gamma cross section in p plus p collisions at root s=200 GeV

We report on a measurement of the gamma(1S + 2S + 3S) -> e(+)e(-) cross section at midrapidity in p + p collisions at root s = 200 GeV. We find the cross section to be 114 +/- 38(stat + fit)(-24)(+23)(syst) pb. Perturbative QCD calculations at next-to-leading order in the color evaporation model are in agreement with our measurement, while calculations in the color singlet model underestimate it by 2 sigma. Our result is consistent with the trend seen in world data as a function of the center-of-mass energy of the collision and extends the availability of gamma data to RHIC energies. The dielectron continuum in the invariant-mass range near the gamma is also studied to obtain a combined yield of e(+)e(-) pairs from the sum of the Drell-Yan process and b-(b) over bar production.

Azimuthal di-hadron correlations in d plus Au and Au plus Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV measured at the STAR detector

Yields, correlation shapes, and mean transverse momenta p(T) of charged particles associated with intermediate-to high-p(T) trigger particles (2.5 < p(T) < 10 GeV/c) in d + Au and Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV are presented. For associated particles at higher p(T) greater than or similar to 2.5 GeV/c, narrow correlation peaks are seen in d + Au and Au + Au, indicating that the main production mechanism is jet fragmentation. At lower associated particle pT < 2 GeV/c, a large enhancement of the near- (Delta phi similar to 0) and away-side (Delta phi similar to pi) associated yields is found, together with a strong broadening of the away-side azimuthal distributions in Au + Au collisions compared to d + Au measurements, suggesting that other particle production mechanisms play a role. This is further supported by the observed significant softening of the away-side associated particle yield distribution at Delta phi similar to pi in central Au + Au collisions.

Balance functions from Au+Au, d+Au, and p+p collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV

Balance functions have been measured for charged-particle pairs, identified charged-pion pairs, and identified charged-kaon pairs in Au + Au, d + Au, and p + p collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider using the STAR detector. These balance functions are presented in terms of relative pseudorapidity, Delta eta, relative rapidity, Delta y, relative azimuthal angle, Delta phi, and invariant relative momentum, q(inv). For charged-particle pairs, the width of the balance function in terms of Delta eta scales smoothly with the number of participating nucleons, while HIJING and UrQMD model calculations show no dependence on centrality or system size. For charged-particle and charged-pion pairs, the balance functions widths in terms of Delta eta and Delta y are narrower in central Au + Au collisions than in peripheral collisions. The width for central collisions is consistent with thermal blast-wave models where the balancing charges are highly correlated in coordinate space at breakup. This strong correlation might be explained by either delayed hadronization or limited diffusion during the reaction. Furthermore, the narrowing trend is consistent with the lower kinetic temperatures inherent to more central collisions. In contrast, the width of the balance function for charged-kaon pairs in terms of Delta y shows little centrality dependence, which may signal a different production mechanism for kaons. The widths of the balance functions for charged pions and kaons in terms of q(inv) narrow in central collisions compared to peripheral collisions, which may be driven by the change in the kinetic temperature.

Inclusive pi(0), eta, and direct photon production at high transverse momentum in p plus p and d plus Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV

We report a measurement of high-p(T) inclusive pi(0), eta, and direct photon production in p + p and d + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV at midrapidity (0 < eta < 1). Photons from the decay pi(0) -> gamma gamma were detected in the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The eta -> gamma gamma decay was also observed and constituted the first eta measurement by STAR. The first direct photon cross-section measurement by STAR is also presented; the signal was extracted statistically by subtracting the pi(0), eta, and omega(782) decay background from the inclusive photon distribution observed in the calorimeter. The analysis is described in detail, and the results are found to be in good agreement with earlier measurements and with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations.

Spectra of identified high-p(T) pi(+/-) and p((p)over-bar ) in Cu + Cu collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV

We report new results on identified (anti) proton and charged pion spectra at large transverse momenta (3 < p(T) < 10 GeV/c) from Cu + Cu collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV using the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). This study explores the system size dependence of two novel features observed at RHIC with heavy ions: the hadron suppression at high-p(T) and the anomalous baryon to meson enhancement at intermediate transverse momenta. Both phenomena could be attributed to the creation of a new form of QCD matter. The results presented here bridge the system size gap between the available pp and Au + Au data, and allow for a detailed exploration of the onset of the novel features. Comparative analysis of all available 200 GeV data indicates that the system size is a major factor determining both the magnitude of the hadron spectra suppression at large transverse momenta and the relative baryon to meson enhancement.

Charged and strange hadron elliptic flow in Cu plus Cu collisions at root s(NN)=62.4 and 200 GeV

