B. Alessandro

Evidence for deconfinement of quarks and gluons from the J/ ψ suppression pattern measured in Pb-Pb collisions at the CERN-SPS

Abstract The analysis of the data collected by the NA50 experiment in 1998, reported in this paper, extends and clarifies the pattern of the previously observed J/ ψ anomalous suppression. This new measurement, besides providing a deeper understanding of the previous observations, reveals a steady significative decrease in the J/ ψ production rate up to the most central Pb-Pb collisions. It clearly rules out the presently available conventional (hadronic) models of J/ ψ suppression, which unanimously predict a saturation of the J/ ψ rate for central Pb-Pb collisions. On the contrary and together with the sharp onset of the anomalous suppression previously reported, the new observation leads to a global production rate pattern which finds its natural explanation in the framework of the formation of a deconfined state of quarks and gluons.

A New measurement of J/psi suppression in Pb-Pb collisions at 158-GeV per nucleon

Abstract.We present a new measurement of

Anomalous J/psi suppression in Pb-Pb interactions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon

J/\psi

J/Ψ production and nuclear effects in p-Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV

production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/nucleon, from the data sample collected in year 2000 by the NA50 Collaboration, under improved experimental conditions with respect to previous years. With the target system placed in vacuum, the setup was better adapted to study, in particular, the most peripheral nuclear collisions with unprecedented accuracy. The analysis of this data sample shows that the

Charmonium and e(+)e(-) pair photoproduction at mid-rapidity in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 TeV

J/\psi

Charmonium production and nuclear absorption in p-A interactions at 450 GeV

cross-sections ratio measured in the most peripheral Pb-Pb interactions is in good agreement with the nuclear absorption pattern extrapolated from the studies of proton-nucleus collisions. Furthermore, this new measurement confirms our previous observation that the

Production of light nuclei and anti-nuclei in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at energies available at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

J/\psi

Enhanced production of multi-strange hadrons in high-multiplicity proton-proton collisions

cross-sections ratio departs from the normal nuclear absorption pattern for semi-central Pb-Pb collisions and that this ratio persistently decreases up to the most central collisions.

Measurement of electrons from beauty hadron decays in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV

Abstract The Drell-Yan and J/t) cross-sections measured in Pb-Pb collisions are compared with the values extrapolated from the results obtained in proton and light ion induced reactions. While the Drell-Yan production exhibits the normal expected behaviour, the yield of J/e in Pb-Pb interactions is abnormally low, as it lies 9 standard deviations below the expected value. Moreover, the departure from the expected behaviour increases significantly from peripheral to central collisions. 0 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. 1. Introduction It is now a well established prediction from lattice QCD calculations [l] that, under extreme energy density conditions, ordinary hadronic matter will un- dergo a phase transition to the so-called Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). The main feature of this phase of matter is that the elementary constituents of hadrons are decon- fined, i.e. that quarks and gluons do not form any more individual hadrons and are free to move within the medium. From the very beginning and before the start up of the experimental search in the field, it was pointed out [2] that deconfinement would induce color screening which in turn would prevent J/+ formation, making of “J/I+!I suppression” one of the gold-plated signatures for QGP experimental evi- dence. Starting from 1986 on, high energy ion beams (0, S and finally Pb) became available at CERN. They made possible the search for QGP formation in ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions where it was believed that the required conditions could be reached at best. Experiment NA38 developed an extensive program studying charmonium in p-A and A-B reactions with incident proton, oxygen and sul- fur ions on different nuclear targets. The results obtained for J/I) production [3] led to a solid sys- tematic experimental reference. They triggered a considerable amount of theoretical work [4] and can be understood, according to some authors, in an overall coherent framework [5]. In this letter, we compare the Pb-Pb values mea- sured by the NA50 experiment, as reported in the preceding letter [6], with the values previously ob- tained with lighter incident ions. 2.

Differential studies of inclusive J/

Inclusive J/psi production has been studied with the ALICE detector in p-Pb collisions at the nucleon-nucleon center of mass energy = 5.02 TeV at the CERN LHC. The measurement is performed in the center of mass rapidity domains 2.03 < y (cms) < 3.53 and -4.46 < y (cms) < -2.96, down to zero transverse momentum, studying the mu (+) mu (-) decay mode. In this paper, the J/psi production cross section and the nuclear modification factor R (pPb) for the rapidities under study are presented. While at forward rapidity, corresponding to the proton direction, a suppression of the J/psi yield with respect to binary-scaled pp collisions is observed, in the backward region no suppression is present. The ratio of the forward and backward yields is also measured differentially in rapidity and transverse momentum. Theoretical predictions based on nuclear shadowing, as well as on models including, in addition, a contribution from partonic energy loss, are in fair agreement with the experimental results.A bstractInclusive J/ψ production has been studied with the ALICE detector in p-Pb collisions at the nucleon-nucleon center of mass energy