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Messung von Lepton-Paaren aus Meson-Zerfällen in den Hadronenexperimenten NA49 und STAR
(1998)
- Die in ultra-relativistischen Schwerionenkollisionen erreichten Dichten und Temperaturen führen möglicherweise zu einem Übergang der hochangeregten Kernmaterie in eine partonische Phase ohne Einschluß der Quarks und Gluonen. Dieser Zustand wird Quark-Gluon- Plasma genannt. Die Existenz dieses Plasmas vor einem Phasenübergang in ein Hadrongas versucht man in einer Reihe von Experimenten unter anderem an den Kernforschungszentren CERN in Genf/Schweiz und Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) auf Long Island/USA nachzuweisen. Aufgrund theoretischer Modelle wird erwartet, daß Signaturen eines solchen Zustandes das Verhältnis der Pion- zu Baryonen-Produktion und die Produktion von Teilchen, die Strange-Quarks enthalten, sein könnten. Nach diesen Signalen sucht man im hadronischen Endzustand des Systems. Das Fixed-Target-Experiment NA49 untersucht Blei-Blei Kollisionen bei einer Strahlenergie von 158 GeV/c pro Nukleon. Das Experiment zeichnet sich durch seine große Detektorakzeptanz für geladene Teilchen verbunden mit einer präzisen Impulsmessung aus. Ähnliche Merkmale weist auch das momentan im Aufbau befindliche Collider-Experiment STAR am BNL auf. Hier sollen ab 1999 Kollisionen von Gold Kernen bei Energien von 100 GeV/c pro Nukleon analysiert werden. Die hohe Akzeptanz und die gute Impulsbestimmung der produzierten Teilchen zeichnen die Experimente als hervorragende Meßinstrumente für den hadronischen Endzustand aus. Andere Observablen, von denen man sich Aufschluß über die Reaktionsdynamik einer ultra-relativistischen Schwerionenkollisionen erhofft, sind Vektormesonen, die kurz nach oder sogar noch im Reaktionsvolumen der Kollision in ein Lepton-Paar zerfallen. Der Vorteil hierbei ist, daß die Zerfallsteilchen (Elektronen oder Myonen) mit anderen Teilchen nur elektromagnetisch wechselwirken. Deswegen können sie ohne Wechselwirkung mit den umgebenden Hadronen die Reaktionszone verlassen. Die Wahrscheinlichkeit für den Zerfall in Leptonen ist allerdings 10 exp (-4) mal niedriger als für den in Hadronen. Im NA49-Experiment, das auf die Erfassung des hadronischen Endzustandes optimiert ist, ist es aufgrund des hohen Untergrundes an Hadronen nicht trivial, die Lepton-Paare aus dem Zerfall von Vektormesonen zu selektieren. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit bestand darin, zu untersuchen, wie gut eine Identifikation von Elektronen bzw. Positronen im NA-49-Experiment möglich ist. Es konnte die Effizienz der Selektion von Elektron-Positron-Paaren aus dem Zerfall von Phi-Mesonen abgeschätzt und die Kontamination der Lepton-Kandidaten durch Hadronen ermittelt werden. Danach wurde ein Signal zu Untergrund-Verhältnis für das Signal des Phi-Mesons im Invariante-Masse-Spektrum abgeschätzt. Aus den mit dem NA- Experiment gewonnenen Erkenntnissen konnten Vorschläge zur Optimierung der Messung von Lepton-Paaren aus Vektormesonen im zukünftigen STAR-Experiment gemacht werden.
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Centrality Dependence of High-pT Hadron Suppression in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[sNN]=130 GeV
(2002)
- Inclusive transverse momentum distributions of charged hadrons within 0.2<pT<6.0 GeV/c have been measured over a broad range of centrality for Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=130 GeV. Hadron yields are suppressed at high pT in central collisions relative to peripheral collisions and to a nucleon-nucleon reference scaled for collision geometry. Peripheral collisions are not suppressed relative to the nucleon-nucleon reference. The suppression varies continuously at intermediate centralities. The results indicate significant nuclear medium effects on high-pT hadron production in heavy-ion collisions at high energy.
