Longitudinal scaling property of the charge balance function in Au plus Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV

We present measurements of the charge balance function, from the charged particles, for diverse pseudorapidity and transverse momentum ranges in Au + Au collisions at root S(NN) = 200 GeV using the STAR detector at RHIC. We observe that the balance function is boost-invariant within the pseudorapidity coverage vertical bar-1.3, 1.3 vertical bar. The balance function properly scaled by the width of the observed pseudorapidity window does not depend on the position or size of the pseudorapidity window. This scaling property also holds for particles in different transverse momentum ranges. In addition, we find that the width of the balance function decreases monotonically with increasing transverse momentum for all centrality classes. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

System size dependence of associated yields in hadron-triggered jets STAR Collaboration

We present results on the system size dependence of high transverse momentum di-hadron correlations at root s(NN) = 200 GeV as measured by STAR at RHIC. Measurements in d + Au, Cu + Cu and Au + Au collisions reveal similar jet-like near-side correlation yields (correlations at small angular separation Delta phi similar to 0, Delta eta similar to 0) for all systems and centralities. Previous measurements have shown Chat the away-side (Delta phi similar to pi) yield is suppressed in heavy-ion collisions. We present measurements of the away-side Suppression as a function of transverse momentum and centrality in Cu + Cu and Au + Au collisions. The suppression is found to be similar in Cu + Cu and An + An collisions at a similar number of participants. The results are compared to theoretical calculations based on the patron quenching model and the modified fragmentation model. The observed differences between data and theory indicate that the correlated yields presented here will further constrain dynamic energy loss models and provide information about the dynamic density profile in heavy-ion collisions. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Center of mass energy and system-size dependence of photon production at forward rapidity at RHIC

We present the multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of photons produced in Au + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at root(s)NN = 62.4 and 200 GeV. The photons are measured in the region -3.7 < eta < -2.3 using the photon Multiplicity detector in the STAR experiment at RHIC. The number of photons produced per average number of participating nucleon pairs increases with the beam energy and is independent of (lie collision centrality. For collisions with similar average numbers of participating nucleons the photon multiplicities are observed to be similar for An + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at a given beam energy. The ratios of the number of charged particles to photons in the measured pseudorapidity range are found to be 1.4 +/- 0.1 and 1.2 +/- 0.1 for root(s)NN = 62.4 and 200 GeV, respectively. The energy dependence of this ratio could reflect varying contributions from baryons to charged particles, while mesons are the dominant contributors to photon production in the given kinematic region. The photon pseudorapidity distributions normalized by average number of participating nucleon pairs, when plotted as a function of eta-Y(beam), are found to follow a longitudinal scaling independent of centrality and colliding ion species at both beam energies. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Absolute normalization for uncorrelated background with the event mixing technique

We present a method to determine the magnitude of the uncorrelated background distribution obtained with the event mixing technique, through the simultaneous observation of the projectile elastic scattering in different detectors, which correspond to random coincidences. The procedure is tested with alpha-d angular correlation data from the (6)Li + (59)Co reaction at E(lab) = 29.6 MeV. We also show that the method can be applied using the product of singles events, when singles measurements are available. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Observation of the antimatter helium-4 nucleus

High-energy nuclear collisions create an energy density similar to that of the Universe microseconds after the Big Bang(1); in both cases, matter and antimatter are formed with comparable abundance. However, the relatively short-lived expansion in nuclear collisions allows antimatter to decouple quickly from matter, and avoid annihilation. Thus, a high-energy accelerator of heavy nuclei provides an efficient means of producing and studying antimatter. The antimatter helium-4 nucleus ((4)(He) over bar), also known as the anti-alpha ((alpha) over bar), consists of two antiprotons and two antineutrons (baryon number B = -4). It has not been observed previously, although the alpha-particle was identified a century ago by Rutherford and is present in cosmic radiation at the ten per cent level(2). Antimatter nuclei with B -1 have been observed only as rare products of interactions at particle accelerators, where the rate of antinucleus production in high-energy collisions decreases by a factor of about 1,000 with each additional antinucleon(3-5). Here we report the observation of (4)<(He) over bar, the heaviest observed antinucleus to date. In total, 18 (4)(He) over bar counts were detected at the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC; ref. 6) in 10(9) recorded gold-on-gold (Au+Au) collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 200 GeV and 62 GeV per nucleon-nucleon pair. The yield is consistent with expectations from thermodynamic(7) and coalescent nucleosynthesis(8) models, providing an indication of the production rate of even heavier antimatter nuclei and a benchmark for possible future observations of (4)(He) over bar in cosmic radiation.

