Strangeness enhancement has been predicted to be one of the signatures of the formation of the quark gluon plasma (QGP) and event-by-event fluctuations of strangeness may reveal the nature of such a phase transition. We report results for $K/π$ fluctuations from Cu+Cu at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 and 200 GeV and Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV using the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. We compare our results with the results observed in central Pb+Pb collisions at SPS energies at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 6.3, 7.6, 8.8, 12.3, and 17.3 GeV. We observe the fluctuation strength measured at the highest SPS energy point by the NA49 collaboration in Pb+Pb collisions is similar to our results in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions. We also compare our results with HIJING, a statistical hadronization model and a multi-phase transport model.
Event-by-event fluctuations in the net charge and <pT> at mid-rapidity have been studied in Au+Au collisions using the central tracking arms in the PHENIX experiment at RHIC.
We present the preliminary results from our analysis of event by event fluctuation in K/pi ratio in Au+Au collision at \sqrt s_{NN} = 200 GeV and at 62.4 GeV using STAR detector at RHIC. Two different methods have been used to extract the strength of dynamical fluctuation and the centrality dependence of that. The results from the study of energy and centrality dependence of the dynamical fluctuation are presented. From the excitation function it is seen that at two RHIC energies the measure of dynamical fluctuation is constant with values very close to that at 12.3 GeV at SPS. The dynamical f…
We present first results on event-by-event elliptic flow fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV obtained with the PHOBOS detector. Over the measured range in centrality, large relative fluctuations of 40--50% are found. The elliptic flow fluctuations are well described as being proportional to fluctuations in the shape of the initial collision region, as estimated event-by-event with the participant eccentricity using Glauber Monte Carlo.
Strong modification of event-by-event fluctuations in global observables was proposed by several authors as an indicator of the phase transition in system evolution. We report the results of the analysis of STAR TPC data on the charged multiplicity and mean transverse momentum fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=130 GeV. We discuss the centrality dependence of the observed fluctuations and compare the results with available data from lower collision energies and ISR data.
We present the first study of the energy dependence of $p_t$ angular correlations inferred from event-wise mean transverse momentum $<p_{t} >$ fluctuations in heavy ion collisions. We compare our large-acceptance measurements at CM energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 19.6, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV to SPS measurements at 12.3 and 17.3 GeV. $p_t$ angular correlation structure suggests that the principal source of $p_t$ correlations and fluctuations is minijets (minimum-bias parton fragments). We observe a dramatic increase in correlations and fluctuations from SPS to RHIC energies, increasing linearly with …
In the PHOBOS experiment, charged particles are measured in almost the full solid angle. This enables the study of fluctuations and correlations in the particle production over a very wide kinematic range. In this paper, we show results of a direct search for fluctuations identified by an unusual shape of the pseudorapidity distribution. In addition, we use analysis of correlations of the multiplicity in similar pseudorapidity bins, placed symmetrically in the forward and backward hemispheres, to test the hypothesis of production of particles in clusters.
Preliminary results are presented for two analyses of transverse energy (ET) production measured with the electromagnetic calorimeters of the Pioneering High Energy Nuclear Interaction Experiment (PHENIX), in nuclear interactions in Au+Au heavy-ion collisions created by the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Event-by-event ET distributions made across collision centrality were used in (1) measurements of 200 GeV mean ET, and (2) measurements of 200 GeV and 62.4 GeV ET distribution fluctuations. Event centrality was selected in 5% wide bins and each bin r…
We present measurements of net charge and transverse momentum fluctuations in Au + Au collisions at ?sNN = 20, 130, and 200 GeV reported in our QM 2004 poster using measures ?+-,dyn and <?pt,1 ?pt,2>. We observe the dynamical fluctuations are finite at all three energies and exhibit a rather modest dependence on beam energy. We also find both net charge and pt fluctuations violate the trivial 1/N scaling expected for nuclear collisions consisting of independent nucleon-nucleon interactions. We speculate the observed centrality dependence arises due to radial flow and might provide insight on t…
The rapidity and centrality dependence of baryon to meson ratios in Au$+$Au, Cu$+$Cu and p$+$p collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV at RHIC is presented. The $\bar{p}/π^{-}$ ratios are founded to be independent of collision system at a fixed $<N_{part}>$ at mid- and forward rapidities.
We present the centrality dependence of the $N(Ω)/N(ϕ)$ ratios and $ϕ$ $v_{2}$ measured in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The results are compared to measurements of other identified particles and recombination model expectations in order to gain insight into the partonic collectivity and possible thermalization of the produced medium.
