Squeezed correlations of strange particles-antiparticles

Squeezed correlations of hadron-antihadron pairs are predicted to appear if their masses are modified in the hot and dense medium formed in high-energy heavy ion collisions. If discovered experimentally, they would be an unequivocal evidence of in-medium mass shift found by means of hadronic probes. We discuss a method proposed to search for this novel type of correlation, illustrating it by means of D(s)-mesons with in-medium shifted masses. These particles are expected to be more easily detected and identified in future upgrades at RHIC.

Dynamics of strangeness production in heavy-ion collisions near threshold energies

Within the framework of the improved isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics (ImIQMD) model, the dynamics of strangeness (K-0,K-+, Lambda, and Sigma(-,0,+)) production in heavy-ion collisions near threshold energies is investigated systematically, with the strange particles considered to be produced mainly by inelastic collisions of baryon-baryon and pion-baryon. Collisions in the region of suprasaturation densities of the dense baryonic matter formed in heavy-ion collisions dominate the yields of strangeness production. Total multiplicities as functions of incident energies and collision centralities are calculated with the Skyrme parameter SLy6. The excitation function of strangeness production is analyzed and also compared with the KaoS data for K+ production in the reactions C-12 + C-12 and Au-197 + Au-197.

Measurement of K*(892)(0) and K-0 mesons in Al plus Al collisions at 1.9A GeV

A new measurement of subthreshold K*(892)(0) and K-0 production is presented. The experimental data complete the measurement of strange particles produced in Al + Al collisions at 1.9A GeV measured with the FOPI detector at SIS at GSI (Darmstadt). The K*(892)(0)/K-0 yield ratio is found to be 0.0315 +/- 0.006(stat.) +/- 0.012(syst.) and is in good agreement with the transport model prediction. These measurements provide information on the in-medium cross section of K+-pi(-) fusion, which is the dominant process in subthreshold K*(892)(0) production.

Long-range two-particle correlations of strange hadrons with charged particles in pPb and PbPb collisions at LHC energies

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Homogenization of the p-Laplacian with nonlinear boundary condition on critical size particles: Identifying the strange term for the some non smooth and multivalued operators

We extend previous papers in the literature concerning the homogenization of Robin type boundary conditions for quasilinear equations, in the case of microscopic obstacles of critical size: here we consider nonlinear boundary conditions involving some maximal monotone graphs which may correspond to discontinuous or non-Lipschitz functions arising in some catalysis problems.

Strange freezeout

We argue that known systematics of hadron cross sections may cause different particles to freeze out of the fireball produced in heavy-ion collisions at different times. We find that a simple model with two freezeout points is a better description of data than that with a single freezeout, while still remaining predictive. The resulting fits seem to present constraints on the late stage evolution of the fireball, including the tantalizing possibility that the QCD chiral transition influences the yields at root S = 2700 GeV and the QCD critical point those at root S = 17.3 GeV. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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.

Study of bulk matter properties through strange quark hadrons with the STAR experiment

Relativistic heavy ion collisions are the ideal experimental tool to explore the QCD phase diagram. Several results show that a very hot medium with a high energy density and partonic degrees of freedom is formed in these collisions, creating a new state of matter. Measurements of strange hadrons can bring important information about the bulk properties of such matter. The elliptic flow of strange hadrons such as phi, K(S)(0), Lambda, Xi and Omega shows that collectivity is developed at partonic level and at intermediate p(T) the quark coalescence is the dominant mechanism of hadronization. The nuclear modification factor is an another indicator of the presence of a very dense medium. The comparison between measurements of Au+Au and d+Au collisions, where only cold nuclear matter effects are expected, can shed more light on the bulk properties. In these proceedings, recent results from the STAR experiment on bulk matter properties are presented.

