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