We present results from a harmonic decomposition of two-particle azimuthal correlations measured with the STAR detector in Au+Au collisions for energies ranging from sqrts_{NN}=7.7 to 200 GeV. The ...third harmonic v_{3}^{2}{2}=⟨cos3(ϕ_{1}-ϕ_{2})⟩, where ϕ_{1}-ϕ_{2} is the angular difference in azimuth, is studied as a function of the pseudorapidity difference between particle pairs Δη=η_{1}-η_{2}. Nonzero v_{3}^{2}{2} is directly related to the previously observed large-Δη narrow-Δϕ ridge correlations and has been shown in models to be sensitive to the existence of a low viscosity quark gluon plasma phase. For sufficiently central collisions, v_{3}^{2}{2} persist down to an energy of 7.7 GeV, suggesting that quark gluon plasma may be created even in these low energy collisions. In peripheral collisions at these low energies, however, v_{3}^{2}{2} is consistent with zero. When scaled by the pseudorapidity density of charged-particle multiplicity per participating nucleon pair, v_{3}^{2}{2} for central collisions shows a minimum near sqrts_{NN}=20 GeV.
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We report the first measurements of transverse single-spin asymmetries for inclusive jet and jet+π± production at midrapidity from transversely polarized proton-proton collisions at s=500 GeV. The ...data were collected in 2011 with the STAR detector sampled from 23 pb−1 integrated luminosity with an average beam polarization of 53%. Asymmetries are reported for jets with transverse momenta 6<pT<55 GeV/c and pseudorapidity |η|<1. Presented are measurements of the inclusive-jet azimuthal transverse single-spin asymmetry, sensitive to twist-3 initial-state quark-gluon correlators; the Collins asymmetry, sensitive to quark transversity coupled to the polarized Collins fragmentation function; and the first measurement of the “Collins-like” asymmetry, sensitive to linearly polarized gluons. Within the present statistical precision, inclusive-jet and Collins-like asymmetries are small, with the latter allowing the first experimental constraints on gluon linear polarization in a polarized proton. At higher values of jet transverse momenta, we observe the first nonzero Collins asymmetries in polarized-proton collisions, with a statistical significance of greater than 5σ. The results span a range of x similar to results from semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering but at much higher Q2. The Collins results enable tests of universality and factorization breaking in the transverse momentum-dependent formulation of perturbative quantum chromodynamics.
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One of the primary goals of nuclear physics is to understand the force between nucleons, which is a necessary step for understanding the structure of nuclei and how nuclei interact with each other. ...Rutherford discovered the atomic nucleus in 1911, and the large body of knowledge about the nuclear force that has since been acquired was derived from studies made on nucleons or nuclei. Although antinuclei up to antihelium-4 have been discovered and their masses measured, little is known directly about the nuclear force between antinucleons. Here, we study antiproton pair correlations among data collected by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), where gold ions are collided with a centre-of-mass energy of 200 gigaelectronvolts per nucleon pair. Antiprotons are abundantly produced in such collisions, thus making it feasible to study details of the antiproton-antiproton interaction. By applying a technique similar to Hanbury Brown and Twiss intensity interferometry, we show that the force between two antiprotons is attractive. In addition, we report two key parameters that characterize the corresponding strong interaction: the scattering length and the effective range of the interaction. Our measured parameters are consistent within errors with the corresponding values for proton-proton interactions. Our results provide direct information on the interaction between two antiprotons, one of the simplest systems of antinucleons, and so are fundamental to understanding the structure of more-complex antinuclei and their properties.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A
bstract
The production of J
/ψ
is measured at midrapidity (
|y| <
0
.
9) in proton-proton collisions at
s
= 5
.
02 and 13 TeV, through the dielectron decay channel, using the ALICE detector at the ...Large Hadron Collider. The data sets used for the analyses correspond to integrated luminosities of
L
int
= 19.4
±
0.4 nb
−
1
and
L
int
= 32.2
±
0.5 nb
−
1
at
s
= 5
.
