Recent results indicate that the J/psi suppression pattern differs with rapidity showing a larger suppression at forward rapidity. J/psi suppression mechanisms based on energy density (such as color screening, interaction with co-movers, etc.) predict the opposite trend. On the other hand, it is expected that more c\bar{c} pairs should be available to form quarkonia at mid-rapidity via recombination. Some models provide a way to differentiate J/psi production from initially produced c\bar{c} pairs and final state recombination of uncorrelated pairs, via the rapidity and transverse momentum dependence of the elliptic flow (v2).
During 2007 data taking at RHIC, a large sample of Au+Au collisions at sqrt(sNN)=200 GeV was collected. The statistics has been increased compared to previous 2004 data set, thus allowing a more precise measurement of the J/psi production at both mid and forward rapidity. Furthermore, the PHENIX experiment benefited from the addition of a new detector, which improves the reaction plane resolution and allows us to measure the J/psi v2. Comparing this measurement to the positive D-mesons v2 (through non-photonic electron decays) will help constraining the J/psi production mechanisms and getting a more precise picture of the proportion of J/psi coming from direct production or charm quark coalescence.
Details on how the J/psi v2 is measured at both rapidities are presented. The J/psi v2 as a function of transverse momentum are compared to existing models.
This poster presents the PHENIX results on high-p_T gamma-hadron and pi0-hadron correlations and shows the modification of away side jet shape by the medium. By comparing their jet shapes and yields, we see some evidence of the direct gamma contribution to correlation functions.
We analyze the relative azimuthal ($Δϕ$) distribution of same-charge and opposite-charge particle pairs. We then remove elliptic flow background using the ZYAM method. Comparisons between near angle $Δϕ$ peak widths are presented for various centralities.
The ratio of the $ψ'$ over the $J/ψ$ production cross section in the dielectron channel has been measured in $\sqrt{s}=$ 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 $J/ψ$ and $ψ'$ signals in order to extract a ratio $ψ'$ over $J/ψ$ of 0.019$\pm 0.005($stat$)\pm 0.002($sys$)$ and a fractional feed-down contribution to $J/ψ$ from $ψ^\prime$ of $8.6 \pm 2.5 %$.
The large mass of the charm quark, along with the abundance of J/psi mesons observed from proton-proton collisions at PHENIX, allow for new measurements which are sensitive to basic properties of QCD. Two measurements are presented in this document: a transverse single-spin asymmetry (SSA) of J/psi production and the angular distribution for decay leptons in various reference frames. The decay distribution is directly sensitive to the J/psi production mechanism, while the transverse SSA is also sensitive to the distribution of gluons in a transversely polarized proton. Taken together, the two …
The PHENIX experiment has shown that J/psis are suppressed in central Au+Au collisions at a center of mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision sqrt s(NN) = 200 GeV, and that the suppression is larger at forward than at mid-rapidity. Part of this difference may be explained by cold nuclear matter effects but the most central collisions suggest that regeneration mechanisms could be at play. In 2007, PHENIX collected almost four times more Au+Au collisions at this energy than used for previous published results. Moreover, the addition of a new reaction plane detector allows a much better analysi…
A new calculation of R_{dAu} has been performed using the 2003 d+Au data and the higher-statistics 2005 p+p data. These nuclear modification factors are compared to calculations using nuclear-modified PDFs and a J/psi breakup cross section is extracted. These values are then used to project the cold nuclear matter effects in Au+Au collisions. Additionally, a more data-driven projection is performed.
Single electrons from open heavy quarks and di-leptons from J/psi mesons have been studied systematically at RHIC/PHENIX using data from p + p, d + Au and Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 GeV, 130 GeV and 200 GeV. From the single electron study, the charm quark yield is found to scale with the number of binary collisions. This scaling has recently been confirmed using Au+Au collisions at 62.4 GeV. A new analysis shows that a high p_T suppression of single electrons is observed in Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV. This suppression suggests that heavy quarks lose significant energy in t…
In 2013, inclusive J/psi measurements in p-Pb collisions were performed at the LHC at sqrt(sNN) = 5.02 TeV, in order to measure the effects related to the cold nuclear matter on the J/psi production. Their evaluation is important in order to be able to disentangle hot and cold nuclear matter effects in Pb-Pb collisions. In this contribution, results on the inclusive J/psi production in p-Pb collisions, in the dimuon decay channel at forward and backward rapidity, down to zero transverse momentum, are presented and compared to theoretical models.
