S.K. Badyal

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}

Abstract We report on an experiment in which emulsion chambers were exposed to a beam of 200 A GeV 16 O at the CERN SPS. Pseudo-rapidity distributions are measured with high precision. Pseudo-rapidity densities of 140 particles per unit rapidity corresponding to an energy density of about 3 GeV/fm3 are observed. Pseudo-rapidity density distributions and fluctuations are found to satisfactorily agree with the Lund Monte Carlo model Fritiof, although new and unknown sources for fluctuations might still be present.

Pb+

Abstract Experimental results of the interactions of 400 GeV/ c protons with emulsion nuclei are presented. It is observed that mean multiplicities for incoherent events are, 〈 N S 〉 = 17.00 ± 0.21, 〈 N h 〉 = 8.10 ± 0.20. The dispersion D = 1015 ± 0.19. Various linear relations between these parameters are discussed. The energy dependence of 〈 N S 〉 and the parameters R em , R eq and R 2 are also examined. It is observed that R em varies as A 0.16 .

^{208}

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.

Pb Collisions

Non-statistical fluctuations are used to probe the dynamical behaviour of multi-particle production in heavy-ion interactions at ultra-relativistic energies. In a one-dimensional analysis a 1〈ϱ〉-scaling is established and it is furthermore found that effects from higher-order particle correlations are small. In a two-dimensional analysis it is shown that a small background of particle pairs with a narrow opening angle can distort the observed signal. As an example we estimate the influence of γ-conversion and find that in our experiment γ-conversion alone gives results consistent with the experimental observations from a two-dimensional analysis. Whereas a two-dimensional analysis filters events where two particles are extremely close in phase space, the one-dimensional analysis picks out events with particles clustered in pseudorapidity, which are at the same time diluted in the azimuthal plane.

Multiplicities and rapidity densities in 200 A GeV 16O interactions with emulsion nuclei

Author(s): Adams, J.; Aggarwal, M.M.; Ahammed, Z.; Amonett, J.; Anderson, B.D.; Arkhipkin, D.; Averichev, G.S.; Badyal, S.K.; Bai, Y.; Balewski, J.; Barannikova, O.; Barnby, L.S.; Baudot, J.; Bekele, S.; Belaga, V.V.; Bellwied, R.; Berger, J.; Bezverkhny, B.I.; Bharadwaj, S.; Bhasin, A.; Bhati, A.K.; Bhatia, V.S.; Bichsel, H.; Billmeier, A.; Bland, L.C.; Blyth, C.O.; Bonner, B.E.; Botje, M.; Boucham, A.; Brandin, A.V.; Bravar, A.; Bystersky, M.; Cadman, R.V.; Cai, X.Z.; Caines, H.; Calderon de la Barca Sanchez, M.; Castillo, J.; Cebra, D.; Chajecki, Z.; Chaloupka, P.; Chattopadhyay, S.; Chen, H.F.; Chen, Y.; Cheng, J.; Cherney, M.; Chikanian, A.; Christie, W.; Coffin, J.P.; Cormier, T.M.; Cramer, J.G.; Crawford, H.J.; Das, D.; Das, S.; de Moura, M.M.; Derevschikov, A.A.; Didenko, L.; Dietel, T.; Dogra, S.M.; Dong, W.J.; Dong, X.; Draper, J.E.; Du, F.; Dubey, A.K.; Dunin, V.B.; Dunlop, J.C.; Dutta Mazumdar, M.R.; Eckardt, V.; Edwards, W.R.; Efimov, L.G.; Emelianov, V.; Engelage, J.; Eppley, G.; Erazmus, B.; Estienne, M.; Fachini, P.; Faivre, J.; Fatemi, R.; Fedorisin, J.; Filimonov, K.; Filip, P.; Finch, E.; Fine, V.; Fisyak, Y.; Fomenko, K.; Fu, J.The short-lived K(892)* resonance provides an efficient tool to probe properties of the hot and dense medium produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We report measurements of K* in root s(NN)=200 GeV Au+Au and p+p collisions reconstructed via its hadronic decay channels K(892)*(0)-> K pi and K(892)*(+/-)-> K(S)(0)pi(+/-) using the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The K*(0) mass has been studied as a function of p(T) in minimum bias p+p and central Au+Au collisions. The K(*) p(T) spectra for minimum bias p+p interactions and for Au+Au collisions in different centralities are presented. The K*/K yield ratios for all centralities in Au+Au collisions are found to be significantly lower than the ratio in minimum bias p+p collisions, indicating the importance of hadronic interactions between chemical and kinetic freeze-outs. A significant nonzero K*(0) elliptic flow (v(2)) is observed in Au+Au collisions and is compared to the K(S)(0) and Lambda v(2). The nuclear modification factor of K* at intermediate p(T) is similar to that of K(S)(0) but different from Lambda. This establishes a baryon-meson effect over a mass effect in the particle production at intermediate p(T) (2 < p(T)<= 4 GeV/c).

Charged particle multiplicity in 400 GeV/c p-nucleus interactions in nuclear emulsion

Abstract Azimuthal correlations of photons produced at mid-rapidity in 200 A GeV S + Au collisions have been studied using a preshower photon multiplicity detector in the WA93 experiment. The Fourier expansion method has been employd to estimate the event plane via the anisotropy of the event as a function of centrality. The event plane correlation technique has been used to determine the true event anisotropy, beyond the anisotropy which arises due to finite multiplicity. The VENUS event generator with rescattering and proper simulation of the detector response can explain only a portion of the observed anisotropy. The residual anisotropy is found to be of the order of 5% for semi-central collisions. This suggests that directed collective flow of the produced particles is present at SPS energies.

Systematics of inclusive photon production in 158-A-GeV Pb induced reactions on Ni, Nb, and Pb targets

First results on the measurement of localized fluctuations in the multiplicity of charged particles and photons produced in central 158 A GeV Pb+Pb collisions are presented. The charged versus neutral correlations in common phase space regions of varying azimuthal size are analyzed by two different methods. The measured results are compared to those from simulations and to those from different types of mixed events. The comparison indicates the presence of non-statistical fluctuations in both charged particle and photon multiplicities in limited azimuthal regions. However, no correlated charge-neutral fluctuations are observed.

On intermittency in heavy-ion collisions and the importance of γ-conversion in a multi-dimensional intermittency analysis

Abstract Fluctuations in particle densities of non-statistical origin are studied in central 16 O+Ag(Br) and 32 S+Au interactions at 200 A GeV. Non-statistical fluctuations in the 32 S-induced interactions seem to enhance the local particle densities, and suggest the presence of intermittancy. The fluctuations are found to be accompanied by a clustering tendency also in the azimuthal plane. A new method for the study of azimuthal correlations is proposed.

K(892)* resonance production in Au+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 200 GeV at RHIC

Fluctuations of charged particles in high energy oxygen, silicon and sulphur induced interactions are investigated with the method of scaled factorial moments. It is found that for decreasing bin size down to δη∼0.1 the EMU01 data exhibits intermittent behaviour. The intermittency indexes are found to decrease with increasing incident energy and multiplicity and to increase with increasing target mass. It seems also to increase as the projectile mass increases.