02 and 13 TeV, respectively. The fraction of non-prompt J
/ψ
mesons, i.e. those originating from the decay of beauty hadrons, is measured down to a transverse momentum
p
T
= 2 GeV
/c
(1 GeV
/c
) at
s
= 5
.
02 TeV (13 TeV). The
p
T
and rapidity (
y
) differential cross sections, as well as the corresponding values integrated over
p
T
and
y
, are carried out separately for prompt and non-prompt J
/ψ
mesons. The results are compared with measurements from other experiments and theoretical calculations based on quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The shapes of the
p
T
and
y
distributions of beauty quarks predicted by state-of-the-art perturbative QCD models are used to extrapolate an estimate of the
b
b
¯
pair cross section at midrapidity and in the total phase space. The total
b
b
¯
cross sections are found to be
σ
b
b
¯
= 541
±
45 (stat
.
)
±
69
syst
.
−
12
+
10
(extr
.
)
μ
b and
σ
b
b
¯
= 218
±
37 (stat
.
)
±
31
syst
.
−
9.1
+
8.2
(extr
.
)
μ
b at
s
= 13 and 5.02 TeV, respectively. The value obtained from the combination of ALICE and LHCb measurements in pp collisions at
s
= 13 TeV is also provided.
A
bstract
The cross section for coherent photonuclear production of J/
ψ
is presented as a function of the electromagnetic dissociation (EMD) of Pb. The measurement is performed with the ALICE ...detector in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of
s
NN
= 5.02 TeV. Cross sections are presented in five different J/
ψ
rapidity ranges within |
y
| < 4, with the J/
ψ
reconstructed via its dilepton decay channels. In some events the J/
ψ
is not accompanied by EMD, while other events do produce neutrons from EMD at beam rapidities either in one or the other beam direction, or in both. The cross sections in a given rapidity range and for different configurations of neutrons from EMD allow for the extraction of the energy dependence of this process in the range 17 <
W
γ
Pb
,
n
< 920 GeV, where
W
γ
Pb
,
n
is the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon of the
γ
Pb system. This range corresponds to a Bjorken-
x
interval spanning about three orders of magnitude: 1.1 × 10
−
5
<
x
< 3.3 × 10
−
2
. In addition to the ultra-peripheral and photonuclear cross sections, the nuclear suppression factor is obtained. These measurements point to a strong depletion of the gluon distribution in Pb nuclei over a broad, previously unexplored, energy range. These results, together with previous ALICE measurements, provide unprecedented information to probe quantum chromodynamics at high energies.
We report on the W and Z/γ∗ differential and total cross sections as well as the W+/W− and (W+ + W−)/(Z/γ∗) cross section ratios measured by the STAR experiment at RHIC in p + p collisions at √s = ...500 GeV and 510 GeV. The cross sections and their ratios are sensitive to quark and antiquark parton distribution functions. In particular, at leading order, the W cross section ratio is sensitive to the d/u ratio. These measurements were taken at high Q2 ∼ M2W, M2Z and can serve as input into global analyses to provide constraints on the sea quark distributions. The results presented here combine three STAR datasets from 2011, 2012, and 2013, accumulating an integrated luminosity of 350 pb−1. We also assess the expected impact that our W+ / W− cross section ratios will have on various quark distributions, and find sensitivity to the u − d and d/u distributions.