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Coherent rho 0 production in ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions
(2002)
- The STAR Collaboration reports the first observation of exclusive rho 0 photoproduction, AuAu-->AuAu rho 0, and rho 0 production accompanied by mutual nuclear Coulomb excitation, AuAu-->Au [star] Au [star] rho 0, in ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions. The rho 0 have low transverse momenta, consistent with coherent coupling to both nuclei. The cross sections at sqrt[sNN]=130 GeV agree with theoretical predictions treating rho 0 production and Coulomb excitation as independent processes.
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Azimuthal anisotropy of K0S and Lambda + Lambda -bar production at midrapidity from Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=130 GeV
(2002)
- We report STAR results on the azimuthal anisotropy parameter v2 for strange particles K0S, Lambda , and Lambda -bar at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=130 GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The value of v2 as a function of transverse momentum, pt, of the produced particle and collision centrality is presented for both particles up to pt~3.0 GeV/c. A strong pt dependence in v2 is observed up to 2.0 GeV/c. The v2 measurement is compared with hydrodynamic model calculations. The physics implications of the pt integrated v2 magnitude as a function of particle mass are also discussed.
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Pion-kaon correlations in central Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=130 GeV
(2003)
- Pion-kaon correlation functions are constructed from central Au+Au STAR data taken at sqrt[sNN]=130 GeV by the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The results suggest that pions and kaons are not emitted at the same average space-time point. Space-momentum correlations, i.e., transverse flow, lead to a space-time emission asymmetry of pions and kaons that is consistent with the data. This result provides new independent evidence that the system created at RHIC undergoes a collective transverse expansion.
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Three-pion Hanbury Brown-Twiss correlations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions from the STAR experiment
(2003)
- Data from the first physics run at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=130 GeV, have been analyzed by the STAR Collaboration using three-pion correlations with charged pions to study whether pions are emitted independently at freeze-out. We have made a high-statistics measurement of the three-pion correlation function and calculated the normalized three-particle correlator to obtain a quantitative measurement of the degree of chaoticity of the pion source. It is found that the degree of chaoticity seems to increase with increasing particle multiplicity.
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Transverse-momentum and collision-energy dependence of high-pT hadron suppression in Au+Au collisions at ultrarelativistic energies
(2003)
- We report high statistics measurements of inclusive charged hadron production in Au+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt[sNN]=200 GeV. A large, approximately constant hadron suppression is observed in central Au+Au collisions for 5<pT<12 GeV/c. The collision energy dependence of the yields and the centrality and pT dependence of the suppression provide stringent constraints on theoretical models of suppression. Models incorporating initial-state gluon saturation or partonic energy loss in dense matter are largely consistent with observations. We observe no evidence of pT-dependent suppression, which may be expected from models incorporating jet attenuation in cold nuclear matter or scattering of fragmentation hadrons.
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Narrowing of the Balance Function with Centrality in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[sNN]=130 GeV
(2003)
- The balance function is a new observable based on the principle that charge is locally conserved when particles are pair produced. Balance functions have been measured for charged particle pairs and identified charged pion pairs in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=130 GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider using STAR. Balance functions for peripheral collisions have widths consistent with model predictions based on a superposition of nucleon-nucleon scattering. Widths in central collisions are smaller, consistent with trends predicted by models incorporating late hadronization.
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Net charge fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN ]=130 GeV
(2003)
- We present the results of charged particle fluctuations measurements in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN ]=130 GeV using the STAR detector. Dynamical fluctuations measurements are presented for inclusive charged particle multiplicities as well as for identified charged pions, kaons, and protons. The net charge dynamical fluctuations are found to be large and negative providing clear evidence that positive and negative charged particle production is correlated within the pseudorapidity range investigated. Correlations are smaller than expected based on model-dependent predictions for a resonance gas or a quark-gluon gas which undergoes fast hadronization and freeze-out. Qualitative agreement is found with comparable scaled p+p measurements and a heavy ion jet interaction generation model calculation based on independent particle collisions, although a small deviation from the 1/N scaling dependence expected from this model is observed.
