L. A. Linden Levy

Constraining the initial temperature and shear viscosity in a hybrid hydrodynamic model of √sNN=200 GeV Au+Au collisions using pion spectra, elliptic flow, and femtoscopic radii

A new framework for evaluating hydrodynamic models of relativistic heavy ion collisions has been developed. This framework, a Comprehesive Heavy Ion Model Evaluation and Reporting Algorithm (CHIMERA) has been implemented by augmenting UVH 2+1D viscous hydrodynamic model with eccentricity fluctuations, pre-equilibrium flow, and the Ultra-relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamic (UrQMD) hadronic cascade. A range of initial temperatures and shear viscosity to entropy ratios were evaluated for four initial profiles,

From production to suppression, a critical review of charmonium measurements at RHIC

N_{part}

Modeling of J / ψ modifications in deuteron-nucleus collisions at high energies

and

Disentangling charmonium suppression

N_{coll}

Azimuthal Anisotropy of {pi}{sup 0} Production in Au+Au Collisions at {radical}(s{sub NN})=200 GeV: Path-Length Dependence of Jet Quenching and the Role of Initial Geometry

scaling with and without pre-equilibrium flow. The model results were compared to pion spectra, elliptic flow, and femtoscopic radii from 200 GeV Au+Au collisions for the 0--20% centrality range.Two sets of initial density profiles,

Quasiparticle degrees of freedom versus the perfect fluid as descriptors of the quark-gluon plasma

N_{part}

Cold Nuclear Matter Effects on J/{psi} Yields as a Function of Rapidity and Nuclear Geometry in d+A Collisions at {radical}(s{sub NN})=200 GeV

scaling with pre-equilibrium flow and

Quarkonia production in p+A collisions

N_{coll}

Elliptic and Hexadecapole Flow of Charged Hadrons in Au+Au Collisions at (s{sub NN})=200 GeV

scaling without were shown to provide a consistent description of all three measurements.

Elliptic and Hexadecapole Flow of Charged Hadrons in Au+Au Collisions at {radical}(s{sub NN})=200 GeV

Abstract Charmonium suppression in hot and dense nuclear matter has been argued to be a signature for the production of the quark gluon plasma (QGP). In order to search for this effect in heavy ion collisions one must have a clear understanding of all the factors that can contribute to such a suppression. These may include shadowing of the partons in a nuclear environment, breakup of a correlated c − c ¯ pair as it traverses the nuclear fragment, suppression of feed-down from higher mass states as well as other initial state interactions. In order to disentangle these effects one must measure charmonium production rates in both proton+proton (p+p) and proton+nucleus (p+A) collisions. The p+p collisions serve as a baseline for searching for suppression compared to binary scaling predictions, allow one to quantify the amount of feed-down from higher states as well as serve as a tool to distinguish between different theoretical calculations for charmonium production mechanisms. In order to quantify nuclear effects it is also necessary to study charmonium production in p+A collisions where the temperature and density of the system are low compared to a heavy ion collision. These measurements allow one to determine the influence of nuclear shadowing and breakup in “cold” nuclear matter which can be extrapolated to heavy ion collisions in order to determine the amount anomalous suppression. Of course, extrapolations that rely on a model based technique depend heavily on the assumption of a production mechanism, a fact that reinforces the importance of the p+p measurements. The PHENIX and STAR experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory have measured charmonium production in p+p, d+Au, Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at s N N = 200 GeV for both forward and mid rapidities. I will present a review of the latest measurements from both experiments with an emphasis on what we have and can still learned from them about charmonium production and suppression with these experimental apparatuses.