Article

Measurements of<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>ϕ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math>meson production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)

B. I. AbelevUniversity of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USAM. M. AggarwalPanjab University, Chandigarh 160014, IndiaZ. AhammedVariable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata 700064, IndiaB. D. AndersonKent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USAD. ArkhipkinG. S. AverichevY. BaiNIKHEF and Utrecht University, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsJ. BalewskiMassachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307, USAO. BarannikovaUniversity of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USAL. S. BarnbyUniversity of Birmingham, Birmingham, United KingdomJ. BaudotS. BaumgartYale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USAD. R. BeavisBrookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USAR. BellwiedWayne State University, Detroit, MichiganF. BenedossoNIKHEF and Utrecht University, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsR. R. BettsUniversity of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USAS. BhardwajUniversity of Rajasthan, Jaipur 302004, IndiaA. BhasinUniversity of Jammu, Jammu 180001, IndiaA. K. BhatiPanjab University, Chandigarh 160014, IndiaH. BichselUniversity of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USAJ. BielčíkNuclear Physics Institute AS CR, CZ-25068 e/Prague, Czech RepublicJ. BielčíkováNuclear Physics Institute AS CR, CZ-25068 e/Prague, Czech RepublicB. BiritzUniversity of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USAL. C. BlandBrookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USAS.-L. BlythLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USAM. BombaraUniversity of Birmingham, Birmingham, United KingdomB. E. BonnerRice University, Houston, Texas 77251, USAM. BotjeNIKHEF and Utrecht University, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsJ. BouchetKent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USAE. BraidotNIKHEF and Utrecht University, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsA. V. BrandinMoscow Engineering Physics Institute, Moscow, RussiaE. BrunaYale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USAS. BueltmannBrookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USAT. P. BurtonUniversity of Birmingham, Birmingham, United KingdomM. BysterskýNuclear Physics Institute AS CR, CZ-25068 e/Prague, Czech RepublicX. Z. CaiShanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Shanghai 201800, People's Republic of ChinaM. Calderon De La Barca SanchezUniversity of California, Davis, California 95616, USAJ. CallnerUniversity of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USAO. CatuYale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USAD. CebraUniversity of California, Davis, California 95616, USAR. CendejasUniversity of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USAM. C. CervantesTexas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USAZ. ChajęckiOhio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USAP. ChaloupkaNuclear Physics Institute AS CR, CZ-25068 e/Prague, Czech RepublicS. ChattopadhyayVariable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata 700064, IndiaH. F. ChenUniversity of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of ChinaC. H. ChengShanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Shanghai 201800, People's Republic of ChinaJ. Y. ChenShanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Shanghai 201800, People's Republic of ChinaJ. ChengTsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of ChinaM. CherneyCreighton University, Omaha, Nebraska 68178, USAA. ChikanianYale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USAKi-Young ChoiPusan National University, Pusan, Republic of KoreaW. ChristieBrookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USAS. U. ChungBrookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USAR. F. ClarkeTexas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USAM. J. M. CodringtonTexas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USAJ. P. CoffinT. M. CormierWayne State University, Detroit, MichiganM. R. CosentinoUniversidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, BrazilJ. G. CramerUniversity of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USAH. J. CrawfordUniversity of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USAD. DasUniversity of California, Davis, California 95616, USAS. DashInstitute of Physics, Bhubaneswar 751005, IndiaM. DaugherityUniversity of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USAC. De SilvaWayne State University, Detroit, MichiganT. G. DedovichM. DePhillipsBrookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USAA. A. DerevschikovInstitute of High Energy Physics, Protvino, RussiaR. Derradi de SouzaUniversidade Estadual de Campinas, Sao Paulo, BrazilL. DidenkoBrookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USAP. DjawothoIndiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47408, USAS. DograUniversity of Jammu, Jammu 180001, IndiaX. DongLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USAJ. L. DrachenbergTexas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USAJ. E. DraperUniversity of California, Davis, California 95616, USAF. DuYale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USAJ. C. DunlopBrookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USAM. R. Dutta MazumdarVariable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata 700064, IndiaW. R. EdwardsLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USAL. G. EfimovE. ElhalhuliUniversity of Birmingham, Birmingham, United KingdomM. ElnimrWayne State University, Detroit, MichiganВ. ЕмеляновMoscow Engineering Physics Institute, Moscow, RussiaJ. EngelageUniversity of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USAG. EppleyRice University, Houston, Texas 77251, USAB. ErazmusSUBATECH, Nantes, FranceM. EstienneL. EunPennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USAP. FachiniBrookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USAR. FatemiUniversity of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 40506-0055, USAJ. FedorišinA. FengInstitute of Particle Physics, CCNU (HZNU), Wuhan 430079, People's Republic of ChinaP. FilipE. FinchYale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USAV. FineBrookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USAY. FisyakBrookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USAC. A. GagliardiTexas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USAL. GaillardUniversity of Birmingham, Birmingham, United KingdomD. R. GangadharanUniversity of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA

Physical Review Cjournal2009lv

ABI

Abstract

We present results for the measurement of ϕ meson production via its charged kaon decay channel ϕ→K[superscript +]K[superscript -] in Au+Au collisions at √(s[subscript NN])=62.4,130, and 200 GeV, and in p+p and d+Au collisions at √(s[subscript NN])=200 from the STAR experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The midrapidity (|y|<0.5) ϕ meson transverse momentum (p[subscript T]) spectra in central Au+Au collisions are found to be well described by a single exponential distribution. On the other hand, the p[subscript T] spectra from p+p, d+Au, and peripheral Au+Au collisions show power-law tails at intermediate and high p[subscript T] and are described better by Levy distributions. The constant ϕ/K[superscript -] yield ratio vs beam species, collision centrality, and colliding energy is in contradiction with expectations from models having kaon coalescence as the dominant mechanism for ϕ production at RHIC. The Ω/ϕ yield ratio as a function of p[subscript T] is consistent with a model based on the recombination of thermal s quarks up to p[subscript T]~4 GeV/c, but disagrees at higher transverse momenta. The measured nuclear modification factor, RdAu, for the ϕ meson increases above unity at intermediate p[subscript T], similar to that for pions and protons, while R[subscript AA] is suppressed due to the energy loss effect in central Au+Au collisions. Number of constituent quark scaling of both R[subscript cp] and v[subscript 2] for the ϕ meson with respect to other hadrons in Au+Au collisions at √(sNN)=200 GeV at intermediate p[subscript T] is observed. These observations support quark coalescence as being the dominant mechanism of hadronization in the intermediate p[subscript T] region at RHIC.

Topics

High-Energy Particle Collisions Research Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1103/physrevc.79.064903

Citations and references

Cited by 1 108 references

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