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The longitudinal and transverse spin transfers to Λ ($\overline{Λ}$) hyperons in polarized proton-proton collisions are expected to be sensitive to the helicity and transversity distributions, ...respectively, of (anti)strange quarks in the proton, and to the corresponding polarized fragmentation functions. We report improved measurements of the longitudinal spin transfer coefficient, DLL, and the transverse spin transfer coefficient, DTT, to Λ and $\overline{Λ}$ in polarized proton-proton collisions at √s = 200 GeV by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The dataset includes longitudinally polarized proton-proton collisions with an integrated luminosity of 52 pb–1, and transversely polarized proton-proton collisions with a similar integrated luminosity. Both datasets have about twice the statistics of previous results and cover a kinematic range of |ηΛ($\overline{Λ}$)| < 1.2 and transverse momentum pT,Λ($\overline{Λ}$) up to 8GeV/c. We also report the first measurements of the hyperon spin transfer coefficients DLL and DTT as a function of the fractional jet momentum z carried by the hyperon, which can provide more direct constraints on the polarized fragmentation functions
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This article reports on the inclusive production cross section of several quarkonium states,
J
/
ψ
,
ψ
(
2
S
)
,
Υ
(
1
S
)
,
Υ
(
2
S
)
, and
Υ
(
3
S
)
, measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC, ...in pp collisions at
s
=
5.02
TeV. The analysis is performed in the dimuon decay channel at forward rapidity (
2.5
<
y
<
4
). The integrated cross sections and transverse-momentum (
p
T
) and rapidity (
y
) differential cross sections for
J
/
ψ
,
ψ
(
2
S
)
,
Υ
(
1
S
)
, and the
ψ
(
2
S
)
-to-
J
/
ψ
cross section ratios are presented. The integrated cross sections, assuming unpolarized quarkonia, are:
σ
J
/
ψ
(
p
T
<
20
GeV/c) = 5.88 ± 0.03 ± 0.34
μ
b,
σ
ψ
(
2
S
)
(
p
T
<
12
GeV/c) = 0.87 ± 0.06 ± 0.10
μ
b,
σ
Υ
(
1
S
)
(
p
T
<
15
GeV/c) = 45.5 ± 3.9 ± 3.5 nb,
σ
Υ
(
2
S
)
(
p
T
<
15
GeV/c) = 22.4 ± 3.2 ± 2.7 nb, and
σ
Υ
(
3
S
)
(
p
T
<
15
GeV/c) = 4.9 ± 2.2 ± 1.0 nb, where the first (second) uncertainty is the statistical (systematic) one. For the first time, the cross sections of the three
Υ
states, as well as the
ψ
(
2
S
)
one as a function of
p
T
and
y
, are measured at
s
=
5.02
TeV at forward rapidity. These measurements also significantly extend the
J
/
ψ
p
T
reach and supersede previously published results. A comparison with ALICE measurements in pp collisions at
s
=
2.76
, 7, 8, and 13 TeV is presented and the energy dependence of quarkonium production cross sections is discussed. Finally, the results are compared with the predictions from several production models.
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Partons traversing the strongly interacting medium produced in heavy-ion collisions are expected to lose energy depending on their color charge and mass. We measure the nuclear modification factors ...for charm- and bottom-decay electrons, defined as the ratio of yields, divided by the number of binary nucleon–nucleon collisions, in
s
NN
=
200
GeV Au+Au collisions to
p
+
p
collisions (
R
AA
), or in central to peripheral Au+Au collisions (
R
CP
). We find the bottom-decay electron
R
AA
and
R
CP
to be significantly higher than those of charm-decay electrons. Model calculations including mass-dependent parton energy loss in a strongly coupled medium are consistent with the measured data. These observations provide evidence of mass ordering of charm and bottom quark energy loss when traversing through the strongly coupled medium created in heavy-ion collisions.
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A
bstract
The production of J/
ψ
is measured as a function of charged-particle multiplicity at forward rapidity in proton-proton (pp) collisions at center-of-mass energies
s
= 5.02 and 13 TeV. The J/
...ψ
mesons are reconstructed via their decay into dimuons in the rapidity interval (2.5
< y <
4.0), whereas the charged-particle multiplicity density (d
N
ch
/
d
η
) is measured at midrapidity (
|η| <
1). The production rate as a function of multiplicity is reported as the ratio of the yield in a given multiplicity interval to the multiplicity-integrated one. This observable shows a linear increase with charged-particle multiplicity normalized to the corresponding average value for inelastic events (d
N
ch
/d
η
/〈d
N
ch
/d
η
〉), at both the colliding energies. Measurements are compared with available ALICE results at midrapidity and theoretical model calculations. First measurement of the mean transverse momentum (〈
p
T
〉) of J/
ψ
in pp collisions exhibits an increasing trend as a function of d
N
ch
/d
η
/〈d
N
ch
/d
η
〉 showing a saturation towards high charged-particle multiplicities.