The PHENIX collaboration efforts towards constraining and understanding quarkonia production mechanisms are outlined. J/psi measurements and feed-down sources studies in p-p collisions at 200 GeV, together with their possible indications on the hadro-production mechanisms, are discussed. J/psi photo-production in ultra-peripheral collisions at 200 GeV is also examined. Finally, a glimpse of the first bottomonia results in minimum bias Au-Au collisions at 200 GeV and their implications are presented.
Three measurements that broaden the scope of the experimental investigation of quarkonia modifications in heavy ion collisions are presented. Although the current statistical precision on the first two measurements does not allow one to draw significant conclusions, J/$ψ$ elliptic flow and high pT suppression results are important proofs of principle measurements, and make the case for higher luminosities at RHIC. Finally, the first measurement of an upper limit on the nuclear modification R_AA of dielectrons in the $Υ$ mass region in Au+Au collisions is presented. The results show a significa…
The measurement of quarkonia production in relativistic heavy ion collisions provides a powerful tool for studying the properties of the hot and dense matter created in these collisions. To be really useful, however, such measurements must cover a wide range of quarkonia states and colliding species. The PHENIX experiment at RHIC has successfully measured J/psi, psi-prime, chi_c and Upsilon production in different colliding systems at various energies. In this talk I will present recent results from the PHENIX collaboration on charmonium production in d+Au, Cu+Au and U+U collisions at 200 GeV/…
The J/psi is considered to be among the most important probes for the deconfined quark gluon plasma (QGP) created by relativistic heavy ion collisions. While the J/psi is thought to dissociate in the QGP by Debye color screening, there are competing effects from cold nuclear matter (CNM), feed-downs from excited charmonia (chi_c and psi') and bottom quarks, and regeneration from uncorrelated charm quarks. Measurements that can provide information to disentangle these effects are presented in this paper.
The STAR collaboration at RHIC presents measurements of \Jpsi$\to{e^+e^-}$ at mid-rapidity and high transverse momentum ($p_T>5$ GeV/$c$) in \pp and central \cucu collisions at \sNN = 200 GeV. The inclusive \Jpsi production cross section for \cucu collisions is found to be consistent at high $p_T$ with the binary collision-scaled cross section for \pp collisions, in contrast to previous measurements at lower $p_T$, where a suppression of \Jpsi production is observed relative to the expectation from binary scaling. Azimuthal correlations of $J/ψ$ with charged hadrons in \pp collisions provide a…
Quarkonia (J/psi, psi', chi_C, Upsilon) production provides a sensitive probe of gluon distributions and their modification in nuclei; and is a leading probe of the hot-dense (deconfined) matter created in high-energy collisions of heavy ions. We will discuss the physics of quarkonia production in the context of recent p+p measurements at PHENIX. We next discuss Cold-Nuclear Matter (CNM) effects as seen in our measurements in $d+Au$ collisions - both for intrinsic physics such as gluon saturation and final-state dissociation, and as a baseline for studies in nucleus-nucleus collisions. Then we…
We report new quarkonia measurements necessary to understand production mechanisms and cold nuclear matter effects in the yields observed at RHIC energy. Results obtained in p+p collisions collected during the 2006 RHIC Run include J/psi, Psi' and Upsilon differential cross sections as well as J/psi polarization. Revisited interpretations of the published J/psi nuclear modification factors and statistically improved observations in d+Au collisions taken in the 2008 Run are also discussed in the view of the recent understanding of the initial state effects and breakup cross section.
