Data on multiplicities of charged particles produced in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon are presented. It is shown that the mean multiplicity of negative particles is proportional to the mean number of nucleons participating in the collision both for nucleus-nucleus and proton-nucleus collisions. The apparent consistency of pion multiplicity data with the assumption of an incoherent superposition of nucleon-nucleon collisions is critically discussed.
A systematic study of the spectra and yields of K+ and K− is reported by experiment E866 as a function of centrality in Au+Au collisions at 11.6A GeV/c. The invariant transverse spectra for both kaon species are well described by exponentials in mt, with inverse slope parameters that are largest at midrapidity and which increase with centrality. The inverse slopes of the K+ spectra are slightly larger than the inverse slopes of the K− spectra. The kaon rapidity density peaks at midrapidity with the K+ distribution wider in rapidity than K−. The integrated total yields of K+ and K− increase nonlinearly and steadily with the number of projectile participants. The yield per participant for kaons is two to three times larger than the yield from N−N collisions. This enhancement suggests that the majority of kaons in central Au+Au reactions are produced in secondary hadronic collisions. There is no evidence for an onset of additional kaon production from a possible small volume of baryon-rich quark-gluon plasma. The differences between K+ and K− rapidity distributions and transverse spectra are consistent with a lower phase space for K− production due to a higher energy threshold. These differences also exclude simple thermal models that assume emission from a common equilibrated system.
Partial production cross sections of projectile alpha fragments produced in high-energy interactions of 16 O and 32 S at 200 GeV/n and 16 O at 60 GeV/n in emulsion are studied. Evidence of multiplicity scaling of such produced fragments is presented in the energy range 2–200 GeV/n for various projectiles.
Emission of intermediate mass fragments (IMFs) (Z>~3) from central collisions of 40Ar+45Sc (E/A=35–115 MeV), 58Ni+58Ni (E/A=35–105 MeV), and 86Kr+93Nb (E/A=35–95 MeV) was studied. For each system, the average number of IMFs per event increased with beam energy, reached a maximum, and then decreased. The beam energy of peak IMF production increased linearly with the combined mass of the system. The number of IMFs emitted at the peak also increased with the system mass. Percolation calculations showed a weaker dependence of the peak beam energy and the number of IMFs on the total mass of the system.
The neutral π0 and η mesons are studied in 197Au−197Au collisions at an incident energy of 800AMeV, substantially below the threshold for η production in N−N collisions. While the gross π0 multiplicity increases almost linearly with the number of participant nucleons, the multiplicities of η and hard π0 mesons show a stronger than linear dependence. The nonlinearity is governed by the average transverse-mass excess 〈mt〉−(s−2mN) of the mesons and is insensitive to their final-state interaction in the nuclear medium.
Cross sections for J ψ,ψ′ and Drell-Yan production in Pb+Pb collisions at 158×A GeV/c are presented and compared with results obtained by the NA38 and NA51 collaborations. The Pb+Pb data have been collected by the NA50 collaboration using the NA38 dimuon spectrometer. The Drell-Yan mechanism is found to scale as (A projectile · B target ) in p+B target and A projectile + B target collisions including Pb+Pb collisions. Regarding J ψ , an anomalous suppression is observed in Pb+Pb collisions with respect to the suppression observed in p+B target , O+B target and S+U collisions. The cross section ratios ψ′ ( J ψ ) are similar in Pb+Pb and S+U collisions.
Charged kaon production has been measured in Si+Al and Si+Au collisions at 14.6 A GeV/c, and Au+Au collisions at 11.1 A GeV/c by Experiments 859 and 866 (the E--802 Collaboration) at the BNL AGS. Invariant transverse mass spectra and rapidity distributions for both K+ and K- are presented. The centrality dependence of rapidity-integrated kaon yields is studied. Strangeness enhancement is observed as an increase in the slope of the kaon yield with the total number of participants as well as the yield per participant. The enhancement starts with peripheral Si+Al and Si+Au collisions (relative to N+N) and appears to saturate for a moderate number of participating nucleons in Si+Au collisions. It is also observed to increase slowly with centrality in Au+Au collisions, to a level in the most central Au+Au collisions that is greater than that found in central Si+A collisions. The enhancement factor for $K^+$ production are 3.0 +-0.2(stat.) +-0.4(syst.) and 4.0 +-0.3(stat.) +-0.5(syst.), respectively, for the most central 7% Si+Au collisions and the most central 4% Au+Au collisions relative to N+N at the correponding beam energy.
In this paper we present a study on the production of the J ψ and ψ′ resonances, decaying into muon pairs, in S-U collisions, at 200 GeV per incident nucleon. We find that the ratio between ψ′ and tJ ψ yields decreases as E T , the neutral transverse energy produced in the collision, increases. There is also a clear decrease of this ratio when going from p-W to S-U interactions. Assuming the high mass continuum to be Drell-Yan we discuss the possible understanding of the intermediate dimuon mass region as a superposition of Drell-Yan (extrapolated down in mass) and muon pairs from the semileptonic decays of charmed mesons. The p-W data is found to be explained by this procedure. However, the S-U data seems to be incompatible with a linear extrapolation from the proton-nucleus results.
In this paper Au+Au collisions at 11.6A GeV/c are characterized by two global observables: the energy measured near zero degrees (EZCAL) and the total event multiplicity. Particle spectra are measured for different event classes that are defined in a two-dimensional grid of both global observables. For moderately central events (σ/σint<12%) the proton dN/dy distributions do not depend on EZCAL but only on the event multiplicity. In contrast the shape of the proton transverse spectra shows little dependence on the event multiplicity. The change in the proton dN/dy distributions suggests that different conditions are formed in the collision for different event classes. These event classes are studied for signals of new physics by measuring pion and kaon spectra and yields. In the event classes doubly selected on EZCAL and multiplicity there is no indication of any unusual pion or kaon yields, spectra, or K/π ratio even in the events with extreme multiplicity.
We report on measurements of low-mass electron pairs in 450 GeV p-Be, p-Au, and 200 GeV/nucleon S-Au collisions at central rapidities. For the proton induced interactions, the low-mass spectra are, within the systematic errors, satisfactorily explained by electron pairs from hadron decays, whereas in the S-Au system an enhancement over the hadronic contributions by a factor of 5.0±0.7(stat)±2.0(syst) in the invariant mass range 0.2<m<1.5GeV/c2 is observed. The properties of the excess suggest that it arises from two-pion annihilation ππ→e+e−.