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In dieser Arbeit werden grundlegende Untersuchungen zum Verständnis der dynamischen Wechselwirkungsmechanismen atomarer Projektile mit Festkörperoberflächen vorgestellt, die zur Emission von Sekundärionen führen. Der zentrale Ansatzpunkt ist dabei die Vermessung der Dynamik über die geschwindigkeits- und winkeldifferentielle Verteilung der emittierten Sekundärionen. Dazu wurde ein neuartiges Spektrometer entwickelt, in dem jedes in einem homogenen elektrischen Feld abgelenkte Sekundärion durch seine Flugzeit (TOF) und den Auftreffort auf einen 2-dimensionalen (XY) ortsempfindlichen Detektor charakterisiert wird. Das Prinzip basiert auf dem in Gastargetexperimenten erfolgreich eingesetzten Frankfurter Meßsystem COLTRIMS (COLd Target Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy). Dieses System wurde weiterentwickelt und erstmalig in Frankfurt in einem Festkörperexperiment zur geschwindigkeits- und winkeldifferentiellen Spektrometrie von Sekundärionen angewendet. Ein zusätzliches Merkmal gegenüber herkömmlichen Spektrometern ist die Möglichkeit der einfachen Variation des Einfallswinkels 0p vom Projektil zum Target. Die korrekte Transformation der gemessenen Daten in eine 3-dimensionale Anfangsgeschwindigkeitsverteilung bedingt eine möglichst präzise Eichung des Spektrometers. Dazu wurde die in diesem Zusammenhang neuartige Methode des Strahlprofilmonitors entwickelt und eingesetzt. Durch die Wechselwirkung des Projektils mit einem nicht lokalisierten Gastarget erzeugt es auf seinem Weg durch das Spektrometer eine Spur aus Ionen. Die Gasionen befinden sich im Verhältnis zu den von dem Festkörper emittierten Sekundärionen nahezu in Ruhe. Daher kann über die Analyse der Projektilspur auf die zur Eichung notwendigen, aber im Experiment nicht direkt zugänglichen Parameter, wie Flugzeit (T0) und Auftreffort (x0/y0) für Teilchen mit der Geschwindigkeit v0z = v0x = v0y = 0, geschlossen werden. Die systematische Variation von Projektil- (He0/N0/Ar0, Ep = 0.2 - 2.2 MeV, 0p = 37°-78° relativ zur Oberflächennormalen) und Targeteigenschaften (Au/C/LiF/Al) erlaubt ein gezieltes Studium der dynamischen Wechselwirkung zwischen Projektilen und Festkörperoberflächen. Das untersuchte H+-Sekundärion entstammt einer Festkörperoberfläche bedeckenden quasistabilen Kontaminationsschicht, die im wesentlichen aus den Adsorbaten H2, H2O, CxHy besteht. Die gemessenen H+-Geschwindigkeitsverteilungen besitzen ein Maximum etwa bei v0 ungefähr gleich 25-35 km/s mit Ausläufern (abhängig von 0p) bis hin zu 240 km/s. Bei sinkender Projektilgeschwindigkeit zeigt die Verteilung der emittierten H+-Sekundärionen bei hohen Emissionsgeschwindigkeiten (v0 > 60 km/s) eine stark ausgeprägte Asymmetrie in der von dem einfallenden Projektil und der Oberflächennormalen definierten Ebene. Ionen werden mit einer hohen Geschwindigkeit (bis zu 140 km/s bei 0p = 45°) unter einem Winkel von ca. 90° zum Projektil, unabhängig von 0p, emittiert. Diese Asymmetrie wird durch eine binäre Kollision des Projektils mit dem Wasserstoff verursacht. Die Variation der Projektilgeschwindigkeit ist korreliert mit der deponierten Energie des Projektils im Festkörper. Daher kann in der Dynamik der Sekundärionen deutlich der Beitrag des nuklearen Anteils an der totalen Energiedeposition aufgezeigt und getrennt werden. Bei Emissionsgeschwindigkeiten v0 < 60 km/s zeigt sich eine starke Abhängigkeit von den Targeteigenschaften. Bei konstantem Einfallswinkel beobachten wir eine Verschiebung der Maxima von v0 max ungefähr gleich 26.5 km/s bei Au-, über 27.9 km/s bei Al- bis hin zu 32.5 km/s bei LiF-Targets. Es zeigt sich keine meßbare Abhängigkeit vom Einfallswinkel des Projektils bei Auund C-Targets, dagegen eine deutliche Verschiebung der Maxima hin zu größeren Geschwindigkeiten bei dem Al- (v0 max ungefähr gleich 27.5 km/s - 30 km/s) und dem LiF-Target (v0 max ungefähr gleich 32.5 km/s - 35.5 km/s) mit einer Vergrößerung von 0p. Ionen mit v0 < 30 km/s werden zum Großteil rückwärts in Richtung des einfallenden Projektils emittiert. Au und C sind gute, LiF und das mit einer Al2O3-Schicht überzogene Al dagegen schlechte elektrische Oberflächenleiter. Die Verschiebung der Verteilungen bei einem schlechten elektrischen Leiter ist ein Hinweis auf den zeitabhängigen Zerfall des Projektilspurpotentials im Festkörper. Die Zunahme der Emissionsgeschwindigkeit v0 bei Vergrößerung von 0p ist in der Vergrößerung der effektiven Targetdicke begründet und ein Hinweis auf eine targetdickenabhängige Neutralisationszeit des geladenen Spurkerns durch Elektronen des Substrats. Korrelationen im Sekundärionenemissionsprozeß bezüglich Impuls- und Energieerhaltung zwischen einem emittierten H+-Sekundärion und einem möglichen zweiten Sekundärion wurden nicht beobachtet. Über die Eichung hinaus eröffnen sich zusätzlich noch einige vielversprechende Anwendungsmöglichkeiten des Strahlprofilmonitors. Zum einen ermöglicht er a) in der Gasmassenspektrometrie eine exakte Korrektur der Ionenflugzeit unabhängig vom Ort der Ionisation und zum anderen bildet er b) eine innovative Methode zur Kartographie lokaler elektrischer Felder und c) ferner einen alternativen Zugang zur Vermessung von Projektilstreuwinkeln. Die Verwendung eines ortsempfindlichen Detektors in der „kinematischen“ Materialanalyse verbindet simultan gute Tiefenprofilauflösung mit dem Nachweis eines großen Raumwinkels zugunsten einer besseren Statistik. Die Kenntnis der Emissionscharakteristik bewährt sich zudem in der Massenanalyse in der Unterscheidung von Ionen fast identischer Massen.
Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde erstmals die Realisierung eines (e,3e)- Experimentes an Helium mittels der Cold Target Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy (COLTRIMS) behandelt. Dabei ging es hauptsächlich um den Aufbau, die Entwicklung, Test und die Durchführung des Experiments. Dazu wurde ein neues Kammersystem am Atomphysikkanal der Frankfurter EZR mit zweistufigem Ultraschallgasjet aufgebaut, an dem in Zukunft noch weitere COLTRIMS- Experimente stattfinden werden. In dieser Arbeit wurde eine Dreifach-Koinzidenz zwischen dem gestreuten Projektilelektron, dem einfach- oder zweifach geladenem Rückstoßion und dem langsamen Elektron verwirklicht. Sie stellt das wesentliche Ergebnis der vorliegenden Arbeit dar. Koinzident zum Streuwinkel und Energieverlust des Projektilelektrons wurden hierbei Flugzeiten und Auftrefforte rte von He1 - bzw. He2 - Ionen und von einem der ionisierten Elektronen gemessen. Anhand der durchgeführten umfangreichen Eichmessungen unter Hinzuziehung von Impuls- und Energieerhaltungssätzen lassen sich somit sämtliche Impulse der Teilchen errechnen. Somit gewinnt man Informationen über den Ionisationsprozeß. Desweiteren lassen sich multidifferentielle Wirkungsquerschnitte bestimmen, die sich mit theoretischen Modellen vergleichen lassen. Die Rückstoßionenimpulsverteilungen und die Flugzeitspektren für das He2 -Ion demonstrieren die Signifikaz der erreichten Statistik, trotz der geringen Koinzidenzrate von 17 h-1. Die Meßdaten wurden einer groben Auswertung unterzogen. Die entgültige Analyse, Ergebnisdeutung, Interpretation und Vergleich mit der Theorie fand in dieser Arbeit nicht statt. Die Projektilenergie lag bei allen Messungen bei 550 eV. Der Elektronenstrahl wurde, entgegen der vorherrschenden Meinung, mit einem Blendensystem auskollimiert. Im nächsten Schritt sollen statt mit nur einem mit zwei oder mehreren Schlitzblenden nacheinander der Elektronenstrahl auskollimiert werden, so daß die am vorderen Schlitz gestreuten Elektronen in den nachfolgenden ausgeblendet werden können. Somit verringert man die problematische Untergrundrate auf dem Elektronendetektor. Für weitere Untersuchungen werden momentan neue Spektrometerkonzepte entwickelt. Bei der Konzeption des neuen Spektrometers wird der Abstand zwischen Targetzone und Elektronendetektor größer gewählt. Dies verringert zwar den Nachweisraumwinkel für die Elektronen, aber man erreicht dadurch eine Verringerung der Untergrundselektronen. Der Verringerung des Nachweisraumwinkels kann man entgegenwirken, indem man einen großen MCP- Detektor mit 80 mm Durchmesser einsetzt. Der Eintrittsbereich des Projektilstrahls in das Rückstoßionenimpulsspektrometer sollte großzügig gewählt werden, da auf diese Art und Weise verhindert werden kann, daß der Elektronenstrahl die Potentialringe in Eintrittsbereich streift und wohlmöglich unerwünschte Sekundärelektronen erzeugt, die im Extraktionsfeld des Spektrometers auf den Elektronendetektor hin beschleunigt werden und ebenfalls für Untergrund sorgen. Eine Pulsung der Elektronenkanone über die Wehneltspannung vorzunehmen und den Puls als Start oder Trigger für die Datenaufnahme einzusetzen ist nur dann sinnvoll, wenn die Flugzeit der Elektronen um mindestens eine Größenordnung größer ist als die erreichbare Pulslänge. Nach Auskunft unserer Elektronik liegen die erreichbaren Pulslängen bei etwa 5 ns. Aufgrund der notwendigen Stabilität sowohl in der Elektronik als auch in der Kühlung des Kaltkopfes ist eine insgesamt kürzere Meßzeit erstrebenswert.
