A three-dimensional (3D) correlation function obtained from mid-rapidity, low pT pion pairs in central Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV is studied. The extracted model-independent source function indicates a long range tail in the directions of the pion pair transverse momentum (out) and the beam (long). Model comparisons to these distensions indicate a proper breakup time \tau_0 ~ 9 fm/c and a mean proper emission duration \Delta\tau ~ 2 fm/c, leading to sizable emission time differences (<|\Delta \tau_LCM |> ~ 12 fm/c), partly due to resonance decays. They also suggest an outside-in 'burning' of the emission source reminiscent of many hydrodynamical models.
Back-to-back hadron pair yields in d+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV were measured with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Rapidity separated hadron pairs were detected with the trigger hadron at pseudorapidity |eta|<0.35 and the associated hadron at forward rapidity (deuteron direction, 3.0<eta<3.8). Pairs were also detected with both hadrons measured at forward rapidity; in this case the yield of back-to-back hadron pairs in d+Au collisions with small impact parameters is observed to be suppressed by a factor of 10 relative to p+p collisions. The kinematics of these pairs is expected to probe partons in the Au nucleus with low fraction x of the nucleon momenta, where the gluon densities rise sharply. The observed suppression as a function of nuclear thickness, p_T, and eta points to cold nuclear matter effects arising at high parton densities.
The production cross sections of ${\rm D^0}$ and $\Lambda^+_{\rm c}$ hadrons originating from beauty-hadron decays (i.e. non-prompt) were measured for the first time at midrapidity ($|y|<0.5$) by the ALICE Collaboration in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV. They are described within uncertainties by perturbative QCD calculations employing the fragmentation fractions of beauty quarks to baryons measured at forward rapidity by the LHCb Collaboration. The ${\rm b\overline{b}}$ production cross section per unit of rapidity at midrapidity, estimated from these measurements, is ${\rm d}\sigma_{\rm b\overline{b}}/{\rm d}y|_{|y|<0.5} = 83.1 \pm 3.5 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 5.4(\mathrm{syst.}) ^{+12.3}_{-3.2} (\mathrm{extrap.})\,\mu$b. The baryon-to-meson ratios are computed to investigate the hadronization mechanism of beauty quarks. The non-prompt $\Lambda^+_{\rm c}/{\rm D^0}$ production ratio has a similar trend to the one measured for the promptly produced charmed particles and to the p$/\pi^+$ and $\Lambda/{\rm K^0_S}$ ratios, suggesting a similar baryon-formation mechanism among light, strange, charm, and beauty hadrons. The $p_{\rm T}$-integrated non-prompt $\Lambda_{\rm c}/{\rm D^0}$ ratio is found to be significantly higher than the one measured in e$^+$e$^-$ collisions.
We report on event structure and double helicity asymmetry ($A_LL$) of jet production in longitudinally polarized p+p collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV. Photons and charged particles were measured at midrapidity $|\eta| < 0.35$ with the requirement of a high-momentum ($>2$ GeV/$c$) photon in each event. Measured event structure is compared with {\sc pythia} and {\sc geant} simulations. The shape of jets and the underlying event were well reproduced at this collision energy. For the measurement of jet $A_{LL}$, photons and charged particles were clustered with a seed-cone algorithm to obtain the cluster $p_T$ sum ($p_T^{\rm reco}$). The effect of detector response and the underlying events on $p_T^{\rm reco}$ was evaluated with the simulation. The production rate of reconstructed jets is satisfactorily reproduced with the NLO pQCD jet production cross section. For $4 < p_T^{\rm reco} < 12$ GeV/$c$ with an average beam polarization of $< P > = 49%$ we measured $A_{LL} = -0.0014 \pm 0.0037^{\rm stat}$ at the lowest $p_T^{\rm reco}$ bin (4-5 GeV/$c$) and $-0.0181 \pm 0.0282^{\rm stat}$ at the highest $p_T^{\rm reco}$ bin (10-12 GeV/$c$) with a beam polarization scale error of 9.4% and a $\pT$ scale error of 10%. Jets in the measured $p_T^{\rm reco}$ range arise primarily from hard-scattered gluons with momentum fraction $0.02 < x < 0.3$ according to {\sc pythia}. The measured $A_{LL}$ is compared with predictions that assume various $\Delta G(x)$ distributions based on the GRSV parameterization. The present result imposes the limit $-1.1 < \int_{0.02}^{0.3}dx \Delta G(x, \mu^2 = 1 {\rm GeV}^2) < 0.4$ at 95% confidence level or $\int_{0.02}^{0.3}dx \Delta G(x, \mu^2 = 1 {\rm GeV}^2) < 0.5$ at 99% confidence level.
