We present the multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of photons produced in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at \sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 and 200 GeV. The photons are measured in the region -3.7 < \eta < -2.3 using the photon multiplicity detector in the STAR experiment at RHIC. The number of photons produced per average number of participating nucleon pairs increases with the beam energy and is independent of the collision centrality. For collisions with similar average numbers of participating nucleons the photon multiplicities are observed to be similar for Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at a given beam energy. The ratios of the number of charged particles to photons in the measured pseudorapidity range are found to be 1.4 +/- 0.1 and 1.2 +/- 0.1 for \sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 GeV and 200 GeV, respectively. The energy dependence of this ratio could reflect varying contributions from baryons to charged particles, while mesons are the dominant contributors to photon production in the given kinematic region. The photon pseudorapidity distributions normalized by average number of participating nucleon pairs, when plotted as a function of \eta - ybeam, are found to follow a longitudinal scaling independent of centrality and colliding ion species at both beam energies.
Fig. 3. (Color online.) Photon pseudorapidity distributions for $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ and $\mathrm{Cu}+\mathrm{Cu}$ at $\sqrt{\mathrm{s}_{\mathrm{NN}}}=62.4$ and $200\mathrm{GeV}$. The results for several centrality classes are shown. The solid curves are results of HIJING simulations for central $(0-5 \%$ for $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ and $0-10 \%$ for $\mathrm{Cu}+\mathrm{Cu})$ and $30-40 \%$ mid-central collisions. The errors shown are systematic, statistical errors are negligible in comparison. NOTE: For points with invisible error bars, the point size was considered as an absolute upper limit for the uncertainty.
We report the first measurements of the kurtosis (\kappa), skewness (S) and variance (\sigma^2) of net-proton multiplicity (N_p - N_pbar) distributions at midrapidity for Au+Au collisions at \sqrt(s_NN) = 19.6, 62.4, and 200 GeV corresponding to baryon chemical potentials (\mu_B) between 200 - 20 MeV. Our measurements of the products \kappa \sigma^2 and S \sigma, which can be related to theoretical calculations sensitive to baryon number susceptibilities and long range correlations, are constant as functions of collision centrality. We compare these products with results from lattice QCD and various models without a critical point and study the \sqrt(s_NN) dependence of \kappa \sigma^2. From the measurements at the three beam energies, we find no evidence for a critical point in the QCD phase diagram for \mu_B below 200 MeV.
Centrality dependence of $S\sigma$ for $\Delta N_p$ in Au+Au collisions from Lattice QCD Calculations.
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