We report results on rho(770)^0 -> pi+pi- production at midrapidity in p+p and peripheral Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. This is the first direct measurement of rho(770)^0 -> pi+pi- in heavy-ion collisions. The measured rho^0 peak in the invariant mass distribution is shifted by ~40 MeV/c^2 in minimum bias p+p interactions and ~70 MeV/c^2 in peripheral Au+Au collisions. The rho^0 mass shift is dependent on transverse momentum and multiplicity. The modification of the rho^0 meson mass, width, and shape due to phase space and dynamical effects are discussed.

We report the first measurement of the opening angle distribution between pairs of jets produced in high-energy collisions of transversely polarized protons. The measurement probes (Sivers) correlations between the transverse spin orientation of a proton and the transverse momentum directions of its partons. With both beams polarized, the wide pseudorapidity ($-1 \leq \eta \leq +2$) coverage for jets permits separation of Sivers functions for the valence and sea regions. The resulting asymmetries are all consistent with zero and considerably smaller than Sivers effects observed in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS). We discuss theoretical attempts to reconcile the new results with the sizable transverse spin effects seen in SIDIS and forward hadron production in pp collisions.

Correlations in the hadron distributions produced in relativistic Au+Au collisions are studied in the discrete wavelet expansion method. The analysis is performed in the space of pseudorapidity (|eta| < 1) and azimuth (full 2 pi) in bins of transverse momentum (p_t) from 0.14 < p_t < 2.1 GeV/c. In peripheral Au+Au collisions a correlation structure ascribed to mini-jet fragmentation is observed. It evolves with collision centrality and p_t in a way not seen before which suggests strong dissipation of minijet fragmentation in the longitudinally-expanding medium.

The pseudorapidity asymmetry and centrality dependence of charged hadron spectra in d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV are presented. The charged particle density at mid-rapidity, its pseudorapidity asymmetry and centrality dependence are reasonably reproduced by a Multi-Phase Transport model, by HIJING, and by the latest calculations in a saturation model. Ratios of transverse momentum spectra between backward and forward pseudorapidity are above unity for \pT below 5 GeV/$c$. The ratio of central to peripheral spectra in d+Au collisions shows enhancement at 2 $<$ \pT $<$ 6 GeV/$c$, with a larger effect at backward rapidity than forward rapidity. Our measurements are in qualitative agreement with gluon saturation and in contrast to calculations based on incoherent multiple partonic scatterings.

The short-lived $K(892)^{*}$ resonance provides an efficient tool to probe properties of the hot and dense medium produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We report measurements of $K^{*}$ in $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 200 GeV Au+Au and $p+p$ collisions reconstructed via its hadronic decay channels $K(892)^{*0} \to K\pi$ and $K(892)^{*\pm} \to K_S^0\pi^{\pm}$ using the STAR detector at RHIC. The $K^{*0}$ mass has been studied as a function of $p_T$ in minimum bias $p+p$ and central Au+Au collisions. The $K^{*}$ $p_T$ spectra for minimum bias $p+p$ interactions and for Au+Au collisions in different centralities are presented. The $K^{*}/K$ yield ratios for all centralities in Au+Au collisions are found to be significantly lower than the ratio in minimum bias $p+p$ collisions, indicating the importance of hadronic interactions between chemical and kinetic freeze-outs. A significant non-zero $K^{*0}$ elliptic flow ($v_2$) is observed in Au+Au collisions and compared to the $K_S^0$ and $\Lambda$ $v_2$. The nuclear modification factor of $K^{*}$ at intermediate $p_{T}$ is similar to that of $K_{S}^{0}$, but different from $\Lambda$. This establishes a baryon-meson effect over a mass effect in the particle production at intermediate $p_T$ ($2 < p_T \leq 4$ GeV/$c$).

