A1 Journal article (refereed)
ϕ meson production in p+Al, p+Au, d+Au, and 3He+Au collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV (2022)
PHENIX Collaboration. (2022). ϕ meson production in p+Al, p+Au, d+Au, and 3He+Au collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV. Physical Review C, 106(1), Article 014908. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.106.014908
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: PHENIX Collaboration
Journal or series: Physical Review C
ISSN: 2469-9985
eISSN: 2469-9993
Publication year: 2022
Publication date: 26/07/2022
Volume: 106
Issue number: 1
Article number: 014908
Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
Publication country: United States
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.106.014908
Publication open access: Not open
Publication channel open access:
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/82668
Publication is parallel published: https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.06087
Abstract
Small nuclear collisions are mainly sensitive to cold-nuclear-matter effects; however, the collective behavior observed in these collisions shows a hint of hot-nuclear-matter effects. The identified-particle spectra, especially the ϕ mesons which contain strange and antistrange quarks and have a relatively small hadronic-interaction cross section, are a good tool to study these effects. The PHENIX experiment has measured ϕ mesons in a specific set of small collision systems p+Al, p+Au, and 3He+Au, as well as d+Au [Adare et al., Phys. Rev. C 83, 024909 (2011)], at √sNN=200 GeV. The transverse-momentum spectra and nuclear-modification factors are presented and compared to theoretical-model predictions. The comparisons with different calculations suggest that quark-gluon plasma may be formed in these small collision systems at √sNN=200 GeV. However, the volume and the lifetime of the produced medium may be insufficient for observing strangeness-enhancement and jet-quenching effects. The comparison with calculations suggests that the main production mechanisms of ϕ mesons at midrapidity may be different in p+Al versus p/d/3He+Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV. While thermal quark recombination seems to dominate in p/d/3He+Au collisions, fragmentation seems to be the main production mechanism in p+Al collisions.
Keywords: particle physics; nuclear physics
Free keywords: leptonic, semileptonic and radiative decays; particle production; relativistic heavy-ion collisions
Contributing organizations
Ministry reporting: Yes
Reporting Year: 2022
JUFO rating: 2