Charged-particle exclusive data for Ar+Pb collisions at 0.772 GeV/u are analyzed in terms of collective variables for the event shapes in momentum space. Semicentral collisions lead to sidewards flow whereas nearly head-on collisions have spherical shapes in the c.m. frame, resulting from complete stopping of projectile motion. The hydrodynamical model predictions agree qualitatively with the data whereas the standard cascade model disagrees, lacking in stopping power and collective flow.
Nuclear resonance fluorescence measurements with linearly polarized bremsstrahlung were performed to determine parities of bound dipole transitions in 206Pb. A new 1+ level at 5800 keV was found, which has almost the same strength as the isoscalar M1 transition in 208Pb. Twenty-four further dipole states in 206Pb below 7.6 MeV possess negative parity.
Pion and proton production are measured to investigate thermal equilibrium in central collisions of 40Ar+KCl at 1.8 GeV/nucleon. The bulk of the pion yield is isotropic in the c.m. system, with an apparent temperature of 58±3 MeV, much lower than the 118±2 MeV of the protons. It is shown that the low pion "temperature" can be explained by the decay kinematics of delta resonances in thermal equilibrium. A (5±1)% component in the pion spectrum is, however, found to have a temperature of 110±10 MeV. The effect on the spectra of possible contributions from collective radial flow is discussed.
An event by event analysis is carried out for all charged particles observed in central collisions of 40Ar + KCl and 40Ar + Pb at 1.808 and 0.772 GeV/nucleon, respectively. Total transverse energy is used for impact parameter selection within the central trigger condition. The central Ar + KCl reaction exhibits a forward-backward oriented momentum flux. The flux distribution of the most central Ar + Pb events is approximately isotropic in the fireball center of mass.
Triple differential cross sections d3 sigma /dp3 for charged pions produced in symmetric heavy-ion collisions were measured with the KaoS magnetic spectrometer at the heavy-ion synchrotron facility SIS at GSI. The correlations between the momentum vectors of charged pions and the reaction plane in 197Au+197Au collisions at an incident energy of 1 GeV/nucleon were determined. We observe, for the first time, an azimuthally anisotropic distribution of pions, with enhanced emission perpendicular to the reaction plane. The anisotropy is most pronounced for pions of high transverse momentum in semicentral collisions.
Nuclear resonance fluorescence experiments with linearly polarized bremsstrahlung were performed to determine parities of strong dipole transitions in 40Ar. A total of 14 transitions—ten of them previously unknown—in the energy range from 4.7 to 10.2 MeV could be identified. From this experiment it is evident that the main dipole strength to bound states is due to E1 excitations. An upper limit of B(M1) [up arrow] <0.5 µN2 was found for individual magnetic dipole excitations in 40Ar in the energy region below neutron threshold.
Electric charge correlations were studied for p+p, C+C, Si+Si, and centrality selected Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt[sNN]=17.2 GeV with the NA49 large acceptance detector at the CERN SPS. In particular, long-range pseudorapidity correlations of oppositely charged particles were measured using the balance function method. The width of the balance function decreases with increasing system size and centrality of the reactions. This decrease could be related to an increasing delay of hadronization in central Pb+Pb collisions.
The properties of two measures of charge fluctuations D-tilde and DeltaPhiq are discussed within several toy models of nuclear collisions. In particular their dependence on mean particle multiplicity, multiplicity fluctuations, and net electric charge are studied. It is shown that the measure DeltaPhiq is less sensitive to these trivial biasing effects than the originally proposed measure D-tilde. Furthermore the influence of resonance decay kinematics is analyzed and it is shown that it is likely to shadow a possible reduction of fluctuations due to QGP creation.
Im Rahmen dieser Diplomarbeit sind Ladungsfluktuationen bei Kollisionen von Blei-Kernen bei den Energien 30, 60, 80 und 160 GeV untersucht worden. Das Interesse an den Ladungsfluktuationen beruht darauf, dass sie einen Hinweis auf die Bildung des Quark-Gluon-Plasmas liefern könnten. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit werden mit Hilfe von einfachen Modellen zwei Variablen untersucht, D-tilde und DeltaPhiq, um die optimale Observable zur Messung der Ladungsfluktuationen zu finden. Im zweiten Teil werden experimentelle Resultate präsentiert, die aus den Daten des CERN-SPS-Experimentes NA49 gewonen wurden. Die gemessenen Ladungsfluktuationen entsprechen denen, die von einem Pionen-Gas erwartet werden, wenn die Pionen nur aufgrund der Ladungserhaltung korreliert sind. Es wird jedoch gezeigt, dass diese Resultate nicht der Annahme widersprechen, dass das Quark-Gluon-Plasma bei SPS-Energien gebildet wird.
Analysis of Lambda and associative pion production in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions
(1984)
The transverse momentum and rapidity distributions of negative hadrons and participant protons have been measured for central 32S+ 32S collisions at plab=200 GeV/c per nucleon. The proton mean rapidity shift < Delta y>~1.6 and mean transverse momentum <pT>~0.6 GeV/c are much higher than in pp or peripheral AA collisions and indicate an increase in the nuclear stopping power. All pT spectra exhibit similar source temperatures. Including previous results for K0s Lambda , and Lambda -bar, we account for all important contributions to particle production.
The NA35 experiment has collected a high statistics set of momentum analyzed negative hadrons near and forward of midrapidity for central collisions of 200A GeV/c 32S+S, Cu, Ag, and Au. Using momentum space correlations to study the size of the source of particle production, the transverse source radii are found to decrease by ~40% at midrapidity and ~20% at forward rapidity while the longitudinal radius RL is found to decrease by ~50% as pT increases over the interval 50<pT<600 MeV/c. Calculations using a microscopic phase space approach (relativistic quantum molecular dynamics) reproduce the observed trends of the data. PACS: 25.75.+r
Transverse momenta and rapidities of Lambda 's produced in central nucleus-nucleus collisions at 4.5 GeV/c·u (C-C,...,O-Pb) were studied and compared with those from inelastic He-Li interactions at the same incident momentum. Polarization of the Lambda hyperons was found to be consistent with zero ( alpha P=-0.06=0.11 for Lambda 's from central collisions). An upper limit of the Lambda -bar / Lambda production ratio was estimated to be less than 4.5 x 10-3. The experiment was performed in a triggered streamer chamber.
Difficulties of the thermodynamical model approach to pion production in relativistic ion collisions
(1983)
Thermodynamical models with various forms of partial transparency of nuclear matter are considered. It is shown that the introduction of transparency, however, significantly improves agreement with pion data concerning multiplicities and transverse momenta leads to a serious discrepancy with average rapidities of pions. Qualitative arguments are given that difficulties of the thermodynamical approach can be overcome if one assumes hydrodynamical expansion in the first stage of nuclear interactions.
