Jaw-Luen Tang

The PHOBOS Perspective on Discoveries at RHIC

This paper describes the conclusions that can be drawn from the data taken thus far with the PHOBOS detector at RHIC. In the most central Au+Au collisions at the highest beam energy, evidence is found for the formation of a very high energy density system whose description in terms of simple hadronic degrees of freedom is inappropriate. Furthermore, the constituents of this novel system are found to undergo a significant level of interaction. The properties of particle production at RHIC energies are shown to follow a number of simple scaling behaviors, some of which continue trends found at lower energies or in simpler systems. As a function of centrality, the total number of charged particles scales with the number of participating nucleons. When comparing Au+Au at different centralities, the dependence of the yield on the number of participants at higher p T (∼4 GeV/c) is very similar to that at low transverse momentum. The measured values of charged particle pseudorapidity density and elliptic flow were found to be independent of energy over a broad range of pseudorapidities when effectively viewed in the rest frame of one of the colliding nuclei, a property we describe as “extended longitudinal scaling”. Finally, the centrality and energy dependences of several observables were found to factorize to a surprising degree.

Centrality dependence of the charged particle multiplicity near mid-rapidity in Au + Au collisions at

The PHOBOS experiment has measured the charged particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV as a function of the collision centrality. Results on dN/deta(eta , are presented as a function of . As was found from similar data at sqrt(s_NN) = 130 GeV, the data can be equally well described by parton saturation models and two-component fits which include contributions that scale as Npart and the number of binary collisions, Ncoll. We compare the data at the two energies by means of the ratio R(200/130) of the charged particle multiplicity for the two different energies as a function of . For events with >100

\sqrt{s}

, we find that this ratio is consistent with a constant value of 1.14+-0.01(stat.)+-0.05(syst.).

(NN) = 130-GeV and 200-GeV

We present the first measurement of the pseudorapidity density of primary charged particles in Au+Au collisions at root square[s(NN)] = 200 GeV. For the 6% most central collisions, we obtain dN(ch)/d(eta)/(/eta/<1) = 650+/-35(syst). Compared to collisions at root square[s(NN)] = 130 GeV, the highest energy studied previously, an increase by a factor of 1.14+/-0.05 at 90% confidence level, is found. The energy dependence of the pseudorapidity density is discussed in comparison with data from proton-induced collisions and theoretical predictions.

Energy dependence of particle multiplicities in central Au + Au collisions

Differential cross sections for {gamma}p{yields}K{sup +}{lambda}(1405) and {gamma}p{yields}K{sup +}{sigma}{sup 0}(1385) reactions have been measured in the photon energy range from 1.5 to 2.4 GeV and the angular range of 0.8<cos({theta})<1.0 for the K{sup +} scattering angle in the center-of-mass system. This data is the first measurement of the {lambda}(1405) photoproduction cross section. The line shapes of {lambda}(1405) measured in {sigma}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} and {sigma}{sup -}{pi}{sup +} decay modes were different with each other, indicating a strong interference of the isospin 0 and 1 terms of the {sigma}{pi} scattering amplitudes. The ratios of {lambda}(1405) production to {sigma}{sup 0}(1385) production were measured in two photon energy ranges: near the production threshold (1.5<E{sub {gamma}}<2.0 GeV) and far from it (2.0<E{sub {gamma}}<2.4 GeV). The observed ratio decreased in the higher photon energy region, which may suggest different production mechanisms and internal structures for these hyperon resonances.

Photoproduction of Lambda(1405) and Sigma0(1385) on the proton at E(gamma) = 1.5-2.4-GeV

A novel class of multi-D-shaped optical fiber suited for refractive index measurements is presented. The multi-D-shaped optical fiber was constructed by forming several D-sections in a multimode optical fiber at localized regions with femtosecond laser pulses. The total number of D-shaped zones fabricated could range from three to seven. Each D-shaped zone covered a sensor volume of 100 μm depth, 250 μm width, and 1 mm length. The mean roughness of the core surface obtained by the AFM images was 231.7 nm, which is relatively smooth. Results of the tensile test indicated that the fibers have sufficient mechanical strength to resist damage from further processing. The multi-D-shaped optical fiber as a high sensitive refractive-index sensor to detect changes in the surrounding refractive index was studied. The results for different concentrations of sucrose solution show that a resolution of 1.27 × 10−3–3.13 × 10−4 RIU is achieved for refractive indices in the range of 1.333 to 1.403, suggesting that the multi-D-shaped fibers are attractive for chemical, biological, and biochemical sensing with aqueous solutions.

A Multi-D-Shaped Optical Fiber for Refractive Index Sensing

Differential cross sections for {gamma}p{yields}K{sup +}{lambda}(1405) and {gamma}p{yields}K{sup +}{sigma}{sup 0}(1385) reactions have been measured in the photon energy range from 1.5 to 2.4 GeV and the angular range of 0.8<cos({theta})<1.0 for the K{sup +} scattering angle in the center-of-mass system. This data is the first measurement of the {lambda}(1405) photoproduction cross section. The line shapes of {lambda}(1405) measured in {sigma}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} and {sigma}{sup -}{pi}{sup +} decay modes were different with each other, indicating a strong interference of the isospin 0 and 1 terms of the {sigma}{pi} scattering amplitudes. The ratios of {lambda}(1405) production to {sigma}{sup 0}(1385) production were measured in two photon energy ranges: near the production threshold (1.5<E{sub {gamma}}<2.0 GeV) and far from it (2.0<E{sub {gamma}}<2.4 GeV). The observed ratio decreased in the higher photon energy region, which may suggest different production mechanisms and internal structures for these hyperon resonances.

Photoproduction ofΛ(1405)andΣ0(1385)on the proton atEγ=1.5−2.4GeV

We present a measurement of the pseudorapidity density of primary charged particles near mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 130 GeV as a function of the number of participating nucleons. These results are compared to models in an attempt to discriminate between competing scenarios of particle production in heavy ion collisions.

Centrality dependence of charged particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity in Au + Au collisions at

Abstract Calculations of the time evolution of the population in the transient radical pair P F state and the magnetic field dependence of the effective decay time are presented. A general treatment is proposed to include (1) unequal decay rates k T and k S for the triplet and the singlet, (2) the anisotropic electron — electron dipolar interaction and (3) the multiple nuclear hyperfine interaction. It is found that the dipolar interaction and the exchange interaction have a strong impact on the field dependence of the effective decay time. In addition, the time evolution of the P F population is found to be quasi-exponential for k T >k 5 , and the effective decay rate is determined much more by the singlet decay rate that the triplet decay rate as long as dominant spin-spin interactions are present. The decay curve becomes non-exponential as k S becomes larger than k T .

\sqrt{s_{NN}}

Abstract Argonne flow and Bose-Einstein correlations have been measured in Au-Au collisions at S N N = 130 and 200 GeV using the PHOBOS detector at RHIC. The systematic dependencies of the flow signal on the transverse momentum, pseudorapidity, and centrality of the collision, as well as the beam energy are shown. In addition, results of a 3-dimensional analysis of two-pion correlations in the 200 GeV data are presented.