We present a system size and energy dependence of $ϕ$ meson production in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=62.4 GeV and 200 GeV measured by the STAR experiment at RHIC. We find that the number of participant scaled $ϕ$ meson yields in heavy ion collisions over that of p+p collisions are larger than 1 and increase with collision energy. We compare the results with those of open-strange particles and discuss the physics implication.
We present STAR measurements of K^{0}_{S}, ϕ, Λ, Ξ, and Ωat mid-rapidity from Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, and 39 GeV from the Beam Energy Scan (BES) program at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Nuclear modification factors and baryon-to-meson ratios are measured to understand recombination and parton energy loss mechanisms. Implications on partonic versus hadronic dynamics at low beam energies are discussed.
We discuss details of our thermal model applied to extract chemical freeze-out conditions from fluctuations in the net-electric charge and net-proton number measured at RHIC. A parametrization for these conditions as a function of the beam energy is given.
This paper describes the measurement of the energy dependence of elliptic flow for charged particles in Au+Au collisions using the PHOBOS detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Data taken at collision energies of $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} =$ 19.6, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV are shown over a wide range in pseudorapidity. These results, when plotted as a function of $η'=|η|-y_{beam}$, scale with approximate linearity throughout $η'$, implying no sharp changes in the dynamics of particle production as a function of pseudorapidity or increasing beam energy.
We present measurements of elliptic flow and event-by-event fluctuations established by the PHOBOS experiment. Elliptic flow scaled by participant eccentricity is found to be similar for both systems when collisions with the same number of participants or the same particle area density are compared. The agreement of elliptic flow between Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions provides evidence that the matter is created in the initial stage of relativistic heavy ion collisions with transverse granularity similar to that of the participant nucleons. The event-by-event fluctuation results reveal that the in…
The RHIC Beam Energy Scan focuses on mapping the QCD phase diagram and pinpointing the location of a possible critical end point. Bose-Einstein correlations and event-by-event fluctuations of conserved quantities, measured as a function of centrality and collision energy, are promising tools in these studies. Recent lattice QCD and statistical thermal model calculations predict that higher-order cumulants of the fluctuations are sensitive indicators of the phase transition. Products of these cumulants can be used to extract the freeze-out parameters (1) and to locate the critical point (2). Tw…
We present the centrality dependence of Lambda and Anti-Lambda hyperon global polarization in Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s_NN}=62 GeV and 200 GeV measured with the STAR detector at RHIC. Within the precision of the measurement, we observe no centrality dependence of Lambda and Anti-Lambda hyperon global polarization and within our acceptance it is consistent with zero. Different sources of systematic uncertainties (feed down effects, spin precession) are discussed and estimated. The obtained upper limit, |P_{Lambda,Anti-Lambda}| < 0.02, is compared to theoretical predictions discussed recently i…
PHENIX has measured high transverse momentum (pT) identified hadrons in different collision species and energies in the last five RHIC runs. The systematic study of the high pT hadron production provides an idea on interaction of hard scattered partons and the matter created in relativistic heavy ion collision. The eta/pi0 ratio is measured in Au+Au collisions, which gives a hint on the system thermalization and particle production. A future measurement of hadron and photon measurement is discussed.
Dynamic fluctuations in the local density of non-identified hadron tracks reconstructed in the STAR TPC are studied using the discrete wavelet transform power spectrum technique which involves mixed event reference sample comparison. The two-dimensional event-by-event analysis is performed in pseudo-rapidity eta and azimuthal angle phi in bins of transverse momentum pT. HIJING simulations indicate that jets and mini-jets result in characteristic signals, visible already at soft pT, when the dynamic texture analysis is applied. In this analysis, the discrepancy between the experiment and the HI…
Two particle azimuthal correlations with strange trigger particles ($K^0_S,Λ,Ξ$) are presented in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV in STAR at RHIC. The near-side associated yield is investigated as a function of centrality, $p_T$, and strangeness content of the trigger to investigate possible flavour or meson/baryon differences. The system size dependence of both the jet-like correlations and the long range pseudorapidity correlations is studied to give insight into the origin of these two components.
Recent STAR measurements of the anisotropic flow coefficients (v$_{n}$) are presented for Au+Au collisions spanning the beam energy range $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7.7 - 200$ GeV. The measurements indicate dependences on the harmonic number ($n$), transverse momentum ($p_T$), pseudorapidity ($η$), collision centrality and beam energy ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}$) which could serve as important constraints to test different initial-state models and to aid precision extraction of the temperature dependence of the specific shear viscosity.