Transverse momentum spectra of $\pi^{\pm}$, $p$ and $\bar{p}$ up to 12 GeV/c at mid-rapidity in centrality selected Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} = 200$ GeV are presented. In central Au+Au collisions, both $\pi^{\pm}$ and $p(\bar{p})$ show significant suppression with respect to binary scaling at $p_T > $ 4 GeV/c. Protons and anti-protons are less suppressed than $\pi^{\pm}$, in the range 1.5 $< p_{T} <$6 GeV/c. The $\pi^-/\pi^+$ and $\bar{p}/p$ ratios show at most a weak $p_T$ dependence and no significant centrality dependence. The $p/\pi$ ratios in central Au+Au collisions approach the values in p+p and d+Au collisions at $p_T >$ 5 GeV/c. The results at high $p_T$ indicate that the partonic sources of $\pi^{\pm}$, $p$ and $\bar{p}$ have similar energy loss when traversing the nuclear medium.

We report measurements of single-particle inclusive spectra and two-particle azimuthal distributions of charged hadrons at high transverse momentum (high $p_T$) in minimum bias and central d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=200 GeV. The inclusive yield is enhanced in d+Au collisions relative to binary-scaled p+p collisions, while the two-particle azimuthal distributions are very similar to those observed in p+p collisions. These results demonstrate that the strong suppression of the inclusive yield and back-to-back correlations at high $p_T$ previously observed in central Au+Au collisions are due to final-state interactions with the dense medium generated in such collisions.

We present STAR measurements of the azimuthal anisotropy parameter $v_2$ for pions, kaons, protons, $\Lambda$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, $\Xi+\bar{\Xi}$, and $\Omega + \bar{\Omega}$, along with $v_4$ for pions, kaons, protons, and $\Lambda + \bar{\Lambda}$ at mid-rapidity for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=62.4$ and 200 GeV. The $v_2(p_T)$ values for all hadron species at 62.4 GeV are similar to those observed in 130 and 200 GeV collisions. For observed kinematic ranges, $v_2$ values at 62.4, 130, and 200 GeV are as little as 10%--15% larger than those in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=17.3$ GeV. At intermediate transverse momentum ($p_T$ from 1.5--5 GeV/c), the 62.4 GeV $v_2(p_T)$ and $v_4(p_T)$ values are consistent with the quark-number scaling first observed at 200 GeV. A four-particle cumulant analysis is used to assess the non-flow contributions to pions and protons and some indications are found for a smaller non-flow contribution to protons than pions. Baryon $v_2$ is larger than anti-baryon $v_2$ at 62.4 and 200 GeV perhaps indicating either that the initial spatial net-baryon distribution is anisotropic, that the mechanism leading to transport of baryon number from beam- to mid-rapidity enhances $v_2$, or that anti-baryon and baryon annihilation is larger in the in-plane direction.

The STAR collaboration at RHIC reports measurements of the inclusive yield of non-photonic electrons, which arise dominantly from semi-leptonic decays of heavy flavor mesons, over a broad range of transverse momenta ($1.2 < \pt < 10$ \gevc) in \pp, \dAu, and \AuAu collisions at \sqrtsNN = 200 GeV. The non-photonic electron yield exhibits unexpectedly large suppression in central \AuAu collisions at high \pt, suggesting substantial heavy quark energy loss at RHIC. The centrality and \pt dependences of the suppression provide constraints on theoretical models of suppression.

We present the first measurements of charge-dependent correlations on angular difference variables $\eta_1 - \eta_2$ (pseudorapidity) and $\phi_1 - \phi_2$ (azimuth) for primary charged hadrons with transverse momentum $0.15 \leq p_t \leq 2$ GeV/$c$ and $|\eta| \leq 1.3$ from Au-Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 130$ GeV. We observe correlation structures not predicted by theory but consistent with evolution of hadron emission geometry with increasing centrality from one-dimensional fragmentation of color strings along the beam direction to an at least two-dimensional hadronization geometry along the beam and azimuth directions of a hadron-opaque bulk medium.