A detailed study of pion production in inelastic and central nucleus-nucleus collisions was carried out using a 2 m streamer spectrometer. Nuclear targets mounted inside the streamer chamber were exposed to nuclear beams of 4.5 GeV/c/nucleon momentum. A systematic study of the influence of the central trigger on observed data is performed. The data on multiplicities, rapidities, transverse momenta, and emission angles of negative pions are presented for various pairs of colliding nuclei. Intercorrelations between various characteristics are studied and discussed. The results are compared with predictions of some theoretical models. It is shown that the main features of the pion production in nuclear collisions can be satisfactorily described by a model assuming independent nucleon-nucleon collisions with subsequent cascading process. However, the observed correlation between Lambda and pion characteristics seems to be unexplained by this picture.
We argue that the recent analysis of strangeness production in nuclear collisions at 200 A GeV/c performed by Topor Pop et al. is flawed. The conclusions are based on an erroneous interpretation of the data and the numerical model results. The term "strangeness enhancement" is used in a misleading way.
Pion and strangeness puzzles
(1996)
Data on the mean multiplicity of strange hadrons produced in minimum bias proton--proton and central nucleus--nucleus collisions at momenta between 2.8 and 400 GeV/c per nucleon have been compiled. The multiplicities for nucleon--nucleon interactions were constructed. The ratios of strange particle multiplicity to participant nucleon as well as to pion multiplicity are larger for central nucleus--nucleus collisions than for nucleon--nucleon interactions at all studied energies. The data at AGS energies suggest that the latter ratio saturates with increasing masses of the colliding nuclei. The strangeness to pion multiplicity ratio observed in nucleon--nucleon interactions increases with collision energy in the whole energy range studied. A qualitatively different behaviour is observed for central nucleus--nucleus collisions: the ratio rapidly increases when going from Dubna to AGS energies and changes little between AGS and SPS energies. This change in the behaviour can be related to the increase in the entropy production observed in central nucleus-nucleus collisions at the same energy range. The results are interpreted within a statistical approach. They are consistent with the hypothesis that the Quark Gluon Plasma is created at SPS energies, the critical collision energy being between AGS and SPS energies.
The main results obtained within the energy scan program at the CERN SPS are presented. The anomalies in energy dependence of hadron production indicate that the onset of deconfinement phase transition is located at about 30 A GeV. For the first time we seem to have clear evidence for the existence of a deconfined state of matter in nature. PACS numbers: 24.85.+p
We present the measured correlation functions for pi+ pi-, pi- pi- and pi+ pi+ pairs in central S+Ag collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon. The Gamov function, which has been traditionally used to correct the correlation functions of charged pions for the Coulomb interaction, is found to be inconsistent with all measured correlation functions. Certain problems which have been dominating the systematic uncertainty of the correlation analysis are related to this inconsistency. It is demonstrated that a new Coulomb correction method, based exclusively on the measured correlation function for pi+ pi- pairs, may solve the problem.
The pion multiplicity per participating nucleon in central nucleus-nucleus collisions at the energies 2-15 A GeV is significantly smaller than in nucleon-nucleon interactions at the same collision energy. This effect of pion suppression is argued to appear due to the evolution of the system produced at the early stage of heavy-ion collisions towards a local thermodynamic equilibrium and further isentropic expansion.
It is shown that data on pion and strangeness production in central nucleus-nucleus collisions are consistent with the hypothesis of a Quark Gluon Plasma formation between 15 A GeV/c (BNL AGS) and 160 A GeV/c (CERN SPS) collision energies. The experimental results interpreted in the framework of a statistical approach indicate that the effective number of degrees of freedom increases by a factor of about 3 in the course of the phase transition and that the plasma created at CERN SPS energy may have a temperature of about 280 MeV (energy density $\approx$ 10 GeV/fm^3). Experimental studies of central Pb+Pb collisions in the energy range 20-160 A GeV/c are urgently needed in order to localize the threshold energy, and study the properties of the QCD phase transition.
Using the NA49 main TPC, the central production of hyperons has been measured in CERN SPS Pb - Pb collisions at 158 GeV c-1. The preliminary ratio, studied at 2.0 < y < 2.6 and 1 < pT < 3 GeV c-1, equals ~ (13 ± 4)% (systematic error only). It is compatible, within errors, with the previously obtained ratios for central S + S [1], S + W [2], and S + Au [3] collisions. The fit to the transverse momentum distribution resulted in an inverse slope parameter T of 297 MeV. At this level of statistics we do not see any noticeable enhancement of hyperon production with the increased volume (and, possibly, degree of equilibration) of the system from S + S to Pb + Pb. This result is unexpected and counterintuitive, and should be further investigated. If confirmed, it will have a significant impact on our understanding of mechanisms leading to the enhanced strangeness production in heavy-ion collisions.
The data on average hadron multiplicities in central A+A collisions measured at CERN SPS are analysed with the ideal hadron gas model. It is shown that the full chemical equilibrium version of the model fails to describe the experimental results. The agreement of the data with the off-equilibrium version allowing for partial strangeness saturation is significantly better. The freeze-out temperature of about 180 MeV seems to be independent of the system size (from S+S to Pb+Pb) and in agreement with that extracted in e+e-, pp and p{\bar p} collisions. The strangeness suppression is discussed at both hadron and valence quark level. It is found that the hadronic strangeness saturation factor gamma_S increases from about 0.45 for pp interactions to about 0.7 for central A+A collisions with no significant change from S+S to Pb+Pb collisions. The quark strangeness suppression factor lambda_S is found to be about 0.2 for elementary collisions and about 0.4 for heavy ion collisions independently of collision energy and type of colliding system
The transverse momentum and rapidity distributions of net protons and negatively charged hadrons have been measured for minimum bias proton-nucleus and deuteron-gold interactions, as well as central oxygen-gold and sulphur-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon. The rapidity density of net protons at midrapidity in central nucleus-nucleus collisions increases both with target mass for sulphur projectiles and with the projectile mass for a gold target. The shape of the rapidity distributions of net protons forward of midrapidity for d+Au and central S+Au collisions is similar. The average rapidity loss is larger than 2 units of rapidity for reactions with the gold target. The transverse momentum spectra of net protons for all reactions can be described by a thermal distribution with temperatures' between 145 +- 11 MeV (p+S interactions) and 244 +- 43 MeV (central S+Au collisions). The multiplicity of negatively charged hadrons increases with the mass of the colliding system. The shape of the transverse momentum spectra of negatively charged hadrons changes from minimum bias p+p and p+S interactions to p+Au and central nucleus-nucleus collisions. The mean transverse momentum is almost constant in the vicinity of midrapidity and shows little variation with the target and projectile masses. The average number of produced negatively charged hadrons per participant baryon increases slightly from p+p, p+A to central S+S,Ag collisions.
Preliminary inclusive spectra for K+, K-, Ks0, Λ, and are presented which were measured in central Pb + Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon by the NA49 experiment. A comparison with data from lighter collision systems shows a strong change of the shape of the Λ rapidity distribution. The strangeness enhancement observed in S + S compared to p + p and p + A is not further increased in Pb + Pb.
The directed and elliptic flow of protons and charged pions has been observed from the semi-central collisions of a 158 GeV/nucleon Pb beam with a Pb target. The rapidity and transverse momentum dependence of the flow has been measured. The directed flow of the pions is opposite to that of the protons but both exhibit negative flow at low pt. The elliptic flow of both is fairly independent of rapidity but rises with pt. PACS numbers: 25.75.-q, 25.75.Ld
Preliminary data on phi production in central Pb + Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon are presented, measured by the NA49 experiment in the hadronic decay channel phi - K+K-. At mid-rapidity, the kaons were separated from pions and protons by combining dE/dx and time-of-flight information; in the forward rapidity range only dE/dx identification was used to obtain the rapidity distribution and a rapidity-integrated mt-spectrum. The mid-rapidity yield obtained was dN/dy = 1.85 ± 0.3 per event; the total phi multiplicity was estimated to be 5.0 ± 0.7 per event. Comparison with published pp data shows a slight, but not very significant strangeness enhancement.
We demonstrate that a new type of analysis in heavy-ion collisions, based on an event-by-event analysis of the transverse momentum distribution, allows us to obtain information on secondary interactions and collective behaviour that is not available from the inclusive spectra. Using a random walk model as a simple phenomenological description of initial state scattering in collisions with heavy nuclei, we show that the event-by-event measurement allows a quantitative determination of this effect, well within the resolution achievable with the new generation of large acceptance hadron spectrometers. The preliminary data of the NA49 collaboration on transverse momentum fluctuations indicate qualitatively different behaviour than that obtained within the random walk model. The results are discussed in relation to the thermodynamic and hydrodynamic description of nuclear collisions.