Two-particle high-$p_T$ triggered correlations in $Cu+Cu$ and $Au+Au$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62 $GeV$ and $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 $GeV$ in STAR at RHIC are presented. The $N_{part}$, $p_T^{associated}$, and $p_T^{trigger}$ dependence of the yield per trigger in the \textit{Jet} and \textit{Ridge} components of the near-side is investigated for h, $K^0_S$, $Λ$, and $Ξ$ trigger and associated particles. The system and energy dependence of these components is a potentially powerful tool to distinguish between models used to describe their production.
The measured elliptic flow (v2) of identified particles as a function of pT and centrality at RHIC suggests the created medium in Au+Au collisions achieves early local thermal equilibrium that is followed by hydrodynamic expansion. It is not known if the eta dependence on v2 is a general feature of elliptic flow or reflects other changes in the particle spectra in going from mid-rapidity to foward rapidities. The BRAHMS experiment provides a unique capability compared to the other RHIC experiments to measure v2 for identified particles over a wide rapidity range. From Run 4 Au+Au collision at …
We report on measurements of directed flow as a function of pseudorapidity in Au+Au collisions at energies of $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} =$ 19.6, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV as measured by the PHOBOS detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). These results are particularly valuable because of the extensive, continuous pseudorapidity coverage of the PHOBOS detector. There is no significant indication of structure near midrapidity and the data surprisingly exhibit extended longitudinal scaling similar to that seen for elliptic flow and charged particle pseudorapidity density.
Transverse momentum spectra up to 4.5 GeV/c were measured around midrapidity in Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}}=17.3 GeV, for pi^{+/-}, p, pbar and K^{+/-}, by the NA49 experiment. The nuclear modification factors R_{AA}, R_{AA/pA} and R_{CP} were extracted and are compared to RHIC results at sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV. The modification factor R_{AA} shows a rapid increase with transverse momentum in the covered region. The modification factors R_{AA/pA} and R_{CP} shows a saturation well below unity in the pi^{+/-} channel. The extracted R_{CP} values follow the 200 GeV RHIC results closely in the…
The energy and system size dependence of pseudorapidity ($η$) and multiplicity distributions of photons are measured in the region -2.3 $\leq$ $η$ $\leq$ -3.7 for Cu + Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 and 62.4 GeV. Photon multiplicity measurements at forward rapidity have been carried out using a Photon Multiplicity Detector (PMD) in the STAR experiment. Photons are found to follow longitudinal scaling for Cu + Cu collisions for 0-10% centrality. A Comparison of pseudorapidity distributions with HIIJING model is also presented.
We present the results on measurement of event-by-event pt fluctuations and correlations for Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt{sNN} = 62.4 and 200 GeV from STAR experiment at RHIC. These results are compared with those from Au+Au collisions at sqrt{sNN} = 62.4 and 200 GeV to study the system size dependence. We find that the dynamical pt fluctuations are finite and decrease with increasing collision centrality. The pt correlations are studied as a function of collision centrality and are observed to decrease as we go from peripheral to central collisions. The square root of pt correlations scaled by me…
We present transverse momentum spectra from d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV for identified hadrons at mid-rapidity and unidentified hadrons in the forward rapidity region using the Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC. We scale these spectra by the mean number of binary collisions to form a transverse momentum dependent ratio to spectra from p+p collisions, showing that the Cronin effect measured at lower centre-of-mass energies is also present at this higher energy. The data also suggest a dependence of the Cronin effect on the hadron species. We also compare central d+Au collisions to more per…
We extract chemical freeze-out conditions via a thermal model approach from fluctuation observables measured at RHIC and compare with results from lattice QCD and statistical hadronization model fits. The possible influence of additional critical and non-critical fluctuation sources not accounted for in our analysis is discussed.
Fluctuations and correlations of conserved quantities (baryon number, strangeness, and charge) can be used to probe phases of strongly interacting QCD matter and the possible existence of a critical point in the phase diagram. The cumulants of the multiplicity distributions related to these conserved quantities are expected to be sensitive to possible increased fluctuations near a critical point and ratios of the cumulants can be directly compared to the ratios of the susceptibilities from Lattice QCD calculations. In these proceedings, the measurements of the cumulants of net-proton multiplic…
Dynamic fluctuations in the local density of non-identified hadron tracks reconstructed in the STAR TPC are studied using the discrete wavelet transform power spectrum technique which involves mixed event reference sample comparison. The two-dimensional event-by-event analysis is performed in pseudo-rapidity (eta) and azimuthal angle (phi). HIJING simulations indicate that jets and mini-jets result in signals, visible without high pT selection, when the dynamic texture analysis is applied. Scanning a broad range of event multiplicities, we study the dependence of the signals on the initial con…
Enhanced fluctuations and correlations have been observed in the phase transitions of many systems. Their appearance at the predicted QCD phase transition (especially near the expected critical point) may provide insight into the nature of the phase transition. Recent results from the QCD Critical Point Search at RHIC will be presented, with a focus on particle ratio ($K/π$, $p/π$, and $K/p$) fluctuations and their comparison to previous measurements and theoretical predictions.
