No Arabic abstract
The production of phi mesons in Au+Au collisions at RHIC and their propagation in a hot and dense nuclear medium is studied within the microscopic quark-gluon string model. The inverse slope parameter of the transverse mass distribution agrees well with that extracted from the STAR data, while the absolute yield of phi is underestimated by a factor 2. It appears that the fusion of strings alone cannot increase the phi yield either. Less than 30% of detectable phis experience elastic scattering, this rate is insufficient for the full thermalization of phi. The directed flow of phi at |y|<2 demonstrates strong antiflow behavior, whereas its elliptic flow rises up to about 3.5% in the same rapidity interval. As a function of transverse momentum it rises linearly with increasing p_t, in agreement with the STAR data, and saturates at p_t > 2 GeV/c.
New experimental data on transverse momentum spectra of strange particles (KS0, K-, K*, phi,...) produced in pp collisions at sqrt s = 200 GeV obtained by the STAR and PHENIX collaborations at RHIC are analysed in the framework of z-scaling approach. Scaling properties of the data z-presentation are illustrated. Self-similarity of strange particle production is discussed. A microscopic scenario of constituent interactions developed within the z-scaling approach is used to study constituent energy loss, proton momentum fraction and recoil mass in dependence on the transverse momentum, strangeness, and mass of the inclusive particle. The obtained results can be useful for understanding strangeness origin, for searching for new physics with strange probes and can serve as a benchmark for complex analyses of self-similar features of strange production in heavy ion collisions.
The experimental data on hadron yields and ratios in central Pb+Pb and Au+Au collisions at SPS and RHIC energies, respectively, are analysed within a two-source statistical model of an ideal hadron gas. These two sources represent the expanding system of colliding heavy ions, where the hot central fireball is embedded in a larger but cooler fireball. The volume of the central source increases with rising bombarding energy. Results of the two-source model fit to RHIC experimental data at midrapidity coincide with the results of the one-source thermal model fit, indicating the formation of an extended fireball, which is three times larger than the corresponding core at SPS.
We present a model of exclusive $phi$-meson lepto-production $ep to epphi$ near threshold which features the strangeness gravitational form factors of the proton. We argue that the shape of the differential cross section $dsigma/dt$ is a sensitive probe of the strangeness D-term of the proton.
We present a system size and energy dependence of $phi$ 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 $phi$ 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 results for the measurement of $phi$ meson production via its charged kaon decay channel $phi to K^+K^-$ in Au+Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=62.4$, 130, and 200 GeV, and in $p+p$ and $d$+Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV from the STAR experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The midrapidity ($|y|<0.5$) $phi$ meson transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) spectra in central Au+Au collisions are found to be well described by a single exponential distribution. On the other hand, the $p_{T}$ spectra from $p+p$, $d$+Au and peripheral Au+Au collisions show power-law tails at intermediate and high $p_{T}$ and are described better by Levy distributions. The constant $phi/K^-$ yield ratio vs beam species, collision centrality and colliding energy is in contradiction with expectations from models having kaon coalescence as the dominant mechanism for $phi$ production at RHIC. The $Omega/phi$ yield ratio as a function of $p_{T}$ 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 transverse momenta. The measured nuclear modification factor, $R_{dAu}$, for the $phi$ meson increases above unity at intermediate $p_{T}$, similar to that for pions and protons, while $R_{AA}$ is suppressed due to the energy loss effect in central Au+Au collisions. Number of constituent quark scaling of both $R_{cp}$ and $v_{2}$ for the $phi$ meson with respect to other hadrons in Au+Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$=200 GeV at intermediate $p_{T}$ is observed. These observations support quark coalescence as being the dominant mechanism of hadronization in the intermediate $p_{T}$ region at RHIC.