1. |
- Aamodt, K., et al.
(author)
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The ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC
- 2008
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In: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221. ; 3:S08002
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is a general-purpose, heavy-ion detector at the CERN LHC which focuses on QCD, the strong-interaction sector of the Standard Model. It is designed to address the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma at extreme values of energy density and temperature in nucleus-nucleus collisions. Besides running with Pb ions, the physics programme includes collisions with lighter ions, lower energy running and dedicated proton-nucleus runs. ALICE will also take data with proton beams at the top LHC energy to collect reference data for the heavy-ion programme and to address several QCD topics for which ALICE is complementary to the other LHC detectors. The ALICE detector has been built by a collaboration including currently over 1000 physicists and engineers from 105 Institutes in 30 countries, Its overall dimensions are 16 x 16 x 26 m(3) with a total weight of approximately 10 000 t. The experiment consists of 18 different detector systems each with its own specific technology choice and design constraints, driven both by the physics requirements and the experimental conditions expected at LHC. The most stringent design constraint is to cope with the extreme particle multiplicity anticipated in central Pb-Pb collisions. The different subsystems were optimized to provide high-momentum resolution as well as excellent Particle Identification (PID) over a broad range in momentum, up to the highest multiplicities predicted for LHC. This will allow for comprehensive studies of hadrons, electrons, muons, and photons produced in the collision of heavy nuclei. Most detector systems are scheduled to be installed and ready for data taking by mid-2008 when the LHC is scheduled to start operation, with the exception of parts of the Photon Spectrometer (PHOS), Transition Radiation Detector (TRD) and Electro Magnetic Calorimeter (EMCal). These detectors will be completed for the high-luminosity ion run expected in 2010. This paper describes in detail the detector components as installed for the first data taking in the summer of 2008.
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2. |
- Adler, S. S., et al.
(author)
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High transverse momentum eta meson production in p+p, d+Au, and Au+Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV
- 2007
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In: Physical Review C (Nuclear Physics). - 0556-2813. ; 75:2
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Inclusive transverse momentum spectra of eta mesons in the range p(T)approximate to 2-12 GeV/c have been measured at midrapidity (vertical bar eta vertical bar < 0.35) by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC in p+p,d+Au, and Au+Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV. The eta mesons are reconstructed through their eta ->gamma gamma channel for the three colliding systems as well as through the eta ->pi(0)pi(+)pi(-) decay mode in p+p and d+Au collisions. The nuclear modification factor in d+Au collisions, R-dAu(p(T))approximate to 1.0-1.1, suggests at most only modest p(T) broadening ("Cronin enhancement"). In central Au+Au reactions, the eta yields are significantly suppressed, with R-AuAu(p(T))approximate to 0.2. The ratio of eta to pi(0) yields is approximately constant as a function of p(T) for the three colliding systems in agreement with the high-p(T) world average of R-eta/pi(0)approximate to 0.5 in hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions for a wide range of center-of-mass energies (root sNN approximate to 3-1800 GeV) as well as, for high scaled momentum x(p), in e(+)e(-) annihilations at root s=91.2 GeV. These results are consistent with a scenario where high-p(T) eta production in nuclear collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider is largely unaffected by initial-state effects but where light-quark mesons (pi(0),eta) are equally suppressed due to final-state interactions of the parent partons in the dense medium produced in Au+Au reactions.
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3. |
- Adler, S. S., et al.
(author)
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Dense-medium modifications to jet-induced hadron pair distributions in Au+Au collisions at root(NN)-N-S=200 GeV
- 2006
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 1079-7114. ; 97:5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Azimuthal correlations of jet-induced high-p(T) charged hadron pairs are studied at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV. The distribution of jet-associated partner hadrons (1.0 < p(T)< 2.5 GeV/c) per trigger hadron (2.5 < p(T)< 4.0 GeV/c) is found to vary with collision centrality, in both shape and yield, indicating a significant effect of the nuclear collision medium on the jet fragmentation process.
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4. |
- Adler, S. S., et al.
(author)
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Detailed study of high-p(T) neutral pion suppression and azimuthal anisotropy in Au plus Au collisions at root s(NN) =200 GeV
- 2007
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In: Physical Review C (Nuclear Physics). - 0556-2813. ; 76:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Measurements of neutral pion (pi(0)) production at midrapidity in root s(NN)=200 GeV Au+Au collisions as a function of transverse momentum, p(T), collision centrality, and angle with respect to reaction plane are presented. The data represent the final pi(0) results from the PHENIX experiment for the first RHIC Au+Au run at design center-of-mass energy. They include additional data obtained using the PHENIX Level-2 trigger with more than a factor of 3 increase in statistics over previously published results for p(T)>6 GeV/c. We evaluate the suppression in the yield of high-p(T) pi(0)'s relative to pointlike scaling expectations using the nuclear modification factor R-AA. We present the p(T) dependence of R-AA for nine bins in collision centrality. We separately integrate R-AA over larger p(T) bins to show more precisely the centrality dependence of the high-p(T) suppression. We then evaluate the dependence of the high-p(T) suppression on the emission angle Delta phi of the pions with respect to event reaction plane for seven bins in collision centrality. We show that the yields of high-p(T) pi(0)'s vary strongly with Delta phi, consistent with prior measurements 1,2. We show that this variation persists in the most peripheral bin accessible in this analysis. For the peripheral bins we observe no suppression for neutral pions produced aligned with the reaction plane, whereas the yield of pi(0)'s produced perpendicular to the reaction plane is suppressed by a factor of similar to 2. We analyze the combined centrality and Delta phi dependence of the pi(0) suppression in different p(T) bins using different possible descriptions of parton energy loss dependence on jet path-length averages to determine whether a single geometric picture can explain the observed suppression pattern.