Probing the nature of the QCD phase transition with higher-order net-proton number fluctuation and local parton density fluctuation measurements at RHIC-STAR
Medium modification of particle spectra and the origin of collectivity in small collision systems are widely debated topics in the heavy-ion community. To address these open questions, we propose the study of particle production and collectivity for varying system sizes,Au+Au $>$ Ru+Ru/Zr+Zr $>$ Cu+Cu $>$ d+Au $>$ $γ$+Au, available at RHIC using the STAR detector. We present the first measurements of centrality dependent charged hadron production in Isobar (Ru+Ru and Zr+Zr) collisions, including the nuclear modification factors ($R_\mathrm{AA}$) at high transverse momentom ($p_\mathrm{T}$), an…
We present preliminary results from the study of dynamical net-charge fluctuations measured in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 39 GeV to 7.7 GeV and compare with the published results at higher collision energies. We also present the centrality dependence of the dynamical net-charge fluctuations.
The balance function, which measures the correlation between opposite sign charge pairs, is sensitive to the mechanisms of charge formation and the subsequent relative diffusion of the balancing charges. The study of the balance function can provide information about charge creation time as well as the subsequent collective behavior of particles. In this paper, we present a reaction-plane-dependent balance function study for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 200 GeV and compare with results from recent three particle correlation measurements. We also report balance functions for relati…
The non-Abelian feature of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) results in the gluons losing more energy than quarks in the medium formed in high energy heavy-ion collisions. Experimental results in p+p collisions when compared to NLO pQCD calculations show that at high transverse momentum (pT) the produced protons+anti-protons are dominantly from gluon jets and charged pions have substantial contribution from quark jets. If such a scenario is applied to heavy-ion collisions at RHIC, one would expect the difference in quark and gluon energy loss to have an effect on measured observables, such as high …
The BRAHMS experiment at RHIC has measured the production of charged hadrons as a function of pseudorapidity and transverse momentum in Au+Au, d+Au and p+p collisions at a common energy of sqrt(s_NN)=200GeV, and from these spectra we construct the nuclear modification factors for both ``hot'' and ``cold'' nuclear matter. In this contribution I will show how these factors evolve with pseudorapidity and collision centrality. We see a Cronin-like enhancement in d+Au collisions at midrapidity, going to a strong suppression at eta >= 2. In central Au+Au collisions we find a suppression both at mid-…
Strange particle production is an important experimental observable that allows the study of the strongly interacting matter created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The STAR experiment at RHIC has a unique capability of measuring identified strange particles over a wide range of acceptance providing a rich set of data to perform a systematic study. In addition to the data from Au+Au collisions, strange particles from p+p and d+Au collisions are also available for comparison and normalization. A new set of data from Cu+Cu reactions at 62 GeV and 200 GeV provides the chance to compare the …
PHOBOS measurements of elliptic flow are presented as a function of pseudorapidity, centrality, transverse momentum, energy and nuclear species. The elliptic flow in Cu-Cu is surprisingly large, particularly for the most central events. After scaling out the geometry through the use of an alternative form of eccentricity, called the participant eccentricity, which accounts for nucleon position fluctuations in the colliding nuclei, the relative magnitude of the elliptic flow in the Cu-Cu system is qualitatively similar to that measured in the Au-Au system.
