Observation of a threshold effect in the anomalous J/psi suppression.

The NA50 collaboration Abreu, M.C ; Alessandro, B ; Alexa, C ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 450 (1999) 456-466, 1999.
Inspire Record 499915 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.49189

We report on a search for a phase transition from ordinary nuclear matter to a state of deconfined quarks and gluons as predicted by lattice QCD calculations. A new measurement of charmonium production in Pb-Pb interactions at 158 GeV/ c per nucleon agrees with our previous results and confirms the anomalous J/ ψ suppression we had already observed on a significantly smaller data sample. New event selection and analysis techniques show that, for peripheral collisions, the J/ ψ cross-section per nucleon-nucleon collision agrees with the precise suppression pattern inferred from a wide range of measurements extending from p-p up to S-U collisions. As the collisions become more central, the Pb-Pb cross-section exhibits a clear departure from this normal behaviour. The onset of the anomalous J/ ψ suppression reported here is the first clear observation of a threshold effect in heavy ion collisions and can be considered as a strong indication of the production of a deconfined quark-gluon phase in central Pb-Pb collisions.

2 data tables

The J/PSI cross section is the cross section for decay to muon pairs.

The J/PSI cross section is the cross section for decay to muon pairs. The ratios in this taBLE Are obtained from the minimum bias sample of events. See text if article for details.