Energy and system size dependence of phi meson production in Cu plus Cu and Au plus Au collisions

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 root s(NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV measured in the STAR experiment at RHIC. Data presented in this Letter are from mid-rapidity (vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.5) for 0.4 < p(T) < 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, normalized by the average number of participating nucleons, are found to be enhanced relative to those from p + p collisions. The enhancement for phi mesons lies between strange hadrons having net strangeness = 1 (K(-) and <(A)over bar>) and net strangeness = 2 (Xi). The enhancement for phi mesons is observed to be higher at root s(NN) = 200 GeV compared to 62.4 GeV. These observations for the produced phi(s (s) over bar) 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. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Limitation of double folding potentials to simulate the polarization in reactions involving halo nuclei

In this work, we investigate the limitation of the use of strength coefficients on double folding potentials to study the presence of the threshold anomaly in the elastic scattering of halo nuclei at near barrier energies. For this purpose, elastic angular distributions and reaction cross sections for the He-6 on Bi-209 are studied. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

psi ` to J/psi ratio measurements in PHENIX at RHIC

The ratio of the psi` over the J psi production cross section in the dielectron channel has been measured in root s = 200 GeV p + p collisions with the PHENIX detector at RHIC. The analysis is based on fitting of the dielectron invariant mass spectra in the area around the J psi and psi` signals in order to extract a ratio psi` over J psi of 0.019 +/- 0.005 (stat) +/- 0.002 (sys) and a fractional feed-down contribution to J psi from psi` of 8.6 +/- 2.5%.

Efeitos de alta densidade em processos Drell-Yan de altas energias

Um dos problemas teóricos mais importantes da Física de Partículas de Altas Energias é a investigação de efeitos de alta densidade na Cromodinâmica Quântica (QCD), que é a teoria que descreve as interações fortes. Tais efeitos são importantes pois determinam os observáveis em colisõesde altas energias. Em processos hadrônicos de energia suficientemente alta, espera-se a formação de sistemas densos o suficiente para que efeitos não lineares de QCD passem a ser significativos na descrição e na unitarização da seção de choque. Na descrição de processos de espalhamento de altas energias, evidências experimentais indicam que os hádrons são constituídos por partículas puntuais, as quais chamamos de pártons. Os pártons carregam uma fração x do momentum total do hádron, e são de dois tipos, quarks e glúons. Na interação entre as partículas ocorre a troca de momentum, definida como Q2. A descrição perturbativa padrão para a evolução dinâmica das distribuições de quarks q(x, Q2) e glúons g(x, Q2), pode ser dada pelas equações de evolução DGLAP, e tem obtido sucesso na descrição dos resultados experimentais para as presentes energias. Na evolução DGLAP, são considerados apenas processos de emissão, como a emissão de um glúon por um quark, o decaimento de um glúon em um par de quarks ou em um par de glúons Estes processos de emissão tendem a aumentar a densidade de pártons na região de pequeno momentum, levando a um crescimento ilimitado das distribuições partônicas para x -+ O. Assim, é esperado que o crescimento da densidade de pártons leve a interação e recombinação destas partículas, dando origem a termos não lineares nas equações de evolução. O resultado seria um processo de saturação das distribuições de pártons na região de alta energia e pequena fração de momentum. Os efeitos que dão origem à redução do crescimento das distribuições de quarks e glúons em relação a evolução linear são chamados genericamente de efeitos de sombreamento. Um dos aspectos fenomenológicosinteressantes a ser investigado no regime cinemático abordado acima é o processo Drell-Yan de alta energia, o qual consiste em processos de espalhamento pp, pA e AA com a produção de pares de léptons. Com o advento dos novos aceleradores, novos resultados experimentais estarão disponíveis na literatura relacionados com este processo. Em nosso trabalho investigamos os efeitos das correções de unitariedade em processos pp, bem como os efeitos devido a presença do meio nuclear em colisõespA e AA, nas distribuições de quarks e glúons, para a descrição da seção de choque diferencial para o processo Drell-Yan em colisõespp, pA e AA, para energias existentes nos novos aceleradores RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) e LHC (Large Ion Collider). Os efeitos de alta densidade são baseados no formalismo de Glauber-Mueller. Os resultados aqui apresentados mostram que os efeitos de alta densidade nas distribuições partônicas são importantes para altas energias, pois a descrição da seção de choque para o processo Drell-Yan, quando os efeitos de alta densidade são considerados, apresenta significativas diferenças da descrição onde não considera-se tais efeitos.