The STAR experiment at RHIC has measured identified pi(+/-), K(+/-) and p(pbar) spectra and ratios from sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV Cu+Cu collisions. The new Cu+Cu results are studied with hydro-motivated blast-wave and statistical model frameworks in order to characterize the freeze-out properties of this system. Along with measurements from Au+Au and p+p collisions, the obtained freeze-out parameters are discussed as a function of collision energy, system size, centrality and inferred energy density. This multi-dimensional systematic study reveals the importance of the collision geometry a…
This paper presents $v_{4}/v_{2}^2$ ratio as a function of transverse momentum ($p_{t}$), pseudorapidity ($η$) and collision centrality in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV using the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). It is found that $v_{4}/v_{2}^2$ is larger than Hydrodynamic calculations, the centrality and transverse dependence of this ratio can not be fully described by Hydrodynamics, and the pseudorapidity dependence is opposite to what one expects from Hydrodynamics. The $p_{t}$ dependence of $v_{1}$ is also presented. It is found that $v_{1}(p_{t})…
Elliptic flow has been measured by the BRAHMS experiment as a function of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity for the Au+Au reaction at sqrt[s_{NN}] = 200 GeV. Identified-particle v2 (eta, pt) values were obtained with the two BRAHMS spectrometers at pseudorapidities eta approximately equal to 0, 1, and 3.4. The results show that the differential v2(eta, pt) values for a given particle type are essentially constant over the covered pseudorapidity range. It is suggested that the dominant cause of the observed fall-off of the integral v2 values going away from mid-rapidity is a corresponding …
We report results on event-by-event hard probe of soft matter geometry and fluctuations in heavy ion collisions. Geometric data ($v_2$ of high $p_t$ hadrons) from RHIC plus LHC clearly favors jet "monography" model with strong near-Tc enhancement of jet-medium interaction strength which also implies a less opaque medium at LHC. We also quantify the jet responses to all harmonic anisotropy $v_n$($n=1,2,3,4,5,6$) and their manifestation in hard-soft azimuthal correlations.
The transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) and centrality dependence of the azimuthal anisotropy ($v_{2}$) are measured for charged hadrons in different energies and collision species by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC. We find that $v_{2}$ divided by the participant eccentricity of the initial geometry proportionally increases with the number of participants to the 1/3 power except at small $N_{\rm part}$ in Cu+Cu at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 62.4 GeV. Taking the eccentricity and quark number scaling into account, there is a universal scaling for $v_{2}$ with different energies and collision sizes. The …
Collision energy and system size dependence of $p_{\mathrm{T}}$-differential radial flow fluctuations $v_{0}(p_{\mathrm{T}})$ at RHIC
Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application (MOE), and Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University（核物理与离子束应用（教育部）重点实验室，复旦大学现代物理研究所）；Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University（石溪大学化学系）
The study of correlations and fluctuations can provide evidence for the production of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in relativistic heavy ion collisions. Various theories predict that the production of a QGP phase in relativistic heavy ion collisions could produce significant event-by-event correlations and fluctuations in, transverse momentum, multiplicity, etc. Some of the recent results using STAR at RHIC will be presented along with results from other experiments at RHIC. The focus is on forward-backward multiplicity correlations, balance function, charge and transverse momentum fluctuation…
$J/ψ$ production has been measured in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) during 2004 and 2005, respectively, at mid-rapidity ($|η| \le$ 0.35) via $J/ψ$ $\to$ $e^{+}e^{-}$ decay and at forward rapidity (1.2 $\le | η| \le$ 2.2) via $J/ψ$ $\to$ $μ^{+}μ^{-}$ decay. The nuclear modification factor ($R_{AA}$) of $J/ψ$ is presented as a function of the collision centrality for Au+Au collisions (final results) and Cu+Cu collisions (preliminary results) in both rapidity windows. These results are compared to SPS…
The recent results on net-proton and net-charge multiplicity fluctuations from the beam energy scan program at RHIC have drawn much attention to explore the critical point in the QCD phase diagram. Experimentally measured protons contain contribution from various processes such as secondaries from higher mass resonance decay, production process, and protons from the baryon stopping. Further, these contributions also fluctuate from event to event and can contaminate the dynamical fluctuations due to the critical point. We present the contribution of stopped proton and produced proton fluctuatio…
We will present a review of selected results on strange baryon production from nucleus-nucleus collisions at the AGS, SPS and RHIC. From the AGS and SPS heavy ion physics program several intriguing aspects: centrality dependence of strangeness production, anti-hyperon yield, hyperon production enhancement and baryon number transport will be highlighted. Our discussion on RHIC results will focus on experimental probes of partonic degree of freedom. Measurements of the elliptic flow v2 and the nuclear modification factor and their distinctive particle dependence are presented as a function of tr…
Measurements of identified particle momentum spectra at center of mass energy 200 GeV are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the azimuthal dependence and the centrality dependence of hadron yields at intermediate transverse momentum (1.5 < p_T < 5 GeV/c). The first measurements of the fourth harmonic term (v_4) in the azimuthal variation of identified particle yields are shown. The recombination mechanism of hadron formation provides a consistent description of the dependence of these measurements on particle-type.