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5. |
- Adler, S. S., et al.
(author)
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Evidence for a long-range component in the pion emission source in Au plus Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV
- 2007
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 1079-7114. ; 98:13
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Emission source functions are extracted from correlation functions constructed from charged pions produced at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at s(NN)=200 GeV. The source parameters extracted from these functions at low k(T) give first indications of a long tail for the pion emission source. The source extension cannot be explained solely by simple kinematic considerations. The possible role of a halo of secondary pions from resonance emissions is explored.
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6. |
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7. |
- Adler, S. S., et al.
(author)
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Measurement of single muons at forward rapidity in p+p collisions at root s=200 GeV and implications for charm production
- 2007
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In: Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology. - 1550-2368. ; 76:9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Muon production at forward rapidity (1.5 <=|eta|<= 1.8) has been measured by the PHENIX experiment over the transverse momentum range 1 <= p(T)<= 3 GeV/c in root s=200 GeV p+p collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. After statistically subtracting contributions from light hadron decays an excess remains which is attributed to the semileptonic decays of hadrons carrying heavy flavor, i.e. charm quarks or, at high p(T), bottom quarks. The resulting muon spectrum from heavy flavor decays is compared to PYTHIA and a next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculation. PYTHIA is used to determine the charm quark spectrum that would produce the observed muon excess. The corresponding differential cross section for charm quark production at forward rapidity is determined to be d sigma(c (c) over bar)/dy|(y=1.6)=0.243 +/- 0.013(stat.)+/- 0.105(data syst.)(-0.087)(+0.049)(PYTHIA syst.) mb.
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8. |
- Adcox, K, et al.
(author)
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Formation of dense partonic matter in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC: Experimental evaluation by the PHENIX Collaboration
- 2005
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In: Nuclear Physics, Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0375-9474. ; 757:1-2, s. 184-283
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Extensive experimental data from high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions were recorded using the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The comprehensive set of measurements from the first three years of RHIC operation includes charged particle multiplicities, transverse energy, yield ratios and spectra of identified hadrons in a wide range of transverse momenta (PT), elliptic flow, two-particle correlations, nonstatistical fluctuations, and suppression of particle production at high PT. The results are examined with an emphasis on implications for the formation of a new state of dense matter. We find that the state of matter created at RHIC cannot be described in terms of ordinary color neutral hadrons.
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9. |
- Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
(author)
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Pion freeze-out time in Pb plus Pb collisions at 158 AGeV/c studied via pi(-)/pi(+) and K-/K+ ratios
- 2006
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In: European Physical Journal C. Particles and Fields. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044. ; 48:2, s. 343-352
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The effect of the final state Coulomb interaction on particles produced in Pb + Pb collisions at 158AGeV/c has been investigated in the WA98 experiment through the study of the pi(-)/pi(+) and K-/K+ ratios measured as a function of T-m- (m)0. While the ratio for kaons shows no significant T-m dependence, the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio is enhanced at small T-m - (m)0 values with an enhancement that increases with centrality. A silicon pad detector located near the target is used to estimate the contribution of hyperon decays to the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio. The comparison of results with predictions of the RQMD model in which the Coulomb interaction has been incorporated allows to place constraints on the time of the pion freeze-out.
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10. |
- Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
(author)
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Suppression of high-p(T) neutral pion production in central Pb+Pb collisions at root s(NN)=17.3 GeV relative to p+C and p+Pb collisions
- 2008
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 1079-7114. ; 100:24
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Neutral pion transverse momentum spectra were measured in p+C and p+Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 17.4 GeV at midrapidity (2.3 less than or similar to eta(lab)less than or similar to 3.0) over the range 0.7 less than or similar to p(T)less than or similar to 3.5 GeV/c. The spectra are compared to pi(0) spectra measured in Pb+Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 17.3 GeV in the same experiment. For a wide range of Pb+Pb centralities (N-part less than or similar to 300), the yield of pi(0)'s with p(T)greater than or similar to 2 GeV/c is larger than or consistent with the p+C or p+Pb yields scaled with the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions (N-coll), while for central Pb+Pb collisions with N-part greater than or similar to 350, the pi(0) yield is suppressed.
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