We present the results of an elliptic flow, v(2), analysis of Cu + Cu collisions recorded with the solenoidal tracker detector (STAR) at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at root s(NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV. Elliptic flow as a function of transverse momentum, v(2)(p(T)), is reported for different collision centralities for charged hadrons h(+/-) and strangeness-ontaining hadrons K-S(0), Lambda, Xi, and phi in the midrapidity region vertical bar eta vertical bar < 1.0. Significant reduction in systematic uncertainty of the measurement due to nonflow effects has been achieved by correlating particles at midrapidity, vertical bar eta vertical bar < 1.0, with those at forward rapidity, 2.5 < vertical bar eta vertical bar < 4.0. We also present azimuthal correlations in p + p collisions at root s = 200 GeV to help in estimating nonflow effects. To study the system-size dependence of elliptic flow, we present a detailed comparison with previously published results from Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. We observe that v(2)(p(T)) of strange hadrons has similar scaling properties as were first observed in Au + Au collisions, that is, (i) at low transverse momenta, p(T) < 2 GeV/c, v(2) scales with transverse kinetic energy, m(T) - m, and (ii) at intermediate p(T), 2 < p(T) < 4 GeV/c, it scales with the number of constituent quarks, n(q.) We have found that ideal hydrodynamic calculations fail to reproduce the centrality dependence of v(2)(p(T)) for K-S(0) and Lambda. Eccentricity scaled v(2) values, v(2)/epsilon, are larger in more central collisions, suggesting stronger collective flow develops in more central collisions. The comparison with Au + Au collisions, which go further in density, shows that v(2)/epsilon depends on the system size, that is, the number of participants N-part. This indicates that the ideal hydrodynamic limit is not reached in Cu + Cu collisions, presumably because the assumption of thermalization is not attained.

Identified particle production, azimuthal anisotropy, and interferometry measurements in Au plus Au collisions at root s(NN)=9.2 GeV

We present the first measurements of identified hadron production, azimuthal anisotropy, and pion interferometry from Au + Au collisions below the nominal injection energy at the BNL Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) facility. The data were collected using the large acceptance solenoidal tracker at RHIC (STAR) detector at root s(NN) = 9.2 GeV from a test run of the collider in the year 2008. Midrapidity results on multiplicity density dN/dy in rapidity y, average transverse momentum < p(T)>, particle ratios, elliptic flow, and Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) radii are consistent with the corresponding results at similar root s(NN) from fixed-target experiments. Directed flow measurements are presented for both midrapidity and forward-rapidity regions. Furthermore the collision centrality dependence of identified particle dN/dy, < p(T)>, and particle ratios are discussed. These results also demonstrate that the capabilities of the STAR detector, although optimized for root s(NN) = 200 GeV, are suitable for the proposed QCD critical-point search and exploration of the QCD phase diagram at RHIC.

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.

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(NN)-N-s = 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(NN)-N-s = 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.

Decomposition of emergent macrophyte roots and rhizomes in a northern prairie marsh

Dry mass, nitrogen and phosphorus content in belowground litter of four emergent macrophytes (Typha glauca Godr., Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin., Scolochloa festucacea (Willd.) Link and Scirpus lacustris L.) were followed for 1.2 years in a series of experimental marshes, Delta Marsh, Manitoba. Litter bags containing roots and rhizome materials of each species were buried in unflooded soil, or soil flooded at three water depths (1–30, 31–60, > 60 cm). There were few differences in dry mass loss in unflooded or flooded soils, and depth of flooding also had little effect on decomposition rates. In the flooded sites, Scolochloa and Phragmites roots lost more mass (48.9–63.8% and 59.2–85.5%, respectively) after 112 days than Typha and Scirpus (36.3–43.6 and 37.0–47.2%, respectively). These differences continued through to the end of the study, except in the shallow sites where Scirpus roots lost more mass and had comparable mass remaining as Scolochloa and Phragmites. In the unflooded sites, there was little difference between species. All litters lost nitrogen (22.9–90.0%) and phosphorus (46.3–92.7%) during the first 112 days, then levels tended to remain constant. Decay rates for our belowground root and rhizome litters were comparable to published literature values for aboveground shoot litter of the same species, except for Phragmites roots and rhizomes which decomposed at a faster rate (−k = 0.0014−0.0032) than shoots (−k = 0.0003−0.0007, [van der Valk, A.G., Rhymer, J.M., Murkin, H.R., 1991. Flooding and the decomposition of litter of four emergent plant species in a prairie wetland. Wetlands 11, 1–16]).

Seed germination and seedling morphology of the seagrass, Halophila engelmannii (Hydrocharitaceae)

Seeds of Halophila engelmannii Aschers., that were collected in Redfish Bay, Texas, at weekly intervals from mid-May to mid-June 1986, began to germinate 3–4 weeks after collection. Most of the collections subsequently showed an increase in the rate of germination under increased light intensity and all had a stoppage of germination after transfer to darkness, indicating a light requirement to break endogenous seed dormancy. During the 5 weeks after seeds germinated, seedlings in soil culture produced a rosette of six leaves before the appearance of a rhizome bud in the axil of the third leaf. The first node of the rhizome produced a root and an upright shoot with a pseudowhorl of three to five leaves.

原子吸收光谱法测定膜荚黄芪不同器官矿质元素含量

应用混合酸HNO3-HClO4(4∶1)在常压微沸条件下对膜荚黄芪根系及茎叶样品进行消解,采用原子吸收光谱法测定了膜荚黄芪不同器官即根及茎叶中五种人体必需矿质元素K,Fe,Zn,Mn和Cu含量,并对结果进行了统计分析与比较。该方法标准曲线相关系数为0.997 3~0.999 9,加标回收率为92.88%~109.25%,相对标准偏差(RSD,n=5)为0.393 5%~3.175 2%。方法简单,结果可靠。结果显示,膜荚黄芪根及茎叶中5种矿质元素含量顺序均为K>Fe>Zn>Mn>Cu。膜荚黄芪不同器官矿质元素含量不同,根中富含Fe,Zn,Cu元素,根内Fe含量是茎叶的1.54倍。茎叶中也含有丰富的矿质元素,特别是K和Mn元素。茎叶中K含量是根的1.63倍,这与黄芪的药效相符合。试验结果将为研究矿质元素在黄芪植株中的分布以及矿质元素含量与黄芪药效相关性提供理论依据。