S. Bathe

Centrality Dependence of Neutral Pion Production in 158A GeV

The production of neutral pions in 158AGeV Pb+Pb collisions has been studied in the WA98 experiment at the CERN SPS. Transverse momentum spectra are studied for the range 0.3 GeV/c<mT-m0<4.0 GeV/c. The results for central collisions are compared to various models. The centrality dependence of the neutral pion spectral shape and yield is investigated. An invariance of the spectral shape and a simple scaling of the yield with the number of participating nucleons is observed for centralities with greater than about 30 participating nucleons which is most naturally explained by assuming an equilibrated system.

^{208}

We present azimuthal angle correlations of intermediate transverse momentum (1-4 GeV/c) hadrons from dijets in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at square root sNN=62.4 and 200 GeV. The away-side dijet induced azimuthal correlation is broadened, non-Gaussian, and peaked away from Delta phi=pi in central and semicentral collisions in all the systems. The broadening and peak location are found to depend upon the number of participants in the collision, but not on the collision energy or beam nuclei. These results are consistent with sound or shock wave models, but pose challenges to Cherenkov gluon radiation models.

Pb+

The multiplicity of inclusive photons has been measured on an event-by-event basis for 158PA GeV Pb induced reactions Ž . on Ni, Nb, and Pb targets. The systematics of the pseudorapidity densities at midrapidity r and the width of the max pseudorapidity distributions have been studied for varying centralities for these collisions. A power law fit to the photon yield as a function of the number of participating nucleons gives a value of 1.120.03 for the exponent. The mean 2 : transverse momentum, p , of photons determined from the ratio of the measured electromagnetic transverse energy and T photon multiplicity, remains almost constant with increasing r . Results are compared with model predictions. q 1999 max Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.Abstract The multiplicity of inclusive photons has been measured on an event-by-event basis for 158· A GeV Pb induced reactions on Ni, Nb, and Pb targets. The systematics of the pseudorapidity densities at midrapidity ( ρ max ) and the width of the pseudorapidity distributions have been studied for varying centralities for these collisions. A power law fit to the photon yield as a function of the number of participating nucleons gives a value of 1.12±0.03 for the exponent. The mean transverse momentum, 〈 p T 〉, of photons determined from the ratio of the measured electromagnetic transverse energy and photon multiplicity, remains almost constant with increasing ρ max . Results are compared with model predictions.

^{208}

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.

Pb Collisions

Abstract Recent results of the WA98 experiment with p and Pb induced reactions at 158 AGeV are presented. Azimuthal γ-γ correlations at high PT were studied in search for a signal of jet-like structures. A clear indication for back-to-back correlations can be seen in p+A with a strong dependence on the PT of the photons and the size of the system. In Pb+Pb collisions in plane elliptic flow has been observed. Results on transverse mass spectra of neutral pions measured at central rapidity are presented for impact parameter selected Pb+Pb collisions. In going from peripheral to medium central collisions there is a nuclear enhancement increasing with transverse mass similar to the Cronin effect, while for very central collisions this enhancement appears to be weaker than expected.