The invariant cross section for production of jet pairs in 400-GeV/c pp interactions has been measured as a function of pT in the pT range 4 to 9 GeV/c. The results are in good agreement with predictions of perturbative QCD models.

The system created in non-central relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions possesses large orbital angular momentum. Due to spin-orbit coupling, particles produced in such a system could become globally polarized along the direction of the system angular momentum. We present the results of Lambda and anti-Lambda hyperon global polarization measurements in Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s_NN}=62.4 GeV and 200 GeV performed with the STAR detector at RHIC. The observed global polarization of Lambda and anti-Lambda hyperons in the STAR acceptance is consistent with zero within the precision of the measurements. The obtained upper limit, |P_{Lambda,anti-Lambda}| <= 0.02, is compared to the theoretical values discussed recently in the literature.

We present a systematic analysis of two-pion interferometry in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 62.4 GeV and Cu+Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 62.4 and 200 GeV using the STAR detector at RHIC. The multiplicity and transverse momentum dependences of the extracted femtoscopic radii are studied. The scaling of the apparent freeze-out volume with charged particle multiplicity is studied for the RHIC energy domain. The multiplicity scaling of the measured radii is found to be independent of colliding system and collision energy.

We present results for the measurement of $\phi$ meson production via its charged kaon decay channel $\phi \to K^+K^-$ in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=62.4$, 130, 200 GeV, and in p+p and d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV from the STAR experiment at RHIC. The mid-rapidity ($|y|<0.5$) $\phi$ meson spectra in central Au+Au collisions are found to be well described by a single exponential distribution. On the other hand, the spectra from p+p, d+Au and peripheral Au+Au collisions show power-law tails at intermediate and high transverse momenta ($p_{T}$) and are described better by Levy distributions. The constant $\phi/K^-$ yield ratio vs. beam species, collision centrality and colliding energy is in contradiction with expectations from models having kaon coalescence as the dominant mechanism for $\phi$ production at RHIC. The $\Omega/\phi$ yield ratio as a function of $p_{T}$ is consistent with a model based on the recombination of thermal $s$ quarks up to $p_{T}\sim 4$ GeV/c, but disagrees at higher transverse momenta. The measured nuclear modification factor, $R_{dAu}$, for the $\phi$ meson increases above unity at intermediate $p_{T}$, similar to that for pions and protons, while $R_{AA}$ is suppressed due to jet quenching in central Au+Au collisions. Number of constituent quark scaling of both $R_{cp}$ and $v_{2}$ for the $\phi$ meson with respect to other hadrons in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$=200 GeV at intermediate $p_{T}$ is observed. These observations support quark coalescence as being the dominant mechanism of hadronization in the intermediate $p_{T}$ region at RHIC.

We present the directed flow ($v_1$) measured in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 62.4 GeV in the mid-pseudorapidity region $|\eta|<1.3$ and in the forward pseudorapidity region $2.5 < |\eta| < 4.0$. The results are obtained using the three-particle cumulant method, the event plane method with mixed harmonics, and for the first time at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), the standard method with the event plane reconstructed from spectator neutrons. Results from all three methods are in good agreement. Over the pseudorapidity range studied, charged particle directed flow is in the direction opposite to that of fragmentation neutrons.

We present the scaling properties of Lambda, Xi, Omega and their anti-particles produced at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at RHIC at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. The yield of multi-strange baryons per participant nucleon increases from peripheral to central collisions more rapidly than the Lambda yield, which appears to correspond to an increasing strange quark density of matter produced. The value of the strange phase space occupancy factor gamma_s, obtained from a thermal model fit to the data, approaches unity for the most central collisions. We also show that the nuclear modification factors, R_CP, of Lambda and Xi are consistent with each other and with that of protons in the transverse momentum range 2.0 < p_T < 5.0 GeV/c. This scaling behaviour is consistent with a scenario of hadron formation from constituent quark degrees of freedom through quark recombination or coalescence.

With a data sample containing 1.1×105 J/ψ→μ+μ− decays reconstructed with 16 MeV/c2 rms mass resolution, we have measured the differential cross sections versus Feynman-x, rapidity, and pT for the production of J/ψ and ψ’ in 800 GeV/c p-Au collisions. Our results are compared with leading-order QCD predictions and with previous measurements. While the shapes of the cross sections are in qualitative agreement with QCD predictions, the magnitudes disagree by factors of 7 (J/ψ) and 25 (ψ’). Assuming an appropriate form for the differential cross sections in regions not measured we derive a total J/ψ production cross section σ(p+N→J/ψ+X)=442±2±88 nb/nucleon and a (model-dependent) total ψ’ cross secton σ(p+N→ψ’+X)=75±5±22 nb/nucleon. For J/ψ produced at central rapidity, dσ(p+N→J/ψ+X)/dy‖y=0=230±5±46 nb/nucleon.

We describe a cone-based jet finding algorithm (similar to that used in\(\bar p\)p experiments), which we have applied to hadronic events recorded using the OPAL detector at LEP. Comparisons are made between jets defined with the cone algorithm and jets found by the “JADE” and “Durham” jet finders usually used ine+e− experiments. Measured jet rates, as a function of the cone size and as a function of the minimum jet energy, have been compared with O(αs2) calculations, from which two complementary measurements\(\alpha _s \left( {M_{Z^0 } } \right)\) have been made. The results are\(\alpha _s \left( {M_{Z^0 } } \right)\)=0.116±0.008 and\(\alpha _s \left( {M_{Z^0 } } \right)\)=0.119±0.008 respectively, where the errors include both experimental and theoretical uncertainties. Measurements are presented of the energy flow inside jets defined using the cone algorithm, and compared with equivalent data from\(\bar p\)p interactions, reported by the CDF collaboration. We find that the jets ine+e− are significantly narrower than those observed in\(\bar p\)p. The main contribution to this effect appears to arise from differences between quark- and gluon-induced jets.

We study the beam-energy and system-size dependence of \phi meson production (using the hadronic decay mode \phi -- K+K-) by comparing the new results from Cu+Cu collisions and previously reported Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 and 200 GeV measured in the STAR experiment at RHIC. Data presented are from mid-rapidity (|y|&lt;0.5) for 0.4 &lt; pT &lt; 5 GeV/c. At a given beam energy, the transverse momentum distributions for \phi mesons are observed to be similar in yield and shape for Cu+Cu and Au+Au colliding systems with similar average numbers of participating nucleons. The \phi meson yields in nucleus-nucleus collisions, normalised by the average number of participating nucleons, are found to be enhanced relative to those from p+p collisions with a different trend compared to strange baryons. The enhancement for \phi mesons is observed to be higher at \sqrt{s_NN} = 200 GeV compared to 62.4 GeV. These observations for the produced \phi(s\bar{s}) mesons clearly suggest that, at these collision energies, the source of enhancement of strange hadrons is related to the formation of a dense partonic medium in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions and cannot be alone due to canonical suppression of their production in smaller systems.

We present the first measurement of multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of photons in the pseudorapidity region 2.3 $\le$ $\eta$ $\le$ 3.7 for different centralities in Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 GeV. We find that the photon yield in this pseudorapidity range scales with the number of participating nucleons at all collision centralities studied. The pseudorapidity distribution of photons, dominated by neutral pion decays, has been compared to those of identified charged pions, photons, and inclusive charged particles from heavy ion and nucleon-nucleon collisions at various energies. The photon production in the measured pseudorapidity region has been shown to be consistent with the energy and centrality independent limiting fragmentation scenario.