Strange particle production in pp collisions at root s=0.9 and 7 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Measurement of neutral strange particle production in the underlying event in proton-proton collisions at √s=7 TeV

Measurements are presented of the production of primary KS0 and Λ particles in proton-proton collisions at √s=7 TeV in the region transverse to the leading charged-particle jet in each event. The average multiplicity and average scalar transverse momentum sum of KS0 and Λ particles measured at pseudorapidities |η|<2 rise with increasing charged-particle jet pT in the range 1-10 GeV/c and saturate in the region 10-50 GeV/c. The rise and saturation of the strange-particle yields and transverse momentum sums in the underlying event are similar to those observed for inclusive charged particles, which confirms the impact-parameter picture of multiple parton interactions. The results are compared to recent tunes of the pythia Monte Carlo event generator. The pythia simulations underestimate the data by 15%-30% for KS0 mesons and by about 50% for Λ baryons, a deficit similar to that observed for the inclusive strange-particle production in non-single-diffractive proton-proton collisions. The constant strange- to charged-particle activity ratios with respect to the leading jet pT and similar trends for mesons and baryons indicate that the multiparton-interaction dynamics is decoupled from parton hadronization, which occurs at a later stage. © 2013 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Multi-strange baryon production in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with ALICE

A measurement of the multi-strange Xi(-) and Omega(-) baryons and their antiparticles by the ALICE experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is presented for inelastic proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The transverse momentum (p(T)) distributions were studied at mid-rapidity (vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.5) in the range of 0.6 < p(T) < 8.5 GeV/c Xi(-) for and Xi(+) baryons, and in the range of 0.8 < P-T < 5 GeV/c for Omega(-) and<(Omega)over bar>(+). Baryons and antibaryons were measured as separate particles and we find that the baryon to antibaryon ratio of both particle species is consistent with unity over the entire range of the measurement. The statistical precision of the current data has allowed us to measure a difference between the mean p(T) of Xi(-) ((Xi) over bar)(+) and Omega(-) ((Omega) over bar (+)). Particle yields, mean pi, and the spectra in the intermediate pi range are not well described by the PYTHIA Perugia 2011 tune Monte Carlo event generator, which has been tuned to reproduce the early LHC data. The discrepancy is largest for Omega(-)((Omega) over bar (+)). This PYTHIA tune approaches the pi spectra of Xi(-) and Xi(+) baryons below p(T) <0.85 GeV/c and describes the Xi(-) and Xi(+) spectra above p(T) > 6.0 GeV/c. We also illustrate the difference between the experimental data and model by comparing the corresponding ratios of (Omega(-) +(Omega) over bar (+))/(Xi(-) + Xi(+)) as a function of transverse mass. (C) 2012 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

NLL QCD contribution of the electromagnetic dipole operator to B -> Xs gamma gamma with a massive strange quark

We calculate the O(αs) corrections to the double differential decay width dΓ77/(ds1ds2) for the process B¯→Xsγγ, originating from diagrams involving the electromagnetic dipole operator O7. The kinematical variables s1 and s2 are defined as si=(pb−qi)2/m2b, where pb, q1, q2 are the momenta of the b quark and two photons. We introduce a nonzero mass ms for the strange quark to regulate configurations where the gluon or one of the photons become collinear with the strange quark and retain terms which are logarithmic in ms, while discarding terms which go to zero in the limit ms→0. When combining virtual and bremsstrahlung corrections, the infrared and collinear singularities induced by soft and/or collinear gluons drop out. By our cuts the photons do not become soft, but one of them can become collinear with the strange quark. This implies that in the final result a single logarithm of ms survives. In principle, the configurations with collinear photon emission could be treated using fragmentation functions. In a related work we find that similar results can be obtained when simply interpreting ms appearing in the final result as a constituent mass. We do so in the present paper and vary ms between 400 and 600 MeV in the numerics. This work extends a previous paper by us, where only the leading power terms with respect to the (normalized) hadronic mass s3=(pb−q1−q2)2/m2b were taken into account in the underlying triple differential decay width dΓ77/(ds1ds2ds3).

Diesel bus emissions of submicrometer particles measured in a tunnel study

The emission factors of a bus fleet consisting of approximately three hundreds diesel powered buses were measured in a tunnel study under well controlled conditions during a two-day monitoring campaign in Brisbane. The number concentration of particles in the size range 0.017-0.7 m was monitored simultaneously by two Scanning Mobility Particle Sizers located at the tunnel’s entrance and exit. The mean value of the number emission factors was found to be (2.44±1.41)×1014 particles km-1. The results are in good agreement with the emission factors determined from steady-state dynamometer testing of 12 buses from the same Brisbane City bus fleet, thus indicating that when carefully designed, both approaches, the dynamometer and on-road studies, can provide comparable results, applicable for the assessment of the effect of traffic emissions on airborne particle pollution.