Hadron production in relativistic heavy ion interactions and the search for the quark-gluon plasma

Conference · Fri Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:7163593

Tannenbaum, M J

The course starts with an introduction, from the experimentalist's point of view, of the challenge of measuring Relativistic Heavy Ion interactions. A review of some theoretical predictions for the expected signatures of the quark gluon plasma will be made, with a purpose to understand how they relate to quantities which may be experimentally measured. A short exposition of experimental techniques and details is given including charged particles in matter, momentum resolution, kinematics and Lorentz Transformations, calorimetry. Principles of particle identification including magnetic spectrometers, time of flight measurement. Illustrations using the E802 spectrometer and other measured results. Resolution smearing of spectra, and binning effects. Parent to daughter effects in decay, with {pi}{sup 0} {yields} {gamma} {gamma} as an example. The experimental situation from the known data in p -- p collisions and proton-nucleus reactions is reviewed and used as a basis for further discussions. The Cronin Effect'' and the Seagull Effect'' being two arcana worth noting. Then, selected experiments from the BNL and CERN heavy ion programs are discussed in detail. 118 refs., 45 figs.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/ER
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 7163593
• Report Number(s): BNL-43818; CONF-891269--2; ON: DE90007351
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

645100* -- High Energy Physics-- Particle Interactions & Properties-Experimental
651000 -- Nuclear Physics
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
BARYON-BARYON INTERACTIONS
CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS
CROSS SECTIONS
DECAY
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY
ENERGY SPECTRA
FIREBALL MODEL
HADRON-HADRON INTERACTIONS
HADRONS
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
INTERACTIONS
KINETIC ENERGY
LINEAR MOMENTUM
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE DECAY
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE MODELS
PARTICLE PRODUCTION
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
PARTICLE RAPIDITY
PROTON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS
PROTON-PROTON INTERACTIONS
QUARK-GLUON INTERACTIONS
RADIATION DETECTORS
SHOWER COUNTERS
SPECTRA
TRANSVERSE ENERGY
TRANSVERSE MOMENTUM