Two-particle correlation functions of negative hadrons over wide phase space, and transverse mass spectra of negative hadrons and deuterons near mid-rapidity have been measured in central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon by the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS. A novel Coulomb correction procedure for the negative two-particle correlations is employed making use of the measured oppositely charged particle correlation. Within an expanding source scenario these results are used to extract the dynamic characteristics of the hadronic source, resolving the ambiguities between the temperature and transverse expansion velocity of the source, that are unavoidable when single and two particle spectra are analysed separately. The source shape, the total duration of the source expansion, the duration of particle emission, the freeze-out temperature and the longitudinal and transverse expansion velocities are deduced.
Lambda and Antilambda reconstruction in central Pb+Pb collisions using a time projection chamber
(1997)
The large acceptance time projection chambers of the NA49 experiment are used to record the trajectory of charged particles from Pb + Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon. Neutral strange hadrons have been reconstructed from their charged decay products. To obtain distributions of Λ, and Ks0 in discrete bins of rapidity, y, and transverse momentum, pT, calculations have been performed to determine the acceptance of the detector and the efficiency of the reconstruction software as a function of both variables. The lifetime distributions obtained give values of cτ = 7.8 ± 0.6 cm for Λ and cτ = 2.5 ± 0.3 cm for Ks0, consistent with data book values.
A brief review of a history of data collection and interpretation of the results on high energy A+A collisions is presented. Basic assumptions and main results of a statistical model of the early stage of the A+A collisions are discussed. It is concluded that a broad set of experimental data is in agreement with the hypothesis that QGP is created in central A+A (S+S and Pb+Pb) collisions at the SPS. Carefull experimental investigation of the A+A collisions in the energy region between top AGS and SPS energies is needed.
The large acceptance TPCs of the NA49 spectrometer allow for a systematic multidimensional study of two-particle correlations in different part of phase space. Results from Bertsch-Pratt and Yano-Koonin-Podgoretskii parametrizations are presented differentially in transverse pair momentum and pair rapidity. These studies give an insight into the dynamical space-time evolution of relativistic Pb+Pb collisions, which is dominated by longitudinal expansion.
A statistical model of the early stage of central nucleus--nucleus (A+A) collisions is developed. We suggest a description of the confined state with several free parameters fitted to a compilation of A+A data at the AGS. For the deconfined state a simple Bag model equation of state is assumed. The model leads to the conclusion that a Quark Gluon Plasma is created in central nucleus--nucleus collisions at the SPS. This result is in quantitative agreement with existing SPS data on pion and strangeness production and gives a natural explanation for their scaling behaviour. The localization and the properties of the transition region are discussed. It is shown that the deconfinement transition can be detected by observation of the characteristic energy dependence of pion and strangeness multiplicities, and by an increase of the event--by--event fluctuations. An attempt to understand the data on J/psi production in Pb+Pb collisions at the SPS within the same approach is presented.
Data on J/psi production in inelastic proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions at 158 A GeV are analyzed and it is shown that the ratio of mean multiplicities of J/psi mesons and pions is the same for all these collisions. This observation is difficult to understand within current models of J/psi production in nuclear collisions based on the assumption of hard QCD creation of charm quarks.
We report measurements of Xi and Xi-bar hyperon absolute yields as a function of rapidity in 158 GeV/c Pb+Pb collisions. At midrapidity, dN/dy = 2.29 +/- 0.12 for Xi, and 0.52 +/- 0.05 for Xi-bar, leading to the ratio of Xi-bar/Xi = 0.23 +/- 0.03. Inverse slope parameters fitted to the measured transverse mass spectra are of the order of 300 MeV near mid-rapidity. The estimated total yield of Xi particles in Pb+Pb central interactions amounts to 7.4 +/- 1.0 per collision. Comparison to Xi production in properly scaled p+p reactions at the same energy reveals a dramatic enhancement (about one order of magnitude) of Xi production in Pb+Pb central collisions over elementary hadron interactions.
New data with a minimum bias trigger for 158 GeV/nucleon Pb + Pb have been analyzed. Directed and elliptic flow as a function of rapidity of the particles and centrality of the collision are presented. The centrality dependence of the ratio of elliptic flow to the initial space elliptic anisotropy is compared to models.
Net proton and negative hadron spectra for central \PbPb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon at the CERN SPS were measured and compared to spectra from lighter systems. Net baryon distributions were derived from those of net protons, utilizing model calculations of isospin contributions as well as data and model calculations of strange baryon distributions. Stopping (rapidity shift with respect to the beam) and mean transverse momentum \meanpt of net baryons increase with system size. The rapidity density of negative hadrons scales with the number of participant nucleons for nuclear collisions, whereas their \meanpt is independent of system size. The \meanpt dependence upon particle mass and system size is consistent with larger transverse flow velocity at midrapidity for \PbPb compared to \SS central collisions.
We present first data on event-by-event fluctuations in the average transverse momentum of charged particles produced in Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. This measurement provides previously unavailable information allowing sensitive tests of microscopic and thermodynamic collision models and to search for fluctuations expected to occur in the vicinity of the predicted QCD phase transition. We find that the observed variance of the event-by-event average transverse momentum is consistent with independent particle production modified by the known two-particle correlations due to quantum statistics and final state interactions and folded with the resolution of the NA49 apparatus. For two specific models of non-statistical fluctuations in transverse momentum limits are derived in terms of fluctuation amplitude. We show that a significant part of the parameter space for a model of isospin fluctuations predicted as a consequence of chiral symmetry restoration in a non-equilibrium scenario is excluded by our measurement.
The two-proton correlation function at midrapidity from Pb+Pb central collisions at 158 AGeV has been measured by the NA49 experiment. The results are compared to model predictions from static thermal Gaussian proton source distributions and transport models RQMD and VENUS. An effective proton source size is determined by minimizing CHI-square/ndf between the correlation functions of the data and those calculated for the Gaussian sources, yielding 3.85 +-0.15(stat.) +0.60-0.25(syst.) fm. Both the RQMD and the VENUS model are consistent with the data within the error in the correlation peak region.
The statistical production of antibaryons is considered within the canonical ensemble formulation. We demonstrate that the antibaryon suppression in small systems due to the exact baryon number conservation is rather different in the baryon-free (B=0) and baryon-rich (B>1) systems. At constant values of temperature and baryon density in the baryon-rich systems the density of the produced antibaryons is only weakly dependent on the size of the system. For realistic hadronization conditions this dependence appears to be close to B/(B+1) which is in agreement with the preliminary data of the NA49 Collaboration for the antiproton/pion ratio in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN SPS energies. However, a consistent picture of antibaryon production within the statistical hadronization model has not yet been achieved. This is because the condition of constant hadronization temperature in the baryon-free systems leads to a contradiction with the data on the antiproton/pion ratio in e+e- interactions.
The experimental results on the pion, strangeness and J/psi production in high energy nuclear collisions are discussed. The anomalous energy dependence of pion and strangeness production is consistent with the hypothesis that a transition to a deconfined phase takes place between the top AGS (15 AGeV) and the SPS (200 AGeV) energies. The J/psi production systematics at the SPS can be understood assuming that the J/psi mesons are created at hadronization according to the available hadronic phase space. This new interpretation of the J/psi data allows one to establish a coherent picture of high energy nuclear collisions based on the statistical approaches of the collision early stage and hadronization. Surprisingly, the statistical model of strong interactions is successful even in the region reserved up to now for pQCD based models.
The hypothesis of statistical production of J/psi mesons at hadronization is formulated and checked against experimental data. It explains in the natural way the observed scaling behavior of the J/psi to pion ratio at the CERN SPS energies. Using the multiplicities of J/psi and eta mesons the hadronization temperature T_H = 175 MeV is found, which agrees with the previous estimates of the temperature parameter based on the analysis of the hadron yield systematics.
A validity of a recent estimate of an upper limit of charm production in central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 AGeV is critically discussed. Within a simple model we study properties of the background subtraction procedure used for an extraction of the charm signal from the analysis of dilepton spectra. We demonstrate that a production asymmetry between positively and negatively charged background muons and a large multiplicity of signal pairs leads to biased results. Therefore the applicability of this procedure for the analysis of nucleus-nucleus data should be reconsidered before final conclusions on the upper limit estimate of charm production could be drawn.
A recent paper on energy dependence of strangeness production in A+A and p+p interactions written by Dunlop and Ogilvie (Phys. ReV. C61 031901(R) (2000) indicates that there is a significant misunderstanding about the concept of strangeness enhancement and its role as a signal of Quark Gluon Plasma creation. In this comment we will try to clarify some essential points. 25.75.Dw, 13.85.Ni, 21.65.+f
Elliptic flow from nuclear collisions is a hadronic observable sensitive to the early stages of system evolution. We report first results on elliptic flow of charged particles at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=130 GeV using the STAR TPC at RHIC. The elliptic flow signal, v_2, averaged over transverse momentum, reaches values of about 6% for relatively peripheral collisions and decreases for the more central collisions. This can be interpreted as the observation of a higher degree of thermalization than at lower collision energies. Pseudorapidity and transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow are also presented.
