No Arabic abstract
Flow harmonics ($textit{v}_{n}$) of the Fourier expansion for the azimuthal distributions of hadrons are commonly employed to quantify the azimuthal anisotropy of particle production relative to the collision symmetry planes. While lower order Fourier coefficients ($textit{v}_{2}$ and $textit{v}_{3}$) are more directly related to the corresponding eccentricities of the initial state, the higher-order flow harmonics ($textit{v}_{n>3}$) can be induced by a mode-coupled response to the lower-order anisotropies, in addition to a linear response to the same-order anisotropies. These higher-order flow harmonics and their linear and mode-coupled contributions can be used to more precisely constrain the initial conditions and the transport properties of the medium in theoretical models. The multiparticle azimuthal cumulant method is used to measure the linear and mode-coupled contributions in the higher-order anisotropic flow, the mode-coupled response coefficients, and the correlations of the event plane angles for charged particles as functions of centrality and transverse momentum in Au+Au collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy $sqrt{textit{s}_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. The results are compared to similar LHC measurements as well as to several viscous hydrodynamic calculations with varying initial conditions.
The Beam Energy Scan (BES) program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) was extended to energies below $sqrt{textit{s}_{NN}}$ = 7.7 GeV in 2015 by successful implementation of the fixed-target mode of operation in the STAR (Solenoidal Track At RHIC) experiment. In the fixed-target mode, ions circulate in one ring of the collider and interact with a stationary target at the entrance of the STAR Time Projection Chamber. The first results for Au+Au collisions at $sqrt{textit{s}_{NN}}$ = 4.5 GeV are presented, including directed and elliptic flow of identified hadrons, and radii from pion femtoscopy. The proton flow and pion femtoscopy results agree quantitatively with earlier measurements by Alternating Gradient Synchrotron experiments at similar energies. This validates running the STAR experiment in the fixed-target configuration. Pion directed and elliptic flow are presented for the first time at this beam energy. Pion and proton elliptic flow show behavior which hints at constituent quark scaling, but large error bars preclude reliable conclusions. The ongoing second phase of BES (BES-II) will provide fixed-target data sets with 100 times more events at each of several energies down to $sqrt{textit{s}_{NN}}$ = 3.0 GeV.
Flow coefficients v_n for n = 2, 3, 4, characterizing the anisotropic collective flow in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV, are measured relative to event planes Psi_n determined at large rapidity. We report v_n as a function of transverse momentum and collision centrality, and study the correlations among the event planes of different order n. The v_n are well described by hydrodynamic models which employ a Glauber Monte Carlo initial state geometry with fluctuations, providing additional constraining power on the interplay between initial conditions and the effects of viscosity as the system evolves. This new constraint improves precision of the extracted viscosity to entropy density ratio eta/s.
We present measurements of $e^+e^-$ production at midrapidity in Au$+$Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 200 GeV. The invariant yield is studied within the PHENIX detector acceptance over a wide range of mass ($m_{ee} <$ 5 GeV/$c^2$) and pair transverse momentum ($p_T$ $<$ 5 GeV/$c$), for minimum bias and for five centrality classes. The ee yield is compared to the expectations from known sources. In the low-mass region ($m_{ee}=0.30$--0.76 GeV/$c^2$) there is an enhancement that increases with centrality and is distributed over the entire pair pt range measured. It is significantly smaller than previously reported by the PHENIX experiment and amounts to $2.3pm0.4({rm stat})pm0.4({rm syst})pm0.2^{rm model}$ or to $1.7pm0.3({rm stat})pm0.3({rm syst})pm0.2^{rm model}$ for minimum bias collisions when the open-heavy-flavor contribution is calculated with {sc pythia} or {sc mc@nlo}, respectively. The inclusive mass and $p_T$ distributions as well as the centrality dependence are well reproduced by model calculations where the enhancement mainly originates from the melting of the $rho$ meson resonance as the system approaches chiral symmetry restoration. In the intermediate-mass region ($m_{ee}$ = 1.2--2.8 GeV/$c^2$), the data hint at a significant contribution in addition to the yield from the semileptonic decays of heavy-flavor mesons.
We present first measurements of the $phi$-meson elliptic flow ($v_{2}(p_{T})$) and high statistics $p_{T}$ distributions for different centralities from $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC. In minimum bias collisions the $v_{2}$ of the $phi$ meson is consistent with the trend observed for mesons. The ratio of the yields of the $Omega$ to those of the $phi$ as a function of transverse momentum is consistent with a model based on the recombination of thermal $s$ quarks up to $p_{T}sim 4$ GeV/$c$, but disagrees at higher momenta. The nuclear modification factor ($R_{CP}$) of $phi$ follows the trend observed in the $K^{0}_{S}$ mesons rather than in $Lambda$ baryons, supporting baryon-meson scaling. Since $phi$-mesons are made via coalescence of seemingly thermalized $s$ quarks in central Au+Au collisions, the observations imply hot and dense matter with partonic collectivity has been formed at RHIC.
We report preliminary results of hypertriton observation in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC. We have identified 157 +- 30 candidates in the current sample containing ~10^8 Au+Au events at sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV. The production rate of hypertriton is close to that of helium 3. No extra penalty factor is observed for hypertriton, in contrast to results observed at the AGS.