Correlations between pions produced in pp collisions at 69 GeV/c are observed both for π−π+ and π−π−. Short-range correlations in rapidity are present fory1⋍y2 in both cases; an enhancement is seen aroundy1=y2=±1. Correlations between transverse variables are linked to those in rapidity for π−π− combinations, whereas the effect is essentially kinematical for π+π−.

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.

Balance functions have been measured in terms of relative pseudorapidity ($\Delta \eta$) for charged particle pairs at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 7.7 GeV to 200 GeV using the STAR detector. These results are compared with balance functions measured at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) from Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV by the ALICE Collaboration. The width of the balance function decreases as the collisions become more central and as the beam energy is increased. In contrast, the widths of the balance functions calculated using shuffled events show little dependence on centrality or beam energy and are larger than the observed widths. Balance function widths calculated using events generated by UrQMD are wider than the measured widths in central collisions and show little centrality dependence. The measured widths of the balance functions in central collisions are consistent with the delayed hadronization of a deconfined quark gluon plasma (QGP). The narrowing of the balance function in central collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 7.7 GeV implies that a QGP is still being created at this relatively low energy.

The extreme temperatures and energy densities generated by ultra-relativistic collisions between heavy nuclei produce a state of matter with surprising fluid properties. Non-central collisions have angular momentum on the order of 1000$\hbar$, and the resulting fluid may have a strong vortical structure that must be understood to properly describe the fluid. It is also of particular interest because the restoration of fundamental symmetries of quantum chromodynamics is expected to produce novel physical effects in the presence of strong vorticity. However, no experimental indications of fluid vorticity in heavy ion collisions have so far been found. Here we present the first measurement of an alignment between the angular momentum of a non-central collision and the spin of emitted particles, revealing that the fluid produced in heavy ion collisions is by far the most vortical system ever observed. We find that $\Lambda$ and $\overline{\Lambda}$ hyperons show a positive polarization of the order of a few percent, consistent with some hydrodynamic predictions. A previous measurement that reported a null result at higher collision energies is seen to be consistent with the trend of our new observations, though with larger statistical uncertainties. These data provide the first experimental access to the vortical structure of the "perfect fluid" created in a heavy ion collision. They should prove valuable in the development of hydrodynamic models that quantitatively connect observations to the theory of the Strong Force. Our results extend the recent discovery of hydrodynamic spin alignment to the subatomic realm.

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.

Notwithstanding decades of progress since Yukawa first developed a description of the force between nucleons in terms of meson exchange, a full understanding of the strong interaction remains a major challenge in modern science. One remaining difficulty arises from the non-perturbative nature of the strong force, which leads to the phenomenon of quark confinement at distances on the order of the size of the proton. Here we show that in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, where quarks and gluons are set free over an extended volume, two species of produced vector (spin-1) mesons, namely $\phi$ and $K^{*0}$, emerge with a surprising pattern of global spin alignment. In particular, the global spin alignment for $\phi$ is unexpectedly large, while that for $K^{*0}$ is consistent with zero. The observed spin-alignment pattern and magnitude for the $\phi$ cannot be explained by conventional mechanisms, while a model with a connection to strong force fields, i.e. an effective proxy description within the Standard Model and Quantum Chromodynamics, accommodates the current data. This connection, if fully established, will open a potential new avenue for studying the behaviour of strong force fields.

We present results from a harmonic decomposition of two-particle azimuthal correlations measured with the STAR detector in Au+Au collisions for energies ranging from $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=7.7$ GeV to 200 GeV. The third harmonic $v_3^2\{2\}=\langle \cos3(\phi_1-\phi_2)\rangle$, where $\phi_1-\phi_2$ is the angular difference in azimuth, is studied as a function of the pseudorapidity difference between particle pairs $\Delta\eta = \eta_1-\eta_2$. Non-zero {\vthree} is directly related to the previously observed large-$\Delta\eta$ narrow-$\Delta\phi$ ridge correlations and has been shown in models to be sensitive to the existence of a low viscosity Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) phase. For sufficiently central collisions, $v_3^2\{2\}$ persist down to an energy of 7.7 GeV suggesting that QGP may be created even in these low energy collisions. In peripheral collisions at these low energies however, $v_3^2\{2\}$ is consistent with zero. When scaled by pseudorapidity density of charged particle multiplicity per participating nucleon pair, $v_3^2\{2\}$ for central collisions shows a minimum near {\snn}$=20$ GeV.

Local parity-odd domains are theorized to form inside a Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) which has been produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. The local parity-odd domains manifest themselves as charge separation along the magnetic field axis via the chiral magnetic effect (CME). The experimental observation of charge separation has previously been reported for heavy-ion collisions at the top RHIC energies. In this paper, we present the results of the beam-energy dependence of the charge correlations in Au+Au collisions at midrapidity for center-of-mass energies of 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39 and 62.4 GeV from the STAR experiment. After background subtraction, the signal gradually reduces with decreased beam energy, and tends to vanish by 7.7 GeV. The implications of these results for the CME will be discussed.

We have made a precise measurement of the central inclusive jet cross section at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV. The measurement is based on an integrated luminosity of 92 pb-1 collected at the Fermilab Tevatron pbar-p Collider with the D-Zero detector. The cross section, reported as a function of jet transverse energy (ET >= 60 GeV) in the pseudorapidity interval |eta| <= 0.5, is in good agreement with predictions from next-to-leading order quantum chromodynamics.

This paper presents the first measurement of the inclusive J/Psi production cross section in the forward pseudorapidity region 2.5<|eta|<3.7 in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8TeV. The results are based on 9.8 pb-1 of data collected using the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The inclusive J/Psi cross section for transverse momenta between 1 and 16 GeV/c is compared with theoretical models of charmonium production.