We present the first measurement of fluctuations from event to event in the production of strange particles in collisions of heavy nuclei. The ratio of charged kaons to charged pions is determined for individual central Pb+Pb collisions. After accounting for the fluctuations due to detector resolution and finite number statistics we derive an upper limit on genuine non-statistical fluctuations, perhaps related to a first or second order QCD phase transition. Such fluctuations are shown to be very small.
Charge fluctuations studied on event-by-event basis have been recently suggested to provide a signal of the equilibrium quark-gluon plasma produced in heavy-ion collisions at high energies. It is argued that the fluctuations generated at the early collision stage when the energy is released can fake the signal. PACS 25.75.-q, 12.38.Mh, 24.60.-k
In high energy p+p(bar) interactions the mean multiplicity and transverse mass spectra of neutral mesons from eta to Upsilon (m = 0.5 - 10 GeV/c^2) and the transverse mass spectra of pions (m_T > 1 GeV/c^2) reveal a remarkable behaviour: they follow, over more than 10 orders of magnitude, the power-law function:The parameters C and P are energy dependent, but similar for all mesons produced at the same collision energy. This scaling resembles that expected in the statistical description of hadron production: the parameter P plays the role of a temperature and the normalisation constant C is analogous to the system volume. The fundamental difference is, however, in the form of the distribution function. In order to reproduce the experimental results and preserve the basic structure of the statistical approach the Boltzmann factor e^(-E/T) appearing in standard statistical mechanics has to be substituted by a power-law factor (E/Lambda)^(-P).
Die vorliegende Arbeit befaßt sich mit der Untersuchung von Photonenemissionsmustern im einzelnen Ereignis, wie sie bei einer Schwerionenkollision von Schwefel auf Gold bei einer Energie von 200 GeV pro Nukleon produziert werden. Diese Ereignisse wurden mit dem Photonen-Multiplizitäts-Detektor im WA93-Experiment am CERN aufgenommen. Die globalen Observablen einer ultrarelativistischen Schwerionenkollision, wie z.B. Multiplizitäts- und Energieverteilungen der Teilchen, lassen sich durch Rechnungen mit dem String-Modell VENUS3.11 gut beschreiben. In diesem Modell werden alle bekannten, in einer Kern-Kern-Kollision ablaufenden physikalischen Prozesse eingebaut. Ein Vergleich von Verteilungen globaler Meßgrößen aus dem Experiment mit solchen aus Modellrechnungen zeigt, welche Resultate durch schon bekannte, in dem Modell berücksichtigte, physikalische Vorgänge verursacht sind und welche auf noch unbekannten Vorgängen oder auf Detektoreffekten beruhen. Um aus solchen Vergleichen den Einfluß noch unbekannter physikalischer Prozesse auf Verteilungen zu erkennen, muß die Veränderung der physikalischen Observablen bei der Messung durch den Detektor selbst berücksichtigt werden. Die Wechselwirkung der aus der Reaktionszone emittierten Teilchen mit der im Experiment befindlichen Materie der Detektoren wird mit dem Detektorsimulationsprogramm GEANT dargestellt. Der Einfluß der Detektoren kann für globale Observablen sehr zufriedenstellend beschrieben werden, was sich in der guten Übereinstimmung der Multiplizitäts- und Rapiditätsverteilung der im WA93-Experiment nachgewiesenen Photonen mit den Verteilungen aus Modellrechnungen zeigt. Auch die Dynamik der Kollision, sichtbar in der Verteilung der transversalen Energie, wird durch das Modell wiedergegeben. Auf dem Niveau von Einzelereignissen und der Verteilung von Photonen innerhalb eines Ereignisses ist es äusserst wichtig, den Einfluß der Detektoreffekte auf die Verteilungen zu bestimmen. Bei der Untersuchung von Fluktuationen und Korrelationen auf der Basis von Einzelereignissen wurde deshalb ein Vergleich zu Mixed Events angestellt, bei denen die Detektoreffekte beibehalten, aber alle vorhandenen Korrelationen aufgelöst werden. In dieser Arbeit wurden die Photonenemissionsmuster der Einzelereignisse (eventby- event-Analyse) mit der Minimal-Spanning-Tree (MST)-Methode auf Dichtefluktuationen hin untersucht. Die emittierten Photonen geben einen Hinweis auf die Emissionsstruktur von Mesonen, insbesondere der leichten pi0-Mesonen, weil Photonen überwiegend durch den Zerfall produzierte Teilchen sind und die räumliche Verteilung ihrer Ursprungsteilchen weitgehend widerspiegeln. Die Untersuchung von Teilchendichtefluktuationen, insbesondere der durch die Kollision produzierten Mesonen, kann zum besseren Verständnis des Verhaltens der Kernmaterie bei hohen Dichten und hohen Temperaturen beitragen. Waren Dichte und Temperatur in der Reaktionszone ausreichend hoch, könnte sich ein Quark-Gluon-Plasma gebildet haben. Die bei der anschließenden Expansion und Abkühlung stattfindende Kondensation zu Hadronen könnte ein Phasenübergang erster Ordnung sein. Die Größe der Fragmente, in diesem Fall die Hadronen und alle Gruppierungen daraus, sollte eine Verteilung ergeben, die mit einer Funktion Sa angenähert werden kann, wie es von verschiedenen Autoren im Zusammenhang mit Phasenübergängen erster Ordnung beobachtet wurde. Dabei ist S die Fragmentgröße und a eine negative Konstante. Die MST-Methode ist geeignet, das Emissionsmuster einzelner Photonenereignisse aus Schwerionenreaktionen in Cluster zu unterteilen. Die mit der MST-Methode definierten Cluster ergeben sich direkt aus der unterschiedlichen Dichteverteilung der Photonen auf der Detektorfläche in einem Einzelereignis. Die Cluster werden mit den obengenannten Fragmenten in Zusammenhang gebracht, wobei die Zahl der Photonen in einem Cluster die Fragmentgröße S darstellt. Ein wesentlicher Vorteil der MST-Methode besteht darin, daß sie zunächst keinerlei Einschränkung in der Art der zu suchenden Strukturen erfordert. Es müssen keine räumlichen Strukturen vorgegeben werden, nach denen dann in der Punkteverteilung gesucht wird, wie das in anderen Analysemethoden der Fall ist. Aus der durchgeführten Analyse hat sich ergeben, daß die MST-Methode sehr sensitiv auf Fluktuationen in der räumliche Dichteverteilung der Treffer im Einzelereignis ist. Die zweidimensionalen Räume, in denen die Dichteverteilung untersucht wird, können beliebig festgelegt werden und sind durch die Metrik, in der die Abstände des Minimal-Spanning-Trees berechnet werden, definiert. In dieser Arbeit wurden der x-y- Raum (Metrik 1) und der h-j-Raum (Metrik 2) benutzt. Dabei gibt Metrik 1 im wesentlichen Effekte in der Detektorgeometrie wieder und Metrik 2 ist eher dem Phasenraum und damit der Physik angepaßt. Zum Vergleich mit den Ergebnissen aus WA93-Datenereignissen wurden Cluster auf die gleiche Weise in Mixed Events, in Ereignissen aus Modellrechnungen und in Ereignissen mit Zufallsverteilungen von Punkten bestimmt. Die räumliche Verteilung der in den WA93-Datenereignissen gefundenen Cluster auf der Ebene des Detektors weist auf starke Inhomogenitäten in der Photonenverteilung hin. Der Vergleich mit entsprechenden Verteilungen der Cluster in Mixed Events und berechneten Ereignissen zeigt, daß ein Großteil dieser Inhomogenitäten durch Detektoreffekte verursacht wird. Zu diesen Detektoreffekten zählt auch die hohe Ansprechwahrscheinlichkeit für geladene Hadronen, so daß durch den Einsatz des Dipolmagneten eine inhomogene Verteilung der Treffer auf dem PMD verursacht wird. Diese durch Detektoreffekte verursachten Inhomogenitäten in den Photonenemissionsmustern können mögliche, durch physikalische Ursachen während der Kollision hervorgerufene, Dichtefluktuationen überlagern. Die Größenverteilung der Cluster in den WA93-Daten konnte mit einer Funktion Sa angenähert werden. Die Konstante a ergab sich dabei zu -3.0 für die in Metrik 1 gefundenen Cluster und -2.7 für die in Metrik 2 gefundenen Cluster. Die Größenverteilung der in den WA93-Datenereignissen mit Metrik 1 bestimmten Cluster zeigt keine großen Abweichungen zu den aus Mixed Events und aus simulierten Ereignissen gewonnenen Größenverteilungen. Die Größenverteilung, die mit Metrik 1 aus einer reinen Zufallsverteilung von Punkten erhalten wurde, liegt unterhalb der anderen drei Verteilungen. In den Verteilungen der Größe der in Metrik 2 definierten Cluster bestehen jedoch deutliche Unterschiede von WA93-Datenereignissen zu den Verteilungen aus anderen Ereignissen mit vergleichbaren Pseudorapiditätsverteilungen. Es wird eine Erhöhung der Wahrscheinlichkeit für große Cluster mit mehr als 20 Photonen in realen Datenereignissen beobachtet. Zunächst