M. Chiu

Elliptic flow of identified hadrons in Au+Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV

The anisotropy parameter (v(2)), the second harmonic of the azimuthal particle distribution, has been measured with the PHENIX detector in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s(NN)]=200 GeV for identified and inclusive charged particle production at central rapidities (|eta|<0.35) with respect to the reaction plane defined at high rapidities (|eta|=3-4 ). We observe that the v(2) of mesons falls below that of (anti)baryons for p(T)>2 GeV/c, in marked contrast to the predictions of a hydrodynamical model. A quark-coalescence model is also investigated.

Measurement of High-p(T) single electrons from heavy-flavor decays in p+p collisions at root s=200 GeV

The momentum distribution of electrons from decays of heavy flavor (charm and bottom) for midrapidity absolute value of y < 0.35 in p + p collisions at square root of s = 200 GeV has been measured by the PHENIX experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider over the transverse momentum range 0.3 < pT < 9 GeV/c. Two independent methods have been used to determine the heavy-flavor yields, and the results are in good agreement with each other. A fixed-order-plus-next-to-leading-log perturbative QCD calculation agrees with the data within the theoretical and experimental uncertainties, with the data/theory ratio of 1.71+/-0.02stat+/-0.18sys for 0.3 < pT < 9 GeV/c. The total charm production cross section at this energy has also been deduced to be sigma cc = 567+/-57stat+/-193sys microb.

Transverse momentum dependence of J/psi polarization at midrapidity in p plus p collisions at root s=200 GeV

We report the measurement of the transverse momentum dependence of inclusive J/{psi} polarization in p+p collisions at {radical}(s)=200 GeV performed by the PHENIX Experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The J/{psi} polarization is studied in the helicity, Gottfried-Jackson, and Collins-Soper frames for p{sub T}<5 GeV/c and |y|<0.35. The polarization in the helicity and Gottfried-Jackson frames is consistent with zero for all transverse momenta, with a slight (1.8 sigma) trend towards longitudinal polarization for transverse momenta above 2 GeV/c. No conclusion is allowed due to the limited acceptance in the Collins-Soper frame and the uncertainties of the current data. The results are compared to observations for other collision systems and center of mass energies and to different quarkonia production models.

J/psi production from proton-proton collisions at root s=200 GeV

J/ψ production has been measured in proton-proton collisions at s = 200 GeV over a wide rapidity and transverse momentum range by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Distributions of the rapidityand transverse momentum, along with measurements of the mean transverse momentum and total production cross section are presented and compared to available theoretical calculations. The total J/ψ cross section is 4.0 ′ 0.6(stat) ′ 0.6(syst) ′ 0.4(abs) μb. The mean transverse momentum is 1.80 ′ 0.23(stat) ′ 0.16(syst) GeV/c.

PHENIX inner detectors

Abstract The timing, location and particle multiplicity of a PHENIX collision are determined by the Beam–Beam Counters (BBC), the Multiplicity/Vertex Detector (MVD) and the Zero-Degree Calorimeters (ZDC). The BBCs provide both the time of interaction and position of a collision from the flight time of prompt particles. The MVD provides a measure of event particle multiplicity, collision vertex position and fluctuations in charged particle distributions. The ZDCs provide information on the most grazing collisions. A Normalization Trigger Counter (NTC) is used to obtain absolute cross-section measurements for p–p collisions. The BBC, MVD and NTC are described below.

PHENIX central arm particle ID detectors

Abstract The Ring-Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) and the Time-of-Flight (ToF) systems provide identification of charged particles for the PHENIX central arm. The RICH is located between the inner and outer tracking units and is one of the primary devices for identifying electrons among the very large number of charged pions. The ToF is used to identify hadrons and is located between the most outer pad chamber (PC3) and the electromagnetic calorimeter. A Time Zero (T0) counter that enhances charged particle measurements in p–p collisions is described. Details of the construction and performance of both the RICH, ToF and T0 are given along with typical results from the first PHENIX data taking run.

J/psi production in Au-Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV

First results on charm quarkonia production in heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are presented. The yield of J/Psis measured in the PHENIX experiment via electron-positron decay pairs at mid-rapidity for Au-Au reactions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV are analyzed as a function of collision centrality. For this analysis we have studied 49.3 million minimum bias Au-Au reactions. We present the J/Psi invariant yield dN/dy for peripheral and mid-central reactions. For the most central collisions where we observe no signal above background, we quote 90% confidence level upper limits. We compare these results with our J/Psi measurement from proton-proton reactions at the same energy. We find that our measurements are not consistent with models that predict strong enhancement relative to binary collision scaling.

Azimuthal angle correlations for rapidity separated hadron pairs in d+Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV

Deuteron-gold (d+Au) collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider provide ideal platforms for testing QCD theories in dense nuclear matter at high energy. In particular, models suggesting strong saturation effects for partons carrying small nucleon momentum fraction (x) predict modifications to jet production at forward rapidity (deuteron-going direction) in d+Au collisions. We report on two-particle azimuthal angle correlations between charged hadrons at forward/backward (deuteron/gold going direction) rapidity and charged hadrons at midrapidity in d+Au and p+p collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV. Jet structures observed in the correlations are quantified in terms of the conditional yield and angular width of away-side partners. The kinematic region studied here samples partons in the gold nucleus with x similar to 0.1 to similar to 0.01. Within this range, we find no x dependence of the jet structure in d+Au collisions.

Event reconstruction in the PHENIX central arm spectrometers

The central arm spectrometers for the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider have been designed for the optimization of particle identification in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The spectrometers present a challenging environment for event reconstruction due to a very high track multiplicity in a complicated, focusing, magnetic field. In order to meet this challenge, nine distinct detector types are integrated for charged particle tracking, momentum reconstruction. and particle identification. The techniques which have been developed for the task of event reconstruction are described.

Measurement of density correlations in pseudorapidity via charged particle multiplicity fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV

Longitudinal density correlations of produced matter in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s{sub NN})=200 GeV have been measured from the inclusive charged particle distributions as a function of pseudorapidity window sizes. The extracted {alpha}{xi} parameter, related to the susceptibility of the density fluctuations in the long-wavelength limit, exhibits a nonmonotonic behavior as a function of the number of participant nucleons, N{sub part}. A local maximum is seen at N{sub part}{approx}90, with corresponding energy density based on the Bjorken picture of {epsilon}{sub Bj}{tau}{approx}2.4 GeV/(fm{sup 2}c) with a transverse area size of 60 fm2. This behavior may suggest a critical phase boundary based on the Ginzburg-Landau framework.