Yields of prompt and non-prompt J/psi, as well as Y(1S) mesons, are measured by the CMS experiment via their dimuon decays in PbPb and pp collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV for quarkonium rapidity |y|<2.4. Differential cross sections and nuclear modification factors are reported as functions of y and transverse momentum pt, as well as collision centrality. For prompt J/psi with relatively high pt (6.5<pt<30 GeV/c), a strong, centrality-dependent suppression is observed in PbPb collisions, compared to the yield in pp collisions scaled by the number of inelastic nucleon-nucleon collisions. In th…
Recent results from the PHENIX experiment at RHIC are presented. In this second part of the overview we discuss new results on direct photon production at low p_T in Au+Au collisions and a systematic study of J/psi production in various systems. Finally we summarize new results on the modification of jets in the medium.
J/psi production is considered to be a sensitive probe of the properties of quark gluon plasma created in nucleus+nucleus collisions at RHIC. In this article, the recent analysis of mid-rapidity (|y| < 1) J/psi production via the dielectron decay channel in Au+Au (year 2007) and Cu+Cu (year 2005) collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 200 GeV at STAR is reported. It is compared to STAR p+p results in order to study the nuclear modification factor as a function of transverse momentum and centrality. The results are compared to previously published data and available theoretical models.
This contribution presents the latest results on heavy quarkonia (j/psi and upsilon) production in d+A and A+A collisions at RHIC at a center of mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV, measured by the PHENIX experiment, as well as their implications in terms of understanding cold nuclear matter effects and the possible formation of a quark gluon plasma in central $\auau$ collisions.}
Results of identical pion correlations from the first year of data collection with the PHENIX detector at RHIC (\snn=130GeV) are presented. PHENIX has good particle identification using an electromagnetic calorimeter for timing, leading to identified pions from .2 to 1 GeV/c. This extends the range of previously measured correlation radii at this energy to $<k_T >$=633MeV/c. The beam energy dependence of the HBT radii are studied in depth and no significant dependence of the transverse radii is present. The longitudinal correlation length has a moderate energy dependence. Furthermore, theoreti…
First results are presented from J/Psi -> ee and J/Psi -> μμmeasurements by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC. These results are from a preliminary analysis of dielectrons from AuAu and pp data and dimuons from pp data measured in the RHIC run 2. A total cross section for J/Psi production in sqrt{s} = 200 GeV pp collisions of 3.8 \pm 0.6 (stat) \pm 1.3 (sys) microbarns is found. The J/Psi -> ee yield is presented versus number of binary collisions.
PHENIX has measured the dielectron continuum in sqrt(s_(NN))=200 GeV Au+Au and p+p collisions. In minimum bias Au+Au collisions the dielectron yield in the mass range between 150 and 750 MeV/c^2 is enhanced by a factor of 3.4 +/- 0.2(stat.) +/- 1.3(syst.) +/- 0.7(model) compared to the expectation from our model of hadron decays that well reproduces the mass spectrum in p+p collisions. The integrated yield increases faster with the centrality of the collisions than the number of participating nucleons, suggesting emission from scattering processes in the dense medium. The continuum yield betwe…
The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has measured single electrons at midrapidity and single muons at forward and backward rapidities (1.2<|y|< 2.2) for p+p and d+Au collisions at sqrt(sNN)=200 GeV. The inclusive lepton spectra exhibit excesses over light hadron sources. The excesses are attributed to semileptonic decays of charm and bottom hadrons and compared to the perturbative QCD predictions. The NLO pQCD calculation underpredicts the excess lepton production in {\it p+p} collisions. The excess lepton production in {\it d+Au} collisions scales with $N_{coll}$ at mi…
The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is fully equipped to measure hard probes in the di-muon decay channel in the high multiplicity environment of nucleus-nucleus collisions. Such probes are especially relevant for studying the quark-gluon plasma since they are produced at early times and propagate through the medium, mapping its evolution. CMS has measured the nuclear modification factors of non-prompt J/psi (from b-hadron decays) and prompt J/psi in PbPb collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76 TeV. For prompt J/psi with relatively high p_T (p_T=6.5-30 GeV/c), a strong, centrality-dependent suppression …
We study inclusive heavy quarkonium production with definite polarizations in polarized proton-proton collisions using the non-relativistic QCD color-octet mechanism. We present results for rapidity distributions of cross sections and spin asymmetries for the production of J/psi and psi' with specific polarizations in polarized p-p collisions at \sqrt s = 200 GeV and 500 GeV at the RHIC within the PHENIX detector acceptance range.
