary results of the particle ratios of K − K + and p p are discussed in the context of cascade models of RQMD and VENUS.
CENTRAL COLLISIONS: SIG(TRIG)/SIG(GEOM)=10%.
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PRELIMINARY DATA FOR CENTRAL EVENTS.
Single particle distributions of π ± , K ± , p , p and d near mid-rapidity from 450 GeV/c p A and 200 GeV/c per nucleon SA collisions are presented. Inverse slope parameters are extracted from the transverse mass spectra, and examined for indications of collective phenomena. Proton and antiproton yields are determined for different projectile-target combinations. First results from 160 GeV/c per nucleon PbPb collisions are presented.
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PRELIMINARY DATA FOR CENTRAL EVENTS.
Identified pi^[+/-] K^[+/-], p and p-bar transverse momentum spectra at mid-rapidity in sqrt(s_NN)=130 GeV Au-Au collisions were measured by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC as a function of collision centrality. Average transverse momenta increase with the number of participating nucleons in a similar way for all particle species. The multiplicity densities scale faster than the number of participating nucleons. Kaon and nucleon yields per participant increase faster than the pion yields. In central collisions at high transverse momenta (p_T greater than 2 GeV/c), anti-proton and proton yields are comparable to the pion yields.
Transverse momentum spectra for PI+ in the midrapidity range for the centrality region 0 to 5 PCT. Errors are combined statistical and systematics.
Transverse momentum spectra for PI- in the midrapidity range for the centrality region 0 to 5 PCT. Errors are combined statistical and systematics.
Transverse momentum spectra for K+ in the midrapidity range for the centrality region 0 to 5 PCT. Errors are combined statistical and systematics.
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