No Arabic abstract
The distributions of outgoing protons and charged hadrons in high energy proton-nucleus collisions are described rather well by a linear extrapolation from proton-proton collisions. This linear extrapolation is applied to precisely measured Drell-Yan cross sections for 800 GeV protons incident on a variety of nuclear targets. The deviation from linear scaling in the atomic number A can be accounted for by energy degradation of the proton as it passes through the nucleus if account is taken of the time delay of particle production due to quantum coherence. We infer an average proper coherence time of 0.4 +/- 0.1 fm/c. Then we apply the linear extrapolation to measured J/psi production cross sections for 200 and 450 GeV/c protons incident on a variety of nuclear targets. Our analysis takes into account energy loss of the beam proton, the time delay of particle production due to quantum coherence, and absorption of the J/psi on nucleons. The best representation is obtained for a coherence time of 0.5 fm/c, which is consistent with Drell-Yan production, and an absorption cross section of 3.6 mb, which is consistent with the value deduced from photoproduction of the J/psi on nuclear targets. Finally, we compare to recent J/psi data from S+U and Pb+Pb collisions at the SPS. The former are reproduced reasonably well with no new parameters, but not the latter.
We show that the distributions of outgoing protons and charged hadrons in high energy proton-nucleus collisions are described rather well by a linear extrapolation from proton-proton collisions. The only adjustable parameter required is the shift in rapidity of a produced charged meson when it encounters a target nucleon. Its fitted value is 0.16. Next, we apply this linear extrapolation to precisely measured Drell-Yan cross sections for 800 GeV protons incident on a variety of nuclear targets which exhibit a deviation from linear scaling in the atomic number A. We show that this deviation can be accounted for by energy degradation of the proton as it passes through the nucleus if account is taken of the time delay of particle production due to quantum coherence. We infer an average proper coherence time of 0.4 +/- 0.1 fm/c, corresponding to a coherence path length of 8 +/- 2 fm in the rest frame of the nucleus. Finally, we apply the linear extrapolation to measured J/Psi production cross sections for 200 and 450 GeV/c protons incident on a variety of nuclear targets. Our analysis takes into account energy loss of the beam proton, the time delay of particle production due to quantum coherence, and absorption of the J/Psi on nucleons. The best representation is obtained for a coherence time of 0.5 fm/c, which is consistent with Drell-Yan production, and an absorption cross section of 3.6 mb, which is consistent with the value deduced from photoproduction of the J/Psi on nuclear targets.
Prompt photons produced in a hard reaction are not accompanied with any final state interaction, either energy loss or absorption. Therefore, besides the Cronin enhancement at medium transverse momenta pT and small isotopic corrections at larger pT, one should not expect any nuclear effects. However, data from PHENIX experiment exhibit a significant large-pT suppression in central d+Au and Au+Au collisions that cannot be accompanied by coherent phenomena. We demonstrate that such an unexpected result is subject to the energy sharing problem near the kinematic limit and is universally induced by multiple initial state interactions. We describe production of photons in the color dipole approach and find a good agreement with available data in p+p collisions. Besides explanation of large-pT nuclear suppression at RHIC we present for the first time predictions for expected nuclear effects also in the LHC energy range at different rapidities. We include and analyze also a contribution of gluon shadowing as a leading twist shadowing correction modifying nuclear effects at small and medium pT.
Measured J/Psi production cross sections for 200 and 450 GeV/c protons incident on a variety of nuclear targets are analyzed within a Glauber framework which takes into account energy loss of the beam proton, the time delay of particle production due to quantum coherence, and absorption of the J/Psi on nucleons. The best representation is obtained for a coherence time of 0.5 fm/c, previously determined by Drell-Yan production in proton-nucleus collisions, and an absorption cross section of 3.6 mb, which is consistent with the value deduced from photoproduction of the J/Psi on nuclear targets.
We present an universal treatment for a substantial nuclear suppression representing a common feature of all known reactions on nuclear targets (forward production of high-pT hadrons, production of direct photons, the Drell-Yan process, heavy flavor production, etc.). Such a suppression at large Feynman xF, corresponding to region of minimal light-cone momentum fraction variable x2 in nuclei, is tempting to interpret as a manifestation of coherence or the Color Glass Condensate. We demonstrate, however, that it is actually a simple consequence of energy conservation and takes place even at low energies, where no effects of coherence are possible. We analyze this common suppression mechanism for several processes performing model predictions in the light-cone dipole approach. Our calculations agree with data.
We present recent results for heavy-flavor observables in nucleus-nucleus collisions at LHC energies, obtained with the POWLANG transport setup. The initial creation of c-cbar and b-bbar pairs is simulated with a perturbative QCD approach (POWHEG+PYTHIA); their propagation in the medium (created in the nucleus-nucleus or in proton-nucleus collision) is studied with the relativistic Langevin equation, here solved using weak-coupling transport coefficients. Successively, the heavy quarks hadronize in the medium. We compute the nuclear modification factor and the elliptic flow parameter of the final D mesons both in nucleus-nucleus and in (for the first time, in the POWLANG setup) proton-nucleus collisions and compare our results to experimental data.