Yields for J/psi production in Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt (s_NN)= 200 GeV have been measured by the PHENIX experiment over the rapidity range |y| < 2.2 at transverse momenta from 0 to beyond 5 GeV/c. The invariant yield is obtained as a function of rapidity, transverse momentum and collision centrality, and compared with results in p+p and Au+Au collisions at the same energy. The Cu+Cu data provide greatly improved precision over existing Au+Au data for J/psi production in collisions with small to intermediate numbers of participants, providing a key constraint that is needed for disentangling c…
We update the study of the polarisation of J/psi produced in proton-proton collisions at RHIC at sqrt(s)=200 GeV using the QCD-based Colour-Singlet Model (CSM), including next-to-leading order partonic matrix elements from gluon and light quark fusion and leading-order contributions from charm-quark initiated processes. To do so, we also evaluate the corresponding cross section differential in P_T which agrees qualitatively with the measurements of PHENIX in the central and forward regions at low P_T -- for instance below 2 GeV --, while emphasising the need for Initial State Radiation (ISR) r…
The measurement of the nuclear modification factor ($R_{\rm AA}$) for heavy-flavor production in heavy-ion collisions tests predictions for cold- and hot-nuclear-matter effects. Heavy-flavor production in \pp\ collisions tests pQCD calculations and serves as a reference for understanding heavy-flavor production in heavy-ion collisions. Using the PHENIX muon-arm spectrometers, the transverse momentum spectra of inclusive muon candidates are measured for \pp\ and $\cucu$ collisions at $\snn = 200$\,GeV. After subtracting backgrounds, we obtain the measured invariant yields of negative muons from…
PHENIX measures leptons at mid and forward rapidities and extracts leptons resulting from semi-leptonic decays of heavy quarks. We present PHENIX results related to heavy quark production, specifically the invariant cross section of the non-photonic single electrons produced at midrapidity in p+p and d+Au collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 200 GeV. The measured cross section for {\it p+p} collisions is compared with the NLO prediction, and a possible excess over the prediction is noted. The measured cross section for {\it d+Au} collisions scales with the number of colliding nucleon pairs from the {\it …
Exploration of the rich structure of the QCD phase diagram is an important topic in the RHIC heavy ion program. One of the ultimate goals of this program is to search for the critical endpoint. Investigation of the space-time structure of hadron emissions at various phase transition points using Bose-Einstein correlations of identical bosons may provide insight on the location of the critical endpoint. PHENIX has performed comprehensive measurements of the Bose-Einstein correlation in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 15, 19, 27, 39, 62.4, and 200 GeV, where we incorporated Levy-type source func…
Heavy quarks are good probes of the hot and dense medium created in relativistic heavy ion collisions since they are mainly generated early in the collision and interact with the medium in all collision stages. In addition, heavy flavor quarkonia production is thought to be uniquely sensitive to the deconfined medium of the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) through color screening. Heavy quark production has been studied by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC via measurements of single leptons from semi-leptonic decays, in both the electron channel at mid-rapidity and in the muon channel at forward rapidity.…
Interpreting the J/psi suppression reported in nucleus--nucleus collisions at SPS and RHIC requires the quantitative understanding of cold nuclear matter effects, such as the inelastic rescattering of J/psi states in nuclei or the nuclear modification of parton densities. With respect to our former Glauber analysis, we include in the present work the new PHENIX d--Au measurements, and analyze as well all existing data using the EPS08 nuclear parton densities recently released. The largest suppression reported in the new PHENIX analysis leads in turn to an increase of sigma from 3.5 +/- 0.3 mb …
Heavy quarks (charm and bottom) are good probes of the hot and dense medium created in relativistic heavy ion collisions since they are mainly generated at the beginning of collisions and interact with the media in all collision stages. In addition, heavy flavor quarkonia production is thought to be uniquely sensitive to the deconfined medium of the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) through color screening. Heavy quark production has been studied by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC via measurements of single leptons from semi-leptonic decays in both the electron channel at mid-rapidity and in the muon cha…