Transverse momentum spectra of neutral pions in the range 1 < p_T < 10 GeV/c have been measured at mid-rapidity by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. The pi^0 multiplicity in central reactions is significantly below the yields measured at the same sqrt(s_NN) in peripheral Au+Au and p+p reactions scaled by the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions. For the most central bin, the suppression factor is ~2.5 at p_T = 2 GeV/c and increases to ~4-5 at p_T ~= 4 GeV/c. At larger p_T, the suppression remains constant within errors. The deficit is already apparent in semi-peripheral reactions and increases smoothly with centrality.
The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has measured the invariant differential cross section for production of K^0_S , \omega, \eta prime, and \phi mesons in p + p collisions at = 200 GeV. Measurements \omega and \phi production in different decay channels give consistent results. New results for the \phi are in agreement with previously published data and extend the measured pT coverage. The spectral shapes of all hadron transverse momentum distributions measured by PHENIX are well described by a Tsallis distribution functional form with only two parameters, n and T, determining the high-pT and characterizing the low-pT regions of the spectra, respectively. The values of these parameters are very similar for all analyzed meson spectra, but with a lower parameter T extracted for protons. The integrated invariant cross sections calculated from the fitted distributions are found to be consistent with existing measurements and with statistical model predictions.
Studies of the correlations of the two highest transverse momentum (leading) jets in individual Pb+Pb collision events can provide information about the mechanism of jet quenching by the hot and dense matter created in such collisions. In Pb+Pb and pp collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_\text{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV, measurements of the leading dijet transverse momentum ($p_{\mathrm{T}}$) correlations are presented. Additionally, measurements in Pb+Pb collisions of the dijet pair nuclear modification factors projected along leading and subleading jet $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ are made. The measurements are performed using the ATLAS detector at the LHC with 260 pb$^{-1}$ of pp data collected in 2017 and 2.2 nb$^{-1}$ of Pb+Pb data collected in 2015 and 2018. An unfolding procedure is applied to the two-dimensional leading and subleading jet $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ distributions to account for experimental effects in the measurement of both jets. Results are provided for dijets with leading jet $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ greater than 100 GeV. Measurements of the dijet-yield-normalized $x_{\mathrm{J}}$ distributions in Pb+Pb collisions show an increased fraction of imbalanced jets compared to pp collisions; these measurements are in agreement with previous measurements of the same quantity at 2.76 TeV in the overlapping kinematic range. Measurements of the absolutely-normalized dijet rate in Pb+Pb and pp collisions are also presented, and show that balanced dijets are significantly more suppressed than imbalanced dijets in Pb+Pb collisions. It is observed in the measurements of the pair nuclear modification factors that the subleading jets are significantly suppressed relative to leading jets with $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ between 100 and 316 GeV for all centralities in Pb+Pb collisions.
Neutral pion transverse momentum (pT) spectra at mid-rapidity (|y| < 0.35) were measured in Cu+Cu collisions at \sqrt s_NN = 22.4, 62.4, and 200 GeV. Relative to pi -zero yields in p+p collisions scaled by the number of inelastic nucleon-nucleon collisions (Ncoll) at the respective energies, the pi-zero yields for pT \ge 2 GeV/c in central Cu+Cu collisions at 62.4 and 200 GeV are suppressed, whereas an enhancement is observed at 22.4 GeV. A comparison with a jet quenching model suggests that final state parton energy loss dominates in central Cu+Cu collisions at 62.4 GeV and 200 GeV, while the enhancement at 22.4 GeV is consistent with nuclear modifications in the initial state alone.
Detailed differential measurements of the elliptic flow for particles produced in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV are presented. Predictions from perfect fluid hydrodynamics for the scaling of the elliptic flow coefficient v_2 with eccentricity, system size and transverse energy are tested and validated. For transverse kinetic energies KE_T ~ m_T-m up to ~1 GeV, scaling compatible with the hydrodynamic expansion of a thermalized fluid is observed for all produced particles. For large values of KE_T, the mesons and baryons scale separately. A universal scaling for the flow of both mesons and baryons is observed for the full transverse kinetic energy range of the data when quark number scaling is employed. In both cases the scaling is more pronounced in terms of KE_T rather than transverse momentum.
We report on two-particle azimuthal angle correlations between charged hadrons at forward/backward (deuteron/gold going direction) rapidity and charged hadrons at mid-rapidity in deuteron-gold (d+Au) and proton-proton (p+p) collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. Jet structures are observed in the correlations which we quantify in terms of the conditional yield and angular width of away side partners. The kinematic region studied here samples partons in the gold nucleus carrying nucleon momentum fraction x~0.1 to x~0.01. Within this range, we find no x dependence of the jet structure in d+Au collisions.