The NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN SPS is performing a uniqe study of the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter by varying collision energy and nuclear mass number of colliding nuclei. In central Pb+Pb collisions the NA49 experiment found structures in the energy dependence of several observables in the CERN SPS energy range that had been predicted for the transition to a deconfined phase. New measurements of NA61/SHINE find intriguing similarities in p+p interactions for which no deconfinement transition is expected at SPS energies. Possible implications will be discussed.
The second-order azimuthal anisotropy Fourier harmonics, v2, are obtained in pPb and PbPb collisions over a wide pseudorapidity (eta) range based on correlations among six or more charged particles. The pPb data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35 inverse nanobarns, were collected during the 2013 LHC pPb run at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV by the CMS experiment. A sample of semi-peripheral PbPb collision data at sqrt(s[NN])= 2.76 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.5 inverse microbarns and covering a similar range of particle multiplicities as the pPb data, is also analyzed for comparison. The six- and eight-particle cumulant and the Lee-Yang zeros methods are used to extract the v2 coefficients, extending previous studies of two- and four-particle correlations. For both the pPb and PbPb systems, the v2 values obtained with correlations among more than four particles are consistent with previously published four-particle results. These data support the interpretation of a collective origin for the previously observed long-range (large Delta[eta]) correlations in both systems. The ratios of v2 values corresponding to correlations including different numbers of particles are compared to theoretical predictions that assume a hydrodynamic behavior of a pPb system dominated by fluctuations in the positions of participant nucleons. These results provide new insights into the multi-particle dynamics of collision systems with a very small overlapping region.
Anisotropies in the initial energy density distribution of the quark-gluon plasma created in high energy heavy ion collisions lead to anisotropies in the azimuthal distributions of the final-state particles known as collective flow. Fourier harmonic decomposition is used to quantify these anisotropies. The higher-order harmonics can be induced by the same order anisotropies (linear response) or by the combined influence of several lower order anisotropies (nonlinear response) in the initial state. The mixed higher-order anisotropic flow and nonlinear response coefficients of charged particles are measured as functions of transverse momentum and centrality in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} =$ 2.76 and 5.02 TeV with the CMS detector. The results are compared with viscous hydrodynamic calculations using several different initial conditions, as well as microscopic transport model calculations. None of the models provides a simultaneous description of the mixed higher-order flow harmonics and nonlinear response coefficients.
We report measurements of the proton elastic form factors, G E p and G M p , extracted from electron scattering in the range 1⩽ Q 2 ⩽3(GeV/ c ) 2 . The uncertainties are <15% in G E p and <3% in G M p . The values of G E p are larger than indicated by most theoretical parameterizations, The ratio of Pauli and Dirac form factors, Q 2 F 2 p / F 1 p , is lower and demonstrates less Q 2 dependence than most of these parameterizations. Comparisons are made to theoretical models, including those based on perturbative QCD and vector-meson dominance.
We report measurements of the proton form factors GEp and GMp extracted from elastic scattering in the range 1≤Q2≤3 (GeV/c)2 with total uncertainties < 15% in GEp and < 3% in GMp. Comparisons are made to theoretical models, including those based on perturbative QCD, vector-meson dominance, QCD sum rules, and diquark constituents in the proton. The results for GEp are somewhat larger than indicated by most theoretical parametrizations, and the ratios of the Pauli and Dirac form factors Q2(F2pF1p) are lower in value and demonstrate a weaker Q2 dependence than those predictions. A global extraction of the elastic form factors from several experiments in the range 0.1 0.1<Q2<10 (GeV/c)2 is also presented.
The fixed-target MIPP experiment, Fermilab E907, was designed to measure the production of hadrons from the collisions of hadrons of momenta ranging from 5 to 120 GeV/c on a variety of nuclei. These data will generally improve the simulation of particle detectors and predictions of particle beam fluxes at accelerators. The spectrometer momentum resolution is between 3 and 4%, and particle identification is performed for particles ranging between 0.3 and 80 GeV/c using $dE/dx$, time-of-flight and Cherenkov radiation measurements. MIPP collected $1.42 \times10^6$ events of 120 GeV Main Injector protons striking a target used in the NuMI facility at Fermilab. The data have been analyzed and we present here charged pion yields per proton-on-target determined in bins of longitudinal and transverse momentum between 0.5 and 80 GeV/c, with combined statistical and systematic relative uncertainties between 5 and 10%.
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The reaction π−p→X−p, X−→ηπ−, η→γγ has been studied in an optical spark-chamber experiment at the Argonne ZGS (Zero Gradient Synchrotron) at a beam momentum of 6.0 GeV/c and with 0.27≤|t|≤0.42 (GeV/c)2. The ηπ mass spectrum contains about 1400 events in the mass range 0.80<M(ηπ)<1.55 GeV/c2, and is dominated by approximately 1000 events of the type A2−→ηπ−. No structure is discernible within the A2 mass spectrum for an experimental resolution of 7.1 MeV/c2 [16.7 MeV/c2 FWHM (full width at half maximum)]. A single D-wave Breit-Wigner distribution fits the data with a high confidence level, yielding for the A2 the parameters M0=1.323±0.003 GeV/c2 and Γ0=0.108±0.009 GeV/c2. The angular distribution of the decay A2−→ηπ− is analyzed and the resultant density matrix elements have the values ρ11=0.45±0.02, ρ1−1=0.45±0.04, and ρ00=0.09±0.04. All other elements are consistent with zero. Finally, the missing-mass spectrum in the region of the A2 is presented. A signal of 230 events above background per 5-MeV/c2 interval is observed at the A2 peak, with a signal to background ratio of greater than 1:1. A single D-wave Breit-Wigner distribution together with a quadratic background fits the data well, with the parameters for the A2 being M0=1.324±0.003 GeV/c2 and Γ0=0.104±0.009 GeV/c2. Both A2 mass spectra are incompatible with the dipole shape.
The yields and average transverse momenta of pions, kaons, and antiprotons produced at the Fermilab p¯p collider at s=300, 540, 1000, and 1800 GeV are presented and compared with data from the energies reached at the CERN collider. We also present data on the dependence of average transverse momentum 〈pt〉 and particle ratios as a function of charged particle density dNcdη; data for particle densities as high as six times the average value, corresponding to a Bjorken energy density 6 GeV/fm3, are reported. These data are relevant to the search for quark-gluon phase of QCD.
We have measured the multiplicities of pions produced in the collisions of π mesons with neon nuclei at bombarding momenta of 10.5 and 200 GeV/c. The diffractive production of pions is clearly separable. If one excludes the diffractive part, the pion multiplicity obeys the same Koba-Nielsen-Olesen scaling as found previously for π−−p collisions. This fact would seem to indicate the validity of an energy-flux or collective-variable description of the production process. A surprisingly large number of energetic protons (> 1 GeV/c lab momentum) are found to be produced in π-Ne collisions.
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