We have carried out a wide study of Cold Nuclear Matter (CNM) effects on J/Psi production in d+Au, Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV. We have studied the effects of three different gluon-shadowing parametrisations, using the usual simplified kinematics for which the momentum of the gluon recoiling against the J/Psi is neglected as well as an exact kinematics for a 2 -> 2 process, namely g+g -> J/psi+g as expected from LO pQCD. We have shown that the rapidity distribution of the nuclear modification factor R_dAu, and particularly its anti-shadowing peak, is systematically shifted…
First results on charm quarkonia production in heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are presented. The yield of J/Psi's measured in the PHENIX experiment via electron-positron decay pairs at mid-rapidity for Au-Au reactions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV are analyzed as a function of collision centrality. For this analysis we have studied 49.3 million minimum bias Au-Au reactions. We present the J/Psi invariant yield dN/dy for peripheral and mid-central reactions. For the most central collisions where we observe no signal above background, we quote 90% confidence level u…
High energy ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC) of heavy-ions generate strong electromagnetic fields which open the possibility to study gamma-gamma and gamma-nucleus processes in a kinematic regime so far unexplored. We report on preliminary PHENIX results of J/Psi and high-mass e+e- photoproduction at mid-rapidity in coherent electromagnetic Au+Au interactions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV tagged with forward neutron emission from the Au* dissociation.
J/Psi production in p+p collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV has been Measured in the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) over a rapidity range of -2.2 < y < 2.2 and a transverse momentum range of 0 < pT < 9 GeV/c. The statistics available allow a detailed measurement of both the pT and rapidity distributions and are sufficient to constrain production models. The total cross section times branching ratio determined for J/Psi production is B_{ll} sigma_pp^J/psi = 178 +/- 3(stat) +/- 53(syst) +/- 18(norm) nb.
J/psi production has been measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)= 200 GeV over a wide rapidity and transverse momentum range by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC. Distributions of the rapidity and transverse momentum, along with measurements of the mean transverse momentum and total production cross section are presented and compared to available theoretical calculations. The total J/psi cross section is 3.99 +/- 0.61(stat) +/- 0.58(sys) +/- 0.40(abs) micro barns. The mean transverse momentum is 1.80 +/- 0.23(stat) +/- 0.16(sys) GeV/c.
J/psi production in d+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV has been measured by the PHENIX experiment at rapidities -2.2 < y < +2.4. The cross sections and nuclear dependence of J/ψproduction versus rapidity, transverse momentum, and centrality are obtained and compared to lower energy p+A results and to theoretical models. The observed nuclear dependence in d+Au collisions is found to be modest, suggesting that the absorption in the final state is weak and the shadowing of the gluon distributions is small and consistent with Dokshitzer-Gribov-Lipatov-Altarelli-Parisi-based parameteri…
The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has measured J/psi production for rapidities 2.2 < y < 2.2 in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. The J/psi invariant yield and nuclear modification factor R_AA as a function of centrality, transverse momentum and rapidity are reported. A suppression of J/psi relative to binary collision scaling of proton-proton reaction yields is observed. Models which describe the lower energy J/Psi data at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) invoking only J/psi destruction based on the local medium density would predict a significantly…
We present a new analysis of J/psi production yields in deuteron-gold collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV using data taken by the PHENIX experiment in 2003 and previously published in [S.S. Adler et al., Phys. Rev. Lett 96, 012304 (2006)]. The high statistics proton-proton J/psi data taken in 2005 is used to improve the baseline measurement and thus construct updated cold nuclear matter modification factors R_dAu. A suppression of J/psi in cold nuclear matter is observed as one goes forward in rapidity (in the deuteron-going direction), corresponding to a region more sensitive to initial state …
We report on leptonic observables by the PHENIX experiment from data taken during Run II at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). We show first results on phi -> K+K-, e+e-, low and intermediate mass dielectron continuum, single electrons from charm, and J/psi yields in proton-proton and Au-Au collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV.