wurde angenommen, daß diese Erhöhung der Wahrscheinlichkeit für große Cluster die Folge der starken Inhomogenitäten in der zugrundeliegenden Trefferverteilung sein könnte. Wie die detaillierte Untersuchung der räumlichen Verteilung der Cluster jedoch gezeigt hat, ist diese inhomogene Verteilung der Photonen auch in den Mixed Events zu finden; die Erhöhung der Wahrscheinlichkeit für große Cluster tritt allerdings nicht auf. Daß diese Beobachtung in den Mixed Events nicht gemacht wird, könnte ein Hinweis darauf sein, daß die Erhöhung in der Größenverteilung der Cluster durch physikalische Ursachen hervorgerufen wird. Ein weiterer Hinweis darauf, daß die Ineffizienzen des Detektors allein nicht zu großen Clustern führen, zeigt der Vergleich von Mixed Events zu den Datenereignissen mit zufälligem Azimut. Trotz der Unterschiede in der räumlichen Verteilung der Cluster ergibt sich eine annähernd gleiche Wahrscheinlichkeitsverteilung. Die in dieser Arbeit mit der MST-Methode durchgeführten Analyse hat gezeigt, daß „saubere“, d.h. untergrund- und detektoreffektfreiere Photonendaten notwendig sind, bevor Rückschlüsse auf zugrundeliegende physikalische Ursachen gemacht werden können. Dazu ist eine wesentliche Verbesserung der Datenauslese erforderlich, um die großen Unterschiede zwischen den einzelnen Auslesemodulen zu vermeiden. Eine Weiterentwicklung in der Datenaufbereitungsmethode könnte zu einer besseren Separation von Hadronen und Photonen und damit zu einer untergrundfreieren Photonenmessung führen. Erforderlich ist auch eine sehr genaue Simulation der Detektoreffekte durch Angabe aller Details des Experiments im GEANT-Programm. Nach den Schwerionenexperimenten mit Sauerstoff- und Schwefelstrahlen wurde das Schwerionenprogramm am CERN 1994 durch den Bleistrahl 208Pb mit der Energie von 158 GeV pro Nukleon weitergeführt. Mit der Vergrößerung des Reaktionssystems erwartete man nicht unbedingt eine Erhöhung der Energiedichte, aber einen größeren Thermalisierungsgrad des Systems. Ziel blieb immer noch der Nachweis des Quark- Gluon-Plasmas und die Erforschung von Materie unter extremsten Bedingungen. Um eine möglichst universelle Aussage über den Ablauf einer ultrarelativistischen Schwerionenreaktion machen zu können, wurde ein Experiment, das WA98-Experiment, mit einer großen Akzeptanz für die Messung von Photonen und Hadronen entworfen. Die Kombination von Signalen verschiedener Detektoren sollte es ermöglichen unterschiedliche Charakteristika der Stoßprozesse parallel zu untersuchen. Basierend auf den Erfahrungen mit dem Photonen-Multiplizitäts-Detektor im WA93-Experiment, auch die im Zusammenhang mit dieser Arbeit gewonnenen Erkenntnisse, wurde ein größerer und verbesserter Detektor für den Einsatz im WA98- Experiment gebaut. Der Detektor wurde erstmals 1994 zur Messung von Photonenverteilungen in Pb-Pb Kollisionen bei Energien von 158 GeV pro Nukleon am CERN SPS eingesetzt.
Recent results on transverse mass spectra of J/psi and psi prime mesons in central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 AGeV are considered. It is shown that those results support a hypothesis of statistical production of charmonia at hadronization and suggest the early thermal freeze-out of J/psi and psi prime mesons. Based on this approach the collective transverse velocity of hadronizing quark gluon plasma is estimated to be <v^H_T> \approx 0.2. Predictions for transverse mass spectra of hidden and open charm mesons at SPS and RHIC are discussed.
The transverse mass spectra of Omega, J/psi and psi' in Pb+Pb collisions at 158 AGeV are studied within a hydrodynamical model of the quark gluon plasma expansion and hadronization. The model reproduces the existing data with the common hadronization parameters: temperature T=T_H = 170 MeV and average collective transverse velocity v_T = 0.2.
Results of the production of Xi and Xi-bar hyperons in central Pb+Pb interactions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon are presented. This analysis utilises a global reconstruction procedure, which allows a measurement of 4pi integrated yields to be made for the first time. Inverse slope paramters, which are determined from an exponential fit to the transverse mass spectra, are shown. Central rapidity densities are found to be 1.49 +- 0.08 and 0.33 +- 0.04 per event per unit of rapidity for Xi and Xi-bar respectively. Yields integrated to full phase space are 4.12 +- 0.02 and 0.77 +- 0.04 for Xi and Xi-bar. The ratio of Xi-bar/Xi at mid-rapidity is 0.22 +- 0.03.
Measurements of charged pion and kaon production in central Pb+Pb collisions at 40, 80 and 158 AGeV are presented. These are compared with data at lower and higher energies as well as with results from p+p interactions. The mean pion multiplicity per wounded nucleon increases approximately linearly with s_NN^1/4 with a change of slope starting in the region 15-40 AGeV. The change from pion suppression with respect to p+p interactions, as observed at low collision energies, to pion enhancement at high energies occurs at about 40 AGeV. A non-monotonic energy dependence of the ratio of K^+ to pi^+ yields is observed, with a maximum close to 40 AGeV and an indication of a nearly constant value at higher energies.The measured dependences may be related to an increase of the entropy production and a decrease of the strangeness to entropy ratio in central Pb+Pb collisions in the low SPS energy range, which is consistent with the hypothesis that a transient state of deconfined matter is created above these energies. Other interpretations of the data are also discussed.
The transverse mass spectra of J/psi and psi' mesons and Omega hyperons produced in central Au+Au collisions at RHIC energies are discussed within a statistical model used successfully for the interpretation of the SPS results. The comparison of the presented model with the future RHIC data should serve as a further crucial test of the hypothesis of statistical production of charmonia at hadronization. Finally, in case of validity, the approach should allow to estimate the mean transverse flow velocity at the quark gluon plasma hadronization.
Experiment NA49 at the Cern SPS uses a large acceptance detector for a systematic study of particle yields and correlations in nucleus-nucleus, nucleon-nucleus and nucleon-nucleon collisions. Preliminary results for Pb+Pb collisions at 40, 80 and 158 A*GeV beam energy are shown and compared to measurements at lower and higher energies.
The energy dependence of hadron production in central Pb+Pb collisions is presented and discussed. In particular, midrapidity m_T-spectra for pi-, K-, K+, p, bar p, d, phi, Lambda and bar Lambda at 40, 80 and 158 AGeV are shown. In addition Xi and Omega spectra are available at 158 AGeV. The spectra allow to determine the thermal freeze-out temperature T and the transverse flow velocity beta_T at the three energies. We do not observe a significant energy dependence of these parameters; furthermore there is no indication of early thermal freeze-out of Xi and Omega at 158 AGeV. Rapidity spectra for pi-, K-, K+ and phi at 40, 80 and 158 AGeV are shown, as well as first results on Omega rapidity distributions at 158 AGeV. The chemical freeze-out parameters T and mu_B at the three energies are determined from the total yields. The parameters are close to the expected phase boundary in the SPS energy range and above. Using the total yields of kaons and lambdas, the energy dependence of the strangeness to pion ratio is discussed. A maximum in this ratio is found at 40 AGeV. This maximum could indicate the formation of deconfined matter at energies above 40 AGeV. A search for open charm in a large sample of 158 AGeV events is presented. No signal is observed. This result is compared to several model predictions.
Directed and elliptic flow of charged pions and protons in Pb + Pb collisions at 40 and 158 A GeV
(2003)
Directed and elliptic flow measurements for charged pions and protons are reported as a function of transverse momentum, rapidity, and centrality for 40 and 158A GeV Pb + Pb collisions as recorded by the NA49 detector. Both the standard method of correlating particles with an event plane, and the cumulant method of studying multiparticle correlations are used. In the standard method the directed flow is corrected for conservation of momentum. In the cumulant method elliptic flow is reconstructed from genuine 4, 6, and 8-particle correlations, showing the first unequivocal evidence for collective motion in A+A collisions at SPS energies.
