Measurements of {phi} meson production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)

Journal Article · Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVC.79.064903· OSTI ID:21293754

Abelev, B I; Barannikova, O; Betts, R R; Callner, J; Garcia-Solis, E; Hofman, D J; Hollis, R S; Iordanova, A; Suarez, M C ^[1]; Aggarwal, M M; Bhati, A K; Kumar, L; Pruthi, N K ^[2]; Ahammed, Z; Chattopadhyay, S; Mazumdar, M R. Dutta; Ganti, M S; Ghosh, P; Mohanty, B; Nayak, T K ^[3]

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1. University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607 (United States)
2. Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014 (India)
3. Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata 700064 (India)

We present results for the measurement of {phi} meson production via its charged kaon decay channel {phi}{yields}K{sup +}K{sup -} in Au+Au collisions at {radical}(s{sub NN})=62.4,130, and 200 GeV, and in p+p and d+Au collisions at {radical}(s{sub NN})=200 GeV from the STAR experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The midrapidity (|y|<0.5) {phi} meson transverse momentum (p{sub T}) spectra in central Au+Au collisions are found to be well described by a single exponential distribution. On the other hand, the p{sub T} spectra from p+p, d+Au, and peripheral Au+Au collisions show power-law tails at intermediate and high p{sub T} and are described better by Levy distributions. The constant {phi}/K{sup -} yield ratio vs beam species, collision centrality, and colliding energy is in contradiction with expectations from models having kaon coalescence as the dominant mechanism for {phi} production at RHIC. The {omega}/{phi} yield ratio as a function of p{sub T} is consistent with a model based on the recombination of thermal s quarks up to p{sub T}{approx}4 GeV/c, but disagrees at higher transverse momenta. The measured nuclear modification factor, R{sub dAu}, for the {phi} meson increases above unity at intermediate p{sub T}, similar to that for pions and protons, while R{sub AA} is suppressed due to the energy loss effect in central Au+Au collisions. Number of constituent quark scaling of both R{sub cp} and v{sub 2} for the {phi} meson with respect to other hadrons in Au+Au collisions at {radical}(s{sub NN})=200 GeV at intermediate p{sub T} is observed. These observations support quark coalescence as being the dominant mechanism of hadronization in the intermediate p{sub T} region at RHIC.

• OSTI ID: 21293754
• Journal Information: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Vol. 79, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.79.064903; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ATOM-ATOM COLLISIONS
BEAMS
BNL
BROOKHAVEN RHIC
COALESCENCE
DEUTERONS
DISTRIBUTION
ENERGY LOSSES
GEV RANGE 100-1000
GOLD
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
KAONS MINUS
KAONS PLUS
MODIFICATIONS
PARTICLE PRODUCTION
PHI MESONS
PIONS
PROTON-PROTON INTERACTIONS
PROTONS
RECOMBINATION
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
S QUARKS
SPECTRA
TRANSVERSE MOMENTUM