Predictions of J/Psi formation at RHIC via "off-diagonal" combinations of charm and anticharm quarks in a region of color deconfinement are confronted with initial data from the PHENIX collaboration. We find that the measured centrality behavior places significant constraints on the various parameters which control model calculations of J/Psi formation. Within present statistical and systematic uncertainties, one can map out a region of parameter space within which the contribution of formation in a deconfined phase is allowed. As these uncertainties decrease and new data from d-Au interaction…
Understanding the detailed production and hadronization mechanisms for heavy quarkonia and their modification in a nuclear environment presents one of the major challenges in QCD. Calculations including nuclear-modified parton distribution functions (nPDFs) and fitting of break-up cross sections (sigma_breakup) as parameters have been successful at describing many features of J/psi modification in proton(deuteron)-nucleus collisions. In this paper, we extend these calculations to explore different geometric dependencies of the modification and confront them with new experimental results from t…
A parameter-free calculation for J/Psi suppression in pA collisions, based on the dipole description, is confronted with the new data from the PHENIX experiment. Achieving good agreement, we employed this model predicting the contribution of initial state interactions (ISI) to J/Psi suppression in AA collisions. Such a transition from pA to AA is not straightforward, since involves specific effects of double color filtering and boosting of the saturation scale. Relying on this refined ISI contribution, we updated the previous analysis of RHIC data on J/Psi production in Cu-Cu and Au-Au collisi…
In sqrt(sNN) = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions PHENIX reported a significant enhancement in the low-mass region (0.1 < m_ee < 0.7 GeV) of the dielectron spectrum, which is still not fully understood. Several theoretical works and an indirect measurement suggest that, due to the possible restoration of the U_A(1) part of the chiral symmetry in a hot and dense medium, the mass of the eta' meson may substantially decrease. This work reports on a statistically acceptable description of the PHENIX low-mass dilepton enhancement using a radial flow dominated meson spectra, chain decays of long-lived resonan…
Charmonium is a prominent probe of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), expected to be formed in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion (A-A) collisions. It has been predicted that the J/psi(c-cbar) particle is dissolved in the deconfined medium created in A-A systems. However this suppression can be counterbalanced via regeneration of the charm/anti-charm bound state in QGP or via statistical production at the phase boundary. At LHC energies, the latter mechanisms are expected to play a more important role, due to a charm production cross section significantly larger than at lower energies. Measurements obtain…
We report on our recent investigations in photonuclear production of heavy quarks and vector meson in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions. In particular, our theoretical predictions are compared with the recent experimental measurements on coherent rho (STAR) and J/Psi (PHENIX) photoproduction at RHIC and estimates for LHC are given.