Dynamics of the deconfinement transition of quarks and gluons in a finite volume

We employ finite elements methods for the approximation of solutions of the Ginzburg-Landau equations describing the deconfinement transition in quantum chromodynamics. These methods seem appropriate for situations where the deconfining transition occurs over a finite volume as in relativistic heavy ion collisions. where in addition expansion of the system and flow of matter are important. Simulation results employing finite elements are presented for a Ginzburg-Landau equation based on a model free energy describing the deconfining transition in pure gauge SU(2) theory. Results for finite and infinite system are compared. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nonlocal description of the nuclear interaction

Extensive systematizations of theoretical and experimental nuclear densities and of optical potential strengths extracted from heavy-ion elastic scattering data analyses at low and intermediate energies are presented. The energy-dependence of the nuclear potential is accounted for within a model based on the nonlocal nature of the interaction. The systematics indicates that the heavy-ion nuclear potential can be described in a simple global way through a double-folding shape, which basically depends only on the density of nucleons of the partners in the collision. The possibility of extracting information about the nucleon-nucleon interaction from the heavy-ion potential is investigated.

Back-to-back correlations for finite expanding fireballs

Back-to-back correlations of particle-antiparticle pairs are related to the in-medium mass-modification and squeezing of the quanta involved. They are predicted to appear when hot and dense hadronic matter is formed in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. The survival and magnitude of the back-to-back correlations (BBC) of boson-antiboson pairs generated by in-medium mass modifications are studied here in the case of a thermalized, finite-sized, spherically symmetric expanding medium. We show that the BBC signal indeed survives the finite-time emission, as well as the expansion and flow effects, with sufficient intensity to be observed at BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).

The omega DD vertex in a sum rule approach

The study of charmonium dissociation in heavy ion collisions is generally performed in the framework of effective Lagrangians with meson exchange. Some studies are also developed with the intention of calculate form factors and coupling constants related with charmed and light mesons. These quantifies are important in the evaluation of charmonium cross sections. In this Letter we present a calculation of the omega DD vertex that is a possible interaction vertex in some meson-exchange models spread in the literature. We used the standard method of QCD sum rules in order to obtain the vertex form factor as a function of the transferred momentum. Our results are compatible with the value of this vertex form factor (at zero momentum transfer) obtained in the vector-meson dominance model. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nonequilibrium dynamics of quantum fields

The nonequilibrium effective equation of motion for a scalar background field in a thermal bath is studied numerically. This equation emerges from a microscopic quantum field theory derivation and it is suitable to a Langevin simulation on the lattice. Results for both the symmetric and broken phases are presented.

Contrasting continuous emission versus freeze-out via HDT

The effect of continuous emission hypothesis on the two-pion Bose-Einstein correlation is discussed and compared with the corresponding results based on the usual freeze-out ansatz. Sizable differences in the correlation function are observed when comparing these two scenarios of the decoupling process. They could lead to entirely different interpretation of properties of the hot matter formed in high-energy heavy-ion collisions.