New results from the energy scan programme of NA49, in particular kaon production at 30 AGeV and phi production at 40 and 80 AGeV are presented. The K+/pi+ ratio shows a pronounced maximum at 30 AGeV; the kaon slope parameters are constant at SPS energies. Both findings support the scenario of a phase transition at about 30 AGeV beam energy. The phi/pi ratio increases smoothly with beam energy, showing an energy dependence similar to K-/pi-. The measured particle yields can be reproduced by a hadron gas model, with chemical freeze-out parameters on a smooth curve in the T-muB plane. The transverse spectra can be understood as resulting from a rapidly expanding, locally equilibrated source. No evidence for an earlier kinetic decoupling of heavy hyperons is found.
Strange particle production in A+A interactions at 158 AGeV is studied by the CERN experiment NA49 as a function of system size and collision geometry. Yields of charged kaons, phi and Lambda are measured and compared to those of pions in central C+C, Si+Si and centrality-selected Pb+Pb reactions. An overall increase of relative strangeness production with the size of the system is observed which does not scale with the number of participants. Arguing that rescattering of secondaries plays a minor role in small systems the observed strangeness enhancement can be related to the space-time density of the primary nucleon-nucleon collisions.
The large acceptance and high momentum resolution as well as the significant particle identification capabilities of the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS allow for a broad study of fluctuations and correlations in hadronic interactions. In the first part recent results on event-by-event charge and p_t fluctuations are presented. Charge fluctuations in central Pb+Pb reactions are investigated at three different beam energies (40, 80, and 158 AGeV), while for the p_t fluctuations the focus is put on the system size dependence at 158 AGeV. In the second part recent results on Bose Einstein correlations of h-h- pairs in minimum bias Pb+Pb reactions at 40 and 158 AGeV, as well as of K+K+ and K-K- pairs in central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 AGeV are shown. Additionally, other types of two particle correlations, namely pi p, Lambda p, and Lambda Lambda correlations, have been measured by the NA49 experiment. Finally, results on the energy and system size dependence of deuteron coalescence are discussed.
Rapidity distributions for $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ hyperons in central Pb-Pb collisions at 40, 80 and 158 A$\cdot$GeV and for ${\rm K}_{s}^{0}$ mesons at 158 A$\cdot$GeV are presented. The lambda multiplicities are studied as a function of collision energy together with AGS and RHIC measurements and compared to model predictions. A different energy dependence of the $\Lambda/\pi$ and $\bar{\Lambda}/\pi$ is observed. The $\bar{\Lambda}/\Lambda$ ratio shows a steep increase with collision energy. Evidence for a $\bar{\Lambda}/\bar{\rm p}$ ratio greater than 1 is found at 40 A$\cdot$GeV.
To preserve the required beam quality in an e+/e- collider it is necessary to have a very precise beam position control at each accelerating cavity. An elegant method to avoid additional length and beam disturbance is the usage of signals from existing HOM-dampers. The magnitude of the displacement is derived from the amplitude of a dipole mode whereas the sign follows from the phase comparison of a dipole and a monopole HOM. To check the performance of the system, a measurement setup has been built with an antenna which can be moved with micrometer resolution to simulate the beam. Furthermore we have developed a signal processing to determine the absolute beam displacement. Measurements on the HOM-damper cell can be done in the frequency domain using a network analyser. Final measurements with the nonlinear time dependent signal processing circuit has to be done with very short electric pulses simulating electron bunches. Thus, we have designed a sub nanosecond pulse generator using a clipping line and the step recovery effect of a diode. The measurement can be done with a resolution of about 10 micrometers. Measurements and numerical calculations concerning the monitor design and the pulse generator are presented.
We present a detailed study of chemical freeze-out in nucleus-nucleus collisions at beam energies of 11.6, 30, 40, 80 and 158A GeV. By analyzing hadronic multiplicities within the statistical hadronization approach, we have studied the strangeness production as a function of centre of mass energy and of the parameters of the source. We have tested and compared different versions of the statistical model, with special emphasis on possible explanations of the observed strangeness hadronic phase space under-saturation. We show that, in this energy range, the use of hadron yields at midrapidity instead of in full phase space artificially enhances strangeness production and could lead to incorrect conclusions as far as the occurrence of full chemical equilibrium is concerned. In addition to the basic model with an extra strange quark non-equilibrium parameter, we have tested three more schemes: a two-component model superimposing hadrons coming out of single nucleon-nucleon interactions to those emerging from large fireballs at equilibrium, a model with local strangeness neutrality and a model with strange and light quark non-equilibrium parameters. The behaviour of the source parameters as a function of colliding system and collision energy is studied. The description of strangeness production entails a non-monotonic energy dependence of strangeness saturation parameter gamma_S with a maximum around 30A GeV. We also present predictions of the production rates of still unmeasured hadrons including the newly discovered Theta^+(1540) pentaquark baryon.
Bose-Einstein correlations of charged kaons were measured near mid-rapidity in central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 A GeV by the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS. Source radii were extracted using the Yano-Koonin-Podgoretsky and Bertsch-Pratt parameterizations. The results are compared to published pion data. The measured m_perp dependence for kaons and pions is consistent with collective transverse expansion of the source and a freeze-out time of about 9.5 fm.
We study the behaviour of the effective temperature for K+ in several energy domains. For this purpose, we apply the recently developed SPheRIO code for hydrodynamics in 3+1 dimensions, using both Landau-type compact initial conditions and spatially more spread ones. We show that initial conditions given in small volume, like Landau-type ones, are unable to reproduce the effective temperature together with other data (multiplicities and rapidity distributions). These quantities can be reproduced altogether only when using a large initial volume with an appropriate velocity distribution.
We suggest that the fluctuations of strange hadron multiplicity could be sensitive to the equation of state and microscopic structure of strongly interacting matter created at the early stage of high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. They may serve as an important tool in the study of the deconfinement phase transition. We predict, within the statistical model of the early stage, that the ratio of properly filtered fluctuations of strange to non-strange hadron multiplicities should have a non-monotonic energy dependence with a minimum in the mixed phase region.
The data on mT spectra of K0S K+ and K- mesons produced in all inelastic p + p and p + pbar interactions in the energy range sqrt(s)NN=4.7-1800GeV are compiled and analyzed. The spectra are parameterized by a single exponential function, dN/(m_T*dm_T)=C exp(-m_T/T), and the inverse slope parameter T is the main object of study. The T parameter is found to be similar for K0S, K+ and K- mesons. It increases monotonically with collision energy from T~30MeV at sqrt(s)NN=4.7GeV to T~220MeV at sqrt(s)NN=1800GeV. The T parameter measured in p+p and p+pbar interactions is significantly lower than the corresponding parameter obtained for central Pb+Pb collisions at all studied energies. Also the shape of the energy dependence of T is different for central Pb+Pb collisions and p+p(pbar) interactions.
The history and the main results of the energy scan program at the CERN SPS are reviewed. Several anomalies in energy dependence of hadron production predicted as signals of deconfinement phase transition are observed and they indicate that the onset of deconfinement is located at about 30 A GeV. For the first time we seem to have clear evidence for the existence of a deconfined state of matter in nature.
We propose a method to experimentally study the equation of state of strongly interacting matter created at the early stage of nucleus--nucleus collisions. The method exploits the relation between relative entropy and energy fluctuations and equation of state. As a measurable quantity, the ratio of properly filtered multiplicity to energy fluctuations is proposed. Within a statistical approach to the early stage of nucleus-nucleus collisions, the fluctuation ratio manifests a non--monotonic collision energy dependence with a maximum in the domain where the onset of deconfinement occurs.
Transverse activity of kaons and the deconfinement phase transition in nucleus-nucleus collisions
(2003)
We found that the experimental results on transverse mass spectra of kaons produced in central Pb+Pb (Au+Au) interactions show an anomalous dependence on the collision energy. The inverse slopes of the spectra increase with energy in the low (AGS) and high (RHIC) energy domains, whereas they are constant in the intermediate (SPS) energy range. We argue that this anomaly is probably caused by a modification of the equation of state in the transition region between confined and deconfined matter. This observation may be considered as a new signal, in addition to the previously reported anomalies in the pion and strangeness production, of the onset of deconfinement located in the low SPS energy domain.