The PHENIX experiment has measured the dielectron continuum in sqrt{s_NN} = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions. In minimum bias collisions the dielectron yield in the mass range between 150 and 750 MeV/c^2 is enhanced by a factor of 3.4 +/- 0.2(stat.) +/- 1.3(syst.) +/- 0.7(model) compared to the expectation from our model of hadron decays. The integrated yield increases faster with the centrality of the collisions than the number of participating nucleons, suggesting emission from scattering processes in the hot and dense medium. The continuum yield between the masses of the phi and the J/psi mesons is…
Results from the PHENIX experiment at RHIC in p-p and Au+Au collisions are reviewed from the perspective of measurements in p-p collisions at the CERN-ISR which serve as a basis for many of the techniques used. Issues such as J/Psi suppression and hydrodynamical flow in A+A collisions require data from LHC-Ions for an improved understanding. Suppression of high pT particles in Au+Au collisions, first observed at RHIC, also has unresolved mysteries such as the equality of the suppression of inclusive pi0 (from light quarks and gluons) and direct-single electrons (from the decay of heavy quarks)…
PHENIX has measured the e^+e^- pair continuum in sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV Au+Au and p+p collisions over a wide range of mass and transverse momenta. The e^+e^- yield is compared to the expectations from hadronic sources, based on PHENIX measurements. In the intermediate mass region, between the masses of the phi and the J/psi meson, the yield is consistent with expectations from correlated c^bar-c production, though other mechanisms are not ruled out. In the low mass region (below the phi) the p+p inclusive mass spectrum is well described by known contributions from light meson decays. In contrast, …
We outline the many quarkonium-physics opportunities offered by a multi-purpose fixed-target experiment using the p and Pb LHC beams extracted by a bent crystal. This provides an integrated luminosity of 0.5 fb-1 per year on a typical 1cm-long target. Such an extraction mode does not alter the performance of the collider experiments at the LHC. With such a high luminosity, one can analyse quarkonium production in great details in pp, pd and pA collisions at sqrt(sNN)~115 GeV and at sqrt(sNN)~72 GeV in PbA collisions. In a typical pp (pA) run, the obtained quarkonium yields per unit of rapidity…
Heavy quarkonia are observed to be suppressed in relativistic heavy ion collisions relative to their production in p+p collisions scaled by the number of binary collisions. In order to determine if this suppression is related to color screening of these states in the produced medium, one needs to account for other nuclear modifications including those in cold nuclear matter. In this paper, we present new measurements from the PHENIX 2007 data set of J/psi yields at forward rapidity (1.2<|y|<2.2) in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV. The data confirm the earlier finding that the suppressio…
We study the effect of nuclear matter in Upsilon production in dAu collisions at RHIC and pPb collisions at the LHC. We find that the nuclear modification factor, R^Upsilon_dAu, measured at RHIC is not satisfactorily reproduced by the conventional effects used in the literature, namely the modification of the gluon distribution in bound nucleons and an --effective-- survival probability for a bound state to escape the nucleus. In particular, we argue that this probability should be close to 1 as opposed to the J/psi case. We note that, at backward rapidities, the unexpected suppression of R^Up…
We present measurements of J/psi yields in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV recorded by the PHENIX experiment and compare with yields in p+p collisions at the same energy per nucleon-nucleon collision. The measurements cover a large kinematic range in J/psi rapidity (-2.2 < y < 2.4) with high statistical precision and are compared with two theoretical models: one with nuclear shadowing combined with final state breakup and one with coherent gluon saturation effects. To remove model dependent systematic uncertainties we also compare the data to a simple geometric model. We find that calc…
The three Upsilon states, Upsilon(1S+2S+3S), are measured in d+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV and rapidities 1.2<|y|<2.2 by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider. Cross sections for the inclusive Upsilon(1S+2S+3S) production are obtained. The inclusive yields per binary collision for d+Au collisions relative to those in p+p collisions (R_dAu) are found to be 0.62 +/- 0.26 (stat) +/- 0.13 (syst) in the gold-going direction and 0.91 +/- 0.33 (stat) +/- 0.16 (syst) in the deuteron-going direction. The measured results are compared to a nuclear-shadowing model, …
The PHENIX experiment has measured open heavy-flavor production via semileptonic decay muons over the transverse momentum range 1 < pT < 6 GeV/c at forward and backward rapidity (1.4 < |y| < 2.0) in d+Au and p+p collisions at ?sNN = 200 GeV. In central d+Au collisions an enhancement (suppression) of heavy-flavor muon production is observed at backward (forward) rapidity relative to the yield in p+p collisions scaled by the number of binary collisions. Modification of the gluon density distribution in the Au nucleus contributes in terms of anti-shadowing enhancement and shadowing suppression; h…
