Baryon, charged hadron, Drell-Yan and J/[psi] production in high energy proton-nucleus collisions

Conference · Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1999 · AIP Conference Proceedings

OSTI ID:6074724

Gale, C ^[1]; Jeon, S ^[2]; Kapusta, J ^[3]

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1. Physics Department, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T8 (Canada)
2. Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
3. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 (United States)

We show that the distributions of outgoing protons and charged hadrons in high energy proton-nucleus collisions are described rather well by a linear extrapolation from proton-proton collisions. The only adjustable parameter required is the shift in rapidity of a produced charged meson when it encounters a target nucleon. Its fitted value is 0.16. Next, we apply this linear extrapolation to precisely measured Drell-Yan cross sections for 800 GeV protons incident on a variety of nuclear targets which exhibit a deviation from linear scaling in the atomic number [ital A]. We show that this deviation can be accounted for by energy degradation of the proton as it passes through the nucleus if account is taken of the time delay of particle production due to quantum coherence. We infer an average proper coherence time of 0.4[plus minus]0.1 hthinsp;fm/c, corresponding to a coherence path length of 8[plus minus]2 hthinsp;fm in the rest frame of the nucleus. Finally, we apply the linear extrapolation to measured J/[psi] production cross sections for 200 and 450 GeV/c protons incident on a variety of nuclear targets. Our analysis takes into account energy loss of the beam proton, the time delay of particle production due to quantum coherence, and absorption of the J/[psi] on nucleons. The best representation is obtained for a coherence time of 0.5 fm/c, which is consistent with Drell-Yan production, and an absorption cross section of 3.6 mb, which is consistent with the value deduced from photoproduction of the J/[psi] on nuclear targets. [copyright] [ital 1999 American Institute of Physics.]

• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098; FG02-87ER40328; FG03-93ER40792
• OSTI ID: 6074724
• Report Number(s): CONF-9810133-; CODEN: APCPCS
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 482:1; Conference: RHIC physics and beyond: kay kay gee day, Upton, NY (United States), 23 Oct 1998; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
DRELL MODEL
GOLD 197 TARGET
HADRONS
NUCLEAR MATTER
PARTICLE PRODUCTION
PARTICLE RAPIDITY
PROTON REACTIONS
PROTON-PROTON INTERACTIONS
SULFUR 32 TARGET
BARYON REACTIONS
BARYON-BARYON INTERACTIONS
CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
HADRON REACTIONS
HADRON-HADRON INTERACTIONS
INTERACTIONS
MATTER
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEON REACTIONS
NUCLEON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
PROTON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS
TARGETS
663430* - Nucleon-Induced Reactions & Scattering- (1992-)