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Energy and system size dependence of {phi} meson production in Cu+Cu and Au+ Au collisions.

Journal Article · · Phys. Lett. B
We study the beam-energy and system-size dependence of {phi} meson production (using the hadronic decay mode {phi} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}) by comparing the new results from Cu+Cu collisions and previously reported Au+Au collisions at {radical}s{sub NN} = 62.4 and 200 GeV measured in the STAR experiment at RHIC. Data presented in this Letter are from mid-rapidity (|y|<0.5) for 0.4 < p{sub T} < 5 GeV/c. At a given beam energy, the transverse momentum distributions for mesons are observed to be similar in yield and shape for Cu+Cu and Au+Au colliding systems with similar average numbers of participating nucleons. The {phi} meson yields in nucleus-nucleus collisions, normalized by the average number of participating nucleons, are found to be enhanced relative to those from p+p collisions. The enhancement for {phi} mesons lies between strange hadrons having net strangeness = 1 (K{sup -} and {bar {Lambda}}) and net strangeness =2 ({Theta}). The enhancement for {phi} mesons is observed to be higher at {radical}s{sub NN} = 200 GeV compared to 62.4 GeV. These observations for the produced {phi}(s{bar s}) mesons clearly suggest that, at these collision energies, the source of enhancement of strange hadrons is related to the formation of a dense partonic medium in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions and cannot be alone due to canonical suppression of their production in smaller systems.
Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
Sponsoring Organization:
SC; NSF; Sloan Foundation; Government of India; Swiss NSF; Polish State Committee for Scientific Research; Korea Science and Engineering Foundation
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
963277
Report Number(s):
ANL-HEP-PR-09-72
Journal Information:
Phys. Lett. B, Journal Name: Phys. Lett. B Journal Issue: 2009 Vol. 673; ISSN PYLBAJ; ISSN 0370-2693
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH

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