Azimuthal anisotropy of produced particles is one of the most important observables used to access the collective properties of the expanding medium created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. In this paper, we present second ($v_{2}$) and third ($v_{3}$) order azimuthal anisotropies of $K_{S}^{0}$, $\phi$, $\Lambda$, $\Xi$ and $\Omega$ at mid-rapidity ($|y|<$1) in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}$ = 54.4 GeV measured by the STAR detector. The $v_{2}$ and $v_{3}$ are measured as a function of transverse momentum and centrality. Their energy dependence is also studied. $v_{3}$ is found to be more sensitive to the change in the center-of-mass energy than $v_{2}$. Scaling by constituent quark number is found to hold for $v_{2}$ within 10%. This observation could be evidence for the development of partonic collectivity in 54.4 GeV Au+Au collisions. Differences in $v_{2}$ and $v_{3}$ between baryons and anti-baryons are presented, and ratios of $v_{3}$/$v_{2}^{3/2}$ are studied and motivated by hydrodynamical calculations. The ratio of $v_{2}$ of $\phi$ mesons to that of anti-protons ($v_{2}(\phi)/v_{2}(\bar{p})$) shows centrality dependence at low transverse momentum, presumably resulting from the larger effects from hadronic interactions on anti-proton $v_{2}$.
We report the beam energy and collision centrality dependence of fifth and sixth order cumulants ($C_{5}$, $C_{6}$) and factorial cumulants ($\kappa_{5}$, $\kappa_{6}$) of net-proton and proton distributions, from $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 3 - 200$ GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC. The net-proton cumulant ratios generally follow the hierarchy expected from QCD thermodynamics, except for the case of collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 3 GeV. $C_{6}/C_{2}$ for 0-40% centrality collisions is increasingly negative with decreasing $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$, while it is positive for the lowest $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ studied. These observed negative signs are consistent with QCD calculations (at baryon chemical potential, $\mu_{B} \leq$ 110 MeV) that include a crossover quark-hadron transition. In addition, for $\sqrt{s_{NN}} \geq$ 11.5 GeV, the measured proton $\kappa_{n}$, within uncertainties, does not support the two-component shape of proton distributions that would be expected from a first-order phase transition. Taken in combination, the hyper-order proton number fluctuations suggest that the structure of QCD matter at high baryon density, $\mu_{B}\sim 750$ MeV ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 3 GeV) is starkly different from those at vanishing $\mu_{B}\sim 20$MeV ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV and higher).
We present the first measurements of transverse momentum spectra of $\pi^{\pm}$, $K^{\pm}$, $p(\bar{p})$ at midrapidity ($|y| < 0.1$) in U+U collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 193 GeV with the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The centrality dependence of particle yields, average transverse momenta, particle ratios and kinetic freeze-out parameters are discussed. The results are compared with the published results from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 200 GeV in STAR. The results are also compared to those from A Multi Phase Transport (AMPT) model.
The ATLAS experiment at the LHC has measured the production cross section of events with two isolated photons in the final state, in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. The full data set collected in 2011, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 fb-1, is used. The amount of background, from hadronic jets and isolated electrons, is estimated with data-driven techniques and subtracted. The total cross section, for two isolated photons with transverse energies above 25 GeV and 22 GeV respectively, in the acceptance of the electromagnetic calorimeter (|eta|<1.37 and 1.52<|eta|<2.37) and with an angular separation Delta R>0.4, is 44.0 (+3.2) (-4.2) pb. The differential cross sections as a function of the di-photon invariant mass, transverse momentum, azimuthal separation, and cosine of the polar angle of the largest transverse energy photon in the Collins--Soper di-photon rest frame are also measured. The results are compared to the prediction of leading-order parton-shower and next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order parton-level generators.
A search for pair-produced third generation scalar leptoquarks is presented, using proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$= 7 TeV at the LHC. The data were recorded with the ATLAS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb$^{-1}$. Each leptoquark is assumed to decay to a tau lepton and a b-quark with a branching fraction equal to 100%. No statistically significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Third generation leptoquarks are therefore excluded at 95% confidence level for masses less than 534 GeV.
