No Arabic abstract
The PHENIX experiment has measured $phi$ meson production in $d$$+$Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV using the dimuon and dielectron decay channels. The $phi$ meson is measured in the forward (backward) $d$-going (Au-going) direction, $1.2<y<2.2$ ($-2.2<y<-1.2$) in the transverse-momentum ($p_T$) range from 1--7 GeV/$c$, and at midrapidity $|y|<0.35$ in the $p_T$ range below 7 GeV/$c$. The $phi$ meson invariant yields and nuclear-modification factors as a function of $p_T$, rapidity, and centrality are reported. An enhancement of $phi$ meson production is observed in the Au-going direction, while suppression is seen in the $d$-going direction, and no modification is observed at midrapidity relative to the yield in $p$$+$$p$ collisions scaled by the number of binary collisions. Similar behavior was previously observed for inclusive charged hadrons and open heavy flavor indicating similar cold-nuclear-matter effects.
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 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.
Due to the large masses, heavy-flavor quarks are dominantly produced in initial hard scattering processes and experience the whole evolution of the medium produced in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energies. They are also expected to thermalize slower than light-flavor quarks. Thus the measurement of heavy quark production and azimuthal anisotropy can provide important insights into the medium properties through their interactions with the medium. In these proceedings, we report measurements of $D^0$ production and elliptic flow ($v_2$) via topological reconstruction using STARs recently installed Heavy Flavor Tracker (HFT). The new measurement of the nuclear modification factor ($R_{AA}$) of $D^0$ mesons in central Au+Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV confirms the strong suppression at high transverse momenta ($p_{T}$) reported in the previous publication with much improved precision. We also report the measurement of elliptic flow for $D^0$ mesons in a wide transverse momentum range in 0-80% minimum-bias Au+Au collisions. The $D^0$ elliptic flow is finite for $p_{T}$ $>$ 2 GeV/c and is systematically below that of light hadrons in the same centrality interval. Furthermore, several theoretical calculations are compared to both $R_{AA}$ and $v_2$ measurements, and the charm quark diffusion coefficient is inferred to be between 2 and $sim$12.
The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has measured $phi$ meson production and its nuclear modification in asymmetric Cu$+$Au heavy-ion collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV at both forward Cu-going direction ($1.2<y<2.2$) and backward Au-going direction ($-2.2<y<-1.2$), rapidities. The measurements are performed via the dimuon decay channel and reported as a function of the number of participating nucleons, rapidity, and transverse momentum. In the most central events, 0%--20% centrality, the $phi$ meson yield integrated over $1<p_T<5$ GeV/$c$ prefers a smaller value, which means a larger nuclear modification, in the Cu-going direction compared to the Au-going direction. Additionally, the nuclear-modification factor in Cu$+$Au collisions averaged over all centrality is measured to be similar to the previous PHENIX result in $d$$+$Au collisions for these rapidities.
Heavy-flavor quarks are dominantly produced in initial hard scattering processes and experience the whole evolution of the system in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energies. Thus they are suggested to be an excellent probe to the medium properties through their interaction with the medium. In this proceedings, we report our first measurement of $D^0$ production via topological reconstruction using STARs recently installed Heavy Flavor Tracker (HFT). We also report our new measurement of Nuclear Modification Factor ($R_{AA}$) of $D^0$ mesons in central Au+Au collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV as a function of transverse momentum ($p_{T}$). New results confirm the strong suppression at high $p_{T}$ with a much improved precision, and show that the $R_{AA}$ at high $p_{T}$ are comparable with light hadrons ($pi$) and with D meson measurements at the LHC. Furthermore, several theoretical calculations are compared to our data, and with charm diffusion coefficient 2${pi}TD_{S}$ $sim$ 2-12 can reproduce both the $D^0$ $R_{AA}$ and $v_2$ data in Au+Au collisions at RHIC.