Observation of an exotic S = -2, Q = -2 baryon resonance in proton-proton collisions at the CERN SPS
(2003)
Results of resonance searches in the Xi- pi-, Xi- pi+, antiXi+ pi- and antiXi+ pi+ invariant mass spectra in proton-proton collisions at sqrt s=17.2 GeV are presented. Evidence is shown for the existence of a narrow Xi- pi- baryon resonance with mass of 1.862+/-0.002 GeV/c^2 and width below the detector resolution of about 0.018 GeV/c^2. The significance is estimated to be 4.0 sigma. This state is a candidate for the hypothetical exotic Xi_(3/2)^-- baryon with S = -2, I = 3/2 and a quark content of (d s d s ubar). At the same mass a peak is observed in the Xi- pi+ spectrum which is a candidate for the Xi_(3/2)^0 member of this isospin quartet with a quark content of (d s u s dbar). The corresponding antibaryon spectra also show enhancements at the same invariant mass.
Results are presented on event-by-event fluctuations in transverse momentum of charged particles, produced at forward rapidities in p+p, C+C, Si+Si and Pb+Pb collisions at 158 AGeV. Three different characteristics are discussed: the average transverse momentum of the event, the Phi_pT fluctuation measure and two-particle transverse momentum correlations. In the kinematic region explored, the dynamical fluctuations are found to be small. However, a significant system size dependence of Phi_pT is observed, with the largest value measured in peripheral Pb+Pb interactions. The data are compared with predictions of several models. PACS numbers: 14.20.Jn, 13.75.Cs, 12.39.-x
Production of Lambda and Antilambda hyperons was measured in central Pb-Pb collisions at 40, 80, and 158 A GeV beam energy on a fixed target. Transverse mass spectra and rapidity distributions are given for all three energies. The Lambda/pi ratio at mid-rapidity and in full phase space shows a pronounced maximum between the highest AGS and 40 A GeV SPS energies, whereas the anti-Lambda}/pi ratio exhibits a monotonic increase. PACS numbers: 25.75.-q
Fluctuations of charged particle number are studied in the canonical ensemble. In the infinite volume limit the fluctuations in the canonical ensemble are different from the fluctuations in the grand canonical one. Thus, the well-known equivalence of both ensembles for the average quantities does not extend for the fluctuations. In view of a possible relevance of the results for the analysis of fluctuations in nuclear collisions at high energies, a role of the limited kinematical acceptance is studied.
A non-monotonic energy dependence of the K + / pi + ratio with a sharp maximum close to 30 A GeV is observed in central Pb+Pb collisions. Within a statistical model of the early stage, this is interpreted as a sign of the phase transition to a QGP, which causes a sharp change in the energy dependence of the strangeness to entropy ratio. This observation naturally motivates us to study the production of multistrange hyperons (Xi, Omega) as a function of the beam energy. Furthermore it was suggested that the kinematic freeze-out of Omega takes place directly at QGP hadronization. If this is indeed the case, the transverse momentum spectra of the Omega directly reflect the transverse expansion velocity of a hadronizing QGP. In this report we show preliminary NA49 results on Omega - and Omega + production in central Pb+Pb collisions at 40 and 158 A GeV and compare them to measurements of Xi - and Xi + production in central Pb+Pb collisions at 30, 40, 80 and 158 A GeV.
Report from NA49
(2004)
The most recent data of NA49 on hadron production in nuclear collisions at CERN SPS energies are presented. Anomalies in the energy dependence of pion and kaon production in central Pb+Pb collisions are observed. They suggest that the onset of deconfinement is located at about 30 AGeV. Large multiplicity and transverse momentum fluctuations are measured for collisions of intermediate mass systems at 158 AGeV. The need for a new experimental programme at the CERN SPS is underlined.
The transverse mass mt distributions for deuterons and protons are measured in Pb+Pb reactions near midrapidity and in the range 0<mt–m<1.0 (1.5) GeV/c2 for minimum bias collisions at 158A GeV and for central collisions at 40 and 80 A GeV beam energies. The rapidity density dn/dy, inverse slope parameter T and mean transverse mass <mt> derived from mt distributions as well as the coalescence parameter B2 are studied as a function of the incident energy and the collision centrality. The deuteron mt spectra are significantly harder than those of protons, especially in central collisions. The coalescence factor B2 shows three systematic trends. First, it decreases strongly with increasing centrality reflecting an enlargement of the deuteron coalescence volume in central Pb+Pb collisions. Second, it increases with mt. Finally, B2 shows an increase with decreasing incident beam energy even within the SPS energy range. The results are discussed and compared to the predictions of models that include the collective expansion of the source created in Pb+Pb collisions.
Preliminary results on pion-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb+Pb collisions measured by the NA49 experiment are presented. Rapidity as well as transverse momentum dependence of the HBT-radii are shown for collisions at 20, 30, 40, 80, and 158 AGeV beam energy. Including results from AGS and RHIC experiments only a weak energy dependence of the radii is observed. Based on hydrodynamical models parameters like lifetime and geometrical radius of the source are derived from the dependence of the radii on transverse momentum.
Event-by-event fluctuations of particle ratios in central Pb + Pb collisions at 20 to 158 AGeV
(2004)
In the vicinity of the QCD phase transition, critical fluctuations have been predicted to lead to non-statistical fluctuations of particle ratios, depending on the nature of the phase transition. Recent results of the NA49 energy scan program show a sharp maximum of the ratio of K+ to Pi+ yields in central Pb+Pb collisions at beam energies of 20-30 AGeV. This observation has been interpreted as an indication of a phase transition at low SPS energies. We present first results on event-by-event fluctuations of the kaon to pion and proton to pion ratios at beam energies close to this maximum.
Results are presented on event-by-event electric charge fluctuations in central Pb+Pb collisions at 20, 30, 40, 80 and 158 AGeV. The observed fluctuations are close to those expected for a gas of pions correlated by global charge conservation only. These fluctuations are considerably larger than those calculated for an ideal gas of deconfined quarks and gluons. The present measurements do not necessarily exclude reduced fluctuations from a quark-gluon plasma because these might be masked by contributions from resonance decays.
System-size dependence of strangeness production in nucleus-nucleus collisions at √sNN = 17.3 GeV
(2005)
Emission of pi, K, phi and Lambda was measured in near-central C+C and Si+Si collisions at 158 AGeV beam energy. Together with earlier data for p+p, S+S and Pb+Pb, the system-size dependence of relative strangeness production in nucleus-nucleus collisions is obtained. Its fast rise and the saturation observed at about 60 participating nucleons can be understood as onset of the formation of coherent partonic subsystems of increasing size. PACS numbers: 25.75.-q
Results are presented on Omega production in central Pb+Pb collisions at 40 and 158 AGeV beam energy. Given are transverse-mass spectra, rapidity distributions, and total yields for the sum Omega+Antiomega at 40 AGeV and for Omega and Antiomega separately at 158 AGeV. The yields are strongly under-predicted by the string-hadronic UrQMD model and are in better agreement with predictions from a hadron gas models. PACS numbers: 25.75.Dw
System size and centrality dependence of the balance function in A + A collisions at √sNN = 17.2 GeV
(2004)
Electric charge correlations were studied for p+p, C+C, Si+Si and centrality selected Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt s_NN = 17.2$ GeV with the NA49 large acceptance detector at the CERN-SPS. In particular, long range pseudo-rapidity correlations of oppositely charged particles were measured using the Balance Function method. The width of the Balance Function decreases with increasing system size and centrality of the reactions. This decrease could be related to an increasing delay of hadronization in central Pb+Pb collisions.
The hadronic final state of central Pb+Pb collisions at 20, 30, 40, 80, and 158 AGeV has been measured by the CERN NA49 collaboration. The mean transverse mass of pions and kaons at midrapidity stays nearly constant in this energy range, whereas at lower energies, at the AGS, a steep increase with beam energy was measured. Compared to p+p collisions as well as to model calculations, anomalies in the energy dependence of pion and kaon production at lower SPS energies are observed. These findings can be explained, assuming that the energy density reached in central A+A collisions at lower SPS energies is sufficient to force the hot and dense nuclear matter into a deconfined phase.
System size dependence of multiplicity fluctuations of charged particles produced in nuclear collisions at 158 A GeV was studied in the NA49 CERN experiment. Results indicate a non-monotonic dependence of the scaled variance of the multiplicity distribution with a maximum for semi-peripheral Pb+Pb interactions with number of projectile participants of about 35. This effect is not observed in a string-hadronic model of nuclear collision HIJING.
The hadronic final state of central Pb+Pb collisions at 20, 30, 40, 80, and 158 AGeV has been measured by the CERN NA49 collaboration. The mean transverse mass of pions and kaons at midrapidity stays nearly constant in this energy range, whereas at lower energies, at the AGS, a steep increase with beam energy was measured. Compared to p+p collisions as well as to model calculations, anomalies in the energy dependence of pion and kaon production at lower SPS energies are observed. These findings can be explained, assuming that the energy density reached in central A+A collisions at lower SPS energies is sufficient to transform the hot and dense nuclear matter into a deconfined phase.