Recent studies have highlighted the potential of jet substructure techniques to identify the hadronic decays of boosted heavy particles. These studies all rely upon the assumption that the internal substructure of jets generated by QCD radiation is well understood. In this article, this assumption is tested on an inclusive sample of jets recorded with the ATLAS detector in 2010, which corresponds to 35 pb^-1 of pp collisions delivered by the LHC at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. In a subsample of events with single pp collisions, measurementes corrected for detector efficiency and resolution are presented with full systematic uncertainties. Jet invariant mass, kt splitting scales and n-subjettiness variables are presented for anti-kt R = 1.0 jets and Cambridge-Aachen R = 1.2 jets. Jet invariant-mass spectra for Cambridge-Aachen R = 1.2 jets after a splitting and filtering procedure are also presented. Leading-order parton-shower Monte Carlo predictions for these variables are found to be broadly in agreement with data. The dependence of mean jet mass on additional pp interactions is also explored.
The ATLAS experiment has observed 1995 Z boson candidates in data corresponding to 0.15 inverse nb of integrated luminosity obtained in the 2011 LHC Pb+Pb run at sqrt(s_NN)=2.76 TeV. The Z bosons are reconstructed via di-electron and di-muon decay channels, with a background contamination of less than 3%. Results from the two channels are consistent and are combined. Within the statistical and systematic uncertainties, the per-event Z boson yield is proportional to the number of binary collisions estimated by the Glauber model. The elliptic anisotropy of the azimuthal distribution of the Z boson with respect to the event plane is found to be consistent with zero.
The production of the $\psi(2S)$ charmonium state was measured with ALICE in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV, in the dimuon decay channel. A significant signal was observed for the first time at LHC energies down to zero transverse momentum, at forward rapidity ($2.5<y<4$). The measurement of the ratio of the inclusive production cross sections of the $\psi(2S)$ and J/$\psi$ resonances is reported as a function of the centrality of the collisions and of transverse momentum, in the region $p_{\rm T}<12$ GeV/$c$. The results are compared with the corresponding measurements in pp collisions, by forming the double ratio $[\sigma^{\psi(2S)}/\sigma^{J/\psi}]_{\rm{Pb-Pb}}/[\sigma^{\psi(2S)}/\sigma^{J/\psi}]_{\rm{pp}}$. It is found that in Pb-Pb collisions the $\psi(2S)$ is suppressed by a factor of $\sim 2$ with respect to the J/$\psi$. The $\psi(2S)$ nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm AA}$ was also obtained as a function of both centrality and $p_{\rm T}$. The results show that the $\psi(2S)$ resonance yield is strongly suppressed in Pb-Pb collisions, by a factor up to $\sim 3$ with respect to pp. Comparisons of cross section ratios with previous SPS findings by the NA50 experiment and of $R_{\rm AA}$ with higher-$p_{\rm T}$ results at LHC energy are also reported. These results and the corresponding comparisons with calculations of transport and statistical models address questions on the presence and properties of charmonium states in the quark-gluon plasma formed in nuclear collisions at the LHC.
The results of a dedicated search for pair production of scalar partners of charm quarks are reported. The search is based on an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The search is performed using events with large missing transverse momentum and at least two jets, where the two leading jets are each tagged as originating from c-quarks. Events containing isolated electrons or muons are vetoed. In an R-parity-conserving minimal supersymmetric scenario in which a single scalar-charm state is kinematically accessible, and where it decays exclusively into a charm quark and a neutralino, 95% confidence-level upper limits are obtained in the scalar-charm-neutralino mass plane such that, for neutralino masses below 200 GeV, scalar-charm masses up to 490 GeV are excluded.
The momentum-weighted sum of the charges of tracks associated to a jet is sensitive to the charge of the initiating quark or gluon. This paper presents a measurement of the distribution of momentum-weighted sums, called jet charge, in dijet events using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data recorded with the ATLAS detector at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV in $pp$ collisions at the LHC. The jet charge distribution is unfolded to remove distortions from detector effects and the resulting particle-level distribution is compared with several models. The $p_T$-dependence of the jet charge distribution average and standard deviation are compared to predictions obtained with several LO and NLO parton distribution functions. The data are also compared to different Monte Carlo simulations of QCD dijet production using various settings of the free parameters within these models. The chosen value of the strong coupling constant used to calculate gluon radiation is found to have a significant impact on the predicted jet charge. There is evidence for a $p_{T}$-dependence of the jet charge distribution for a given jet flavor. In agreement with perturbative QCD predictions, the data show that the average jet charge of quark-initiated jets decreases in magnitude as the energy of the jet increases.
Forum