No Arabic abstract
Measurements of the elliptic flow, $v_{2}$, of identified hadrons ($pi^{pm}$, $K^{pm}$, $K_{s}^{0}$, $p$, $bar{p}$, $phi$, $Lambda$, $bar{Lambda}$, $Xi^{-}$, $bar{Xi}^{+}$, $Omega^{-}$, $bar{Omega}^{+}$) in Au+Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}=$ 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39 and 62.4 GeV are presented. The measurements were done at mid-rapidity using the Time Projection Chamber and the Time-of-Flight detectors of the STAR experiment during the Beam Energy Scan program at RHIC. A significant difference in the $v_{2}$ values for particles and the corresponding anti-particles was observed at all transverse momenta for the first time. The difference increases with decreasing center-of-mass energy, $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ (or increasing baryon chemical potential, $mu_{B}$) and is larger for the baryons as compared to the mesons. This implies that particles and anti-particles are no longer consistent with the universal number-of-constituent quark (NCQ) scaling of $v_{2}$ that was observed at $sqrt{s_{NN}}=$ 200 GeV. However, for the group of particles NCQ scaling at $(m_{T}-m_{0})/n_{q}>$ 0.4 GeV/$c^{2}$ is not violated within $pm$10%. The $v_{2}$ values for $phi$ mesons at 7.7 and 11.5 GeV are approximately two standard deviations from the trend defined by the other hadrons at the highest measured $p_{T}$ values.
A systematic study is presented for centrality, transverse momentum ($p_T$) and pseudorapidity ($eta$) dependence of the inclusive charged hadron elliptic flow ($v_2$) at midrapidity($|eta| < 1.0$) in Au+Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27 and 39 GeV. The results obtained with different methods, including correlations with the event plane reconstructed in a region separated by a large pseudorapidity gap and 4-particle cumulants ($v_2{4}$), are presented in order to investigate non-flow correlations and $v_2$ fluctuations. We observe that the difference between $v_2{2}$ and $v_2{4}$ is smaller at the lower collision energies. Values of $v_2$, scaled by the initial coordinate space eccentricity, $v_{2}/varepsilon$, as a function of $p_T$ are larger in more central collisions, suggesting stronger collective flow develops in more central collisions, similar to the results at higher collision energies. These results are compared to measurements at higher energies at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider ($sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 and 200 GeV) and at the Large Hadron Collider (Pb + Pb collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV). The $v_2(p_T)$ values for fixed $p_T$ rise with increasing collision energy within the $p_T$ range studied ($< 2 {rm GeV}/c$). A comparison to viscous hydrodynamic simulations is made to potentially help understand the energy dependence of $v_{2}(p_{T})$. We also compare the $v_2$ results to UrQMD and AMPT transport model calculations, and physics implications on the dominance of partonic versus hadronic phases in the system created at Beam Energy Scan (BES) energies are discussed.
We present measurements of electrons and positrons from the semileptonic decays of heavy-flavor hadrons at midrapidity ($|y|<$ 0.35) in Au$+$Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=62.4$ GeV. The data were collected in 2010 by the PHENIX experiment that included the new hadron-blind detector. The invariant yield of electrons from heavy-flavor decays is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range $1<p_T^e<5$ GeV/$c$. The invariant yield per binary collision is slightly enhanced above the $p$$+$$p$ reference in Au$+$Au 0%--20%, 20%--40% and 40%--60% centralities at a comparable level. This may be a result of the interplay between initial-state Cronin effects, final-state flow, and energy loss for heavy-quark production at this low beam energy. The $v_2$ of electrons from heavy-flavor decays is nonzero when averaged between $1.3<p_T^e<2.5$ GeV/$c$ from $0<{rm centrality}<40$% collisions at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=62.4$ GeV. For 20%--40% centrality collisions, the $v_2$ at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=62.4$ GeV is smaller than that for heavy flavor decays at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV. The $v_2$ of the electrons from heavy-flavor decay at the lower beam energy is also smaller than $v_2$ for pions. Both results indicate that the heavy-quarks interact with the medium formed in these collisions, but they may not be at the same level of thermalization with the medium as observed at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV.
Transverse momentum spectra of pions, kaons, protons and antiprotons from Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_(NN)) = 62.4 GeV have been measured by the PHOBOS experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The identification of particles relies on three different methods: low momentum particles stopping in the first detector layers; the specific energy loss (dE/dx) in the silicon Spectrometer, and Time-of-Flight measurement. These methods cover the transverse momentum ranges 0.03-0.2, 0.2-1.0 and 0.5-3.0 GeV/c, respectively. Baryons are found to have substantially harder transverse momentum spectra than mesons. The pT region in which the proton to pion ratio reaches unity in central Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_(NN)) = 62.4 GeV fits into a smooth trend as a function of collision energy. At low transverse momenta, the spectra exhibit a significant deviation from transverse mass scaling, and when the observed particle yields at very low pT are compared to extrapolations from higher pT, no significant excess is found. By comparing our results to Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_(NN)) = 200 GeV, we conclude that the net proton yield at midrapidity is proportional to the number of participant nucleons in the collision.
We present the $v_2$ measurement at midrapidity from Au+Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}=$ 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39 and 62.4 GeV for inclusive charged hadrons and identified hadrons ($pi^{pm}$, $K^{pm}$, $K_{S}^{0}$, $p$, $bar{p}$, $phi$, $Lambda$, $bar{Lambda}$, $Xi^{-}$, $bar{Xi}^{+}$, $Omega^{-}$, $bar{Omega}^{+}$) up to 4 GeV/$c$ in $p_{T}$. The beam energy and centrality dependence of charged hadron $v_2$ are presented with comparison to higher energies at RHIC and LHC. The identified hadron $v_{2}$ are used to discuss the NCQ scaling for different beam energies. Significant difference in $v_{2}(p_{T})$ is observed between particles and corresponding anti-particles for $sqrt{s_{NN}} <$ 39 GeV. These differences are more pronounced for baryons compared to mesons and they increase with decreasing energy.
We present recent results of the mid-rapidity elliptic flow ($v_2$) for multi-strange hadrons and the $phi$ meson as a function of centrality in Au + Au collisions at the center of mass energy $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. The transverse momentum dependence of $phi$ and $Omega$ $v_2$ is similar to that of pion and proton, indicating that the heavier strange ($s$) quark flows as strongly as the lighter up ($u$) and down ($d$) quarks. These observations constitute a clear piece of evidence for the development of partonic collectivity in heavy-ion collisions at the top RHIC energy. In addition, the mass ordering of $v_2$ breaks between the $phi$ and proton at low transverse momenta in the 0-30% centrality bin, possibly due to the effect of late hadronic interactions on the proton $v_2$.