We present the incident energy and system size dependence of the pT spectra for charged pions, protons, and anti-protons using Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at Sqrt(sNN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV in STAR experiment at RHIC. Through these measurements in the pT range of 0.2 < pT < 10 GeV/c we conduct a systematic study of the beam energy, system size and particle species dependence of nuclear modification factors and address specific predictions from the quark coalescence models regarding the beam energy dependence of baryon enhancement in the intermediate pT (2 < pT < 6 GeV/c) region.
The study of correlations between opposite-sign charge pairs and particle-ratio fluctuations can provide a powerful tool to probe the properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). It has been suggested that the existence of a QCD phase transition would cause an increase and divergence of fluctuations. Thus the event-by-event particle-ratio fluctuations could be used to study strangeness and baryon number fluctuations near the critical point in the QCD phase diagram. On the other hand, the study of the balance function can provide information about charge creation time as well as the subsequent c…
The BRAHMS measurement of proton-to-pion ratios in Au+Au and p+p collisions at 62.4 and 200 GeV is presented as a function of transverse momentum and collision centrality within the pseudorapidity range 0 < eta < 3.2. The p/pi ratio measured for Au+Au system at 62.4 GeV, eta = 3.2 reaches astounding value of 8-10 at pT >= 1.5 GeV/c. For these energy and pseudorapidity interval no centrality dependency of p/pi ratio is observed. The baryon-to-meson ratio of nucleus-nucleus data are consistent with results obtained for p+p interactions.
We present the results of a systematic test applying statistical thermal model fits in a consistent way for different particle ratios, and different system sizes using the various particle yields measured in the STAR experiment. Comparison between central and peripheral Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions with data from p+p collisions provides an interesting tool to verify the dependence with the system size. We also present a study of the rapidity dependence of the thermal fit parameters using available data from RHIC in the forward rapidity regions and also using different parameterization for the ra…
Large transverse single-spin asymmetries (TSSA) in hadron production at forward rapidity have been observed in polarized $p$+$p$ interactions for many decades, over a large range of center-of-mass energies, and have led to the investigation of spin-momentum correlations such as the Sivers and Collins effects. In the last few years, it has been discovered at RHIC that these single-spin asymmetries may be enhanced or suppressed in $p$+$A$ collisions, and the nuclear-size and centrality dependence have been studied. A variety of phenomena have been observed and likely they do not have all a singl…
Fluctuations in the initial state of heavy-ion collisions are larger at RHIC energy than at LHC energy. This fact can be inferred from recent measurements of the fluctuations of the particle multiplicities and of elliptic flow performed at the two different energies. We show that an analytical description of the initial energy-density field and its fluctuations motivated by the color glass condensate (CGC) effective theory predicts and quantitatively captures the measured energy evolution of these observables. The crucial feature is that fluctuations in the CGC scale like the inverse of the sa…
We discuss several observables measured by PHOBOS that show common scaling features in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at RHIC energies. In particular, we examine the centrality and energy dependence of the charged particle multiplicity, as well as the centrality dependence of the elliptic flow at mid-rapidity. The discrepancy between Cu+Cu and Au+Au of the final state azimuthal asymmetry (elliptic flow), relative to the initial state geometry of the collision, can be resolved by accounting for fluctuations in the description of the initial geometry.
Identified pi^[+/-] K^[+/-], p and p-bar transverse momentum spectra at mid-rapidity in sqrt(s_NN)=130 GeV Au-Au collisions were measured by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC as a function of collision centrality. Average transverse momenta increase with the number of participating nucleons in a similar way for all particle species. The multiplicity densities scale faster than the number of participating nucleons. Kaon and nucleon yields per participant increase faster than the pion yields. In central collisions at high transverse momenta (p_T greater than 2 GeV/c), anti-proton and proton yields a…
We report the first measurements of the moments -- mean ($M$), variance ($σ^{2}$), skewness ($S$) and kurtosis ($κ$) -- of the net-charge multiplicity distributions at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at seven energies, ranging from $\sqrt {s_{\rm NN}}$= 7.7 to 200 GeV, as a part of the Beam Energy Scan program at RHIC. The moments are related to the thermodynamic susceptibilities of net-charge, and are sensitive to the proximity of the QCD critical point. We compare the products of the moments, $σ^{2}/M$, $Sσ$ and $κσ^{2}$ with the expectations from Poisson and negative binomial distributions…
