We present the first large-acceptance measurement of event-wise mean transverse momentum mean p_t fluctuations for Au-Au collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-momentum collision energy sqrt{s_{NN}} = 130 GeV. The observed non-statistical mean p_t fluctuations substantially exceed in magnitude fluctuations expected from the finite number of particles produced in a typical collision. The r.m.s. fractional width excess of the event-wise mean p_t distribution is 13.7 +/- 0.1(stat) +/- 1.3(syst)% relative to a statistical reference, for the 15% most-central collisions and for charged hadrons within pseudorapidity range |eta|<1, 2pi azimuth and 0.15 < p_t < 2 GeV/c. The width excess varies smoothly but non-monotonically with collision centrality, and does not display rapid changes with centrality which might indicate the presence of critical fluctuations. The reported mean p_t fluctuation excess is qualitatively larger than those observed at lower energies and differs markedly from theoretical expectations. Contributions to mean p_t mean fluctuations from semi-hard parton scattering in the initial state and dissipation in the bulk colored medium are discussed.
Event frequency distribution on $\sqrt{n}(\langle p_t\rangle - \hat{p}_t)/\sigma\hat{p}_t$ for 80% of primary charged hadrons in $|\eta|$ < 1 for 183k central events
Difference in upper panel between data and gamma reference
Centrality dependences of the measured charge independent (CI) and charge dependent (CD) difference factors $\Delta\sigma_{p_t:n}$ plus the corresponding values extrapolated to 100% tracking efficiency. Statistical errors $\pm$ 0.5 MeV/c; systematic errors are $\pm$ 9%. Difference factors extrapolated to 100% tracking efficiency and no secondary particle contamination. Uncertainties are $\pm$ 12%.
We report the STAR measurement of Phi meson production in Au+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt (s)=200 GeV. Using the event mixing technique, the Phi spectra and yields are obtained at mid-rapidity for five centrality bins in Au+Au collisions and for non-singly-diffractive p+p collisions. It is found that the Phi transverse momentum distributions from Au+Au collisions are better fitted with a single-exponential while the p+p spectrum is better described by a double-exponential distribution. The measured nuclear modification factors indicate that Phi production in central Au+Au collisions is suppressed relative to peripheral collisions when scaled by the number of binary collisions. The systematics of <pt> versus centrality and the constant Phi/K- ratio versus beam species, centrality, and collision energy rule out kaon coalescence as the dominant mechanism for Phi production.
Transverse mass distributions for $\phi$ meson from Au+Au (circles) and p+p (squares) collisions at 200 GeV. For clarity, some Au+Au distributions for different centralities are scaled by factors. The top 5% data are obtained from the central trigger data set. All other distributions are obtained from the minimum-bias data set. Dashed lines represent the exponential fits to the distributions and the dotted-dashed line is the result of a double-exponential fit to the distribution from p+p collisions. Error bars are statistical errors only. (x500), (x30), etc. in plot refers to the scaling of data for clearer visual results.
Results of $\phi$ meson inverse slope parameter, $<p_T>$, and dN/dy from NSD p+p and Au+Au collisions at RHIC. All values are for |y| < 0.5. Systematic uncertainties: for Au, 11% on both dN/dy and $<p_T>$. For p+p, 15% on dN/dy and 5% on $<p_T>$.
$R_{CP}$ (a): The ratio of central (top 5%) over peripheral (60-80%) ($R_{CP}$) normalized by $<N_{bin}>$. The ratios for the $\Lambda$ and $K_S^0$, shown by dotted-dashed and dashed lines, are taken from [13]; $R_{AA}$ (b) and (c) are the ratios of central Au + Au (top 5%) to p + p and peripheral Au + Au (60-80%) to p + p, respectively. The values of $R_{AA}$ for charged hadrons are shown as open circles [25]. The width of the gray bands represent the uncertainties in the estimation of $<N_{bin}>$ summed in quadrature with the normalization uncertainties of the spectra. Errors on the $\phi$ data points are the statistical plus 15% systematic errors. Overall normalization errors from binary scaling are listed in the header of each column.
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