No Arabic abstract
We present results on two-particle angular correlations in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at a center of mass energy per nucleon pair of 200 GeV over a broad range of pseudorapidity ($eta$) and azimuthal angle ($phi$) as a function of collision centrality. The PHOBOS detector at RHIC has a uniquely-large angular coverage for inclusive charged particles, which allows for the study of correlations on both long- and short-range scales. A complex two-dimensional correlation structure in $Delta eta$ and $Delta phi$ emerges, which is interpreted in the context of a cluster model. The effective cluster size and decay width are extracted from the two-particle pseudorapidity correlation functions. The effective cluster size found in semi-central Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions is comparable to that found in proton-proton collisions but a non-trivial decrease of the size with increasing centrality is observed. Moreover, a comparison between results from Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions shows an interesting scaling of the effective cluster size with the measured fraction of total cross section (which is related to the ratio of the impact parameter to the nuclear radius, $b/2R$), suggesting a geometric origin. Further analysis for pairs from restricted azimuthal regions shows that the effective cluster size at $Deltaphi sim 180^{circ}$ drops more rapidly toward central collisions than the size at $Deltaphi sim 0^{circ}$. The effect of limited $eta$ acceptance on the cluster parameters is also addressed, and a correction is applied to present cluster parameters for full $eta$ coverage, leading to much larger effective cluster sizes and widths than previously noted in the literature. These results should provide insight into the hot and dense medium created in heavy ion collisions.
We report new STAR measurements of mid-rapidity yields for the $Lambda$, $bar{Lambda}$, $K^{0}_{S}$, $Xi^{-}$, $bar{Xi}^{+}$, $Omega^{-}$, $bar{Omega}^{+}$ particles in Cu+Cu collisions at sNN{200}, and mid-rapidity yields for the $Lambda$, $bar{Lambda}$, $K^{0}_{S}$ particles in Au+Au at sNN{200}. We show that at a given number of participating nucleons, the production of strange hadrons is higher in Cu+Cu collisions than in Au+Au collisions at the same center-of-mass energy. We find that aspects of the enhancement factors for all particles can be described by a parameterization based on the fraction of participants that undergo multiple collisions.
The azimuthal anisotropic flow of identified and unidentified charged particles has been systematically studied in Cu+Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 200 GeV for harmonics $n=$ 1-4 in the pseudorapidity range $|eta|<1$. The directed flow in Cu+Au collisions is compared with the rapidity-odd and, for the first time, the rapidity-even components of charged particle directed flow in Au+Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 200~GeV. The slope of the directed flow pseudorapidity dependence in Cu+Au collisions is found to be similar to that in Au+Au collisions, with the intercept shifted toward positive $eta$ values, i.e., the Cu-going direction. The mean transverse momentum projected onto the spectator plane, $langle p_xrangle$, in Cu+Au collision also exhibits approximately linear dependence on $eta$ with the intercept at about $etaapprox-0.4$, closer to the rapidity of the Cu+Au system center-of-mass. The observed dependencies find natural explanation in a picture of the directed flow originating partly due the tilted source and partly due to the rapidity dependent asymmetry in the initial density distribution. Charge-dependence of the $langle p_xrangle$ was also observed in Cu+Au collisions, indicating an effect of the initial electric field created by charge difference of the spectator protons in two colliding nuclei. The rapidity-even component of directed flow in Au+Au collisions is close to that in Pb+Pb collisions at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV, indicating a similar magnitude of dipole-like fluctuations in the initial-state density distribution. Higher harmonic flow in Cu+Au collisions exhibits similar trends to those observed in Au+Au and Pb+Pb collisions and is qualitatively reproduced by a viscous hydrodynamic model and a multi-phase transport model. For all harmonics with $nge2$ we observe an approximate scaling of $v_n$ with the number of constituent quarks.
We present a systematic analysis of two-pion interferometry in Au+Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{rm{NN}}}$ = 62.4 GeV and Cu+Cu collisions at $sqrt{s_{rm{NN}}}$ = 62.4 and 200 GeV using the STAR detector at RHIC. The multiplicity and transverse momentum dependences of the extracted correlation lengths (radii) are studied. The scaling with charged particle multiplicity of the apparent system volume at final interaction is studied for the RHIC energy domain. The multiplicity scaling of the measured correlation radii is found to be independent of colliding system and collision energy.
We present two-dimensional (2D) two-particle angular correlations on relative pseudorapidity $eta$ and azimuth $phi$ for charged particles from Au-Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{rm NN}} = 62$ and 200 GeV with transverse momentum $p_t geq 0.15$ GeV/$c$, $|eta| leq 1$ and $2pi$ azimuth. Observed correlations include a {same-side} (relative azimuth $< pi/2$) 2D peak, a closely-related away-side azimuth dipole, and an azimuth quadrupole conventionally associated with elliptic flow. The same-side 2D peak and away-side dipole are explained by semihard parton scattering and fragmentation (minijets) in proton-proton and peripheral nucleus-nucleus collisions. Those structures follow N-N binary-collision scaling in Au-Au collisions until mid-centrality where a transition to a qualitatively different centrality trend occurs within a small centrality interval. Above the transition point the number of same-side and away-side correlated pairs increases rapidly {relative to} binary-collision scaling, the $eta$ width of the same-side 2D peak also increases rapidly ($eta$ elongation) and the $phi$ width actually decreases significantly. Those centrality trends are more remarkable when contrasted with expectations of jet quenching in a dense medium. Observed centrality trends are compared to {sc hijing} predictions and to the expected trends for semihard parton scattering and fragmentation in a thermalized opaque medium. We are unable to reconcile a semihard parton scattering and fragmentation origin for the observed correlation structure and centrality trends with heavy ion collision scenarios which invoke rapid parton thermalization. On the other hand, if the collision system is effectively opaque to few-GeV partons the observations reported here would be inconsistent with a minijet picture.
We have studied the dependence of azimuthal anisotropy $v_2$ for inclusive and identified charged hadrons in Au$+$Au and Cu$+$Cu collisions on collision energy, species, and centrality. The values of $v_2$ as a function of transverse momentum $p_T$ and centrality in Au$+$Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$=200 GeV and 62.4 GeV are the same within uncertainties. However, in Cu$+$Cu collisions we observe a decrease in $v_2$ values as the collision energy is reduced from 200 to 62.4 GeV. The decrease is larger in the more peripheral collisions. By examining both Au$+$Au and Cu$+$Cu collisions we find that $v_2$ depends both on eccentricity and the number of participants, $N_{rm part}$. We observe that $v_2$ divided by eccentricity ($varepsilon$) monotonically increases with $N_{rm part}$ and scales as ${N_{rm part}^{1/3}}$. The Cu$+$Cu data at 62.4 GeV falls below the other scaled $v_{2}$ data. For identified hadrons, $v_2$ divided by the number of constituent quarks $n_q$ is independent of hadron species as a function of transverse kinetic energy $KE_T=m_T-m$ between $0.1<KE_T/n_q<1$ GeV. Combining all of the above scaling and normalizations, we observe a near-universal scaling, with the exception of the Cu$+$Cu data at 62.4 GeV, of $v_2/(n_qcdotvarepsiloncdot N^{1/3}_{rm part})$ vs $KE_T/n_q$ for all measured particles.